Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(125)

Shaking his head, Kellan turned around and forcefully pushed open the door to the exit. Sighing again, I slowly followed him.

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19





Chapter


Okay


There was a flurry of activity in the parking lot when I got out there.

Guys were loading the vans and busses, band members were hanging around, talking about the show. Even some stray fans were hanging around. I didn’t see my sister and Griffin anywhere, but Evan had stopped Kellan halfway to the bus, and was handing him his guitar as they talked for a moment.

By the time I caught up to Kellan, he didn’t seem peeved anymore. He smiled over at me and grabbed my hand. Evan clapped his shoulder and darted onto the bus after Matt.

As all the other guys started loading onto the busses, I looked up at Kellan. “Are you leaving?”

He looked down at me and shrugged. “Yeah.” He pointed over to a bright-eyed bus driver drinking a very large cup of coffee. “They rotate the drivers so someone is always ready to go. Since we can sleep in the busses, we don’t stay in one place unless we’ve got another show nearby.” He tilted his head at me. “Our next one’s in Reno.” Pausing, Kellan raised an eyebrow at me. “You could come with? Catch a flight home from there?”

Slinging his guitar over his shoulder, he laced his arms around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his, smiling at the thought of a very long bus ride with him. Then I frowned, considering the logistics of it all, plus the roundtrip ticket burning a hole through my duffel bag. “I already have a ticket home, and it’s from here…” I shrugged, hating that I couldn’t be as impulsive as my sister. She wouldn’t think twice about hopping on a bus to destinations unknown.

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Kellan pursed his lips, thinking. “Well, what if I get you a ticket from Reno to here?” He leaned into me, grinning mischievously. “Then you could still use your ticket.”

I leaned up and kissed his chin, glad that he wasn’t too angry over my admission that I hadn’t really trusted him. “I don’t want you to spend your money on me, Kellan.”

He leaned back and shrugged. “Who else am I going to spend it on?” Shaking his head, he added, “Besides, this would be for me.” Pulling me close, he rested his head against mine. “I want some more time with you.”

Sighing contently, I conceded. “Alright, but only if Anna goes too. I don’t want to leave her alone here.”

Kellan grinned and started leading me toward the bus. “I’m sure she’s attached to Griffin as we speak.” I cringed, knowing that was probably correct…in every sense.

And sure enough, when we hopped back on the bus, the sounds of someone having a good time drifted back to us. I flushed instantly; Kellan only grinned and shook his head. As the sound of something vibrat-ing mixed in with clear sounds of approval, I closed my eyes, horrified, remembering all of the…toys…Anna had packed.

Leading me to an empty seat where he’d tossed my bag earlier, Kellan set his guitar down and nodded towards the curtained area. “I could go get my Discman, if you don’t want to listen to them?” I grabbed his arm, embarrassed for Anna, even though she probably wouldn’t have cared if he walked in on them. “No!” Chuckling, Kellan sat on the same side of the table as me and grabbed my hand. “It’s okay, they’re probably in the back bedroom.” I looked over at him and frowned. “There’s a back bedroom?” He hadn’t seemed to be leading me that way earlier?

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Kellan twisted his lips as he tilted his head. “Yeah…Griffin’s kind of taken it over though, so I figured you wouldn’t want to…hang out in there.”

I twisted my lips at just the thought of doing anything remotely intimate near places Griffin…laid in. “Yeah, no thanks.” The driver hopped on the bus, taking a count of his rock stars. Frowning as he clearly heard what we all heard, the paunchy man sighed and said, “Alright, which one’s back there? I don’t want to have to go look…again.”

A cluster of boys shifted their attention from the back of the bus to glance up at the driver. Laughing, one of them replied with, “It’s just Griffin back there.”

The bus driver rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Why am I not surprised?” Sighing, he headed to the driver’s chair; it was plush, more fitted for steering a sleek spacecraft than a bus. As he started it, the rumble of the engine helped to block out my sister’s cries for more, but not nearly enough.

Hating all of the boys listening to her, their eyes staring through the heavy fabric like they’d all developed the ability to see through it, I twisted to Kellan. He wasn’t looking, but his head was down and he was smiling to himself. Hoping he wasn’t envisioning what every other horny guy on the bus was probably envisioning, I muttered, “Are you mad at me?”

Looking over at me, his small smile faded and he shook his head. His finger came up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear as he quietly said,

“No, I’m not.” Sighing, he searched my eyes. “I get it, Kiera. I get why you’d have doubts, I get why you’d question…” Closing his eyes for a second, he looked down at our hands resting between us. “I wish…” Not finishing that, he looked back up at me. “It’s okay, I get it, and I’m not mad.”