Reckless (Thoughtless, #3)(171)
It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
But eventually the good feeling and camaraderie had to end, and people started filtering out. Gavin gave Kellan a warm hug before he left with Hailey and Riley. “As I’ve said before, son, my home is always open to you. Maybe after your tour is over?”
Hailey bumped his leg. “You promised,” she reminded him.
Kellan laughed at his sister. “That would be great. Kiera and I would love to do that.” I nodded in agreement when Kellan looked at me. A quiet vacation sounded nice after all of the craziness we’d had lately. Gavin looked happy and at peace as he left Kellan’s room. I couldn’t be sure, but just outside Kellan’s door, I swear I saw Carly writing down her number for him. It made me laugh a little. He was so much like Kellan.
My bridesmaids were next to leave. Giggling, Jenny, Rachel, Kate, and Cheyenne descended on Kellan and me all at once. We were swarmed by arms, hair, laughter, and tears. Jenny gave me a kiss on my head. “Don’t you ever wind up in a hospital again, got it?” She looked over at Kellan. “Either one of you.”
Kellan’s lips curled up in a devious smile. “Guess you’re having the baby on the bus, babe.”
Jenny’s eyes bulged so far I thought they were going to pop out of her head. I immediately reached over and smacked Kellan’s arm. “I’m not pregnant! He’s joking!” Nobody believed me, and I spent the next several minutes convincing them I was not going to have a baby in nine months. Mom even threatened to make me take a pregnancy test right there at the hospital. Kellan was in a lot of pain as he struggled not to laugh. Served him right. Jackass.
Evan and Matt eventually pulled the girls away. Just as they started ushering them toward the door, Justin said, “Hold up, guys. I’ll come with.” Kate’s topaz eyes sparkled with delight at the idea of spending a few more moments with her rock-star love interest.
Walking up to Kellan and me on the bed, Justin extended his hand to Kellan. “I’m glad you’re doing all right, man.” As they shook hands, Justin’s face grew more serious. “What the label did to you with Sienna was crap. Pure crap. I wouldn’t blame you if you dropped ’em.” Kellan didn’t answer him; I don’t think he’d decided what he wanted to do yet. Seeing an answer in Kellan’s non-answer, Justin smiled and added, “Next tour, when the D-Bags are headlining arenas, we’ll open for you.” He pointed over at Deacon and Holeshot as they were leaving the room with the other members of Avoiding Redemption. “We’ll both open for you.”
Kellan smirked at him. “I’m all for going on tour with you, but we’re not going to be headlining stadiums anytime soon.”
Justin laughed as he ran a hand through his wildly layered hair. “You sure about that? The D-Bags are on top of the world right now. I’d say your days of playing anything but the large venues are long behind you.”
Kellan shook his head, but told him, “Yeah, let’s make it happen.” Satisfied, Justin headed out with Evan, Matt, and the girls; his fingers were entwined with Kate’s as they left the room.
Yawning, exhausted from the day and probably the tryptophan in the turkey, my parents left next. Anna and Griffin went with them. They really didn’t have much of a choice, since Mom wasn’t relinquishing their child. Anna complained about it as she tried to get Mom to put Gibson into her car seat before they headed downstairs. “Mom, if you hold her nonstop, she’s going to get used to it, and I’m never going to be able to put her down!”
Mom rocked Gibson back and forth, clearly not going anywhere near the car seat yet. “She’ll be fine, Anna, and I have to hold her. I just have to. I don’t get to see her as much as you.”
Griffin nodded as he agreed with my mom; I never thought that would happen. “Babies should be held. It helps them form bonds and shit.”
Aside from the swearing, I thought he made a good point. But Anna’s point was good too. For the first time maybe ever, I wasn’t sure which one of the two parents was right. Grinning at Kellan, I was grateful that I didn’t have to deal with any of those kinds of questions yet.
After the five of them left the room, closing the door behind them, Denny and Abby were the only ones remaining. Noticing how late it was getting, I asked him, “You guys heading back to the hotel soon?”
Relaxing back in a chair, he nodded as he grabbed Abby’s hand beside him. “Yeah, in a minute. Now that everyone is gone, there is something that Abby and I wanted to talk to you guys about.”
Remembering what he’d said earlier, I sat up on the bed. “What is it?”
Denny opened his mouth to answer me, but Kellan’s phone started ringing. I was going to ignore it, but I recognized the personalized ringtone that meant Sienna was calling him—it was the song “You’re So Vain.” I’d programmed it into Kellan’s phone after the last time Sienna had called him, when she’d ticked us off by refusing to help quell the rumors. Kellan thought it was funny, so he’d left it that way. Plus, I’m pretty sure he didn’t know how to change it.
We all looked over to the nightstand where I’d stuffed Kellan’s belongings. “Sienna,” Kellan muttered. “I wonder what she wants.”
Standing up, I hurried around to the other side of the bed. I wondered what she wanted too. Finding the phone in Kellan’s plastic bag, I quickly answered it before it could go to voice mail. “Sienna?” I asked.