Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(53)
Exhaling in a long, relieved breath, glad that he wasn’t going to start a drunken fight with me for chatting with my ex, I nodded. “Sounds great.
I’ll get some cooked up for you.”
He nodded, smiled brilliantly, then gave me a swift kiss on the cheek.
Then he tipsily swaggered down the hall, getting distracted by every person that spoke to him along the way. Slowly shaking my head, I prayed he didn’t get sick before the night was through.
About an hour later he paraded up onto the stage. The sound was deafening as the boys took their places for their last official performance here; ten times louder than I’d ever heard it. Kellan had an adorable expression on his face. It was a mixture of joy, contentment and excitement, with a touch of wistfulness and a good dollop of alcohol. He’d sobered up some after I’d made him down a plate of food, but I was pretty sure he was still feeling no pain.
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Slinging his guitar over his body and grabbing his mic, he held his hand up to the massive crowd that had turned out; there were people still outside, the bar too packed to let them in. As the other boys adjusted their instruments, Kellan’s eyes swept over his well-wishers. I swear the blue depths were a little misty as he started shaking his head, his face disbelieving.
“Wow…there’s a lot of you here.” He smiled gorgeously after speaking and a shrill scream of approval went through the crowd. I flinched at the sound, Kellan grinned wider.
Popping the mic off the stand, Kellan stepped to the edge of the stage; I prayed he didn’t fall off of it. “I want to thank you all for coming, for supporting us for so long.” He paused, waiting for the sudden noise to die down. The wistfulness in his expression took over as he locked gazes with some of the fans directly in front of him. Sighing, he shook his head.
“I’m gonna miss this…”
He lifted his eyes and found mine. It took him a second to focus on me, but when he did, his entire face lit back up. Giggling, he muttered,
“I’m so wasted right now.”
The crowd cheered, screaming again, and I rolled my eyes. God, I hoped he could still play, I’d hate for his last show to suck. The melancholy of it being his last performance tried to sneak up on me but I pushed it back. There’d be time to dwell on it later. For now, while it was happening, I wanted to enjoy it. Smiling at him, I shook my head and went back to my duties. I heard him laugh again, then Evan started his intro.
They played their new song first, and I listened intently for any indica-tion that Kellan was off. He wasn’t. He was pitch-perfect, even his playing was right on. You’d never, ever know by listening to him that he couldn’t walk in a straight line anymore. Muscle memory…truly one of the marvels of the universe.
After their new song, the band rocked the bar with all of their greatest hits. I watched them whenever I could. Kellan smiled and flirted, looking right at home up on that small stage. There was nothing more natural to me than seeing Kellan singing with his friends, the black wall behind 149
him, decorated with various styles of guitars, as his backdrop. While I was thrilled at what the future could potentially hold for him, I was going to miss this, too.
About halfway through the set, Kellan played my song. I stopped working, taking my break so I could listen. It was the song he’d been singing the night we got back together. It was the song he’d written about us, after I’d broken his heart. I hated it…I loved it.
Edging my way through the fans, I squeezed into the front row.
Someone threw their arms around me and I blinked at seeing my sister there. She’d stopped in after her shift at Hooters and melded into the crowd. I smiled at her, then focused all of my attention up at my boyfriend. He’d watched my progression through the pack of people and his eyes were burning holes through me as he sang his melancholy ode to heartache. It still brought tears to my eyes.
Tilting his head at me, he stepped up to the edge of the stage. The fans went nuts at how close he was, their hands shooting out to touch him.
Ignoring them for a moment, he dropped down to a knee right in front of me. Shutting out the world, shutting out the fans stroking the edge of his jeans, he locked his eyes on me and sang his heart out. The tears were streaming down my cheeks by the time he was finished with his song.
Smiling, still dropped down on his knee, he crooked his finger at me and leaned forward. Forgetting that he was in the middle of a show, I swiped the tears away and leaned up to kiss him. The shrieks and hollers as our lips brushed together reminded me that we weren’t alone in the back room anymore. I instantly wanted to pull away, embarrassed, but his hand reached out to grab my head. Chuckling in my mouth, he held me against him, deepening our kiss.
I flushed red hot everywhere, feeling every eye in the place on me.
When he finally broke away, his grin was devilish. He knew how much stuff like that bothered me. I’d rather slink in the back unnoticed than have every woman gaping at me. Smacking him on the arm, I gave him my best, We’ll talk about this later, look. Laughing, he stood back up.
As fans jostled against me, some asking questions, the rest trying to take my place and lean up to attach their lips to him somehow, I wiggled 150
past my sister and past the mob of people now studying my every move.
Even mortified though, my lips burned in the absolute best possible way from where he’d touched me.