Page 8 of Ticket to the Stars: Part Two

Priest leaped to his feet and grabbed my wrist, stopping me from going anywhere. “No, hold on. I think we should all be on the same page.” He helped me sit back down, and then his tall frame hunched over to sit on the coffee table facing me. “Deacon too, since apparently he can’t keep his mouth off you, either.”

My cheeks burned at that. The way he was talking, it was like none of them could control themselves around me, which was just ridiculous.

“Bishop and I talked. Jealousy’s only going to tear us apart, so… what if we agreed not to get jealous? And by that I mean, if I want to kiss Angel, I can kiss her, but if you want to kiss her, or Bishop wants to kiss her, that’s okay too.” He was saying this to Deacon, acting like it was a totally normal thing to suggest.

And it most definitely wasn’t.

Deacon gave Priest a weird look. “What exactly are you saying? Because it kind of sounds like you’re suggesting we all date her at the same time.”

Priest blinked, and it took a moment for it to sink in. “That does sound like what I’m saying, doesn’t it?”

Bishop was busy shaking his head and burying his face in his hand while Deacon was flabbergasted. “Dude, you can’t even share your food. What makes you think you could share her?”

“First off, I have an issue with the food because we’re all adults here, so if you wanted what I got, then you should’ve ordered it, too. Second, I’ve shared girls before. Not in a long-term capacity, sure—more like the passing threesome or foursome, but how hard could it be?”

“The girl in question is right here,” I chimed in, and even though my cheeks were on fire, I tried to act annoyed. “Did anybody stop to wonder if I’d even want something like that? Maybe I think you’re all disgusting and I hate you—”

The look Priest gave me shut me up, and I squirmed a little as I corrected myself, “Okay, maybe I don’t hate any of you, but that doesn’t mean I want to get passed around like… like…” God, I couldn’t think of anything that got passed around.

Priest, however, could: “Like the last joint at a stoner party?”

“Or the last snack,” Deacon muttered under his breath, making Priest grin. For the first time, I was seeing why the two of them were friends. Underneath his stony cold, brooding exterior, he was just another guy.

They all were, even Bishop. They were hot, yes, and they looked even hotter all painted up and dressed for a show, but that didn’t mean I wanted to date them.

My sister’s stupid comment was coming to full fruition, and I wasn’t the one who made it a reality. Was Cleo some sort of prophet or something? She had to be, because this was absolutely insane.

“Whatever,” I said, “It doesn’t matter. Just because you guys might be okay with it doesn’t mean I am.”

“To be fair,” Bishop begrudgingly spoke as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I never explicitly said I was fine with it, either.”

Priest rolled his eyes. “Maybe I’m just trying to skip the boring middle part of it and jump right to the end where we all get what we want. Is that really so wrong? Am I wrong?” He divided up his time between staring at each of us, though he lingered on me the longest.

Probably because, if I wasn’t okay with it, then this was all pointless.

I… I’d never had one boyfriend. How could I possibly be okay with three? Then again, before this, I’d never kissed a boy, and now I’d kissed three—but just because Ikissedthem didn’t mean I wanted todatethem. Maybe I was just sampling the local flavor.

Okay, yeah, that sounded weird, even to me.

When I didn’t say a word, Priest asked, “Does that mean I’m wrong and you don’t like us?”

“So what if I do? That doesn’t mean I’m okay with dating all three of you—” I stopped once I realized what I’d said. I’d basically admitted that I did, in fact, like all three of them. At this point I was grasping at straws, and Priest knew it.

He gave me a lopsided smirk that made my stomach flutter. “Just admit it. It’s okay. You want to be our angel, offstage. It’s okay. It is.” Priest glanced at the others. “Tell her it’s okay.”

Deacon glowered. “I never said I was fine with this conversation you and Bishop had. Maybe you’re assuming too much—”

Priest clapped his hands to shut Deacon up. “We all like Angel, and our angel likes us. I don’t see what’s tripping any of you guys up here. We can be a power quad. It’ll be hot. Everyone will wish they were a part of it.”

A power quad? What in the world was Priest talking about? I gave him a funny look and muttered, “This is not happening. This… I need to go somewhere else and think.” I hated how much I tripped over my words, and I also hated how much I wanted to throw all caution to the wind and tell him he was right.

I liked them. I liked the fact that they liked me. I wanted them all.

But to date all of them at the same time? I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.

Could I?

Before I could say or do anything else, AKA before I made a bigger fool of myself in front of the three guys I had crushes on, I got up and went to my room. This time Priest didn’t stop me, thankfully. I didn’t know what I’d do if he pulled me back to the couch a second time. My willpower was already waning.

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