Page 32 of Ticket to the Stars: Part One

“You are! You have to. You have to kiss them all and make them all your boyfriends. Then you can have your own reverse harem, and make mom understand it, so then when I get older, I can bring home three boyfriends at once, too.”

The more my little sister talked, the more I couldn’t believe it. The more I couldn’t believe her. I mean… what drug was my sister on? This was… this was so out of the blue, I was speechless for a good minute.

“Reverse harem?” I repeated.

“Yeah, you know, why choose? Like those books where the main girls get all the cute guys.”

I squinted. What kind of books was my little sister reading? I’d ask what friend of hers had introduced her to the idea of a reverse harem, but given the fact that my little sister was a freaking prodigy when it came to certain things, my money was on her stumbling across the books herself somewhere online.Fanfic or something.

It took me a while to gather my thoughts. “So, you want me to kiss them so I can date them, and you only want that so I can bring them all home and show Mom that you can have multiple boyfriends at once… just soyoucan have more than one boyfriend when you get older?”

“Uh, yeah. What’s so hard to get about that?”

After living with Cleo for eleven years, after watching her grow up into a rambunctious kid who hardly ever listened, you’d think I wouldn’t be surprised.

You’d be wrong.

“Tell me you didn’t send in a video of me singing just because you wanted me to date the entire band,” I whispered.

Cleo gave me another grin. “It’s a funny story, isn’t it?” When my mouth dropped open in shock once again, she added in a hurry, “I didn’t think you’d really win. I mean, you have a good voice, but there were thousands of other entries. What were the odds?”

What were the odds? What were the freaking odds. Yeah, apparently the odds were pretty damn high. Like, one hundred percent, because here I was, on a mission to gain three famous boyfriends so I could pave the way for my little sister to have her own harem of boys.

Or, at least that’s what my little sister wanted me to do.

“Cleo, I’m not—”

“Oh, Mom’s calling me, got to go, bye!” She flashed me one last toothy grin before ending the call, and I sat there for a while, both aghast and stunned after that whole conversation.

She was insane. She was absolutely, one hundred and ten percent insane. Even if Ramona hadn’t warned me off these guys, I wouldn’t want to date any of them. Not the playboy Priest, not the rude and mean Deacon, and definitely not Bishop—the boy from my childhood who didn’t remember me at all.

No. Why in the world would I want to date the three of them, let alone just one? Kissing them was out of the question for the exact same reason.

My phone rang right after, and I thought it was maybe my mom calling back, but I saw Ramona’s name flashing on the screen, so I answered it, “Hello?” My mind still spun with everything Cleo had said, but I tried to push everything away and focus on the reason Ramona was calling.

“Angel. An appointment just opened up today. If you’re ready, I can pick you up in thirty minutes and take you,” Ramona cut straight to the point… although I didn’t know what point that was, because I didn’t know what appointment she was talking about.

“Appointment?” I echoed.

“Yeah. I told you before I wanted to get you on something so we don’t have to worry about your—” Her normally strong, brash voice lowered a bit as she finished, “Periods. Trust me, that’s one thing you don’t want to have to deal with while traveling and doing shows.”

I was almost one hundred percent certain she’d never mentioned that to me, but then again, maybe she had, and I’d been too mortified to really tune into the conversation. Maybe it’d been a one-sided thing.

She was right, though. Traveling and putting on shows and even recording… none of that would be easier while dealing with a period, so it was best to get a handle on it now so my body could get used to it.

I guess.

“Oh, okay, yeah.” I swallowed hard, feeling awkward talking about this with someone I didn’t really know.

“Great. I’ll pull up to the Redborne in thirty minutes. Be in the lobby.” And then she hung up without saying anything else. That woman was all business all the time, but I guess that’s what made her so good at her job.

I wondered what Black Sacrament was paying her, if she got a cut of every single check. Either way, she earned it.

It was about two in the afternoon. Priest had gone to workout at the Redborne’s gym on the second floor. Deacon was locked away in his room, doing something with his drums, if the beat coming through his door said anything. I walked down the hall and found Bishop sitting on the couch in the living room area, a guitar in his hands.

He was playing a gentle melody—something Black Sacrament wasn’t known for—but he stopped when he saw me. A smile slowly spread on his lips, two dimples gracing his cheeks in what must’ve been one of the cutest smiles ever.

I wished he remembered me.

---