Page 28 of Ticket to the Stars: Part One

The rest of the night went by in a blur. I went up again a few times. Tried to drag Angel with me, but she vehemently refused to sing with me. Seemed stupid, since we’d start singing together soon enough, but I think it was due to the fact she was a wee bit embarrassed for admitting to Bishop and me that she’d never had a boyfriend before.

I mean, if she’d never had a boyfriend before, did that mean she’d also never been kissed? I’d gladly change that, if she asked.

Bishop went up and did a song by a nineties band. Deacon refused to leave the bar. I had to abandon Angel to sit on the other side with Hailee and Tara, and I tried to focus on them, but damn it, it was hard.

No, not just hard. More like impossible.

Even though I had two beautiful girls in next to me, two girls who, if I gave them the signal, would follow me anywhere I went and probably do whatever I wanted them to do, I couldn’t stop thinking about Angel.

I know, I know. I was being fucking dumb.

We stayed well into the night. It was about one in the morning when we funneled out of the bar. We’d driven in my car—I’d only had the one drink right when we got there, so I’d be driving us back. Deacon had been drowning himself in drinks the entire time, mister pissy face, so when he walked he mostly stumbled.

We made it to the parking garage down the block, and as the others went ahead, Hailee and Tara stopped me by the entrance. Hailee hugged herself close to me, puckering her lips with a seductive smile. “You got room for two more?” Beside her, her friend pretended to blush.

If things were different, I would’ve told the guys to get an Uber or something, and then I would’ve gone wherever these two ladies wanted. Their place, a hotel… just not the Redborne.

But things weren’t different, and it wasn’t just the guys I’d be telling to get an Uber. Angel was with them, heading to my car, though she wasn’t oblivious to Hailee or Tara or the reason I’d fallen back with them.

“Oh, I wish,” I told them, giving them a charming smile. “But I can’t tonight. I know it’s a poor second choice, but I could take your numbers instead and hit you up later?”

Neither Hailee nor Tara could hide their disappointment, but in the end, they agreed. I pulled out my phone and added them both, and then I caught up with the others. They’d made it to the car deeper inside the parking garage, and I noticed Angel had taken off her heels, her bare feet on the pavement as she leaned her backside against the door. Deacon was resting his head against the trunk of the sleek car, mumbling something about how he needed to get to bed.

Bishop stood near Angel, and I overheard him say, “You sure you don’t want me to hold those?” Her heels. He was talking about her heels—which she’d actually started to walk in decently, after she’d needed a steadying hand before.

All Angel did was shake her head and yawn.

The car unlocked once I got closer, and everyone funneled in. I got in. Deacon took the front passenger seat while Angel and Bishop shared the back. I made sure to move the mirror so I could see her, not Bishop.

At least there was a space between them, so they weren’t on top of each other in the back.

Now that Angel had turned down his offer to carry her heels, Bishop spoke, “I’m surprised you didn’t tell us to find another way home. Those girls were all over you, Priest.” As if it was necessary—which it wasn’t—he added, “I think this is the first time ever we’re actually going home together at the same time.”

That was meant for Angel to hear, I bet. Don’t worry. I knew the perfect way to get him back.

Bishop had a thing for Angel. It was obvious as hell. Even if the whole hand-on-the-waist thing didn’t happen, it’d still be obvious. The way he looked at her, especially when she wasn’t paying attention, how he practically jumped up to do whatever she wanted, offering to carry her freaking heels… and that said nothing about the way he talked to her. When he was talking to Angel, his voice got softer, gentler. He transformed into a whole different person.

As I drove us home, the last thing on my mind were the two chicks who’d glommed onto me all night. The city streets were pretty empty, so it didn’t take long to reach the Redborne’s parking garage. During the day, the Redborne had a valet, but after midnight and before six-thirty in the morning, it became your job to park your car and fetch it if you needed it.

I pulled into my parking spot, lucky sixty-nine, and turned my car off. Everyone got out, and I shit you not, it was like fate: Angel stepped on a rock with her bare feet and winced. She sighed and was about to slip on her heels again, but that’s when I noticed the skin on the backs of her heels had gotten rubbed raw from the shoes.

She must not be used to wearing heels like that.

That’s when I knew what I had to do. I’d help Angel and make a point to Bishop.

I hurried around my vehicle, and before Angel could slip on her heels, I scooped her up. Like, literally scooped her up in my arms. One arm under the crook of her knees, and the other around her back. She was so caught off-guard by my act of scooping that she let out a gasp and stared at me with wide eyes.

“What are you—” she started to say, while Bishop only glared. Deacon was too busy minding his drunk self to really pay attention to what was going on. Angel held onto her heels with a tight grip, and she struggled in vain for me to put her down.

“Your feet hurt,” I said, starting the walk away from my car while carrying her. “And if my angel is in pain, I will do whatever I can to alleviate it.” She weighed next to nothing. Or maybe my strength was just that great. Either way, I could easily carry her all the way up to our suite without breaking a sweat.

And this time Bishop could be the jealous one.

“I can walk myself,” Angel was busy saying, but I heard none of it. Bishop didn’t go to argue with me, probably because arguing with me would mean he’d be arguing for Angel to walk on her injured feet, and that’d be an asshole move.

“A good prince never puts his princess in danger, and that includes from her own two feet,” I proclaimed loudly as we walked through the parking garage, toward the elevator that would take us to the lobby. From there, we’d have to hop out and get on one of the other elevators that took you up.

Angel stopped struggling to stare at me. “You’re a prince now? Since when?”

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