Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(139)

I put my hand on her thigh right as Jenny asked, “You okay, Anna?” My sister nodded, not looking up at the artist. “Yeah, that’s just…really good, Jenny.”

The perky blonde beamed at Anna’s awed face. “Thanks! I’m glad you like it so much. Do you want it?”

Anna finally glanced up at her, her eyes getting thicker by the second.

“You’d give it to me?”

Jenny shrugged, tearing it off the paper stand. “Yeah, I was just goof-ing around.” Rolling it up, she handed it to Anna. “Here, since it moves you so much, you should have it.”

Anna took it with trembling fingers. I thought she might break down into a sobbing, hysterical, hormonal mess, but swallowing a few times, she managed to wrangle in her mood and smile at Jenny. “Thank you, I really like it.”

Leaning close to my sister, I quietly asked her if she was okay.

390



She nodded. “Yeah.” Looking me in the eyes, she jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I’m not feeling so hot. I think I’m going to go home and crash.”

I nodded at her and patted her shoulder. As she left, Kate bunched her brows together, her topaz eyes seeming a little confused. “Is your sister…alright?”

Thinking about the look on her face as she’d stared at Jenny’s infants, I smiled. “Yeah, yeah I think she’ll be just fine.” Since the lot of us didn’t have anything to do until work later tonight, we headed over to one of my favorite coffee spots. Since Anna had banned the substance from our home, I’d started going out to get it. It was a heck of a lot more expensive, but I was a fulltime student with a fulltime job. Smart or not, I needed all the help I could get.

Kate, Jenny and I sat in a booth in the back, since we planned on hanging out here for a while. Rachel joined our group after Jenny texted her, and the party of four quickly turned into a gossip session about boys. Kate especially stroked the conversation, wanting to hear all about our loves, since she still didn’t have one.

Biting my lip, I thought about mine. I thought about Kellan and the thing he was hiding from me. He’d almost told me a couple of times, and that last time, the time before our intimate session over the phone, he’d been choked up over how to do it.

His words flew through my brain as Rachel quietly admitted that Matt was an excellent kisser.

God, this is hard…

Kellan’s words mixed with Denny’s warning in my brain and ice formed in my stomach.

If you think he’s cheating on you, Kiera…then he probably is…

Finally getting a chance to think about it, now that the stress with my sister was on a back burner for a moment, I considered all of the 391



conversations with Kellan recently. While always sounding glad to talk to me, and always eager to try and turn me on, he also seemed…worn, tired, like he was carrying a weight with him.

I didn’t know what that meant, but my heart told me it wasn’t good.

My heart told me he’d fallen for someone else, and he didn’t know how to tell me. I understood how it could happen…it had happened to me after all, but it killed me that he was stringing me along, biding his time to rip my heart out. Like Denny must have thought at some point, it would just be better if he told me…better to know, than constantly wonder.

Feeling a well of despair start to creep up on me, I stared at my creamy coffee and ignored the conversations flowing around me. A chin on my shoulder brought me back to the present. Tilting her head at me, Jenny asked, “You alright? You sort of look like your sister did earlier.” I glanced at Rachel and Kate, the pair deep in a conversation about who Kate could start seeing. Looking back at Jenny, I worried my lip and considered what I should say to her. She’d just seen the guys. Had she noticed anything? Had Evan said anything?

Curiosity burning holes in my stomach, I finally asked, “When you were out visiting the boys…how was Kellan?” Jenny blinked, not expecting my question. “Uh, fine, I guess. Why?” Looking back down, I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just feel like he…wants to tell me something…”

“Maybe you’re just deferring your own guilt?” I looked back at her after her comment and she raised a pale eyebrow.

“You know, because you haven’t told him about Denny being in town…right?” Shaking her head, she added, “I’m guessing that he knows nothing about how much time the two of you spend together.” I sighed, shaking my head. “No, I haven’t told him yet, but I will, I just…” My eyes watered on me and Jenny’s disapproving scowl faded.

“I need to know what he’s hiding first,” I whispered.

392



Jenny’s face softened as she put an arm around me. “Hey, it’s okay, Kiera. I mean, I didn’t notice anything suspicious, and Evan would have told me if Kellan was…doing anything wrong.” I swallowed, secretively wiping my eyes. Glancing at the pair across from us, still deep in their own conversation, I muttered, “Kellan’s good at hiding things if he needs to…Evan had no idea about the two of us, remember?”

Sighing, Jenny pulled me into her shoulder. “Yeah, but Kellan is so in love with you…he wouldn’t cheat on you.” She whispered it, but I felt like it crashed around the room.