Page 1 of Ticket to the Stars: Part Two

Chapter One – Priest

In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have kissed Angel on stage, in front of the crowd—some of whom were undoubtedly filming Black Sacrament’s triumphant return to the limelight. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let my jealousy over what I’d seen in her dressing room get to me.

But I just couldn’t help it. It was like something had taken hold of me and forced me to do it, like an invisible string kept pulling me back to her.

I didn’t want to like her. Hell no. I enjoyed the life I had before Angel was in the picture. I liked knowing first names only, no strings attached fuckings, and a relationship-free life. I’d never wanted to settle down… but then Angel came into the picture and made everything so much harder than it was before.

That night, everyone was tense. We went back to the Redborne, into our separate rooms, but I’d bet none of us got any sleep. I’d bet, for that matter, we were all wired.

The sad thing was, I was so focused on Angel and obsessing over those soft fucking lips, so caught up in wanting to feel them on me again that I didn’t even think too much about Deacon or what we’d learned tonight.

Deacon wanted to quit, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. After he got over himself, he’d realize that he couldn’t walk away from Black Sacrament any more than I could stop thinking about Angel and those ridiculously soft lips of hers.

Seriously, if Deacon kissed her, I’d bet he’d feel better.

Not that I was saying I’d be okay with Deacon kissing her, but… well, if she had to kiss someone else, I guess I’d rather it be Deacon or Bishop rather than some random dude from the street. I’d semi-bitterly share the girl I liked with my best friends.

Fuck. I had it bad for her. I’d had it bad for her this whole time. That’s what made it so hard to stay away from her these last few weeks, and what had made me so envious when I’d seen Bishop kissing her. I hadn’t heard what had led up to the kiss, but I did wonder.

I was up early the next morning, hitting the gym before anyone else left their room. I tried to let out some steam, but it didn’t work. Nothing I could do shut my mind off.Nothing I did pushed Angel out of my head. She was just there. She was there and she wasn’t going anywhere—and it was driving me crazy.

It was just after nine by the time I got back, and when I walked through the front door, I spotted Bishop making himself some coffee. He shot me a look over his shoulder, and that look hardened into a glare when I approached him. We hadn’t spoken a word more after Ramona had left my dressing room last night. He was mad. I couldn’t blame him, I guess.

I set my gym bag down on the island and leaned my forearms on the cold stone countertop. He’d turned his back to me. I was sweaty after my hour and a half long workout, but I didn’t want things to be like this between us, so even though I wanted to shower, I stayed right where I was.

“Can we talk?” I asked.

Bishop harrumphed, like he was an old guy or something.

I took it as an affirmative. “I know what I did last night was a little out of line.”

That got him to turn around to face me, the Keurig behind him just finishing his cup. “A little?” he echoed, eyebrows practically in the air. “We’re in a load of shit because of you. Ramona’s pissed. I’m pissed. Angel’s pissed. And Deacon wants to quit the band—”

Holding up a finger, I said, “To be fair, Deacon wanted to quit the bandbeforeI kissed Angel on stage last night.Everything else is my fault, but not that.” I realized now that wasn’t really a defense.

Bishop shook his head as he got his coffee mug. He set it on the island between us, his mouth tugged into a frown. Under his breath, he muttered, “I can’t believe she looked like she enjoyed kissing you.”

“She did?” That was news to me, mostly because I was, in that moment, too busy kissing her. I noticed Bishop’s scowl, and I wanted to make my buddy feel better, so I told him, “From what I saw, she enjoyed kissing you too.” I hated admitting that.

His finger tapped the handle on the mug. “I just can’t believe you kissed her weeks ago and never said a word. I can’t believe she didn’t say anything, either. Do you like her?”

“Do you?”

Bishop took a tiny sip. Instead of answering the question, he said something else, “I know her.”

That… wasn’t what I thought he’d say. I blinked. “You know her? What do you mean you know her?” The words were not computing in my head, and that was why I stared at him like he’d just sprouted a third arm in the center of his chest.

“From before,” he said. “Before I met you guys, when my parents were still together. We were friends. We hung out all the time. She lived right down the street from me. She’s the reason I got into music in the first place.”

Bishop never really talked about his childhood, so this was all news to me. “Why didn’t you say something before? Neither of you act like you know each other.”

“To you, or to her? I thought she didn’t remember. Why would I want to tell you and Deacon about a girl who didn’t remember me?” Bishop took another sip from his coffee mug. “Turns out, she does remember. She just didn’t say anything all this time because she thoughtIdidn’t remember.”

“Is that what you two were talking about before you sucked face?”

He shot me a glare, but that glare faded almost instantly as he said, “Yeah. Everything’s out in the open now. I just… I don’t want to be in a competition with you. We both know when it comes to girls, you always win.”

I do. I mean, I did. Past-tense. Right now, the last thing I could think about was other girls. The only one taking up space in my head was the girl down the hall. Things were different with her.

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