Effortless
Page 50
The statuesque woman smiled back at him and nodded, her face equally joyful. She wasn't what I expected a band-following groupie to look like. She seemed high class, well put together, with dark ebony hair in a loosely held back bun and clothes that screamed money. She had creamy, mocha skin, with perfect bone structure beneath it and lips that were undeniably full and soft. She was...gorgeous. Model gorgeous. Celebrity gorgeous. Halle Berry gorgeous. Squinting my eyes, I wondered for a second if maybe it was Halle Berry? Wouldn't that just be my luck? If he'd hooked up with an A-list actress already.
Just as she twisted her face and I saw enough of it to know that it wasn't the actress, Kellan leaned into her ear. I had no idea if he was leaning in to tell her something, or if he was leaning in to nibble on it. And I couldn't tell what happened next, since the video shut off. The screen now back to the tiny thumbnail of the band, I blinked. Did I really just see what I think I saw? I didn't want to believe it, but it had looked...suspicious. Then there was that odd text over Christmas that he wouldn't let me read. He'd said it was from Griffin. Was it?
Anger boiling in my stomach, I pointed to the computer. "Could you...play that last part again please?" I asked, my voice short and tight.
Rachel tucked her hair behind her ears repeatedly. "Kiera, I'm sorry. That one just came in...I was so excited to show you guys, I hadn't watched it all the way through yet."
Glaring at her, even though I didn't mean to, I snapped, "Play it again, Rachel." Calming myself, since I really didn't know what I was seeing, I added, "Please."
I felt Denny put a hand on my shoulder, but I couldn't look at him. I was sure he wouldn't gloat, but I wasn't equally sure that he wasn't that surprised. Maybe I'd been dreaming about having a monogamous relationship with Kellan. Maybe that just wasn't possible. Closing my eyes tight, I shook my head. No, I couldn't leap to conclusions without talking to him. I couldn't condemn him without letting him fail first. Isn't that what I'd convinced my dad?
Feeling another hand touch me, I opened my eyes at Jenny. Biting her lip, she shook her head. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation, Kiera. I'm sure that was nothing...really."
I felt my eyes sting as I nodded at her. Sure, it may have been nothing, we really didn't know. But it was enough of something for every single one of them to wonder about it. And that made my stomach start to churn.
Jenny went back to work, excitedly telling Kate all about Evan's performance, while I watched the clip again. Denny stayed by my side, not saying anything, but not making any move to walk away. I shook my head as I watched Kellan lean into the beauty again. Seeing it was riling up my stomach. I really should stop myself. I really shouldn't watch. But I felt frozen in place, staring at the screen over Rachel's shoulder.
After playing it again, Rachel tried to move to a different area of the website, maybe to get my mind off it, but I was too deep in my jealous fit to just let it slide off me. I was as patient as I could be, and I'd grown a lot in the last year, but I still had a lot of room for growth. I grabbed the mouse from her and clicked the video again.
Sighing, she stood up, inching her way between Denny and I. "I'll just...give you a moment," she murmured, walking away from the table.
Biting my nails as I watched the clip again and again, I wondered what it all meant. He seemed to be very comfortable with a person that I didn't know. A person that I was sure I'd never heard him mention in all of his phone conversations. Just as I was rewinding the moment where Kellan leans into her for about the twentieth time, the laptop was snapped shut in my face.
Blinking, I looked up at Denny. Still standing behind me, he crossed his arms over his chest. "You're going to give yourself an ulcer, worrying about something that you have no proof to support." He raised his eyebrows. "Trust me...I know."
I flushed and started to look away but Denny quickly added, "And besides, you promised me dinner, and I'm starving." Peeking up at him, I managed to smile a little. Seeing my mood lift, he shook his head. "Do you think you could get me one of those world-famous burgers that you guys have?"
Biting my lip, I glanced at the closed laptop. I wanted to watch it again, but Denny was right, I had no proof that Kellan was doing anything wrong. I couldn't do anything but make myself angry as I watched a brief moment that I was probably taking out of context...hopefully. I'd have to wait and ask Kellan later, and I'd have to ask him in a way that didn't make it obvious that I wasn't flat-out asking him if he was sleeping with her. I'd have to bring it up subtly...and subtleness wasn't my strong point.
Letting the video go for now, I stood and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Of course." I sighed. "I'm sorry it took so long.
Denny glanced down at the computer on the table. "Not a problem, Kiera...I understand," he whispered.
I'd like to say that I let the video go after that moment. I'd like to say it, but it wouldn't be true. I snagged the laptop from Rachel, telling her that I'd give it back tomorrow. Denny shook his head at me as he ate his dinner, but he gave me a sympathetic smile too, like he understood. He told me he'd call me tomorrow and see how I was doing. I marveled that he was still my caretaker, even after everything. Even after being physically separated from me for a year. Giving him a swift hug, a hug that made a swirl of whispers flash around the bar, I told him to tell Abby hi for me. The smile on his face was the largest I'd seen all night and I noticed him pulling his phone out of his pocket as he headed out to the parking lot. I figured he was going to call her right then and there.
After my shift, I went home and watched every clip available on the band's website. While I enjoyed seeing Kellan in action again, I also saw that woman two more times. From what I could make out by the background, all three videos that had glimpses of her were shot in three different locations, like she really was following them around as they'd headed from town to town.
It burned my blood and I couldn't sleep that night. I watched the videos over and over, cell phone in hand, barely stopping myself from calling and demanding an answer. My sister plodded into my room near dawn, crashing into the bed with me. Like Denny, she slammed shut the laptop, letting out an annoyed grunt.
I sighed, leaning back on the pillows, my hand tight around my phone. "What are you doing up?" I muttered.
Removing the computer from my lap, she laid her head there and glared up at me. "I could practically hear you fuming through the walls. What's going on?"
I shook my head. "Nothing." It had to be nothing...he'd promised.
Seeing my face, she sat up. "No it's not...what happened?" She glanced over to the computer, picking it up and opening it. "Something in here?" she asked, her silky locks falling over her shoulder.
I bit my lip and nodded, then shook my head. "Just a girl that keeps popping up in some fan footage of the band." I sighed as Anna navigated to the page I'd been staring at all night. "I just...don't know what it means."
When Anna looked up at me with furrowed brows, I sighed and showed her which video to play. She silently watched the video, then looked up at me and shook her head. "I don't know, Kiera." Glancing at the cell in my hand, she shrugged. "Why don't you just call and ask?"
A wistful sound escaped me as I stared at my phone. "I wish I could...but I don't want to be that girl." Sitting up, I locked my arms around my legs. "Plus, what would I say? I saw you touch a girl in a video...care to explain?"
Looking down I shook my head and remembered Denny's words. "I have no proof that he's cheating, just a short glimpse of...familiarity...with a girl that I don't know. That's not enough to start cornering him with questions." I peeked back up at her and smiled sadly. "I don't want to be the jealous girl back home who can't handle the fame of her guy. That's how couple's like us break apart."
Sighing herself, she reached up to tuck some hair behind my ear. "Yeah, I suppose." Brightening, her face way too attractive for the insane hour, she exclaimed, "I could ask Griffin? I'm sure he knows who that girl is." She frowned right after she said it, like if Griffin knew her, then he knew her intimately.
Biting my lip, I shook my head. "No, any answers need to come from him. I can't be the girl who uses his friends to spy on him, either." Closing my eyes, I pushed the computer away from the both of us. "No...I need to let this go. I need to trust him." I opened my eyes and shrugged. "That's the only way we're going to work, if we start trusting each other...and it's probably nothing anyway."
She nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah, I'm sure. He's way too crazy in love to do anything as stupid as cheat on you."
I nodded, smiling softly. As Anna gave me a hug, a stray thought entered my brain and I asked Anna about it on a whim. "Hey, what's Griffin's cell number?"
Her eyes got wider as she stared at me, the perfectly emerald shade more than a little surprised that I'd want to know that; Griffin and I didn't exactly talk. I generally avoided any conversation with him. I just couldn't get that weird text out of my head, not with this new information exposed to me.
"I just...I need...Kellan got this..." I sighed. "What's his number?"
She rattled it off instantly and I sighed and closed my eyes. The number that had been on Kellan's phone was burned into my brain...and the number Anna had just given me wasn't it. The text hadn't been from Griffin. Kellan had lied.
When I finally passed out from exhaustion, I had a dream. Well, nightmare really. In it, I kept running into women wearing matching promise rings. Then I kept finding notes tucked all over his house that were addressed to other girls. I think I even dreamt that he proposed to the Halle Berry lookalike on National TV. My dream version of Denny was there, giving me sympathetic, supportive glances, like he knew my pain. It only made me feel worse. When I startled awake, I felt like I hadn't slept at all.
Irritated at myself, I knew I was overacting. One plus one didn't always equal two.
Forcing myself to shower and get ready for the day, I was instantly grateful that my class was this afternoon; I'd have slept right through it if I'd had a morning one. Leaving my hair damp and dripping, I shuffled out to the living room, where I could hear Anna watching cartoons while she slurped down a bowl of cereal.
Pushing all doubt out of my brain, I sat beside her, laying my wet head on her shoulder. She glanced over at me in-between spoonfuls, then nonchalantly said, "Do you remember when I came home and you and Kellan were seriously making out on the couch?"
I straightened, staring at her with wide eyes. "Yeah..." How could I forget, I'd been mortified.
It had been back when we weren't hav**g s*x yet, but we were definitely pushing the envelope. He'd been shirtless, jeans unbuttoned. I'd had a light tank top on but he'd scrunched it all the way up my stomach. The memory of his lips on my belly assaulted me as I rewound back to that night.
His hands on my hips, pulling at the fabric of my light shorts, like he'd wanted to tear them off. My fingers tangling in his hair, as I yanked his mouth back to mine. The moans I made as his lean body pressed against every square inch of me. Our breaths fast as we both considered how far to take the moment. We'd been going slow, together for more than two months, but we'd still held back, wanting it to be perfect. And holding back with Kellan was hard.
Just as she twisted her face and I saw enough of it to know that it wasn't the actress, Kellan leaned into her ear. I had no idea if he was leaning in to tell her something, or if he was leaning in to nibble on it. And I couldn't tell what happened next, since the video shut off. The screen now back to the tiny thumbnail of the band, I blinked. Did I really just see what I think I saw? I didn't want to believe it, but it had looked...suspicious. Then there was that odd text over Christmas that he wouldn't let me read. He'd said it was from Griffin. Was it?
Anger boiling in my stomach, I pointed to the computer. "Could you...play that last part again please?" I asked, my voice short and tight.
Rachel tucked her hair behind her ears repeatedly. "Kiera, I'm sorry. That one just came in...I was so excited to show you guys, I hadn't watched it all the way through yet."
Glaring at her, even though I didn't mean to, I snapped, "Play it again, Rachel." Calming myself, since I really didn't know what I was seeing, I added, "Please."
I felt Denny put a hand on my shoulder, but I couldn't look at him. I was sure he wouldn't gloat, but I wasn't equally sure that he wasn't that surprised. Maybe I'd been dreaming about having a monogamous relationship with Kellan. Maybe that just wasn't possible. Closing my eyes tight, I shook my head. No, I couldn't leap to conclusions without talking to him. I couldn't condemn him without letting him fail first. Isn't that what I'd convinced my dad?
Feeling another hand touch me, I opened my eyes at Jenny. Biting her lip, she shook her head. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation, Kiera. I'm sure that was nothing...really."
I felt my eyes sting as I nodded at her. Sure, it may have been nothing, we really didn't know. But it was enough of something for every single one of them to wonder about it. And that made my stomach start to churn.
Jenny went back to work, excitedly telling Kate all about Evan's performance, while I watched the clip again. Denny stayed by my side, not saying anything, but not making any move to walk away. I shook my head as I watched Kellan lean into the beauty again. Seeing it was riling up my stomach. I really should stop myself. I really shouldn't watch. But I felt frozen in place, staring at the screen over Rachel's shoulder.
After playing it again, Rachel tried to move to a different area of the website, maybe to get my mind off it, but I was too deep in my jealous fit to just let it slide off me. I was as patient as I could be, and I'd grown a lot in the last year, but I still had a lot of room for growth. I grabbed the mouse from her and clicked the video again.
Sighing, she stood up, inching her way between Denny and I. "I'll just...give you a moment," she murmured, walking away from the table.
Biting my nails as I watched the clip again and again, I wondered what it all meant. He seemed to be very comfortable with a person that I didn't know. A person that I was sure I'd never heard him mention in all of his phone conversations. Just as I was rewinding the moment where Kellan leans into her for about the twentieth time, the laptop was snapped shut in my face.
Blinking, I looked up at Denny. Still standing behind me, he crossed his arms over his chest. "You're going to give yourself an ulcer, worrying about something that you have no proof to support." He raised his eyebrows. "Trust me...I know."
I flushed and started to look away but Denny quickly added, "And besides, you promised me dinner, and I'm starving." Peeking up at him, I managed to smile a little. Seeing my mood lift, he shook his head. "Do you think you could get me one of those world-famous burgers that you guys have?"
Biting my lip, I glanced at the closed laptop. I wanted to watch it again, but Denny was right, I had no proof that Kellan was doing anything wrong. I couldn't do anything but make myself angry as I watched a brief moment that I was probably taking out of context...hopefully. I'd have to wait and ask Kellan later, and I'd have to ask him in a way that didn't make it obvious that I wasn't flat-out asking him if he was sleeping with her. I'd have to bring it up subtly...and subtleness wasn't my strong point.
Letting the video go for now, I stood and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Of course." I sighed. "I'm sorry it took so long.
Denny glanced down at the computer on the table. "Not a problem, Kiera...I understand," he whispered.
I'd like to say that I let the video go after that moment. I'd like to say it, but it wouldn't be true. I snagged the laptop from Rachel, telling her that I'd give it back tomorrow. Denny shook his head at me as he ate his dinner, but he gave me a sympathetic smile too, like he understood. He told me he'd call me tomorrow and see how I was doing. I marveled that he was still my caretaker, even after everything. Even after being physically separated from me for a year. Giving him a swift hug, a hug that made a swirl of whispers flash around the bar, I told him to tell Abby hi for me. The smile on his face was the largest I'd seen all night and I noticed him pulling his phone out of his pocket as he headed out to the parking lot. I figured he was going to call her right then and there.
After my shift, I went home and watched every clip available on the band's website. While I enjoyed seeing Kellan in action again, I also saw that woman two more times. From what I could make out by the background, all three videos that had glimpses of her were shot in three different locations, like she really was following them around as they'd headed from town to town.
It burned my blood and I couldn't sleep that night. I watched the videos over and over, cell phone in hand, barely stopping myself from calling and demanding an answer. My sister plodded into my room near dawn, crashing into the bed with me. Like Denny, she slammed shut the laptop, letting out an annoyed grunt.
I sighed, leaning back on the pillows, my hand tight around my phone. "What are you doing up?" I muttered.
Removing the computer from my lap, she laid her head there and glared up at me. "I could practically hear you fuming through the walls. What's going on?"
I shook my head. "Nothing." It had to be nothing...he'd promised.
Seeing my face, she sat up. "No it's not...what happened?" She glanced over to the computer, picking it up and opening it. "Something in here?" she asked, her silky locks falling over her shoulder.
I bit my lip and nodded, then shook my head. "Just a girl that keeps popping up in some fan footage of the band." I sighed as Anna navigated to the page I'd been staring at all night. "I just...don't know what it means."
When Anna looked up at me with furrowed brows, I sighed and showed her which video to play. She silently watched the video, then looked up at me and shook her head. "I don't know, Kiera." Glancing at the cell in my hand, she shrugged. "Why don't you just call and ask?"
A wistful sound escaped me as I stared at my phone. "I wish I could...but I don't want to be that girl." Sitting up, I locked my arms around my legs. "Plus, what would I say? I saw you touch a girl in a video...care to explain?"
Looking down I shook my head and remembered Denny's words. "I have no proof that he's cheating, just a short glimpse of...familiarity...with a girl that I don't know. That's not enough to start cornering him with questions." I peeked back up at her and smiled sadly. "I don't want to be the jealous girl back home who can't handle the fame of her guy. That's how couple's like us break apart."
Sighing herself, she reached up to tuck some hair behind my ear. "Yeah, I suppose." Brightening, her face way too attractive for the insane hour, she exclaimed, "I could ask Griffin? I'm sure he knows who that girl is." She frowned right after she said it, like if Griffin knew her, then he knew her intimately.
Biting my lip, I shook my head. "No, any answers need to come from him. I can't be the girl who uses his friends to spy on him, either." Closing my eyes, I pushed the computer away from the both of us. "No...I need to let this go. I need to trust him." I opened my eyes and shrugged. "That's the only way we're going to work, if we start trusting each other...and it's probably nothing anyway."
She nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah, I'm sure. He's way too crazy in love to do anything as stupid as cheat on you."
I nodded, smiling softly. As Anna gave me a hug, a stray thought entered my brain and I asked Anna about it on a whim. "Hey, what's Griffin's cell number?"
Her eyes got wider as she stared at me, the perfectly emerald shade more than a little surprised that I'd want to know that; Griffin and I didn't exactly talk. I generally avoided any conversation with him. I just couldn't get that weird text out of my head, not with this new information exposed to me.
"I just...I need...Kellan got this..." I sighed. "What's his number?"
She rattled it off instantly and I sighed and closed my eyes. The number that had been on Kellan's phone was burned into my brain...and the number Anna had just given me wasn't it. The text hadn't been from Griffin. Kellan had lied.
When I finally passed out from exhaustion, I had a dream. Well, nightmare really. In it, I kept running into women wearing matching promise rings. Then I kept finding notes tucked all over his house that were addressed to other girls. I think I even dreamt that he proposed to the Halle Berry lookalike on National TV. My dream version of Denny was there, giving me sympathetic, supportive glances, like he knew my pain. It only made me feel worse. When I startled awake, I felt like I hadn't slept at all.
Irritated at myself, I knew I was overacting. One plus one didn't always equal two.
Forcing myself to shower and get ready for the day, I was instantly grateful that my class was this afternoon; I'd have slept right through it if I'd had a morning one. Leaving my hair damp and dripping, I shuffled out to the living room, where I could hear Anna watching cartoons while she slurped down a bowl of cereal.
Pushing all doubt out of my brain, I sat beside her, laying my wet head on her shoulder. She glanced over at me in-between spoonfuls, then nonchalantly said, "Do you remember when I came home and you and Kellan were seriously making out on the couch?"
I straightened, staring at her with wide eyes. "Yeah..." How could I forget, I'd been mortified.
It had been back when we weren't hav**g s*x yet, but we were definitely pushing the envelope. He'd been shirtless, jeans unbuttoned. I'd had a light tank top on but he'd scrunched it all the way up my stomach. The memory of his lips on my belly assaulted me as I rewound back to that night.
His hands on my hips, pulling at the fabric of my light shorts, like he'd wanted to tear them off. My fingers tangling in his hair, as I yanked his mouth back to mine. The moans I made as his lean body pressed against every square inch of me. Our breaths fast as we both considered how far to take the moment. We'd been going slow, together for more than two months, but we'd still held back, wanting it to be perfect. And holding back with Kellan was hard.
