Effortless (Thoughtless #2)(20)
Author: S.C. Stephens

Pushing aside yet another woman wanting him, I followed him up the stairs to Evan’s. Kellan barged right through when we got to the door, feeling just at home here as he did at his own place. Matt’s eyes were on us the second we stepped through the door.

"Bout freaking time!" Matt glared at Kellan, and Rachel leaned over and whispered something in his ear. His features calmed and he relaxed a little, smiling over at where she stood by his side.

I waved at Rachel, the shy, exotic beauty, then waved behind her at Jenny sitting on Evan’s lap behind his drum set. The two of them were banging out some rhythm, Jenny giggling as Evan nuzzled her neck.

Closing the door behind us, Kellan grimaced when he met Matt’s eye. "Sorry…things have been coming up."

Kellan walked us into the room. Being at Evan’s loft was almost like being at a smaller version of Pete’s. There was a tiny kitchen, a living room with one couch facing a TV, and a rumpled bed in the far corner, a dresser and nightstand beside it. The rest of the place was a stage. The guys kept their equipment here between shows. Except the stuff they kept at Pete’s, of course. Aside from Kellan’s guitar, which he chose to lug around from place to place, the guys kept a second set of instruments at Pete’s on a daily basis. It was well known in the bar that touching their stuff on stage resulted in immediate eviction from the premises.

Here at Evan’s, they had the sound equipment, Evan’s full drum set, Griffin’s bass guitar, and Matt’s guitar. With all of their instruments currently waiting for them beside plugged-in microphones, they just needed some spot lights and a couple of bouncers, and they could do a professional show from here. They were even working on enclosing the instruments with soundproof walls, so they could record themselves and release an album. They had the walls constructed, but not assembled; they were leaning uselessly against the wall behind Evan’s drums. I knew Matt really wanted to finish the project, but Bumbershoot, and now the tour, had put it on hold. I was pretty sure when they came back, it would be a top priority.

Kellan set his guitar case on a kitchen counter, propping it open. I smiled at a picture of the two of us tucked away inside the lining. As he pulled out his most prized possession, aside from his car, Griffin walked up and smacked him on the back. "Yeah, I know what’s been…up."

Twisting to face me, Griffin’s eyes locked straight onto my hips. It was horrid, having him stare at me like that, knowing that in his mind…right now…we were hav**g s*x. With my hands, I hid as much of my body as I could; his smile widened.

Finally noticing that Griffin was mentally assaulting me, Kellan frowned and smacked him across the back of the head. "Don’t eye-fuck my girlfriend, Griffin."

Sniffing indignantly, Griffin shrugged. "What? A fella can’t daydream anymore?" Kellan rolled his eyes and walked away. Griffin turned backed to me, sneering devilishly as he pointed to his head and whispered, "Later."

I felt like taking a shower.

Quickly turning my back on Griffin, I walked over to where Rachel and Jenny had gathered. Forming a sort of band-wives club, we kneeled on the couch and leaned over the back to cheer on our men from the front row of our very private concert. Watching Kellan converse with Matt and Evan, while Griffin picked up Matt’s guitar and started rocking out like he was Slash, I sighed softly. I’d miss this when they were gone.

Rachel and Jenny both sighed right after me. Looking over at the two of them, I watched them watch their men, their loves. Jenny had been tearful when I’d met up with her after the announcement that the band was going on tour. She was excited for Evan to go, but she didn’t want to be apart from him, anymore than I wanted to be apart from Kellan. She didn’t seem worried at all about Evan straying, though. Her confidence in his faithfulness was inspiring. I wished I shared that confidence. That was something I’d had with Denny. A nearly unbreakable faith that he’d never, ever cheat on me. It was a comfort that had somehow slipped away from me once I’d cheated on him. Now, I sort of felt like anybody could do anything to anyone. It was a horrible feeling to have.

Rachel looked over at me, her deeply tanned skin looking a little pale "I can’t believe they’re leaving Saturday." She shook her head and shrugged. "Where did the time go?"

I sighed again, knowing I’d thought the exact same thing earlier. "I know…" I looked back to the guys. Kellan had slung his guitar across his chest and was nodding at Matt while Matt mimed guitar chords in the air. Evan watched the two, occasionally nodding. Griffin was tuning them all out, bowing to his imaginary crowd. Shaking my head, I muttered, "It seems like just yesterday that we watched them play Bumbershoot."

Jenny sighed, sitting back on her heels. "Matt’s having a going away party at his place after their performance Friday night." She sighed again, forlornly. "Their last performance."

I swallowed as I looked over at her. Her eyes were just as glassy as mine felt. It was so hard to let people live their dreams, especially when those dreams took them thousands of miles away. Nodding, I leaned over and hugged Jenny. She hugged me back, sniffling a little. Rachel’s arms circled around the both of us and we had a moment of left-behind-girlfriend pity. It was interrupted by soft chuckling in front of us.

As we broke apart, we all looked up at Kellan, smirking as he looked down at us. "Group cuddling…and I wasn’t invited?" he asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

Jenny and Rachel giggled and I smacked him in the stomach. Chuckling a little harder, he grabbed my hand and pulled me across the couch into his body. I squealed, but his lips came down to mine and I instantly stopped. Forgetting that everyone was around, I closed my eyes and tangled my fingers in his drying hair.

Losing myself in the moment, I moaned a little when his tongue brushed against mine. Nervous giggles met my ear, but I somehow didn’t care. I only snapped out of it when I heard someone shout, "Hey? We playin’…or screwing the girls?"

Kellan and I separated and both looked over at Griffin grinning mischievously. Grabbing his pants, Griffin shook his head. "I’m cool either way, I just need to know which instrument to pull out."

Kellan frowned and stood up straight. I flushed bright red and laid my head down on the couch. Jenny and Rachel laughed, Jenny’s hand sympathetically patting my back. From above, I heard Griffin being hit hard. Smiling, I peeked my head up in time to see Griffin flip Kellan off with one hand while massaging his arm with the other. Kellan stifled a smile as he took his spot behind his microphone. Locking gazes with me, he waited while Evan tapped out an intro.

Matt and Evan started the song perfectly, their instruments filling the space around us. The room vibrated with power and energy and I giggled, loving it. Kellan smiled, watching me enjoy what he also enjoyed. Griffin joined in a few beats later, Kellan joining the fray last. With all of their sounds mixing and surging perfectly, Kellan started to sing.

He was perfect. He elongated words and phrases effortlessly. He sucked in quick breaths suggestively. His voice was clear, strong, pitch-perfect…amazing. I could listen to him sing all day long. If I had an iPod with him on it, it would be on endless repeat. The song was a newer one that they were putting together. It was nearly ready, and Matt wanted to include it on the tour. Their first performance of it would be Friday night, as sort of a thank you to the diehard fans that had stuck with them from the very beginning.

Matt worked the rehearsals around everyone’s schedules, so sometimes they played later in the evening, when I was working. But I always tried to make it when they were rehearsing before my shift. I just loved watching the creative process. I’d watched Kellan write the lyrics in his kitchen over coffee. I’d watched him and Evan and Matt shuffle through the melody at the bar. It was so amazing to me, to watch an idea in someone’s head blossom into a powerful song of breaking through a crossroads and coming out the other side stronger. It was a beautiful piece. I liked to think that the song was somehow about us.

When they got to the chorus, Kellan frowned and stopped singing mid-sentence. He looked over at Matt and eventually the other instruments died out, Griffin stopping last. Matt frowned and shook his head and Kellan pointed to his guitar. "What are you doing? That’s the bridge, not the chorus."

Matt sighed and raised his hand into the air. "Dude, that’s what I’ve been saying. You’re so spacey lately." He pointed back to Evan. "Since you’ve been missing rehearsals and leaving us without a singer, Evan and I have been tweaking the music. We flopped the two sections and it sounds about a million times better." Frowning, he stuck his hand on his hip and shook his spiky head. "And you’d know that if you were around more."

Raising his hands submissively, Kellan backed off. "Fine, dang, just asking." Looking between Evan and Matt, Kellan sighed. He quickly glanced at me before returning his eyes to Matt. "I’m sorry, okay, but I’m here now and I’m committed to this, so just…fill me in, alright?"

Matt scrunched his lips together, but nodded. "Any other changes I should know about?" Kellan asked, shrugging.

Matt started to shake his head, then tilted it to the side. "Oh, well, we added a solo for me before the last chorus." He smiled, just slightly, and raised a pale eyebrow at Kellan.

Kellan looked away, a small smile on his lips too. Chuckling a little, he shook his head. "I guess that’s what I get for being a flake." Settling his eyes on me, he smiled a little wider. "Worth it though," he muttered to me, then louder to the guys, "Okay, back to where we left off."

They finished the song with no more interruptions from Kellan, and Matt reveled in his new mini-solo while Kellan shook his head, amused. At the end of the song I had to agree with Matt, the changes were small, and someone not in the know probably wouldn’t notice, but overall the song did sound better. They were going to rock Friday.

When the guys were finished for the day, it was time for Jenny and me to start our shifts. The guys followed us over, eager to relax with a beer after their "hard" day at work. I had to roll my eyes as I handed it to them. Sometimes I got jealous over how easy their lifestyle was-drinking, partying and playing music all night, staying up late, being swarmed by fawning females-but I saw how seriously they took it, and knew how hard they worked behind the scenes to keep their success going.

Truly, their job was probably as taxing as mine. At least mine had a definite ending time, theirs was sort of twenty-four seven. A fact that was reaffirmed for me when a couple of college girls got up the nerve to approach their table later in the evening. They chatted with the fans amicably. Kellan politely brushed off the blonde one’s affections and shook his head when she nodded to the front doors and raised her eyebrows in a clearly sexual way.

I frowned, watching the display and wanting to "accidentally" dump my tray on her. No, aspects of their job were never-ending…unfortunately.

Chapter 7

History Lessons

After getting chastised by Matt for missing practices, Kellan was diligent in not missing any more. Unfortunately, things worked out so that I couldn’t go to another rehearsal, so I saw less of Kellan in that last week then in all of the weeks previous. We’d sort of been hovering around each other lately, blowing off friends and easy-to-miss obligations to roll around in Kellan’s bed for a few hours. It was inexcusable of us really, since his practice was important and the few classes I’d skipped had been important. But we’d needed the time together as each looming day brought our separation to the forefront.