Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(159)

We said goodbye to each other and I hung up the phone. After taking a long, hot shower, I got dressed with some spare clothes that I kept at Kellan’s place. Sticking my fingers into the pockets of my jeans, I felt something in the bottom of one. Shaking my head, I pulled out a tiny scrap of notebook paper. On it, in Kellan’s surprisingly neat handwriting, was one last note.

‘ Remember today, that I love you.’

Smiling like an idiot, I shoved the memento back in my pocket, and finished getting ready for school.

So much had happened in the past few hours that doing something as mundane as going to a writing class felt sort of odd. My secret about Denny was out. Kellan’s secret about his dad was out. I was going to try trusting him with the assortment of floozies that seemed to hover around him, and he was going to trust me to be just friends with my ex.

It was sort of…epic…for us, and a huge step in the right direction.

Maybe it was too soon, but I felt good about our future. No, I felt great about it.

Skipping a little as I made my way to the door, I stopped and grabbed the Chevelle keys. Kellan had tossed them on the half-moon table that we’d often used as a dumping area for our various car keys when we’d all lived here together, ages ago.

Not having brought my schoolwork to Kellan’s last night, I locked up Kellan’s home, started Kellan’s car, and made my way back to my place.

Well, my place for now. I’d have to tell my sister that she’d have a room free for the baby. I wasn’t sure if that would make her decision on keeping the baby easier or not. She’d have more space, but she’d be on her own. Sort of. I’d never let her be truly alone.

She was in the kitchen when I opened our door. Having gathered her bravery, she was again reading through the book about pregnancy. The part she was reading must not have been too scary, she had a small smile on her face and a hand on her belly.

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Used to seeing her up at an earlier hour, since she’d started going to bed at a more respectable time, I smiled at her. “Hey, sis.” She glanced up from her book, small tears in her eyes. “Hey, Kiera.

Did you know that the baby is about the size of a grape, and she’s already forming fingers and toes?”

Walking up to glance at the book she was reading, I contained a smile.

“She?” I asked casually, catching the feminine pronoun.

Swishing her hand in the air, she raised an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, I’m having a girl.” She shook her head. “There’s just no way I’d put another Griffin on this earth.”

I let my smile show through, amused that she thought she had any say on the matter. I did hope she was right though. The firmness of her statement also made me happy. She’d said I’m having a girl. She’d personal-ized the pregnancy in a way that she hadn’t before. She was bonding with the baby growing in her belly. That was definitely a good thing.

Not saying anything that might sway her one way or the other, I grabbed my bag off of the dining room table. I felt my sister’s eyes watching me and I knew I had a sappy smile on my face. I just felt better about Kellan and me than I had in a long time.

Setting her book down, Anna crossed her arms over her chest…her getting larger chest. “Are you just now getting home? Where were you last night?” She narrowed her eyes when she said it, like she was sure I’d been with Denny.

Smiling at whose arms I’d been wrapped in, I shrugged. “I stayed at Kellan’s.”

She blinked. “Oh…alone?”

Smiling wider, I shook my head. “No…”

I trailed off, remembering Kellan’s fingers on my body, his lips on my neck. Anna took my satisfied expression to mean one thing—she 450



smacked me upside the head. “Damn it, Kiera. You hooked up with Denny, didn’t you?”

Rubbing my skull, I frowned and considered smacking her back. The baby in her belly was the only thing that stayed my hand. “No, I did not, thank you very much.” As she frowned at me, her full lips forming a perfect pout, I rolled my eyes and clarified. “Kellan flew in last night to surprise me. I spent the night with him.”

I flushed after saying it, our heated night fresh in my brain. Anna blinked again. “Oh…oh!” She gave me a hug. “Oh, I’m so relieved. I was going to kill you if you’d gotten yourself stuck in another love triangle.” Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. “Especially if it was the same love triangle.” Smirking, she added, “If you’re gonna be an idiot…at least branch out.”

That time I did smack her, just on the arm, though.

Thinking of Kellan, and everything that had been discussed between us, I felt heat entering my cheeks. There was one part of last night that Anna wasn’t going to like, one part that I sort of hadn’t meant to tell Kellan, but I’d had to, to defend myself.

As I bit my lip, Anna scrunched her brow. “What?” she asked cautiously.

“Don’t be mad…”

She instantly got mad. Tossing her hands in the air, she screeched,

“You told him! Kellan is Griffin’s best friend, and you told him? Kiera!” I stepped back from her harsh tone, then scrunched my own brows.

“Kellan

is

Griffin’s

best