Page 51 of Ticket to the Stars: Part Two

I didn’t know him, and I only knew what the headlines had said about why he’d been booted from the label for personal conduct, but I did know that sticking around and stalking me, saying all these things to me right now… it didn’t look good. It made him look really, really bad.

So I told him the truth. I told him what I thought, even though he probably wouldn’t care. “I think you need to move on.”

The way he stared at me made me want to shrink away and hide, but I stood strong, refusing to be cowed by him. He might’ve been older than the others by a year or two, but he was no man. No, if anything, Pope was still a boy.

And I would not be intimidated by a boy.

Pope was before me in an instant, hissing out a venomous, “Fuck you. Who the fuck do you think you are—” His hands flexed at his sides. He stood less than a foot away from me, towering over me, an ugly look on his face. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to put his hands on me or not, but I stood strong.

I heard shouting in the hall, and both our heads turned toward the door. Whoever it was, they were a saving grace, helping me diffuse this situation.

Pope narrowed his eyes at me, and as the scuffle in the hall grew louder, he leaned down and whispered, “You’relucky someone’s here to get us out of here, otherwise… let’s just say you wouldn’t like being trapped in here with me.”

I really hated that he was Deacon’s brother. Deacon could get in moods, but Pope was downright awful. So mean and vicious and cruel, with the way threats could roll off his tongue as if he was just asking about the weather.

Everything that happened next happened fast. The people in the hall yelled about opening the door, which we obviously couldn’t do. Then those people started hitting something heavy on the door, busting the thing off its hinges. A swarm of men in uniform raced in—one of them actually tackled Pope to the floor and put him in handcuffs.

What the hell was going on?

Chapter Twenty – Priest

Once we got the call, we raced downstairs. Ironically, she was only two floors down. Right under our noses. She’d had to use an officer’s phone to call us and let us know where she was and that she was all right, because her phone had been left in her dressing room last night. It was sitting in her bedroom, waiting for her to come back.

The police had gotten involved when none of us could find her. It was a suspected kidnapping. Strangely enough, whoever had done it knew exactly where the stadium’s cameras were, because they avoided them all.

Our angel was kidnapped and held right under our noses. It definitely ticked me off.

We went down the stairwell so we wouldn’t have to wait for an elevator. The hall was crowded with officers talkingto each other, and when they saw us, they stepped aside and let us through.

They’d know now, who we were. Hopefully none of them were on the music scene and gave a shit. If that was the case, none of them might even know we had secret identities.

An officer led us into the suite, past a busted-down door. “She says she’s uninjured. She refused EMT services. She wanted to wait to give her statement until she saw you three.” An older gentleman, he was clearly sizing us up as he spoke, one of his hands hooked through his utility belt.

The officer led us to where Angel was sitting, looking quite zoned out, on a couch. She was still wearing the same white dress she was supposed to wear on stage last night.

On stage, where we performed without her while telling the crowd she was sick, when in reality she’d been kidnapped. I still couldn’t believe it. This was some crazy shit.

“Angel,” Bishop breathed out her name as he sat beside her and swept her into a hug. She blinked, and then she must’ve realized we were there for her, because together, with Bishop’s help, she got to her feet and turned to hug me and then Deacon.

“What the hell happened?” Deacon asked.

Angel looked like she’d seen a ghost, paler than usual. She glanced at the cop who’d brought us in and asked quietly, “Can you give us a minute?”

The officer didn’t appear as if he wanted to, but in the end, he heaved a sigh and wandered away, giving us a semblance of privacy in the suite. All the others were in the hall, so, barring the busted-down door, we were as alone as we could be.

Bishop and Deacon took up the spots on her left and right as she sat down and ran her hands along the short length of her dress. I stood in front of her, my arms folded over my chest, a sinking feeling in my gut.

Whatever she was going to say, it couldn’t be good. It had to be bad. What else could weigh her down like this?

Besides a traumatizing kidnapping experience, that was.

A minute passed. None of us prodded her for information. She’d tell us on her own time. I had to imagine the whole ordeal had been stressful beyond belief. She had to have known she was in the Redborne, and knowing she was so close to us this whole time while we were looking everywhere for her, while we were waiting for her to miraculously come home…

Fuck. It was too much. I’d never known what being helpless felt like until last night. It wasn’t a feeling I ever wanted to have again.

“They arrested Pope,” Angel whispered.

“They… they what? Pope? What does he have to do with this?” It was Bishop who asked, but then he must’ve come to his own conclusions, because he added, “Shit. Don’t tell me he’s the one who did this.”

---