Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(128)

Swallowing, he nodded. “Okay,” he whispered, and it broke my heart.

Kellan and I cuddled a lot and kissed a lot, but we didn’t talk a lot after that. I felt a gap between us, and I hated leaving him with a wedge there, scared that it would only be driven deeper if we were apart. But he wasn’t opening up to me, and I couldn’t open up to him. There was no way around it but for one of us to cave, and I knew that neither of us would…not in the short time we had.

Sometime after I’d fallen asleep last night, Kellan had arranged a flight for Anna and me. When the bus finally arrived at its destination, Kellan arranged for a car to pick us all up later in the afternoon, just so we could spend as much time together as possible. Surprisingly, when it was time to go, Griffin came out to the airport to see us off. I wanted to take that as a good sign, but really, Griffin could’ve just wanted to get away for a moment.

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Saying goodbye in the drop-off area, I searched Kellan’s face, silently begging him to talk to me, and equally terrified that he would. Cupping my face, he kissed each cheek, then rested his head against mine. “Don’t be mad about the flight,” he murmured.

I gave him a sullen expression as I glanced at the departure board behind him. He’d booked us tickets straight back to Seattle, making my roundtrip ticket from Boise pretty much worthless. Shrugging at my expression, he smiled. “You have to work tonight. You don’t want to have to mess around with a layover.”

I sighed, knowing he was right. Shaking my head, I kissed him. “I know…thank you.”

Kissing me back, he muttered, “Worth every penny.” Pulling back from him, ignoring Anna and Griffin molesting each other beside us, I tilted my head. “Kellan…?”

He raised his eyebrows, looking a little nervous and very reluctant.

“Yeah?”

I almost put my hand out and asked for his phone. I wanted to. Especially when it had chirped this morning as we were eating breakfast.

He’d ignored it, like he always did, and it drove me crazy, like it always did. But prying through his phone was not the girlfriend that I wanted to be. I’d asked him to believe in me, I’d have to do the same.

Exhaling slowly as I shook my head, I whispered, “I’ll miss you.” He smiled, looking relieved. “I’ll miss you too. I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

I nodded, giving him a final kiss before heading to the gate. Kellan waved as I walked down the hall, dragging my sister with me. Twisting around as the boys disappeared, Anna giggled and leaned into my side.

“See, Kiera, I told you that would be a blast!” I contained the frustrated sigh I wanted to make. It had been many things, some good, some bad, but none of it was what I’d refer to as a 359



blast. Well, maybe the concert part…that had been a lot of fun. And holding Kellan, kissing him, falling asleep with him, smelling his scent again…that had been fun too.

Smiling up at her, I nodded. “Yeah, you were right. It was…a blast, Anna.”

She giggled almost the entire way home.

I was a little melancholy after my adventure with Anna to Boise, thinking about how long Kellan was going to be gone, wondering just what he was keeping from me, wondering how to tell him what I was keeping from him.

Denny, still attentive, even though he had no reason to be, noticed.

Sipping on a green beer, green in honor of today’s Irish holiday, St.

Patrick’s Day, Denny watched me during my shift, concern clear in his warm eyes. It had been two weeks since I’d left Kellan’s side, two weeks without any clear answer from him on what he was doing. And Kellan hadn’t asked again about what I was doing either. He understood that if I was going to open my door for him, he’d have to open his door for me.

And he didn’t seem to want to do that.

Sighing as I cleaned off an already-clean table, I felt Denny step up behind me. Looking back at him, dressed in his very debonair work clothes, I watched him look up to where Poetic Bliss was performing on the D-Bag’s stage. “It’s strange, isn’t it? Having someone else play up there?”

I smiled and glanced up to the stage, watching Tuesday jam out a solo on her guitar. Tuesday…ridiculous name. “Yeah, it’s definitely…odd.”

“You alright, Kiera? You’ve seemed down since your trip. Something happen in Boise?” Denny looked back at me and raised his eyebrows, holding my gaze.

I bit my lip and looked down at the table. No one else had asked me about my mood. No one else had even noticed, not even Jenny. Of course, she’d missed the impromptu trip and had been a little sullen 360



about the whole thing. It had surprised me a little, since Jenny was so easygoing about everything, but she missed Evan as much as I missed Kellan, so I understood her being a little snippy…even though I apologized for not inviting her every chance that I got.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe…”

I looked back up at him, at his bunched brows and the honest concern in his features. “You want to talk about it?” he asked softly, just over the volume of the music.

Knowing I really didn’t have anyone else at the moment to talk about it with, I nodded. “Want to come over after my shift?” Denny smiled softly and nodded. “Sure. I’ll meet you over there. I’m sure everything will be fine, Kiera.” He patted my shoulder before turning and walking away.