Effortless (18 page)

Parking about a half mile away from the house, our group walked
up to the bustling home. As Kate and Jenny relayed funnier memories
to Rita, making her laugh, I looked around the cramped neighborhood
and wondered how much longer it was going to be before one of the
homeowners called the cops on the noisy rock stars in their
midst.

Kellan opened the front door and walked through when we
approached it; another home-away-from-home for him. The noise of
the stereo hit me first, the bass deep and thumping, then the
rustle and hiss of dozens and dozens of bodies filled my ears. The
sound only amplified when Rita shut the door behind her. Kellan
smiled back at me and nodded his head in a direction he wanted us
to go.  Taking a second to put my bag and jacket in the
already crammed full coat closet, I grabbed his hand.

He started leading us directly through the mass of people in the
living room. Matt and Griffin’s place was much bigger than
Kellan’s, the living room being a wide-open design that left ample
space for dancing in the center of it. A group of clearly drunk
partygoers were already doing that. Some big, beer-belly man was
even doing some sort of supposed-to-be-seductive shimmy, shaking
his belly fat to a group of giggling girls. Kellan chuckled at him
as we passed, patting his shoulder to give us space. The girls
instantly locked onto Kellan, ignoring the dancing joker in their
midst.

Clutching Kellan’s hand tight, we finally made it through the
gyrating swarm to the dining room, where a group of people were set
up at a six-foot-long dining table. The table had seen much better
days, the hard wood scraped and dented everywhere, but the sloppily
drunk people playing drinking games didn’t seem to care. Kellan
paused at the table, watching the chaos for a few seconds with an
amused grin on his face.

As some perky blonde pouted that she had to finish her nearly
full beer, Matt came up to our side and clapped Kellan’s shoulder.
“Hey, you made it. People have been asking for you.”

I smiled over at Matt’s cutely flushed face. His eyes were
slightly unfocused. I figured he’d been indulging at his going away
party. Rachel behind him placed her chin on his shoulder and smiled
over at me. Her eyes were clear and bright. If Matt was caving in,
she was not. I smiled and waved at her, instantly grateful that at
least one person at this party was being sober and responsible.

Smiling over at me, Matt raised his eyebrows. “Hey, Kiera. We
got everything…what’s your poison?”

Glancing behind him into the kitchen, I noticed the long
counters were filled with just about every beer and liquor on the
planet. They seemed better stocked than Pete’s. Laughing at Rita,
who’d slipped into the room the other way and was now doling out
drinks, just like back at the bar, I shook my head at Matt. “I’m
good, really, thanks.”

Matt nodded and let it go. Kellan twisted around and frowned at
me. “Uh-uh, you need a drink.”

Twisting my lip at him, I raised an eyebrow. “
You’re
going to peer pressure me to drink?”

He smiled and rolled his eyes. Leaning into me, he placed his
lips on my ear. I had to stop breathing for a second as his breath
washed over my neck, igniting my body. “I don’t want you spending
the entire evening thinking about me leaving.”

His words washed my brief desire away and I pulled back to look
at him. Frowning, he added, “I don’t want you spending our last
night thinking about it…and you will, right?” Sighing, I
reluctantly nodded. Yeah, he’s approaching departure was about all
I was thinking about. Even the many distractions here couldn’t
really keep my mind from that path for long.

Sighing himself, he slung his arms around my waist and kissed my
forehead. “I want you to loosen up and have a little fun with me.”
Sinking down to my eye level, he raised a brow. “Can you do
that?”

Exhaling, I took a moment to memorize his features. Twisting
back to Matt, who’d spent our brief discussion sucking on Rachel’s
neck while she tried to get him to stop, I tapped his shoulder.
When he blinkingly looked at me, I pointed to the alcohol flowing
freely around the room. “I’ll take something…sweet.”

Matt brightened and leaned in to hug me. It was way more
affection than I was used to from him and I giggled as I patted his
back. “I’ll hook you up, Kiera!” he exclaimed, leaping to his
assignment like I was a royal debutante that he had to please.

Kellan laughed at his friend as he kissed my neck. “Thank you,”
he murmured in my ear.

I was about to tell him that he’d be thanking me later if I got
tipsy and threw up in his car, but just at that moment a scream
sounded over the music in the living room. Kellan and I stepped
back so we could peek into the large room. I started laughing
instantly. Evan had found Jenny and had picked the tiny woman up
and slung her over his shoulder. Jostling her a little bit, he was
playfully smacking her bottom while she squealed.

While Kate tried to help her down, Jenny laughed and clung to
her teddy bear of a boyfriend. Spotting me, she lifted her hand up.
“Kiera, help me!”

Evan twisted around to look at us, also twisting Jenny around in
the process. She kicked her feet but Evan had her tight. Smiling at
Kellan and me, he waved a quick greeting. Kellan waved back and
chuckled. Smiling down at me, Kellan got a playful glint in his
eye.

Mine widened as I took a step back. “Don’t even think about it,
Kyle.” Putting my finger in his chest as his playful grin turned
devilish, I backed up into a dining room chair. The girl sitting
there drunkenly stood up and grabbed my shoulders.

“Here, I’m done…you play.” She forcefully plopped me down and I
sat in a whoosh.

No sooner had I finished my descent to a seat, than Matt was
beside me, handing me a large glass filled with something an
orangey-pink color. “Here you are, Kiera. Something sweet,” he
laughed as he straightened, “like you.”

I smiled at Matt and thanked him just as a pair of dice were
placed in front of me. Frowning at the brunette who’d handed them
to me, I started shaking my head. I really hadn’t intended to play.
Rolling her eyes, she put them in my palm and made my palm drop
them.

The entire table mockingly groaned as I looked at a pair of
ones. They all seemed to know what that meant…I had no clue. Kellan
started laughing and I glanced up at him, irritated. As Matt
consolingly patted my shoulder, muttering something that sounded
like, “I’ll make you another one, Kiera,” Kellan pointed to my
glass.

“Snake eyes means you have to pound your drink.” My mouth
dropped open as I stared at him. Rita handed him a beer, her hand
resting a little too casually on his shoulder. Kellan raised his
beer to me. “Bottom’s up, babe.”

I smirked and shook my head. “I wasn’t really playing…”

The entire table started booing and groaning; someone even threw
a bottle cap at me. Kellan laughed and shrugged as I took a hold of
my drink. Knowing that he wanted me to loosen up and have a little
fun, and figuring this was as good a way as any, I tipped the drink
down and forced myself to swallow it as fast as I could.

It freaking burned.

Whatever the hell Matt had made me was strong. By the end of the
glass I was coughing and my eyes were stinging. My belly also had a
pleasant warmth to it and my head swam a little. I grinned up at
Kellan as the table burst into cheers. God, by the approval level,
you’d think drinking was a sport, and I’d just scored the winning
point.

As Matt handed me another beautifully peachy drink, someone
commented to Kellan, “Dude, your girlfriend can really suck ‘em
down…lucky bastard.”

Kellan started laughing but immediately stopped when he met my
icy glare. Grabbing the commenter’s jacket, Kellan hauled him from
his seat. “My turn,” he told him, sitting in his spot. I smiled as
the dice made their way around to him. Jerk. I hope he got snake
eyes too.

As the evening progressed, my luck with this game didn’t
improve. I swear to God every time anyone did anything,
I
was the one that had to drink. My glass never strayed from my lips
long, and my head got fuzzier and fuzzier the longer I sat at the
table. The drink, however, got smoother and smoother. It was
practically candy at one point.

The brunette bitch to the right of me, that had made me start
this little fiasco in the first place, giggled and gave me five
drinks…just because. As I cursed and then started taking them, she
adorably peeked her head up at Kellan.  “Sorry, Kellan, I’m
really not trying to get your girlfriend drunk.”

I wanted to leer at her and mutter, “Yeah, you are,” but I
wasn’t finished with my assigned drinks yet.

Kellan smiled at the cute girl next to me, but before my
jealousy could really start to flare up, his gorgeous blue eyes
turned to mine. Even my slow head could appreciate the beauty in
those dark depths. Keeping his gaze on me, he told her, “No, go
ahead, get her drunk.” Grinning devilishly, he added, “The odds of
me getting lucky tonight will only increase if you do.”

I wanted to blush and be embarrassed, but really, I’d had far
too much alcohol by this point. In-between sips, I laughed and
tossed out, “Since when have you ever needed help with your odds?”
Surprisingly, I only slurred that a little bit.

Kellan charmingly cocked an eyebrow at me while the table rolled
with laughter. He’d sobered up a bit on the stage, but with how
long he’d been playing this game with me, he had to be as buzzed as
I was. Smiling crookedly, he leaned forward on the table. “True…”
he murmured drunkenly.

He was sitting kitty-corner to me at the massive table, but our
feet were touching underneath it. The table was packed with people,
the room was crammed with watchers, but as Kellan locked his
simmering eyes to mine, and my body flared with heat in response…we
may as well have been alone.

He ran his teeth along his bottom lip, the move so sexy I bit my
own, then he dropped his voice to a seductive level that I usually
only heard when he were alone, wrapped in each other’s bare arms.
“But, maybe I could get you to do that one thing with your—”

Suddenly remembering that we were
not
alone and wrapped
in each other’s bare arms, I partially stood from the table,
cutting him off. “Kellan Kyle! You shut the hell up!”

He laughed and sat back in his chair. Quite a few people in the
room laughed with him and I finally felt that blush creeping into
my cheeks. He shrugged and shook his head. “Just saying…” As I
narrowed my eyes at him, making the room crack up even more, he
tilted his head, staring at me in an unmistakably loving way.
“You’re such an adorable drunk, Kiera.”

Grinning, my mood shifting again, I finished standing up. He
watched me curiously as I leaned over the table, completely pausing
the drinking game as everyone stared at us. For once I didn’t care
if they did. Kellan was my focus and I wanted him to kiss me…even
if I had to crawl over the table to get to him.

Smiling at the image in my head, I crooked a finger at him. One
edge of a lip curling up in a way that was dangerously attractive,
he stood slightly and leaned over the table as well. Our lips met
in the middle, my mouth parting as his tongue lightly brushed
against me. My sloppy mind heard a few giggles and whistles, but
Kellan’s soft skin took up all of my concentration. I nearly wanted
him to lay me down on this damaged, beer-stained surface.

As I was considering yanking him over the table so his entire
body could be on mine, a particular voice broke through the chaos.
“All right! We playing spin the bottle?”

Kellan and I broke apart at the same time and glared over at the
annoyance who’d distracted us. As Griffin strode up to the table, I
suppressed a sigh. Well, I knew he was here…it was really only a
matter of time before he made an appearance. Glancing behind him, I
noticed my sister leaning against a wall, a familiar, satisfied
expression on her face. I instantly did not want to know where
they’d been hiding.

As Griffin stood beside Kellan, clapping a hand on his back,
Kellan fully stood and shook his head. “No, we’re not,
Griffin.”

Ignoring him, Griffin reached down to the table. Finding an
empty beer bottle, he laid it on its side and spun it in a circle.
The table instantly started laughing at the new aspect being
introduced to our game.

With everyone chuckling around us, I sat back down, blushing. I
hadn’t played spin the bottle since the eighth grade, and I was
pretty sure I didn’t want to
ever
play it with Griffin.
Even my frazzled brain knew that much. The brunette beside me bit
her lip as she stared at Kellan; I knew exactly where she was
hoping her turn would land her. I had no intention of letting her
wish be fulfilled. Breech of party etiquette or not, no one was
kissing Kellan tonight but me.

Griffin had an eager look on his face as he watched the brown
bottle start to spin slower. As the room quieted in anticipation, I
glanced over at Kellan; he was still standing in front of his seat,
arms crossed over his chest as he watched Griffin with a smirk on
his face. I wondered if Kellan was just as against anyone kissing
me as I was about anyone kissing him. I wondered what he’d do if
the bottle stopped on me? Oh God, what would
I
do if the
bottle stopped on me? Griffin wouldn’t let it go with a simple
refusal. Even if he had to hunt me down, he’d stop at nothing to
get his kiss.