Thoughtful(88)

“Yeah?” I said, after picking up the phone.

“Hey, Kell, it’s Matt. Just reminding you about tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know. We’re playing up north. Everett, right?”

“Yep. So you need to be here earlier than usual, so we have time to get up there.”

I was used to Matt calling me, reminding me about stuff, but I swear, sometimes he talked to me like I was five. Or Griffin. “Not a problem. I’ll see you in a few hours.” Shaking my head, I added, “Why did you book a show that far north anyway? Aren’t there plenty of places around here?”

Matt let out a small sigh, like he’d already explained this a couple of times today. “I book the shows wherever I can get them. Pete’s is great, but we need to keep expanding our fan base if we’re ever going to get bigger. That might mean traveling from time to time.”

I shrugged. It didn’t really matter to me if we got huge or not. I just wanted to keep doing this for a while. As long as we could, really. The music was what mattered to me, not all the extra crap. “Okay, you’re the boss.”

Matt laughed at that. “Damn straight, I am. Don’t be late.”

He hung up the phone and I shook my head again. “Okay,” I muttered to the empty room. Matt needed to chill out. Maybe Evan and I could find a girl to hook him up with tonight. Matt tended to be on the shyer side and sometimes needed a little help coming out of his shell. Or a shove. Maybe some feminine attention was just what he needed to mellow out.

I spent the remainder of my time alone thinking of what I could do for Kiera, since I wouldn’t get to see her tonight. I came up with espresso, which seemed like the right call. When she saw me in the hallway outside of her class, holding a drink in my hand for her, she squealed like a little girl.

I hated to leave her once we were content and snuggly at the house, but eventually I had to go meet up with the band. Matt would have my head if I wasn’t there on time. With a long sigh, I fingered a loose strand of Kiera’s hair. She was doing homework on the couch while I kept her company. There were books spread out everywhere, and she was scribbling down some notes for a paper she was writing. She looked up at the sound of my exhale. A smile was on her lips as she studied me instead of her textbooks.

She watched my fingers playing with her hair, then returned her eyes to mine. A strange expression passed over her—guilt mixed with sadness. “You’re probably really bored watching me do homework, aren’t you?”

I smiled and the guilt on her face evaporated. “No. I could watch you do this all day.” I frowned. “But I can’t. I have to go meet the guys. We have a show tonight.”

Kiera frowned with me. It made me happy that she did. Maybe she was going to miss me just as much as I was going to miss her? “Oh…okay,” she said.

I wanted to lean in and kiss her, just on the cheek, but I knew that was off-limits, so I simply ran a finger down her skin instead. “I’ll be late, but I’ll see you in the morning.”

Her smile returned as she nodded. “Okay.”

I stared at her a moment, memorizing every beautiful detail about her, then I got up to gather my things and leave. Work beckoned, and I had no choice but to obey. Even though I didn’t want to.

A few hours later, I was helping the guys unload the van at the venue. We were behind the place, in the alley, so that no one attending the show tonight would see us. All fifteen of them; this place was tiny. Matt was talking to the owner of the bar, getting a feel for where to set up, since we’d never been here before. I took his moment of distraction to step over to Griffin, leaning against the side of the van.

“Hey, Griff,” I casually said.

Griffin immediately frowned. “I already told Matt I’d help bring shit in, so no need to get on my case about it.”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t going to. I was just thinking…Matt’s a little high-strung lately, right?”

Griffin turned to me. “Abso-fucking-lutely. Son of a bitch has been pissing me off left and right. He’s got a stick shoved up his ass so far, his eyes are turning brown.”

I blinked at Griffin’s turn of phrase, then smiled and suggested, “Maybe he needs a distraction?”

Griffin gave me a blank stare. “Huh?” I was about to respond when the lights clicked on and he added, “Oh, you mean a chick? Fuck yeah, let’s get him laid.” A slow smile spread over his face and he patted my shoulder. Before I could agree or disagree, he told me, “Don’t worry. I got this.”

I was frowning as he walked away. Putting Griffin in charge of anything was usually a bad idea. Seeing my expression, Evan walked over. “What’s up?”