Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(5)

I’d rather die than have to make multiple introductions over and over again.

My eyes darted to Kellan’s broad back, where a woman had her hand resting a little too low for my taste, and I quickly averted them. No point in making myself jealous by watching. Instead, I glanced over at where Matt had quietly joined the fray. He looked just as uncomfortable with this part as me. He enjoyed playing, enjoyed being on the stage, enjoyed creating and making music. That was where his passion lied, not in the people-pleasing part. But he nodded politely, taking a couple pictures and signing a couple of t-shirts.

13



Attached to Matt’s arm was his equally quiet girlfriend, Rachel. She was a beautiful mix of Latin and Asian with bronze skin and deep brown hair. She held the hand of her spiky, blond boyfriend, not looking jealous by the attentions he received, but not looking like she wanted to partake in the socializing either. Not one for crowds, Rachel had watched the performance from the lawn nearby. She was quieter and shyer than me…which was saying a lot. Rachel was Jenny’s roommate, and she and Matt had started seeing each other last spring, around when Kellan and I had officially gotten together. The low-key pair was still going strong.

Their personalities blended very well. They were sort of adorable.

The last D-Bag to stroll into the awaiting crowd was less adorable. I rolled my eyes as Griffin sauntered through my line of sight, his hands fondling anything that he could. Some girls smacked him, others giggled. He always returned to the giggling ones. His form of signing autographs usually involved tongue. It turned my stomach, watching him. Honestly, I didn’t get what my sister saw.

Matt’s near identical released a girl he’d just deep-throated and swung his head around, looking for more prey. Unfortunately, Griffin’s horny eyes fell on me. His thin lips twisting into a familiar curl, he started walking over my way. I instinctively started backing up. Griffin was one person that I liked to keep some distance from. He had a tendency to be a little…grabby. Tucking his chin-length blond hair behind his ears, he threw his hands out to the side, conveniently brushing against a fan’s breast as he did.

“Kiera, my future lover! I’m thrilled you came to check me out.” His hand went down to his cargo shorts and cupped his…stuff. “Did you like what you saw?” he asked, tilting his head.

Wanting to gag, I twisted to leave. Close enough to grab me, he sidled up and snatched my hand. When he looked like he was going to place my palm on his junk, my eyes widening in horror, my fingers were suddenly torn away from his. Stepping between us, Kellan shoved Griffin’s shoulder back. “Fuck off, Griffin,” he muttered, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

The bassist shrugged and found some other girl to touch him. I breathed a sigh of relief and sank into Kellan’s side. “Thanks.” 14



Chuckling, Kellan kissed my head. “No problem. I know how much you love conversing with Griffin.” I cringed as Kellan waved goodbye to some of the fans that were lingering, maybe hoping he’d stay and chat with them all day. No, Griffin was about my least favorite person to talk to.

Twisting us around, his arm firmly attached to my waist, Kellan started walking us away from the private area and back to the main part of the park. Almost subconsciously, like they’d follow him anywhere, his band members started trailing after him. Looking back, I watched Matt and Evan strolling along with their arms around their girls. Griffin strolled along with his hand scratching his privates. In a way, they did follow Kellan anywhere. When his parents had died, Kellan had sort of ditched everything to come up here, and they’d all followed him without a moment’s hesitation. They’d been here ever since.

Fixing my focus back on the man beside me, I slung my other arm around his waist, cinching him tight. I couldn’t imagine what that day must have been like for him. It was true that Kellan had good reason to hate his parents, they were abusive, cold-hearted bastards, blaming Kellan for all of the miseries they’d felt in their lives, but still…they were his family. The only close family he’d had. Their death had deeply affected him.

He’d only been nineteen at the time, away from their torture for only a year, since he’d run away to Los Angeles right after high school. Nearly right after the ceremony from the way he told the story. And he hadn’t told them he was leaving, he’d just done it. They’d never even searched for him. Kellan had told me once that when he finally had called them, to let them know that he was, at the very least, still alive, they hadn’t sounded like they had cared either way, like they’d done their jobs and he could live or die on his own. It was a miracle Kellan wasn’t completely messed up.

Jerks.

Griffin coming up and clapping Kellan on the back snapped me out of my dark thoughts. With Matt and Rachel behind him, he pointed to a band playing in the distance. I could hear the heavy rock beat in the 15



sweltering air. “We’re gonna go check out some of the other bands.

Comin’?”

Kellan looked back at Evan and Jenny, but they were sappily gazing at each other, absorbed in some quiet conversation that I couldn’t hear with the multitude of bodies walking back and forth around our group. A few females passing by looked at the four guys like they seemed familiar, but none of them stopped for more than a couple of seconds.

Looking down at me, Kellan started to ask me what I wanted to do.