Reckless (31 page)

I ran my hand up his chest, fingering his tattoo. “Can you find out the exact dates of the break? So I can tell my mom?”

He nodded and turned away from me, like he was going to do it right this second. I stopped him by pulling his shoulder back to me. His eyes flashed to mine as I placed a light kiss over his
heart. “Could you do it a little later though?” I peeked up at him from under my eyelashes. “I’d like to have sex with you first,” I matter-of-factly stated. Pride
leaked into my smile; I’d asked him for sex unsolicited, and I hadn’t even stumbled over the words.

Kellan’s mouth opened in mock surprise. “Why, Mrs. Kyle, I am shocked at your brazenness.” Then he beamed at me like I was his star student. His sexual protégée.
His sextégée. His lip curved up into a wicked grin. “I’m also incredibly turned on.”

He started to lean over me, but I pushed him to his back. Kellan laughed as I straddled him, but only for a minute; the sounds that came from him after that were anything but amused.

It seemed like we went from leaving Seattle to hopping on a tour bus with Avoiding Redemption in a blink of an eye. The transition happened so fast, that I had a horrid feeling
that I was forgetting something as we stepped onto the bus that would be our home for the next several months. I was pretty sure I wasn’t forgetting anything—I had my clothes, my
toothbrush, my laptop, my notes, and my rock star husband—what else could I possibly need, besides some privacy? All of the bands were sharing two busses this tour, so there was going to be a
lot of people around us; privacy would be hard to come by in the coming weeks.

The first venue was the House of Blues on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. I thought it was the perfect place for the boys to kick off their tour. It was well-known, iconic, yet still intimate;
everyone in the audience would have a great view. Fans were everywhere I turned backstage, screaming and hollering, giddy over all of the rock stars in their midst. It was a little chaotic, which
only added to the anticipation in the air.

Kellan and Justin were signing autographs with some of the other musicians while I wandered the area. It was fun to see everyone in D-Bags shirts. On the tour before this, Kellan had been a
last-minute addition and still relatively unknown. He wasn’t anymore. I was positive that everyone here had heard their single with Sienna; most of them had probably picked up the album too.
This time around, people experiencing Kellan on stage wouldn’t be a happy accident. No, a lot of these fans, the majority of them from what I could tell, were here specifically for the
D-Bags. It made this moment feel so much bigger and so much more exciting. Even though Justin was headlining this tour, it was definitely Kellan’s show.

Besides the D-Bags and Avoiding Redemption, there were three other bands on the tour. The first one started off the show and the music reverberated through the walls. The crowd loitering
backstage didn’t lessen any now that the concert was in progress. If anything, it ramped the party up a notch—some people in the center of the room even started dancing as they lifted
their drinks in the air.

While I watched Kellan from across the room, smiling and talking to a fan in bright red pigtails, I listened to the people around me. Most of them were talking about Kellan’s looks.
“Holy crap, he’s hot! How the hell does he look even better in person?” “Fuck, look at that body. You can tell he’s cut . . . but we should go rip off his shirt, just
to be sure. Research, you know.”

I snorted into my drink after hearing that line, and subtly turned away from the girl who had said it. He
was
cut, but hell if I was going to let her strip him. Her
“research” would just have to be imaginary. Walking away from the girl who thoroughly wanted to examine my husband, I started picking up conversations that I found a lot less amusing.
“He’s dating Sienna, right?” “I don’t know, I heard he said he wasn’t in an interview.” “They always say that, it just means they don’t want to
talk about it.” “They’re such a hot couple, have you seen the video?” “So jealous, but they’re perfect together!”

I heard that sentiment repeated about three dozen times as I worked my way over to Kellan. When I finally got to him, I was already sick of Sienna . . . and she wasn’t even here. Grinning
at me, Kellan leaned down to kiss my cheek. “Thanks,” he muttered in my ear as he stole my beer from my fingers.

I glared at him as I watched him tip it back. “Just so you know, I totally backwashed.”

Kellan paused mid-gulp, then shrugged. Smiling wide once he was finished, he husked, “That’s all right . . . I like your fluids.”

Justin was staring at us with his nose crinkled. Lightly smacking Kellan in the stomach, I muttered, “You’ve been hanging out with Griffin too much.” Kellan just chuckled and
continued drinking my beer.

Justin laughed at our banter, then turned to face a fan when she stepped right in front of him and let out an ear-piercing squeal. It drowned out the music pounding around the room. “I
love you, Justin!” she screamed.

Justin’s expression shifted into the courteous, professional one that Kellan’s often did when he talked to fans. “You’re so sweet, thank you.” She squealed again
and forcefully shoved a CD case into his hands; she almost made him spill his beer. Not at all fazed by the outpouring of excitement in front of him, Justin nimbly signed his name across the hard
plastic.

The girl fanned herself, then glanced over at Kellan. Her eyes practically popped out of her head. “Oh my God, Kellan Kyle! I am your biggest fan!” Justin looked offended for a
minute, then laughed as he rolled his eyes behind her back.

Kellan’s biggest fan plowed past Justin to get to her favorite rock star. I bit my lip to contain my grin; the girl was shaking. Kellan gave her a polite smile as he smoothly told her,
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”

Whipping out another CD case, she shoved Kellan’s album in front of him. I glanced at the cover of the D-Bags’ CD as she held it in her trembling fingers. The picture the label had
ended up using was one that had all of the guys standing in a line, Kellan slightly in front of the others. Kellan’s head was down and he was looking up at the camera with a seductive
half-smile. It was an incredibly hot shot, but it conveniently cut off Kellan’s hands so you couldn’t see his wedding ring. The lengths Nick would go to to create the illusion that
Kellan was single were as amusing as they were annoying.

“Can you sign this,
To the girl of my dreams
?” She sighed after she said it. Justin sniggered, then walked away.

Kellan covertly looked my way as he answered her. Lip in an amused curl, he said, “I don’t think my
girl
would appreciate that.” I hid my smile. Even though we were
married in our hearts, Kellan was respecting my wishes by not publicly clarifying our relationship. He usually just said he was “seeing somebody,” or he “had a girl in his
life.”

Fan-girl waved her hand. “Oh, I know you’re with Sienna, and I don’t really have a shot, but—” She giggled. “—it’s fun to pretend.”

Kellan snapped his gaze to the fan. “I’m not with Sienna. She’s not my girlfriend. We only worked together on an album . . . and a music video.” Remembering the video, he
frowned. I subtly put my hand on his back.

The fan smiled and nodded, but it was obvious that she didn’t believe a word he’d just said. Kellan flicked a glance my way and opened his mouth. Knowing what he was about to do, I
pinched his back. While Kellan was being obscure about me to the masses, he probably wouldn’t think twice about explaining things to fans on a one-on-one basis. I’d rather he
didn’t, though. When it came to his job, I’d rather be as anonymous as possible.

Kellan flinched and snapped his mouth shut. Just signing his name to the album, Kellan handed the CD back to the uber fan. She held it to her chest, cradling it like a baby. Even though the
moment was over, she didn’t move away. I thought she might hang out with us for the remainder of the concert, but she spotted Griffin emerging from the bathrooms and dashed off yelling,
“Griffin! I love you!”

I could only shake my head in disbelief. Justin, Kellan, and . . . Griffin? Really?

Turning to face me, Kellan asked, “What was that?”

I blinked, not following. “What was what?”

He rubbed his back. “The Smurf bite. I was only going to tell her
you
were my girl, not Sienna.”

Cringing, I massaged the spot I’d probably bruised. “Sorry. Yeah, I know you were. I just . . . I don’t want to be paraded around your concerts and introduced to fifty thousand
curious people. I don’t want them all looking at me, talking about me. I don’t want one of them mentioning something to all the press around here. I don’t want them catching wind
of me. And I
really
don’t want to be front page news, and since everyone wants you with Sienna, that’s exactly what would happen. I would be a breaking news story. And I just .
. .” I shrugged. “Let’s stay vague about us, okay? This craziness will die off soon.”

Kellan set down his drink and looped his arms around my waist. “So, should I not be doing this then?”

I laced my arms around his neck. “This is fine. We don’t need to stop living our lives, we just don’t need to go into detail about it. We can be private. We’re good at
private.”

Kellan smirked, then pulled me into him for a hug. “Well, people are watching me right now, so they’re probably figuring it out that you’re my girlfriend.”

Laughing, I pushed him back. “No, trust me, they’re most likely trying to figure out where the ‘Get a Hug from Kellan’ line forms.” Kellan just laughed, but I knew
I was right.

While we waited for the D-Bags’ turn on stage, Kellan and the boys visited with fans and band members. I stayed close to Kellan’s side, laughing with him and enjoying the mixed
company. Several of the other band members had been on the last tour and knew the guys well. A couple of band members even recognized me from Kellan’s scrapbook, and made a point of saying
hello. Aside from a few jealous glances, the fans didn’t comment much on my “flirty” relationship with Kellan as he put an arm around me or held my hand. Since a couple of other
fans did successfully tackle him into a quick hug throughout the evening, maybe they just assumed that he was a friendly, give-the-fans-what-they-want kind of guy. And he was. To a point.

The D-Bags were slated to perform right before Justin’s band. Before he headed off to the staging area, I leaned up and gave Kellan a soft peck. “Good luck.”

The excitement in his eyes was evident as he grinned at me. He loved this. “Thank you. Back in a bit.”

He hurried off to start his show, and I couldn’t help but notice that a large majority of the crowd backstage had already disappeared—everyone wanted to see the D-Bags perform.
Making my way to the side of the stage, I found a spot where I wouldn’t be in the way, but I’d have a killer view. That’s when I fully realized just how packed the house was. The
floor before the stage was crammed with people. They were jammed in so tight, I almost wondered if the club was in violation of some city ordinance; surely they were over capacity. But no one in
the audience seemed to care that they were squished like sardines, especially when Kellan strutted onto the stage.

Guitar slung over his back, Kellan raised a hand as he walked to the microphone stand. The room erupted into shrieks. While the other guys bounded into position, Kellan leaned into the mike and
murmured, “Evenin’.”

Hearing the reverse of his typical greeting made me chuckle. It made the crowd jump up and down. When the screaming diminished somewhat, a section of the crowd simultaneously yelled out,
“We love you, Kellan!”

Kellan shielded his eyes from the bright lights beating down on him and scanned the audience. “I love you guys too.” He laughed, and the girls in the front row looked they might
hyperventilate—if they could breathe to begin with, that is.

Removing the guitar from his back, Kellan asked the crowd, “Is everybody having a good time?”

My ears rang a little after the shrieking response. Kellan cocked his head as he flipped the guitar around and slipped the strap over his shoulder. The body of the guitar was now resting right
in front of his pelvis, and there was something insanely erotic about that. “Hmmm, I don’t know. Doesn’t really sound like you guys are having fun.”

Jumping and screaming, the crowd tried to prove to him that they were indeed having a good time. The display made me laugh. Kellan shook his head. “Let’s try that again. I said, is
everybody having a good fucking time!” He shouted his question this time, and the crowd went nuts. They even started stomping their feet; it sounded like an earthquake was rolling through the
building.

Satisfied, Kellan glanced back at Evan and nodded. Taking that at his cue, Evan started the intro to the first song. There were some things in this life that I would never get tired of. Watching
Kellan perform was one of those things. He just had that spark that made it impossible to take your eyes off of him. And unlike a lot of singers I’d watched, Kellan didn’t just stand
behind his microphone and belt out his songs. No, he actively engaged the crowd, making them a part of the show. I was positive that everyone in that audience felt a connection with him at some
point during his set. Kellan’s ability to sound amazing, while still being fun and playful, was one of his greatest attributes. When it came to music, at least. I could think of several other
highlights that had nothing to do with being on stage.

When the D-Bags were done, they each bowed and darted off the stage. Kellan scooped me into his arms right away, and I could tell he was flying high, energized from the performance. Nuzzling my
neck, he murmured, “Let’s go back to the bus.”

My eyes fluttered closed as I considered it. Justin was up next, and a lot of the other band members were still mingling and celebrating backstage. We’d probably have a little bit of
privacy if we left right now. After the final performance wrapped up, the boys would all filter back to the busses and we’d hit the road, so alone time would be out of the question.