Thoughtless
Page 44

Throughout my shift, I watched her flirt with Kellan. He didn't seem to encourage her advances or make any advances of his own, but he didn't discourage her advances either. All the while they were talking, she would brush hair from his forehead, touch his shoulder, graze her arm against his leg. She was subtle, but also, not subtle. He would say something amusing to her and she would laugh, tilting her head to the side. Then she'd seductively bite her lip and run a finger lightly along her low neckline, while continuing her throaty chuckle. Griffin was as irritated at that display as I was. I never thought I'd feel the same way about anything as Griffin.
When I came up a bit later to tell the band they were set to go on, Anna had her hand brazenly high on his inner thigh, and he seemed perfectly fine with that.
"Time's up, Kellan." The words came out harshly, and my sister looked at me oddly. I fixed my face into what I thought was a passable smile and explained to her. "They need to go onstage and play now." Kellan smiled at my forced tone, highly amused.
"Oh...great!" my sister beamed, and I wished Denny would hurry up and get here already.
As the D-Bags climbed up on stage, my sister forcefully made her way through the quickly swarming crowd to a place directly in front of Kellan's microphone. He irritatingly smiled down at her while the guys got set up. I frowned, but couldn't watch anymore, as customers started demanding my attention. Where the heck was Denny?
Denny finally arrived at the bar, halfway through the guys set. Anna had been enjoying the show, a little too much for my taste, and Kellan had his bedroom eyes on her, and the half dozen women around her, for most of it. I was not in a good mood when Denny finally walked through the doors.
"Where have you been?" I snipped.
He looked at me oddly and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I told you I had to finish work first." He glanced over to where Anna was reaching up to Kellan, and he was annoyingly reaching back towards her. "She seems to be enjoying herself anyway." He laughed once and smirked.
I closed my eyes and swallowed my irritation. Reopening them, I caught him watching me curiously. "Why don't you take her home now. Her stuff is in the backroom."
Still looking at me with a curious expression, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay." He relaxed his expression then and slid his arms around my waist. "I missed you." His eyes sparkled as a warm smile crossed his face.
I relaxed and smiled back at him. "I missed you too." I kissed him softly. He pulled me tight and started to deepen the kiss, when I pulled away. "I'm sorry, we're really busy. Can you please take her home now? I'm sure she's tired after her trip." I shrugged lamely, as I stepped away from his embrace.
Denny looked back to the stage where Anna was jumping around with the girls around her, clamoring for the rock-god before them. "Yeah, she looks...wiped." He grinned back at me but I frowned in response. He sighed. "Okay. I'll put her stuff in the car, then drag her home."
I smiled and kissed him softly again. "Thank you."
He went to the back and got her things, then came back inside and attempted to fight his way through the thickening crowd. Once he got to her, I watched him place a hand on her shoulder. My sister looked over at him, and then smiling widely, flung herself into his arms. I couldn't help the chuckle that came out, at the look on Denny's face. He seemed a little unsure if it was okay to hug this beautiful woman (who was clinging to every part of him) back. I smiled at his faithfulness...which, of course, made me frown, as I glanced up to Kellan on the stage. He was watching Anna and Denny with an amused grin while he sang. Suddenly his eyes flicked up to mine, and I was trapped by his deep blue depths and alluring voice.
I was held in his gaze and unable to look away, when I suddenly felt a light hand on my shoulder. I startled and looked over at Denny. He'd apparently walked back from the stage in the time I had been entranced by Kellan.
"Sorry, she won't leave with me." He shrugged, like he wasn't too surprised by that.
"She what?" I took a couple of calming breaths, and hoped that Denny hadn't noticed what had held my attention for so long.
"She wants to listen to the rest of the set." He shrugged again. "Do you want me to stay? Give you guys a ride home?" He tucked a lock of hair that had fallen from my ponytail behind my ear.
I sighed, irritated and relieved. "Yeah...thank you." At least she wouldn't be riding home with Kellan.
Of course, I had forgotten how tenacious my sister could be when she wanted something...and apparently, she wanted Kellan. No big surprise there. I had been pretty sure that she would want him once she got around him. He was kind of hard to resist. I sighed as I watched her slide casually into his car at the end of the night. Denny chuckled lightly as he watched her as well. I had been too busy finishing up work to stop her from leaving the bar with Kellan. They were just getting into his car when I finally walked out the door with Denny. What had they been doing for so long out here? Irritation flared in me again, as their car pulled out of the lot. Kellan better drive her straight home.
Fortunately for him...he did. His Chevelle was in the driveway when we pulled up beside it. I quickly walked through the front door, finding them sitting on the couch together, bent over in conversation. What were they always talking about? They both looked over at me as I walked into the living room. Irritation flashed through me, yet again, at the sight of Anna's hand all the way up his thigh. Really, why couldn't she keep her hands to herself?
Denny walked in a moment later and slipped his arms around me.
"So..." Anna smiled alluringly at Kellan, "where am I sleeping tonight?"
Kellan half-smiled at her and started to reply, when I butted in. "You're sleeping with me, Anna." I looked over at Denny, while Anna frowned and Kellan stifled a laugh. "Do you mind sleeping on the couch?"
Denny twisted his lips unhappily. "The couch?" He looked at the ragged, lumpy couch even more unhappily. "Really?"
My eyes surely as cool as my voice, I said, "Well, if you prefer, you can sleep with Kellan." My tone indicated that that was his only other option. Anna was sleeping with me, where I could make sure she stayed there, all night long.
Denny raised an eyebrow at me, while Kellan laughed and said, "I'm just warning you now - I kick."
"Couch it is," Denny grumbled and went upstairs to get a blanket.
Anna brightened. "You know, I could sleep with-"
I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the couch. "Come on." I pulled her up the stairs with me, leaving an entirely too amused Kellan, watching me herd her away from him.
I didn't sleep a wink. My sister had gotten ready for bed after me, and as I couldn't exactly justify standing in the hallway, watching over her like some overprotective father keeping an eye on his daughter's virtue, I had to lie in bed and grit my teeth while I listened as carefully as I could. I swear at some point I had heard Kellan's laughter, and it took everything I had to not rush out there and drag her to bed, kicking and screaming.
Eventually, she entered the dark room and snuggled down on Denny's side, cheerily saying goodnight to me. I ignored it, feigning sleep. I'm not sure why. Needless to say, sleep was impossible. I was hyper aware of every movement she made. Was she twisting in her sleep, or was she shifting to get up and have a secret rendezvous with Kellan in his room while everyone slept? It drove me crazy all night long and I didn't know how I was going to get through another night of this. Maybe I'd make Kellan go to Matt's after all.
But morning finally did come, and hearing Kellan's door open, since I was wide awake, I followed shortly after and joined him downstairs for coffee. I paused at the bottom step to glance at Denny lying on the couch. He was sound asleep, but he really didn't look very comfortable. I felt a twinge of guilt that I'd made him sleep there. Oh well, I could make it up to him later.
Kellan didn't seem surprised to see me, as I rounded the corner into the kitchen. He gave me a knowing smile as he looked over at me, pouring some fresh water into the coffee pot as he did. "Mornin', sleep okay?" The amusement in his question was all too clear to me.
"I slept fine." Yeah, right. "You?"
Starting the machine, he turned to lean back on the counter. "Like a baby."
I grit my teeth and forced a smiled as I sat at the table and waited for the coffee to brew.
"Your sister is...interesting," he said after a minute.
I frowned up at him but said nothing, wondering if he was going to elaborate on that. He didn't. I flushed deeply and he watched my reaction curiously. "Yes...she is." I didn't elaborate either.
The coffee finished brewing and he prepared our two cups. We sat and drank them in silence...and not a completely comfortable silence either. Well, he looked completely comfortable, and disastrously perfect, but I was agitated...and agitated at being agitated. I really needed to calm down.
After finishing my coffee, I was leaning against the archway, staring at Denny's sleeping form on the couch in a near trance. I came out of it when my sister came into the kitchen, wearing a Douchebags t-shirt...and nothing else. I mentally thanked fate that Kellan had disappeared back up to his room, shortly after finishing his coffee. She was entirely too attractive for just having woken up.
"Where did you get that?" I said, astonished. It had taken weeks for Kellan to...well, literally give me the one off of his back. Did she just bat her stupidly-long eyelashes at him, and he stripped for her too? I felt oddly betrayed by that.
"Griffin...after the show. He's got a box full of them in his van. Do you want one?" She smiled sweetly at me and I instantly felt guilty for thinking badly of her.
"No...I have one." One that still smelled amazingly like Kellan, so I never actually wore it - not that I was ever going to mention that to her. "You should put some more clothes on though. Denny will be awake soon." It really wasn't Denny that I was worried about staring at her in that all too alluring outfit.
"Oh, sorry, sure thing. So...is Kellan awake?" she asked, almost demurely.
I sighed. "Yes, I think he went back to his room."
"Oh." She smiled and looked up at the ceiling, to where his room was. "Did he mention me at all?"
I hated that I suddenly felt like I was playing matchmaker, but I told her the truth anyway. "Yeah, he said you were interesting."
She frowned slightly. "Hmmm...That's not exactly what I'm used to hearing. I suppose it could be worse though." She smiled and turned to head back upstairs. "I'll just have to step up my game plan." She winked and left the room.
I sat heavily at the table and sighed again. Was it Sunday yet?
Anna wanted to do a little shopping in the area while she was in town, so we borrowed Denny's car and she drove us to Bellevue Square (she was a much better stick shift driver than I was). We were walking through Macy's when she found this tiny black dress and decided to try it on for tonight. Of course, it looked amazing on her. It was a simple tank top dress, but it hugged every inch of her perfectly...and it was really, really short. I could never pull off an outfit like that. I'd feel too self conscious about the world seeing my underwear, to even try to pull off an outfit like that. My sister looked completely comfortable as she spun around in the dressing room though. She could have been wearing her favorite comfy sweats with how breezy she looked.
On our way to check out, we wandered through the cologne section. I stopped when I found the scent Denny liked to wear. Grabbing a tester, I inhaled it deeply - it immediately brought him to mind. My sister rolled her eyes, but smiled at me as she started grabbing a few and sniffing them.
"What cologne does Kellan wear?" she asked, as she sniffed bottle after bottle, a slight frown on her face.
I froze at the mention of his name. Why would she think I knew that? "I don't know...why?" I had actually wondered that myself.
She smiled widely as she looked over at me. "He smells amazing. Haven't you ever noticed that?"
I had. "No."
She snorted, which on her was oddly endearing. "Kiera, I know your gloriously content with Denny..." she gave me a dry look, "but for the sake of all womankind...when life throws yumminess in your lap," she smiled widely again and grabbed a bottle, inhaling it, "take a whiff." Putting the bottle back, she laughed and grinned devilishly, in a way that reminded me painfully of Kellan. "And if necessary...a lick or two."