Page 30 of Ticket to the Stars: Part One

Thankfully, Bishop didn’t say anything. It was a good thing he didn’t, because I had no idea what I’d tell him. I went to my room, shut the door, and headed to the bathroom, where I stripped down and hopped in the shower.

I wasn’t one of those people who could crawl into bed after a long day and fall asleep. I needed to rinse the day off. Clean body, clean sheets. The only time I wanted dirty sheets was after a long session of fucking.

The hot water pelted my back, and I stood there, arms outstretched, hands splayed on the tile, wondering what tonight was about. I mean, what the actual fuck was wrong with me? I barely knew Angel. Getting jealous over the fact that Bishop had a hand on her, that she seemed to pay more attention to him than to me…

It was stupid. Childish. Ridiculous in every way. I knew that, and yet that didn’t stop me from feeling this way.

Carrying her up here was supposed to be an alpha move, a way to show Bishop he wasn’t the only one that could get close to her if he wanted, but I think the whole thing had backfired on me, because now all I could think about was how soft her skin was.

Was every inch of her body that soft?

I ran a hand over my face. Shit, no. I wasn’t supposed to think about that. Angel was a bandmate. Bandmates were off-limits. Ramona had told us that herself.

Maybe it was the fact that I’d been told I couldn’t have her, so I automatically wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anyone in my entire life. Yeah, that had to be it.

Angel being gorgeous didn’t help at all, nor did her big, blue eyes. Knowing how soft her skin was would only drive me crazier—and that said nothing about the fact that she’d never had a boyfriend before.

Did that mean she was a virgin? Did that mean no guy had ever tasted the sweetness between her legs? There was something so satisfying and fulfilling about knowing you were the only one…

Of course, it was clear I wasn’t the only one for any of the girls I’d been with. And I’d been fine with that. I never minded. It just meant the chicks knew what to do, and that always made for a better time.

But Angel, God, everything was suddenly so mixed up. It was hard for me to think straight.

I finished washing up, though I mainly just rinsed off. After drying off, I crawled into bed. I’d grabbed my phone out of my pants. When I unlocked it, the screen was still on my phone’s contacts. I put in Tara’s number second, so her name sat at the top of the screen.

I could’ve had a wild night with those two, I just knew it. I could’ve stayed up all night with them, getting to know them each in the most intimate, primal way, and yet… it was so weird. The more I stared at her name on my phone, the more I didn’t want it on there at all.

My finger went to the tiny dots in the corner, hovering over it for a long while. I didn’t know what got into me. I didn’t know why my gut was telling me to do something I normally wouldn’t. It wasn’t like I was a new man with new wants and desires. I still wanted sex. I still loved attention from beautiful ladies. I…

I deleted Tara’s contact info, and then Hailee’s—and then I went and deleted a whole bunch of others.

I guess, maybe, I was turning over a new leaf, and there was only one possible reason why.

Chapter Fourteen – Angel

My mom’s face filled the screen. She got off her waitressing job a little earlier now to cook dinner and eat with Cleo before going in to stock shelves—I’d told my mom I’d be sending most of my money back home, but she kept telling me it was fine.

It was not fine. If I could make her life a little easier, that’s what I wanted to do.

“Cleo misses your cooking,” Mom spoke. From the background, it looked like she was sitting on the couch in the living room. “She says I’m not half as good as you.” Her dark blue eyes rolled. She’d changed out of her waitress uniform, wearing a baggy t-shirt. Her blond hair was in a bun, a few stray wisps framing her face.

I chuckled. “You’ll get there.”

“I’m glad you have faith in me, honey.” My mom waited a moment before asking, “How’s it going there? You haven’t really said much of anything. How are the guys you’re living with? They haven’t—”

“Mom, they’ve been fine. I’m fine,” I hurriedly told her. I was curled up on a chaise lounge near the window in my room, away from the closed door. I had the TV playing, so hopefully no one could hear the conversation if they were walking by in the hall.

It’d been two weeks since I’d moved in and my life had changed. Things had been… different. A little weird, but different. Not all bad, though. Bishop still didn’t remember me. Priest was, well, Priest, and Deacon pretended I didn’t exist most of the time.

Two weeks. Two weeks life had basically stood still while I tried getting used to the new hair, the new me, the new clothes, and the new roomies. Two weeks spent missing my family and my best friend—the latter of which I still messaged back and forth every day.

Alexa had started college, and they’d given her a different roomie. She didn’t hold back in telling me how much it sucked that I wasn’t there with her, and I couldn’t blame her for it. She wasn’t mad, not really, but she said it wasn’t the same.

And of course it wasn’t. Nothing was the same.

“I wish I could meet these guys in person. I don’t like that you’re living with multiple strangers. Just because Ramona said they’ll be on good behavior doesn’t mean they’ll always listen to her—”

Yeah, let’s just say I made a mistake by telling my mom what Ramona had told me about the off-limits thing. That particular conversation had sent my mom’s mind ablaze with all of the different—and equally horrible—possibilities of what could happen to me. What these guys could do to me.

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