Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(106)

“You said people were sending you stuff? What stuff?” Rachel sat up straight and clapped her hands. “Oh, I’m so excited to show you this part.” Giggling, maybe glad that I wasn’t going to go off on her or anything, she headed over to a section entitled “Videos.” I scrunched my face, confused. The band hadn’t made any videos. At least, none that I’d seen.

Running past a few, she settled on a thumbnail of the boys on stage.

As she started playing the video, I laughed a little. It definitely wasn’t a professionally done video, more like something a fan had created on their cell phone. Slightly wobbly and almost overpowered by the sound of screaming nearby, it looked to be taken from a recent show. Rachel confirmed that when she said that the footage was dated a couple of weeks ago.

Jenny giggled and leaned in, her eyes focused on her man in the back banging away on his drums. Rachel sighed happily as she watched Matt stringing through his guitar so fast that you could barely register his fingers moving. And my eyes were glued on Kellan. It seemed a lifetime ago that I’d watched him perform onstage. Truly, it had only been three months, halfway through our allotted separation, but it seemed much, much longer.





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Leaning back on a hip, I sighed again, but contently this time.

Wherever this had been filmed, Kellan commanded the stage with his presence. Just like when he did it here, on our comparatively smaller stage, he seemed completely comfortable, perfectly at home. It was still miraculous to me.

Not thinking about what I was doing, I leaned into Denny’s side. He straightened, and took a half-step away from me. I muttered sorry, but he wasn’t looking at me, his eyes were glued on Kellan too. I had no idea how he felt, watching the man he’d lost me to, thriving in his chosen profession.

Pushing it from my head, I turned back to Kellan strutting across the stage, belting out lyrics as he interacted with the crowd—reaching out for them or playfully holding a hand to his ear. I swear he even winked at a couple of people. I tried to ignore the twinge in my stomach.

When the song ended, I wanted to clap along with the crowd. They’d all done so great, not that I’d really been concerned that they wouldn’t—the guys always did great—but it was nice to see that the constant traveling, and the tiredness that can come with it, hadn’t hampered their talent at all.

Just when I started to ask Rachel how many more videos there were, and if I could borrow her computer over my dinner break, the cell camera focused on Kellan. I stopped talking, staring at the image of him, so close, yet so far away. Smiling to the crowd, he thanked them all, bowed and then blew out a kiss. He twisted to head off the stage and the fan recording the footage followed his progress. Apparently the fan found Kellan the most appealing one to watch.

Just as Kellan started to round a corner that must have led to a behind the scenes area, a woman darted out from around the corner first.

She startled me, showing up on the screen like that, but Kellan didn’t react to her appearance at all. Like he knew she’d be there. He only smiled at her, his grin a breathtaking one. As I felt all of the blood draining from my body, I watched Kellan playfully grab both of her elbows.

Shaking his head, his face still showing nothing but joy, he animatedly said something to her.





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The statuesque woman smiled back at him and nodded, her face equally joyful. She wasn’t what I expected a band-following groupie to look like. She seemed high class, well put together, with dark ebony hair in a loosely held back bun and clothes that screamed money. She had creamy, mocha skin, with perfect bone structure beneath it and lips that were undeniably full and soft. She was…gorgeous. Model gorgeous.

Celebrity gorgeous. Halle Berry gorgeous. Squinting my eyes, I wondered for a second if maybe it was Halle Berry? Wouldn’t that just be my luck? If he’d hooked up with an A-list actress already.

Just as she twisted her face and I saw enough of it to know that it wasn’t the actress, Kellan leaned into her ear. I had no idea if he was leaning in to tell her something, or if he was leaning in to nibble on it.

And I couldn’t tell what happened next, since the video shut off. The screen now back to the tiny thumbnail of the band, I blinked. Did I really just see what I think I saw? I didn’t want to believe it, but it had looked…suspicious. Then there was that odd text over Christmas that he wouldn’t let me read. He’d said it was from Griffin. Was it?

Anger boiling in my stomach, I pointed to the computer. “Could you…play that last part again please?” I asked, my voice short and tight.

Rachel tucked her hair behind her ears repeatedly. “Kiera, I’m sorry.

That one just came in…I was so excited to show you guys, I hadn’t watched it all the way through yet.”

Glaring at her, even though I didn’t mean to, I snapped, “Play it again, Rachel.” Calming myself, since I really didn’t know what I was seeing, I added, “Please.”

I felt Denny put a hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t look at him. I was sure he wouldn’t gloat, but I wasn’t equally sure that he wasn’t that surprised. Maybe I’d been dreaming about having a monogamous relationship with Kellan. Maybe that just wasn’t possible. Closing my eyes tight, I shook my head. No, I couldn’t leap to conclusions without talking to him. I couldn’t condemn him without letting him fail first. Isn’t that what I’d convinced my dad?