Page 38 of Ticket to the Stars: Part Two

A weird analogy, but whatever. I decided to tell him what I’d told the others in the beginning: “I didn’t ask for any of this. Heck, I didn’t even send in my own video. My sister did, so before you start to think you have me all figured out, maybe you need to check yourself.”

Wow, Alexa would be proud of me for that snark.

“And as for your brother,” I told him, “I care about him. I’d never lead him on or hurt him.”

“I want to believe you. I want to believe everything you’re saying, but if there’s one thing years in the spotlight has taught me, it’s that you can never trust anyone, especially not someone who’s new to all of this. You don’t know the games people play.”

My comeback was ready instantly: “And what game are you playing?”

Pope huffed, his lips curling into a frown. He really was a good-looking guy. He had the chiseled, square features Deacon had, only he was a year older—but he looked older than twenty-two. Years of hard partying tended to do that to you.

And then it hit me, the reason why Pope wanted to talk to me so badly. “You want back in. All this time, and you thought you’d be able to come back.”

He scowled, mimicking the look his brother often wore. He bared his teeth to me, like he was some sort of dog, an animal protecting its territory, and he leaned forward, dropping his voice low to whisper, “I just want you to know that whatever you think you have is temporary. This world will eat you up and spit you out, and by the time it’s done, you won’t recognize yourself. Is that really what you want?”

Trying to play on a fear of change, perhaps? A fear of the unknown? Joke was on him. I’d always dreamed of a life in the limelight. Was this what I thought it’d be or how I’d make it big? No. No, it wasn’t, but now that things were rolling, I was happy—happy with the state of things, happy with my three boyfriends, and happy that Pope was no longer in the picture.

“Maybe it changed you,” I said, “but I’m not you.”

Pope sneered. “You think you’re better than me or something? Is that it? Please.”

“That’s the difference between someone like you and someone like me. You think you’re better than other people, but that’s not ever a thought I’d have. Not everyone is like you. Now,” I got up, leaving my untouched coffee on the table, “I think I’m done with this conversation.” Heck, I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to see or talk to Pope at all.

I started to walk around the table, toward the exit of the outside seating area. A small iron fence sat between the outside cafe and the sidewalk. The sound of a chair scraping against the concrete ground filled my ears moments beforea firm hand grabbed my wrist and stopped me from walking away.

As I whipped my head back to glare at him, Pope towered over me. He wasn’t quite as tall as, say, Priest, but he was hand-in-hand, height-wise, the same as Deacon. It was enough of a difference to make me feel small.

“If I were you,” he whispered as he loomed over me, pure, unadulterated venom in his voice, “I’d be very careful from now on. The next time you have a stalker, he might not be so nice.”

It only took me a second to realize his words were threatening. I didn’t have any smart remarks to say back to him; I could only stare at him and wonder when the next time I’d see him would be, and if he’d try to do something bad, like hurt me.

I didn’t know Pope, but the aura radiating around him was a dangerous one.

Pope flashed me a smile before he let me go, but it was more like a flashing of fang and a show of teeth than an actual smile. The kind of expression a predator would use when it was warning off something encroaching on its territory.

I didn’t stay one second longer than I had to. As soon as I was free, I booked it back to the Redborne, and all the while my heart beat so fast I thought it might just pop right out of my chest. My palms were clammy, and I felt like I wanted to be sick.

I hadn’t told anyone about the guy staring at me after I’d gotten my hair done, because I thought it was all in my head. Now that I knew who it was, and that it was most definitelynotall in my imagination, I didn’t know what to do.

One thing was for sure: I couldn’t keep this to myself. I had to tell somebody. But who?

If I told Ramona, what would she do? Could she get me a restraining order against Pope or something? Would Pope even follow a restraining order?

If I told the guys, what could they do? They could offer to protect me from Pope, but would they even believe he’d threatened me? I didn’t know if my heart could take it if they didn’t believe me.

I didn’t know what to do, but as I hurried through the Redborne’s grand front vestibule, I knew I had to tell someone. My feet drew me deeper into the lobby, and I made a beeline to the lounge on the side, where red, velvety furniture was situated—a place I hadn’t seen anyone hang out, but that worked for me today.

This conversation… I didn’t want to have it in the suite upstairs, mostly because I didn’t want to tell all of the guys. Just one, and I’d leave it up to him to decide what to do next, since Pope was his brother.

I texted Deacon and told him to meet me in the lobby downstairs, that there was something I needed to talk to him about. Alone. He responded that he’d be downstairs in a few minutes, and that left me to wait.

I guess going for walks anywhere in the city was out. No matter what time of day it was, it seemed I attracted the wrong kind of attention regardless.

In less than five minutes, Deacon was walking out of the elevator. He spotted me and headed straight for me. His long black hair was messy, drawn into a low, loose ponytail, the shorter bits had escaped and now framed his square jaw. Even now, he looked like a rock star, all gruff and uncaring what other people thought about him.

He chose the velvet chair beside mine, his green eyes on me as he said, “What’s up?” I must’ve looked a little off, because after another moment, he added, “You okay?” His voice was naturally low, just like Pope’s, but unlike when I first met him, there was no underlying venom in it.

I could see how they were brothers, and because they were brothers, I was hoping that meant Deacon would know what to do here.

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