Thick Love (Thin Love, #2)(38)
We’d spent the better part of two weeks working on her audition and practicing Kizomba at the studio. She had become a friend, I guessed, or at least the closest to that as I’d had in a long time. She’d talked to me about her nerves over the audition and her worry that the pregnancy was taking more out of my mother than she wanted to admit.
She was a chill girl, funny and didn’t take attitude from Koa or anyone else. I liked her and I knew damn well Trent wouldn’t have a shot.
“Yeah,” I finally told him when he nudged me again. “I know her.”
And when he stepped down off the bench and walked straight toward the office, I made damn sure Trent knew that shot he wanted would be pointless.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked him, pushing against his chest before he made it to the office door.
“I needed to ask Coach Hale about…”
“No. You don’t.” He tried moving around me but I met his step, blocking him with my arms over my chest. “You think my dad is gonna appreciate you interrupting him when my kid brother is in his office?”
“That’s not…”
“Especially when he doesn’t get a hell of a lot of time with him as it is?” My lips went down in some bullshit exaggeration of a frown and I tsked, the sound low like Trent was a kid who wanted to leap frog to the moon. “Not gonna happen, brah.”
When I didn’t move and ignored the way Trent kept looking at the window in the office door, I tilted my head in front of his face. He opened his mouth, like he might offer one more bullshit excuse but my slow head shake shut him up.
That felt good, shooing off Marshall because the guy was an entitled dick. And I enjoyed the few seconds I took watching that jackwagon return to his locker to finish dressing for practice.
Two small knocks on the office door and I slipped inside, stopping right over the threshold to see my father grumbling something about Instant Messaging to his computer and Koa standing on the desk with his chubby legs, running his small fingers through Aly’s hair as she held his waist. The difference between all that long, thick hair waving down her back and the tight bun she usually sported was remarkable.
“Brah!” Koa called when he spotted me.
“Hey brah,” I said, catching him when he leaped into my arms from my dad’s desk. “What are you doing here?”
“He wanted to show your dad his new do,” Aly offered, ruffling my brother’s shorter hair.
“Mother fu…” Dad’s curse cut off with one glare from Aly. He rubbed his eyes before he exhaled and pushed away from the desk. “Sorry.” Then he took Koa from me. “Sorry, keiki kane, but makua kane has to go see his boss.” I caught his frown and the tight clench in his jaw, but dad shook his head, telling me silently it was nothing to worry about. “Give makua kane a kiss, buddy and I’ll see you tonight.”
“It’s okay, Kona. Koa kept asking for you when we left the barber. I knew you’d probably be too busy for a long visit.”
“Never too busy for my boys, Aly Cat, but I do have to run.” Dad kissed Koa on the forehead and handed him back to me, lowering his voice so Aly couldn’t hear him. “Walk them out alright? I don’t like her being the center of attention in the locker room.”
“No problem,” I agreed, nodding at my father when he walked out of the office. It wasn’t until I caught the feeling of being stared at that I turned back to Aly, looking down when I noticed her gaze moving over my chest. Right there on my bare chest was the tattoo of Emily’s beautiful face, mesmerizing eyes and wings shooting out of her back. My angel, always, but seeing Aly’s long stare, the small hint of her pink tongue, left me feeling a little exposed. “Uh, I’ll go put on a shirt and then walk you out. Stay put,” I told her, putting Koa back in her arms.
“You don’t have to.” But I grabbed my t-shirt from my locker and stuffed it over my head before Aly could tell me to stop.
“Ransom, that your woman?” I heard, not bothering to look back to see who’d asked that question as I ushered Aly down the hallway and away from those loud jackasses cat calling after her.
“Sorry,” I told her when we made it outside of the gym locker room and walked toward my mom’s Armada parked in the Visitor’s section. “You’d swear they’ve never seen a pretty woman before.”
Aly snapped her gaze toward me, then looked away, readjusting Koa to her other hip. I noticed she deflected when anyone complimented her, and I made a mental note to compliment her more often. The next second, I wondered where the hell that feeling came from.
“Here, let me take him,” I told her, in need of a distraction from my thoughts and I laughed when my brother squealed at the small flip I gave his body as I placed him on my shoulders.
Aly’s half grin was small, not a smile at all, but there was a light in her eyes when she watched Koa that I appreciated. Mom had told me my little brother had really taken to Aly. Partners in crime, she called them.
“Your dad looked annoyed,” she said, stopping to unlock the Armada for me to put Koa in his car seat. “I hope everything’s okay.”
“Just team crap that will likely blow over after practice.” Koa wrapped his arms around my neck when I buckled him in and I ran my fingers through his hair. “I like it, brah. It’s all short like makua kane’s now.” With that closely trim cut he looked more like a mini-Kona than I ever had. “Think I should cut mine like that?” I asked him getting only a head bob in response. “I’ll see you this weekend, okay?”