Effortless (16 page)

 By the time I officially started my shift, he was
surrounded by a boisterous group of men and women. Everyone seemed
to want some time with him before he left tomorrow. I was grateful
that we’d had our tender moments already today, but it did make me
sad that our private time was over. I’d have to share him from here
on out. 

About an hour after my shift started, the rest of the band
showed up. The place erupted into fanfare with the whole group
assembled; it was about ten times as loud as the applause they’d
received after Bumbershoot. Everyone here was proud of their boys
and wanted to wish them well. The bar was bursting at the seams,
and there were still a couple of hours before the show officially
started.

Hearing the noise, Pete popped out from the back. He sighed
despondently at his entertainment moving on from him, then shook
his head and raised his hands into the air. The place eventually
quieted as everyone twisted to look at him. Kellan, working his way
through the crowd to stand near his band mates, locked eyes with
Pete.

Smiling at the singer, Pete said, “Kellan…boys…you’ve done
wonders for my little pub and I’ll never forget that. If and when
you return, you always have a place here.” Kellan smiled, his eyes
drifting to the floor. The other D-bags beamed, smiling at each
other. Sniffing in a clearly emotional way, Pete shook his head.
“Anyway…a round for everybody, on the house!”

The bar erupted and my eyes widened. There were a lot of people
here. As Pete went over to chat with his band, Jenny, Kate and I
got to work on pleasing the masses with their free beers. It took
an eternity to get everybody satisfied, but eventually, with Rita,
and the day bartender, Troy, helping out, we did. As a content
murmur filtered throughout the place, I leaned against the bar and
sighed, already exhausted.

Kate and Jenny leaned against the bar with me, one on either
side of me. Kate blew a stray piece of hair out of her eyes, the
first stray piece of hair I’d ever seen on her. “I’m gonna miss
those guys, but whew, this is gonna be a long night.”

Rita popped over behind us, pouring us each shots. “A round for
the ladies!” Troy walked up to her side and Rita gave him a
suggestive smile before pouring him one. “And you too, I suppose.”
I hid my smile from her, not bothering to tell her that I was
pretty sure Troy would never be interested in her the way her smile
insinuated. I was pretty sure Troy’s interests laid elsewhere…like
in my boyfriend.

Clinking glasses, we all took a quick shot. It burned going
down, but afterwards it was warming and calming, just enough to
help me get through tonight’s chaos. As Rita and Troy moved off to
help start the next round for people, Jenny sighed and laid her
head on my arm. “I’m going to miss Evan…and the guys. Pete’s just
won’t be the same.”

I nodded, resting my head against her. “I know…nothing will be
the same really.”

Kate sighed and we both looked over to her. “Yeah, I have some
really good memories of those boys.” Giggling, she twirled a lock
of hair around her finger. “A couple summers ago they kidnapped me
for my birthday.” She grinned at Jenny. “Evan made me wear that
stupid birthday hat, remember?”

Jenny grinned back at Kate and shook her head. “Yeah, that was
fun.” Wistfully, she looked over at the guys. “I remember when they
did a show in Eastern Washington. A group of us decided to road
trip it over the pass with them. We all got stuck halfway through
when Griffin’s Van broke down. We had to camp at a rest stop.”
Jenny started laughing, Kate and I joining her. “Matt never booked
another show over the mountains after that.”

Jenny wiped her eyes as the memories of that trip washed over
her. I sighed, wishing I had been here for those happy times. Kate
reached over and tapped Jenny’s shoulder. “Remember the water
slides fiasco?”

Jenny nodded. “Yeah, Griffin still isn’t allowed to go back
there.”

They both started belly laughing, and I frowned, wondering what
the creaton had possibly done. Tears streaming down her cheeks,
Jenny said, “And remember the rooftop party? The heights freaked
Matt out and he spent the whole night in the exact center of the
roof.” Wiping her eyes, Jenny laughed out, “Kellan had to sling him
over his shoulder to get him to leave.”

I laughed with them, imagining that, then I sighed. I’d missed
so many memories. Giggling nonstop, Kate added, “Remember when you
walked in on me and Kellan that one New Year’s Eve?”

I instantly stopped laughing and swung my head around to Kate.
She instantly stopped laughing too, remembering who I was. “You and
Kellan?” I looked her up and down with narrowed eyes, like it had
just happened. “What?”

My tone was a little bitter and Jenny put a hand on my shoulder.
Kate blanched and shook her head. “We didn’t have sex…it didn’t get
that far.” She pointed over to Jenny. “She…” Biting her lip, Kate
shrugged, looking very apologetic.

My eyes narrowing even more, I put my hands on my hips. “Why
didn’t you ever mention this before?”

Kate cringed a little bit. “What was I supposed to say? Hey, I
nearly had sex with the guy you’re seeing? That’s not cool.” She
shrugged again. “Besides, it was a while ago, and we were really,
really drunk. I don’t think he even…” Looking around self
consciously, she shrugged again. “I should get back to work.”

Feeling my cheeks heat, I didn’t say anything and she quickly
turned and fled. God! He’d done Rita, he’d asked Jenny out, and now
I come to find out that he’d seriously made out with Kate. Did
Kellan not have a history with anyone at Pete’s!

Seeing me fuming, Jenny stepped in front of me, putting both
hands on my shoulders. “He’s different now, Kiera.” Looking over to
where Kate had disappeared, Jenny shook her head. “And don’t hate
her for caving into him.” Looking back at me, she raised an eyebrow
pointedly. “You know how persuasive he can be.”

I flushed for another reason and slumped a little against the
bar. “I know…I just wish everyone in the entire world didn’t have
some sort of sexual history with the man I’m in love with.”

Laughing softly, Jenny ducked down to meet my eye. “It’s a lot,
Kiera, I know, but I’m sure it’s not everybody.” Shaking her head,
she smiled cheerily. “I don’t have a history with him. I’ve never
even kissed him.” She instantly frowned and pulled away, her eyes
suddenly deep in thought. “Hmmm…”

My mouth dropped as she shook her head, her frown lines getting
deeper. I smacked her shoulder. “You have kissed him, haven’t
you?”

Looking back at me with a small grimace, she shrugged. “There
was this one time after he drove me home from a shift.” My mouth
dropped wider and I made a very unladylike noise. She twisted her
lips and shook her head. “Sorry, I forgot. It wasn’t too long after
I started working here. He was looking sad and lonely and he
offered to drive me, so I caved and said yes. Then we were talking
in my drive and he leaned over and kissed me.” She shook out her
beautiful, blonde head of hair. “I pushed him back and told him I
didn’t want to.” Rolling her eyes, she added, “I think that’s what
started him hounding me for a date, until I finally put my foot
down.”

 She shrugged as she stared at me, like it was no big deal.
Closing my eyes, I shook my head and stormed off to the back room.
I needed to go some place where another woman that Kellan had been
intimately involved with was not. And right now, that meant I had
to be alone.

Having the noise and the chaos of the bar shut off from me
calmed me down some. It really wasn’t my friends’ fault. I
shouldn’t be angry or upset with them. Kellan either. He’d been
looking for something. Unknowingly, he’d been looking for a
genuine, loving connection with someone. He’d just gone about it
all wrong. Jumping into the physical aspect of a relationship
without building up the emotional part of it. No wonder the feeling
had never lasted long after the sex for him. No wonder he’d flitted
from person to person, desperate and unhappy.

And besides, his past was his past, and just like we’d talked
about today, it was all behind him. He’d found what he’d been
missing. The only person he was being overtly sexual with was
me…and that was the way it should be.

Laughing lightly as I organized stock shelves that didn’t need
organizing, I tried to imagine the funnier stories the girls had
told about the group. I could just picture them all drinking stale
coffee at some middle-of-nowhere rest stop, complaining about
Griffin’s crappy car.

Smiling at the image of Kellan in wet board shorts at a water
park, I re-folded the stack of Pete’s shirts for the third time.
Eventually I’d need to go back out there. Maybe after I filled all
of the extra salt shakers. Vaguely, I heard the sound of the door
opening and closing, the noise of the bar increasing and
decreasing. Sighing that an employee was messing with my chi,
probably about to bite my head off for hiding out during the
busiest night we’d ever had, I kept my back turned, trying to
appear horribly busy in my quest for…something.

But then, I felt a body come up right behind me, way too far
into my personal space. Alarm washing through me, I started to
twist around. Strong hands rested against the shelves on either
side of me with a firm, hard body pressed into my back. While my
heart raced, a mouth hovered near my ear.

“Don’t turn around.”

My heart surged, racing through my veins and thudding in my
ears. A list of horrible, life changing events passed through my
mind. Was I being attacked? Was I about to be raped? Would anyone
hear me scream back here? Would anyone rush to my rescue? Where was
Kellan?

Panicked and scared out of my mind, I instantly turned around.
Or I tried to anyway. The strong hands jerked my head straight. The
body behind me pressed me up against the shelves, the arousal of
the man evident against my low back. Oh God, so this was going to
be rape then? I started shivering as the voice growled in my ear,
“I said, don’t turn around.”

Just as I was debating which part of my body to hit him with
first, my attacker started laughing. The ice and fear leeched from
me as I instantly recognized the amused chuckle. Rolling my eyes,
heat taking over fear, I twisted to face him.

“Kellan! You scared the shit out of me!” I smacked him in the
chest, then did it again for good measure.

He backed away a step, then pulled my body flush to his. Still
chuckling, he shook his head. “You’re disobeying me…” Grinning
devilishly, he leaned his face against mine and backed me up into
the shelves.  I could smell the wave of alcohol on his breath.
“I may just have to punish
you
tonight,” he whispered.

It was so erotic, I instantly wanted him, then hated my
treacherous body for submitting so fast. It was hard to think,
though, with his evident pleasure now pressing right where I needed
it. Grabbing my leg, he hitched it up his hip a little, and pressed
that marvelous hardness against me even more. I groaned softly,
closing my eyes and wrapping my arms around him.

“Don’t…I’m mad at you,” I muttered.

A low rumble came up his throat as his mouth attached to my
neck. “It makes me hot when you’re angry,” he murmured, dragging
the tip of his tongue from my neck to my ear. I sucked in a breath,
my head dropping back to the shelf behind me while his ready body
rubbed against me.

Oh, damn.

His fingers deftly untucked my Pete’s shirt, one hand dipping
underneath to cup my breast. His teeth lightly tugged on an earlobe
before his hot lips closed around it. He groaned low and seductive
as he pressed against me, and before I knew it, I was nearly
panting, silently begging him to take me.

Hissing through his teeth, he murmured, “God, I want you…do you
want me?”

The hand not engaged in fondling me, slinked inside of my jeans
and darted inside my underwear. I exhaled in a rush, my eyes flying
open. “No, Kellan, don’t.” I grabbed his hand right before his
fingers could reach me. God, if he actually touched me…we’d be
undressed and all over each other a second later. And I knew from
experience that this room wasn’t exactly secure.

Frowning, he pulled back to look at me. Or he tried to look at
me. His eyes focused and unfocused. “Why’d you stop me?” he said,
slurring a little and blinking slowly.

Sighing, I tried to get his hand out of my pants; somehow he
managed to inch it down a little more. “Are you drunk?” I
whispered, bringing my other hand down to try and yank his up.

He laughed lightly, his stronger hand not budging, even with all
of my efforts. God, I hoped no one walked in on us like this.
“Probably,” he giggled a little, “and I want that sex now.”

Shaking my head, I set my mouth into a firm line. “No, I’m not
having sex with you in the back room.”

Frowning, he brought his lips to mine. I resisted, but he teased
me with light flicks of his tongue against my skin and I had no
choice but to let him in. My grip on his hand relaxed just a
fraction, too. “Why not?” he murmured. “I had Pete fix the
door…it’s locked, if that’s what you’re worried about.” His hand
slid down a half inch lower, and I let it. “Besides, it
is
my big night.”

Summoning all of my will power, I pulled back from his mouth.
“Why would you have Pete fix the door?”

He shrugged, heading back towards my lips. “I like it back here.
This room holds…happy memories for me.”

Avoiding him, I raised an eyebrow. “Happy? Us screaming at each
other is a happy memory for you?” I cringed at the night we’d
finally blown up at each other. It had been the worst verbal fight
I’d ever been in, and hoped to ever be in again.

He grinned lazily, the alcohol flowing through his veins
apparent in his features. “Remember what I said about your being
angry making me hot?” The tip of his finger brushed over a curl
below and I hissed in a breath, yanking his hand up a smidge. He
grinned wider, then exhaled softly. “I told you I loved you in this
room.” His voice wistful, he shook his head. “I should have said it
earlier.”

Seeing the love in his drunken haze, I smiled and released one
of my hands from his arm to stroke his cheek. “Yes, you should
have.” Sighing, I shook my head. “And I should have said it
back.”

His expression turned serious for a second and he lowered his
head against mine, closing his perfectly deep eyes. “Yes, yes you
should have.” Giggling, he added, “You always were stubborn as
shit, though. It took you forever to admit you even had feelings
for me.”

Pulling back from him, I frowned as deeply as I could with his
hand still down my pants. He giggled more and leaned over to kiss
me. “What? You know I’m right.” His tongue brushed against mine and
I moaned. I considered letting him do whatever he wanted with me.
He did get the door fixed after all…

Maybe sensing where my head was, or maybe too drunk to care, his
hand slid down to cup my body. I groaned, aching with the need for
him to lift a finger and touch me. He didn’t, though, just held his
hand there and passionately kissed me. His breath was harder, and
as my fingers reached down to tentatively touch his arousal, I
could feel that it was harder too.

Wanting to scream, “Okay, okay, just take me!” I suddenly
remembered the chaos we’d left in the bar. Releasing my hand from
him, I pushed his shoulder back. “You have to go play, Kellan.”
Narrowing my eyes, ignoring the throbbing in my body, I looked over
his slightly glazed face. “Can you even do that?”

Laughing, he nodded. “There’s a lot I can do when I’m drunk.” He
laughed again and I frowned, also remembering the earlier
revelations that had been made to me by my coworkers.

“Yeah, I hear you make out with Pete’s waitresses on New Year’s
Eve when you’re wasted.”

He looked at me blankly, a dopey, satisfied smile on this face,
then he frowned. “What?”

Rolling my eyes, I yanked on his hand still happy and content on
my privates. “Kate, you ass. You never told me you almost had sex
with her…Jenny too.”

He rolled his eyes and slurred, “I never got anywhere near sex
with Jenny. She said no. And Kate….doesn’t count.”

I narrowed my eyes, leaning into his face. He blinked as he
readjusted his vision to look at me. “What do you mean she doesn’t
count?”

He shrugged slowly. “Almost doesn’t count.”

Grunting, I successfully yanked his hand free from my jeans. He
openly pouted at me as I handed his hand back to him; he even gave
me puppy dog eyes. Smiling, in spite of my objections to his
comment, I shook my head. “What am I going to do with you?”

His smile turned lascivious as his eyes locked onto my pants. “I
could think of a few things.”

Chuckling, I physically turned him around. Hopefully
his…situation…wouldn’t be too apparent to the patrons when I
stormed him back out to the bar. That could be a little
embarrassing for him. Then again, probably not. Kellan didn’t get
embarrassed by things that would have most people mortified. He’d
probably just shrug and drink another beer.

He sighed morosely while I pushed him forward. I chuckled again,
realizing something. He looked back at me once we got to the door.
Frowning, he muttered, “What’s so funny?”

Smiling at the look of insolence on his face, I grinned and
laughed a little more. “Well…Casanova…since you are obviously
living it up on your night, guess what I get to do later?”

He grinned again, bringing his still ready body around so he
could press it into mine. Unfortunately, I was still ready too, and
it felt, really, really amazing when we pressed together. I started
to close my eyes but opened them when he mumbled, “Me?”

Pushing him back, I raised a finger in warning. “No…” Smiling
innocently, I reached behind him to open the door. “I finally get
to drive the Chevelle again.”

He frowned and instantly started protesting, but I shoved his
drunken ass though the door. There was no way I was letting him
drive to the after party.

Just as he was back out into the hallway, adorably sputtering
that he was fine and of course he could drive, he started ringing.
Well, the cell phone in his front pocket started ringing, but since
Kellan wasn’t used to wearing one on him, he looked around himself
like he had no idea why he was making noise. He started patting his
body, looking for the source of the sound. Laughing, I stopped his
hands and put one of them on the slight bulge that was his cell
phone.

Giggling to himself as the people walking past looked at him
oddly, he muttered, “Oh thank God, it’s the phone. I thought my
cock was ringing.”

As my cheeks flamed bright red and my hand slapped over my
mouth, Kellan dug his phone out of his pocket and answered it. Upon
hearing his greeting, I instantly wondered if Kellan should be
speaking on the phone in his condition. I also wondered who could
be calling him…most of us were already here, or on our way
here.

“Yo, talk to me,” he spouted merrily, sitting back on a hip.
Shaking my head at him, I rolled my eyes. Lord help whoever he was
talking to. I figured out who that was a moment later. His face
dropping in complete surprise, Kellan loudly exclaimed, “Dude!
Denny, man! You have, like, fuck-tastic timing. Tonight’s my last
show and Kiera and I were just—”

My eyes widened and I immediately tried to take the phone from
him. Of all the people for Kellan to talk to drunk, Denny was the
worst one. There were way too many delicate topics he could
accidentally start talking about.

Glaring at me, Kellan twisted out of my reach, stumbling back a
step. “Relax, Kiera, I wasn’t going to tell him that you just blew
me off.” My mouth dropped open; he’d just said that directly into
the phone and it sounded really, really bad. His hazy mind
registering what he’d done, Kellan blinked and quickly covered
with, “Oh, Denny, not that she actually blew me or anything, she
didn’t, she doesn’t really hang out down there, if you know what I
mean,” he paused to giggle, “and I guess you do, huh?”

Reattempting to snatch the phone away before the idiot told
Denny everything that he didn’t need to hear, I watched Kellan
frown as he batted me away. “Sorry, man, you probably don’t want to
hear shit like that.” There was a pause from Kellan as Denny spoke,
then Kellan laughed. “Yeah, well, at least I didn’t say you caught
us in the middle of doing it… that would have been awkward.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. Idiot. Joking or not, Denny
really didn’t need to picture Kellan and I together. I heard
silence and peeked an eye open at Kellan; he was frowning. “Denny?
You still there?” After another second his frown lifted to a
medicated smile. “No, the tour starts tomorrow, we’re livin’ it up
for our last night in Seattle.”