Effortless (39 page)

The actress’s lookalike glanced at me, then focused on Kellan.
“Kellan, I’m ready for you.”

My mouth dropped open as wide as Kellan’s had when he’d first
noticed me here. Had she seriously just propositioned him right in
front of me? Who the hell was this chick?

Expecting Kellan to stutter and stammer and flail about for a
lie that made sense, I was a little surprised when he only nodded
at her and said, “Okay, I’ll need a minute, though.”

The statuesque woman looked me up and down, shook her head a
little, then smiled back at him. Placing a hand on his shoulder,
she leaned in so he could hear her over the music and laughter in
the room. “The conference room upstairs…when you’re ready.”

Kellan nodded, still smiling warmly at her. I wanted to punch
the jackass in the face. She smirked at me, then turned and walked
away. I just stood there, my arms falling off of Kellan to hang
loosely at my sides. That didn’t really just happen, did it? I dug
my nails into my palms, trying to wake myself up. I had to be
dreaming. This was just another nightmare about her…that’s all.

But I didn’t wake up and Kellan twisted back around to face me.
He didn’t seem chagrined at all about being caught. Of course, he
didn’t know that I knew she was his stalker. He didn’t know that
I’d watched the videos, that I’d seen her hanging around, that I
knew he knew her. As he watched my blank expression, he bit his
lip, finally seeming nervous.

“I need to tell you something…can we talk?”

I briefly closed my eyes at those hated words, then nodded and
twisted away from him. I aimlessly walked towards the hallway that
Anna and Griffin had disappeared in, not really knowing where I was
going, just hoping that there was enough privacy back here so that
I could murder him without attracting too much attention.

When we got to a spot where the crowd had thinned out, Kellan
grabbed my elbow, making me stop. I wanted to pull away. I wanted
to keep walking. If I kept walking, then I wouldn’t have to hear
him say that he’d fallen for someone else…and he was about to go
have sex with her in a conference room. God, how tacky.

Bunching his brows as I stiffened in his arms, he asked, “Hey,
are you…mad at me?”

Bristling, I stuck my chin out and threw my bag on the ground.
“No, why would I be mad?” He shook his head and was about to
answer, but I stupidly answered for him. “You’re only about to dump
me for the hot celebrity lookalike that’s been stalking you for
weeks. You’re only about to go have sex with her on an office
table. You’re only about to crush me into a thousand pieces, and
right after I exposed my chest to some jackass just to see you,
too!”

He blinked and gaped at me as I started breathing heavy. I
really hadn’t meant to say any of that. I had been planning on
letting him hang himself. “Wait, you think…?” He stopped and tilted
his head. “You did
what
to come see me?”

Irritated, I shoved his chest away and started storming
off…somewhere. Sighing, he grabbed my shoulders and twisted me
around. Backing me into a wall, he stared me down. “I am not
dumping you. I am not about to have sex with her. And I am not
going to crush you.”

He gave me a minute to calm down. When I was breathing
regularly, I searched his face. “Then what…is going on?”

Releasing my shoulders, he shook his head. “Well, what I had
been going to tell you, before you leapt to that wild conclusion,
is…” he bit his lip, his face beaming underneath it, “…we got
signed.” He nodded his head upstairs. “That’s Lana. She’s a rep
from the record company. She’s been following the tour, examining
the bands…and she wants to sign us to her label.” He laughed a
little, shaking his head. “We’re going to have a record, Kiera, an
actual, professional record…can you believe it?”

My mouth dropped open again as my eyes watered. My mind hadn’t
gone down that path at all. I’d automatically assumed the worst. I
shoved his shoulders away from me. “Why didn’t you tell me you were
being scouted, jackass!”

He cringed away from me, frowning as I started smacking his
chest. “Because I really didn’t expect much. I didn’t think she’d
pick us…and…” His voice trailed off and I stopped hitting him.
Sighing, he grabbed my hands and peeked up at me from under his
lashes. “I didn’t want to disappoint you…if she wasn’t interested
in us. I know you think I’m going to go all the way… I didn’t want
to let you down…”

He looked down and I instantly felt like an idiot. Slinging my
arms around him, I hugged him tight. “God, Kellan, I’d never be
disappointed in you…ever.” Pulling back, I cupped his cheeks, my
eyes hazy with tears. “I’m so proud of you, of everything you do,
and even if it ended right here, I’d be anything but disappointed
in you.”

He exhaled, seemingly relieved. Sniffling, he looked around the
hall. “Well, I haven’t even told the guys yet…I didn’t want to jinx
it, so we need to find them and get them upstairs to sign the legal
stuff.” He looked back at me, raising an eyebrow. “That’s what’s
going down on the conference room table…not sex.” He grabbed my
hips, pulling me into him. “But if you wanted to, once everyone was
gone…I’d never tell you no.”

He chuckled and I grabbed his face, kissing him hard. I might
take him up on that offer. I was just so relieved that he didn’t
seem to be sleeping with her. And so very proud of him for what he
was doing.

Pulling apart from me, he reached down and picked up my
forgotten bag. “Come on, we’ve got to take care of this before it’s
our turn on stage.” Holding his hand out for me, he smiled like a
little boy. “They bumped us up the lineup; we play right under
Justin’s band now. Pretty cool, huh?”

Leaning into his side, I giggled and nodded. “That’s amazing,
Kellan.”

Feeling better about a lot of things as we walked around the
halls, looking for D-Bags, I considered all the videos I’d seen her
in. That’s why she’d been around, she’d been scoping out the band.
And that’s why they’d seemed friendly. She was wooing him…in a way.
Lana? Seemed like a respectable enough name, not that names really
meant anything, but still…

As I processed this new information, Kellan smiled down at me.
“Hey, what did you mean when you said she’d been stalking me for
weeks? How did you know about that?”

Biting my lip, I took tiny peeks at his face. “Uh, Rachel put up
this website, and fans have posted videos of your shows. I’ve been
watching you…” My voice trailed off and I had the weird sensation
that
I
had been the stalker, not the other way around.

 “She finally got that up and running, huh? Well, that
should make Matt happy.” Releasing my hand, Kellan slung his arm
around my shoulder. “So, you’ve been checking up on me?”

I stared up at his face, his eyes amused as he searched for his
friends. “No…” His dark blue eyes swung down to mine, even more
amused. I sighed. “Maybe…a little.”

Tilting his head, he squeezed me tighter. “And was I being
good?”

Not sure how to answer that, since I’d sort of been thinking
he’d been diddling the record rep, I floundered for words for a
second. Luckily, Griffin and Anna appeared from around a
corner.  I smiled at seeing them, which was a strange reaction
to have at seeing Griffin. Anna had a dopey, satisfied look on her
face while she adjusted her hair and clothes. I figured they’d
already gone a round then…maybe two.

Slapping Griffin on the shoulder, Kellan filled him in on what
was going on. Griffin was naturally over the moon and took off to
grab his cousin, who had apparently been working out a section of
the music with Evan in a quiet space. I smiled as I thought over
them practicing before playing, instead of flirting with the ample
amount of eager women that seemed to be around.  Rachel was
right, it was all about the music with Matt. Evan too, in a
way.

Kellan shrugged and led us to an elevator being blocked by a
security guard. Backstage clearance didn’t get you upstairs,
apparently. With Anna giggling and clutching my arm, the three of
us got waved past the guard after Kellan said a few words to him.
He gave Kellan an approving look as the elevator doors closed
behind us, like he thought Kellan was about to have a threesome
with me and my sister. Ew.

While Anna reached into her bag, grabbing a sucker, and I did
not
want to know why, Kellan dropped my bag and wrapped
his arms around me. Kissing me a little too passionately,
considering my sister was watching, he murmured, “I’m sorry I
didn’t tell you about this earlier…but I’m glad you’re here.”

I sighed, running my fingers through his hair. “I’m glad I’m
here, too.” All the stress of the last few weeks washed off of me
as his mouth explored mine. I was just wishing we had some more
privacy when the elevator stopped and the doors dinged open. Anna
smiled at us around her lollipop before stepping out.

Kellan grabbed my bag again, as well as my hand. “So,” he asked
merrily as we exited, “anything you’ve been holding off on telling
me?”

He laughed as he said it, so I was sure he didn’t actually know
anything. Anna frowned as she gave me a pointed look. She obviously
wanted me to tell him. And I would…I should. He should know Denny
had reappeared in his absence. But just like me having to deal with
the swarms of women downstairs, Kellan was going to have to trust
me.

Inhaling deep, I was just about to tell him when his phone
buzzed on his hip. Frowning slightly, he reached into his back
pocket. He silenced it without looking at the number, then put it
back in his pocket. Staring straight ahead, he kept walking down
the hall like it was nothing. Counting off all of the people that I
knew in Kellan’s head, I wondered who’d just called him. Lana was
waiting in the room we were getting closer to, and the guys were
all on their way up. It wasn’t Griffin this time. Of course, I was
almost positive that it hadn’t really been Griffin last
time. 

All of the momentary good feelings that I’d had about us faded
as I watched him purposely avoid looking at me. He was still hiding
something and I had no idea what…or who. Tears stinging my eyes, I
shut my mouth and said absolutely nothing about Denny being in
town. 

I stared at my hands as we all sat around a large, oak table.
Lana, the attractive rep from the record label, was handing the
band papers with a lot of fine print. The boys were silently
reading through it while Lana broke it down into layman’s terms. I
tuned her out, focusing instead on the music drifting up through
the floor. They weren’t even halfway through the show yet, so
Kellan and the guys had more than enough time to open this door to
opportunity.

When Lana finished speaking, Kellan glanced up at her then
looked over to Matt and Evan. “What do you guys think?” he asked
quietly.

Having just heard about this deal for the first time, they both
looked over at him with serious expressions. As one, Matt’s blond,
spiky head and Evan’s buzzed-cut brown head, twisted to look at
each other. Then they both smiled and turned back to Kellan. Matt
nodded. “Yeah, we’re in.”

Kellan beamed at his band-brothers as Lana showed the boys where
to sign. From what I could make out from the contracts, they seemed
pretty fair; the boys weren’t getting ripped off or anything.
They’d still have control over what songs they produced and
released, so Kellan would still be able to write his own stuff.
Their profits would be mild from the first album, but they were
contracted for a total of three, with options for more if those
were successful. And I was sure they would be. I’d yet to meet
someone who didn’t like their music.

While Kellan nodded and smiled at his friends, I heard a
disgruntled sound from the other side of him. Feeling a little
melancholy after Kellan’s weird phone moment in the hall, I looked
over at Griffin, scowling at a piece of paper.

“Dude, Kell, did you read this? I don’t believe this shit!”

Matt chuckled and murmured, “I don’t believe that you can
actually read…”

Griffin glared at him, but held up what looked like a memo from
the stack of papers and thrust it out to Kellan. Kellan cast me a
quick, nervous glance. “Yeah…I read it.”

My curiosity beating out my common sense, I asked Griffin, “Read
what?”

Griffin held the paper up to me, as if I was supposed to read
the tiny font from the several spaces away from him that I was
seated. “This says that we shouldn’t have sex with all the girls
hanging around, because chicks will try and screw us just to get
knocked up! So we have to pay them to raise the kid! For eighteen
years!”

He stared at me with a look of complete shock on his face, like
that thought had never, ever occurred to him before. I would have
found it humorous, but already in a sour mood, I narrowed my eyes
at Kellan. “They gave you a pamphlet on sleeping with fans?”

He shrugged and studied his papers. “It’s just a warning…”

Lana spoke up, to clarify. “It’s a standard precaution that we
give to all of our rising celebrities. They will be the target of
many different sorts of people, and we give them guidelines on how
to best protect themselves from…being manipulated.”

She smiled sweetly at me. “It’s the company’s way of protecting
the asset. It’s a very common practice nowadays.” Laughing a
little, she shrugged. “Athletes have to sit through a seminar about
it.” Leaning down to rifle through her suitcase, she murmured,
“They never listen though…”

Griffin snorted and threw his pen down. “Well, what’s the point
of being a rock star if I can’t bang the groupies?”

Rolling my eyes, I found myself muttering, “I thought it was
supposed to be about the music?”

Griffin, unfortunately, heard my sullen comment and chose to
respond to it. “No, no I’m pretty sure it’s the pussy.”

Flushing, I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest.
Jackass. Kellan reached over and patted my thigh. I wanted to smack
his hand away for some reason. Griffin’s comment just cut a little
too close to home. I heard my sister smack Griffin across the head
and looked back to see him scowling at her and rubbing the sore
spot.

“What?” he muttered. She rolled her eyes and shook her head as
Matt laughed at his nimrod relative.

“Dude, it doesn’t say you shouldn’t have sex. It says you should
always use protection.” Matt rolled his eyes. “You can still sleep
with them if you want, just wrap it up.” Smirking, he shook his
head. “And please do. The last thing the world needs is another
you.”

Griffin turned his glare to Matt. “Fuck you, man.” Looking a
little defeated, Griffin looked over at Kellan again. “Is that
true? Do girls really do that?”

Squeezing my leg, Kellan shrugged. “Some.”

Picking his pen back up, Griffin started signing the papers.
“Well that’s fucked up.”

Kellan, finished with his stack, handed his papers to Lana. She
smiled at him as she tucked them in her briefcase. It was a
friendly smile, like she clearly liked him on a personal level as
well as a professional one. I wasn’t exactly thrilled that he was
friends with her, but I wasn’t really surprised either. Kellan made
friends everywhere he went, even if he wasn’t always aware of it.
Sometimes I think he thought he was completely alone in the world,
but he wasn’t. Even without me, he had a wide circle of people who
cared about him.

Kissing my cheek, he ran his lips up to my ear. Closing my eyes,
I heard him whisper, “I still have forty-five minutes of free
time…want to go somewhere more private?”

I could only nod as a flush of desire swept through me. I may
still have doubts and insecurities, I may still question whether or
not he’d been a little too friendly with Lana, or some fan, and I
may still want to rip his phone out of his pocket and read his
secretive messages…but ultimately, I loved him and I’d missed him,
and I wanted to be alone with him.

Kellan stood, telling the guys he’d see them before they went
on. Matt and Evan glanced at me, smiled, then nodded. Griffin
stared at his contract, looking horribly confused. Anna leaned over
his shoulder, her breasts pressing into his arm. He shifted his
gaze to stare right down her cleavage. Then he didn’t seem so
confused. Then he didn’t seem to care much about the contract at
all.

Still gallantly holding my bag, Kellan led us out of the
building through a secret, hidden exit. It let out right by their
busses parked behind the building. Pushing open a bus door, Kellan
smiled back at me and nodded to it. “Come on, let me show you where
I live now.”

I giggled a little as I clutched his hand. I’d never been on a
tour bus before. Mirrored sets of plush chairs were under the huge
windows, small tables tucked between them. It sort of reminded me
of the inside of a train and I smiled, remembering that my first
train ride was with Kellan…ages ago.

Kellan tossed my bag on one of the empty tables, then led us
through a curtained off area. There were no outside windows in this
portion of the bus and as the heavy curtain fell back into place,
the only light reaching us was from the tiny bulbs embedded in the
floor.

Kellan twisted to face me, wrapping his arms around my waist. It
was quiet in here, our breathing the only sound not absorbed by the
heavy fabric doors. Leaning his head against mine, Kellan softly
said, “Welcome to my bedroom.”

My breath picked up as his lips inched closer to mine. “Your
bedroom?” I whispered, my voice coming out a little huskily. The
anticipation of being with him made my body feel like Jell-O.

His lips angled away from my mouth, to rub against my jaw. My
eyes fluttered as his breath washed over my skin. “Mine and the
other guys…” One of his hands slid down my backside as he trailed
soft kisses down my neck. Breathing heavier, I tilted my head so he
could explore all the way down.

Murmuring as he went, his voice just as husky as mine, he
continued describing his traveling home. “We’re all packed into
these cubbies, like sardines.” He got to the base of my throat and
moved over to lightly run his tongue up the center. I gasped,
dropping my head back as my hands ran over his backside.

Making a deep, satisfied noise as he reached the top, his free
hand not cupping my bottom grabbed my cheek. “It’s not as spacious
as your bed back home, but there’s just enough room for two…”

He rested his face against mine, his lips so close, we were
nearly touching. It was hard to focus on anything other than those
lips, but I made myself look over at what he was talking about.
Lining the walls of this enclosed area, were bunk beds. There were
four beds per stack, with two stacks per wall. Each bed had a
curtain closing it off…for privacy, I guess. They looked
exceedingly small and claustrophobic.

Kellan’s hand on my cheek released me, as he pointed to the
bottom one in the stack we were leaning against. “That’s mine,” he
whispered. “My home away from home, where I try and get some sleep
with a bunch of snoring, smelly dudes around me.” He chuckled a
little, then sighed and brought his hand back to my face. Pulling
back to look at me, his face gorgeous, highlighted by the soft
lighting along the floor, his dark eyes searched mine. “Where I
dream about you…where I miss you…”

His eyes watered a little as I watched him take me in, which
made mine water a little. “I miss you too, Kellan.”

Then I couldn’t hold off anymore, and my hand came up to tangle
into his hair, pulling his lips into mine. He groaned at my force,
then kissed me back just as hard as I was kissing him. The quiet
space was quickly filled with fast breaths and noisy moans as we
reconnected. Pushing me against the bunk bed frame, Kellan reached
down to hitch my leg around his hip. I scratched my nails down his
back as his body lined up with mine. Damn, maybe I’d just let him
take me right here, pressed up against the beds.

Filling with need every second his mouth was on mine, I reached
down and pushed up his shirt. He helped me halfway through, tossing
his shirt somewhere over his shoulder. I drug my fingers over the
swirls of my name inked across his chest and he hissed in an erotic
breath, whispering something that sounded like I love you, or I
miss you, or maybe even I want you…I was too dazed to know for
sure.

As he pushed his hips into mine, grinding the hardness of his
ache with the softness of mine, I wrapped my arms around his head,
pulling him into me. God I’d missed him. His lips attached to my
neck as his fingers worked their way up my shirt. When he had the
material far enough, he pulled aside my bra and enclosed his hot
mouth over a sensitive nipple. An overly sensitive nipple. A nipple
that had apparently missed his caress, as just his mouth being on
it brought me right to the edge of climaxing.

Knowing we were alone, I let out a long cry as his tongue
threatened to push me over the edge. He moaned against my skin as
he felt my body tensing for that glorious moment. Pulling back his
hips, he used just one hand to quickly unbutton my jeans. I cried
out, “Yes,” as his fingers headed down for the spot that would
definitely send me spiraling into bliss. As nice as his erotic
notes and steamy phone calls had been, there was just nothing that
compared to him physically touching me.

I was gripping his shoulders and panting with everything I had,
waiting for his finger to slide against me…just once…when a flash
of light entering the room nearly blinded me.

Kellan instantly removed his hand from my jeans and released my
breast, helping me smooth the fabric back into place. Ice washed
over me, killing my near-release. I struggled to breathe like a
normal person. Kellan’s breath was fast too, as he stepped in front
of me, shielding me from view even though he was much farther along
in the undressing portion than I’d been.

As we both stared at the person entering the sleeping area from
the other side, where I had to assume the bathrooms were, I quickly
refastened my jeans.  Holding onto Kellan’s bare shoulders, I
peeked over at a disheveled looking rocker. He had crazy,
going-everywhere hair—a poor imitation of Kellan’s sexy mess, if
you asked me. And with heavy eye liner, corded bracelets all the
way up his wrists, and skull rings on every darkly painted finger,
he clearly didn’t want to be mistaken for anything but a
stereotypical musician. He really only needed,
I’m a rebel and
you’ll never understand me,
stamped to his forehead to spell
it out any clearer.

Hoping this guy hadn’t heard me nearly orgasm, and knowing there
was no way he hadn’t heard
all
of that, I turned beet red.
The guy feigned surprise as he held the curtain open, still
blinding us. “Hey, sorry, Kellan…didn’t mean to…interrupt.” 
He smirked and smiled at me as he stepped into the room. “Hey,
cutie, what’s up?”

I buried my head in Kellan’s shoulder, just wishing to
disappear. Now I was mortified to be around two of Kellan’s tour
mates. Wonderful.

Kellan shoved the guy’s shoulder, trying to get him to leave the
private area we were trying to have a moment in. “Yeah, well, it
happens, don’t worry about it.”

The man surrendered under Kellan’s force and chuckled as he
walked to the other side of the curtained off area. “Yeah, yeah,
I’m leaving.” Opening the other side, he grinned back at Kellan.
“Damn man, I don’t know how you manage to always score with the
hottest chick.” He eyed me up and down. “And two in one night,
bro…I wish I had that kind of stamina.”