Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(36)

Also rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Kellan strolled up to where I was standing beside a recently emptied table. Giving me a crooked grin, he nodded at where Griffin had disappeared to. “What do you think will do him in first? Drugs, money, or women?” Smiling, I slung my arms around his waist and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m pretty sure it will be a combination of all three.” Kellan chuckled and looped his arms around my waist. As he leaned down to kiss me, I found myself inadvertently spouting, “And what about you? What will be your downfall?”

He paused before our lips touched. He started to frown, then smiled.

“You think I’ll have one?”

Embarrassed that I’d asked, I shook my head , then shrugged. “It has occurred to me that you’re on the path to fame and fame brings certain…hazards with it.” Sighing, knowing now wasn’t really the time to have this conversation, I stared up at him. “You’ll be surrounded by so much…temptation.” I bit my lip. “And I’ve seen ‘Behind the Music.’ I know what gets offered to rock stars.”





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He narrowed his eyes but then laughed. “Wait, ‘Behind the Music?’

You really have already mapped out my career, haven’t you?” Smiling devilishly, he ducked down and looked me in the eye. “So what it is?

Booze? Gambling? Buying too many yachts?”

I twisted my lip at his comment and smacked his chest. “No, for you, it’s women.” Sighing, I shook my head. “Always women.” The smile on his face faded as he looked over mine. “You have to trust me, Kiera.” His smile returned a little but it was laced with sadness. “Just like I have to trust you.” The sudden seriousness in his face instantly shifted to an impish grin and the air of heartache around us lifted. “I know I’ll never find anything out there that will top you, but really, it is quite possible that you may lose interest in me once I’ve sold out and hit the bottle. Maybe you’ll decide you can do better…start dating one of the Jonas Brothers or something.”

Laughing, even though my stomach hurt a little at our conversation, I smacked his chest again. Leaning up to kiss him, I muttered, “Never.

You’re mine, washed up or not.”

Chuckling against my lips, he murmured, “Good, because none of that is going to happen.” Pulling back, he raised an eyebrow. “It’s just a six month tour with a bunch of other bands, most of which are small and unsigned…just like us. And when we’re all crammed together in a smelly bus, I’ll be wishing that I was back at home with you.” Leaning in, he rested his head against mine. “And when the six months is up, that’s exactly where you’ll find me…in bed with you.” I nodded against him as tears stung my eyes. “I hope so,” I whispered.

“I know so,” he whispered back, his voice just as wistful as mine. Then his lips crashed down to me and my hands came up to possessively tangle into his hair, holding him against me. Kissing much more aggressively than we usually did in public, I let the feeling of being watched evaporate from me and concentrated only on his touch. He was mine, I was his. This didn’t have to be a life altering event if we didn’t let it be. It could just be a brief separation while he did something amazing that most people would never get the chance to do. We would both stay 101



faithful to the other and then we’d be back together and all the happier for it.

After that…well, I’d tackle that hurdle once it was upon me.





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6


Chapter


Time Flies


You are told from the moment you enter school that time is constant. It never changes. It is one of those set things in life that you can always rely on…much like death and taxes. There will always be sixty seconds in a minute. There will always be sixty minutes in an hour. And there will always be twenty-four hours in a day. Time was not fluctuating. It moved on at the same, constant pace at every moment in your life.

And that was the biggest load of crap that I’d ever been taught in school.

Truth was, time did fluctuate. It was easy to lose hours or even days in a blink of an eye. Other times, it was a struggle to get through a mere hour. It ebbed and flowed as relentlessly as the tides, and just as powerfully too. The moments that you wanted to last forever were the ones that were washed away all too soon. The moments that you wanted to speed up, were slowed down to a snail’s pace.

That was the truth of the matter. And my life…was flash-forwarding, and there was nothing I could do about it.

It seemed only yesterday that Kellan had reluctantly agreed to go off and tour the continent, but, all of a sudden, his departure was only a few days away. It was Monday morning…he was leaving first thing Saturday. And as much as the last few weeks had rushed by, I knew that the universe would cruelly make the next six months drag on and on. I knew that I would feel every second of our separation and it was going to suck…but I had to let it happen. I would not selfishly guilt another man to give it all up for me. I would never do that to someone again….no matter how much it hurt.





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Hearing the door to my apartment being knocked on, I snapped myself out of my thoughts and slapped on a smile. Kellan was having a hard time with the upcoming separation too. I didn’t want to make it harder for him by seeming down all the time. Over the last few weeks I’d perfected the art of feigned excitement. Not that I wasn’t excited for him, and endlessly proud of him, I just didn’t want him to go. If he could somehow have it all, but stay close to my side, well, then my forced smile would be a natural one.