Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(29)

My mouth dropped open as I looked back at her. Not many people knew about Kellan’s tattoo. He was much more reluctant to strip off his shirt at shows now, like he didn’t want the world to see his hidden art. It meant a lot to me that he felt that way. It was private, between the two of 80



us. How did this group of girls know about it? Had Tina really seen him half naked? I didn’t want to believe it, but my mind vividly pictured him undressed, panting with desire, with some harlot fan attached to his mouth. Then I pictured him closing the storage room door and doing all sorts of unseemly things to her.

I felt my stomach rising as I gaped at them. They only chuckled at me, Tina giving me a fake, apologetic smile while Candy shrugged. “Dogs are dogs, Kiera,” she said, smiling sweetly.

I bit my lip and forced myself to walk away from them, and not run.

They were lying…they had to be.

When I got out to the parking lot, I spotted Kellan’s shiny black Chevelle right away. I also spotted him and instantly understood why he hadn’t greeted me outside of class on my first day of school. He was surrounded by a group of about five girls. He was casually leaning against his car as he talked to them. They giggled, tittering like thirteen-year-olds as he spoke. Even from the distance between us, I could see the small, amused smile on his face. After my meeting with Candy, it boiled my blood.

My hands in permanent fists, I strutted over to him. I tried to calm myself down, but instead I seemed to get angrier with each step. Where had they seen that damn tattoo? Where was he exposing himself? Was I being na?ve in thinking that what we have is so monumental that he’d never stray from it? Was he still being a whore?

Laughing at something one of the hussies said, Kellan turned his head and spotted me. His small smile brightened at seeing me approach, then dimmed when he noticed the scowl on my face. The tittering girls didn’t back off at all, and I had to elbow my way through them to get to him.

“Let’s go,” I bit out, not really in the mood to be around his fans for another second longer.

He nodded, his brow furrowed as he opened the passenger’s door.

After shutting it behind me, I heard him say to his adoring entourage,

“I’m sorry, but I have to go. It was nice meeting you all.” There were 81



whines and groans of disappointment as he walked over to his side of the car. I rolled my eyes.

Kellan watched me curiously as he started the car, the roar of the engine matching my foul mood. Cocking an eyebrow, he put the car in reverse. One eye on me, the other carefully tracked the girls, so he didn’t run them over as they watched us pull away. “You want to tell me what happened that’s got you all ticked off?”

Gritting my jaw, I glared at the floosies staring after him. Most turned away from my eye line, a couple glared back. “Not really,” I muttered under my breath.

Sighing, he put his hand on my thigh. I instantly wondered where else that hand had been recently. “Will you anyway?” I looked back at him, trying to keep my expression and my mood even. He frowned before turning onto the road. “You’re the one that said we should talk things out…and you look like you need to talk something out.” Grunting, and wishing I’d never said that to him, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I have another class with Candy this year. She made sure to say hello afterwards.”

I watched him carefully as he studied the road he was driving along.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head; it was an adorable expression of confusion. “Candy…?”

I rolled my eyes that her name didn’t immediately register with him.

Well, when your little black book was as about as thick as the local yellow pages, I suppose it took a while to mentally filter through it.

A second later, as I was sighing, recognition flared in his eyes and he peeked over at me. “Oh, right…Candy.” Twisting his lips, he shrugged.

“What…did she say?”

Full on glaring at him, I tightened my hands across my chest. If I didn’t, I was sure I’d smack him. “She just mentioned a show that you had last week. You played in Pioneer Square, right?” 82



He looked up, accessing his memory, or was he accessing the creative part of the brain that made up rapid-fire lies. Looking up and to the left meant one, looking up and to the right meant the other. I could just never remember which one was which. “Yeah, yeah we did.” He tilted his head to me. “Was she there? She didn’t say hello.” He added that last part quickly, as if he was reassuring me that he hadn’t seen her.

I narrowed my eyes even more as I studied him. Had I just had sex last night with a man that was having sex with a bunch of other people too?

God, it made me sick just to think about it. “No, a friend of hers saw you there…in the back.”

I said that suspiciously and he looked at me funny before shifting his attention back to driving. Shrugging, he said, “Huh, well, okay.” Peeking over at me, he raised an eyebrow. “Why is one of her friends seeing me making you look like you sucked on a lemon?” Exhaling in a tightly controlled way, I resisted the urge to smack the crap out of him. “Because she says she saw you doing things…with someone who was not me.”

His eyes widened as he stared at me, then he jerked the car over to the side of the road. I had to hold onto the door he moved over so fast. With the car slightly on the curb, he slammed it into park, and shifted to face me.