Thin Love (Thin Love, #1)(40)
“So?”
“So, why don’t you come have free drinks with me and Michael and bring McCuteness back here for a little naked college shenanigans?”
Kona, she thought, knew all about shenanigans. Kona had gotten up to shenanigans that morning and Keira tried not to think about how badly that hurt. She didn’t know why. They were friends. They were only friends and whatever she’d invented in her mind about them wouldn’t change that fact or erase the image of Tonya Lucas coming out of his room.
“I don’t want to have shenanigans with anyone, Leann.”
Her cousin moved her shoulders, exaggerated the movement with another sigh she forced out. “And that’s your problem. Not enough shenanigans in your life.” Leann moved across the room, picking up her towel before she hung her head out of the bathroom door. “It’s fine, Keira. You go have coffee with Mark and come back here all alone. I’m sure that’s what your mom wants you to do.”
Leann was a manipulative little shit when it came to things she wanted, and for some reason, she wanted Keira to be anyone other than herself tonight. Taunting her with her mother’s expectations was the perfect way to move Keira into action. And so, she let her cousin dress her in something that her mother would not approve of. She let Leann convince her to go to a party with a boy she didn’t know very well. Keira let herself forget about being proper and appropriate. For one night at least, she would be a girl who liked shenanigans.
Vanessa Roth’s nearly naked ass was directly in front of Kona’s face.
She bent over, cheeks bared under her blue and green plaid skirt, and her four inch stilettos left scratches on Nathan’s oak coffee table as she danced on top of it. Joining her, Mimi Walker was similarly dressed, bumping against Vanessa’s hips. Both girls jiggled their asses to Method Man and Mary J’s “You’re All I Need to Get By.”
Bitches ruined Kona’s favorite song.
“Come dance with us, Kona.” Vanessa’s voice was heavy, like she had smoked too much weed or downed one too many Heinekens and Kona thought she was a sloppy idiot.
Kona waved her off, slipping down further on the sofa with his legs spread and one arm flung across the back. He was relaxed, a glass of Abita Amber in his hands, and maybe he was a little buzzed, but still wholly uninterested in the two girls putting on a show for him.
“Something’s up with you if those two aren’t getting your attention.” Luka slumped next to his twin, eyes working all the up Vanessa’s leg.
“Nothing wrong with me.”
“You’re full of shit, brah.” Luka was trying to be cool. Kona could tell. He kept licking his bottom lip like he imagined Vanessa was on the end of it and Kona tried not to laugh at how obvious his brother was being.
“You want her, do something.” Another pull on his cup and Luka leaned next to him, eyes still moving up those impossibly long legs. “Stop staring like a punk.”
Luka waved him off, finally pulling his gaze from the dancing girls. “What’s your problem? You’ve been off all day.”
Instead of answering, Kona moved his head, drinking again as he looked around the room. Nathan’s apartment was huge and lush and completely out of element with anything Kona had ever lived in. His mother did okay. She worked hard, had provided for Kona and Luka very well. But they had never lived in anything like this.
The floors were polished marble, dark with light gray streaks circling in the center of the room. The furniture was modern, leather and every space in the open-concept layout was either brown, black or gray. It wasn’t homey. It wasn’t like his mother’s comfortable, plush sofas lined with thick throws and from-the-island pillows. There weren’t any flowers in this place, no sweet smells from the garden that always helped Kona drift off when he stayed with her. And, unlike the little Victorian his mother and Tutu kane still lived in on St. Charles, there was no music, no warmth brought in by family pictures or old, busted figurines that reminded Kona of his childhood in Hawaii. Nathan’s place was nice enough, but Kona felt suffocated by the people and the air of pretension.
The party had been in full swing for a good two hours or so, full of smoking hot girls drunk on liquor, life and the idea of being at a player’s party. Kona didn’t care, really. Girls gave him a show, always, especially those interested in potentialing him hard, but he was bored of it all. This kind of party happened most nights at the team house and it was nothing new to see girls like Vanessa and Mimi, half naked and careless of how common they looked.
Next to him, Luka sat up, muttered a low curse and Kona followed the jerk of his head toward the front door and the * that walked in through it.
“Fuck,” he said, knowing that Luka was going to bitch. He hated Ricky. Kona knew why, but he didn’t need shit started tonight. “Man, don’t.”
The beer in Luka’s hand cracked when he slammed it on the coffee table in front of them and Vanessa and Mimi squealed, slinging their feet back from the spilled mess Luka made.
“I swear to God, Kona, if you don’t stop this shit.”
“I am, brah. I swear.” He grabbed Luka’s collar when his twin started to leave the sofa. “Just be cool. I told Ricky I was out.”
“Yeah, like you said a month ago?” Luka sat back and Kona hated the way he looked at him, hated to see the disappointment in his brother’s eyes.