Thin Love (Thin Love, #1)(6)
Of course, his good looks didn’t make up for his arrogant, full of himself attitude. She’d seen that firsthand in his indifferent presence during class - and that time during the first week of the semester when the girls on her cross country team thought it would be funny to push Keira into the football locker room.
She hadn’t expected anyone to be there, maybe a coach or two, maybe a water boy, but as she banged on the door and then walked away from it trying to find another exit, Keira heard a low grunt spilling out from the showers. Instinct told her to ignore it. She knew better than to walk around the lockers and peek into the open shower. But the room was fogging, and she had Poli Sci homework; she needed out of that locker room. And so she followed the groan, the billowing steam and stopped short to find Kona Hale standing in the middle of the shower, water pouring over his head, down his large shoulders, onto those massive arms, and the fist that was threaded in the wet blonde hair of the girl on her knees in front of him as she sucked him off.
Keira’s little yelp of surprise had his eyes open and staring right at her. The jackass didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed. An easy smirk and lick of his lips, and then Kona muttered, “Come get wet with us or f*ck off” and Keira darted through the locker room until she found an open door.
The boosters and coaching staff and the rest of the entire university might have adored Kona. Keira thought he was an egotistical jackass. An egotistical jackass that she’d probably be partnered with in her favorite class.
Keira stared a bit longer than she had intended and Kona’s eyes suddenly opened, then stared directly at her. Before a full blush could completely take over her face, Professor Miller called her name and she spun around in her seat to answer him.
“Yes, sir?” She said a small prayer under her breath that Kona’s name wouldn’t leave Miller’s mouth. Please not him, she thought. Please, please not Kona Hale.
“You and Mr. Hale will be partnered together since Ms. Marquette has dropped the class.”
What?! When had her cousin decided that? She was going to kill Leann. Murder her between snores tonight after lights out.
“Um… okay.” Keira dismissed Miller’s smile and shifted her eyes across the classroom again, back to Kona. He wasn’t even paying attention. She could see his profile, eyes closed once again, head still bobbing. She didn’t understand why he was even in this class. Keira assumed since he was first string on the football team that Kona’s major was something soft like Basket Weaving or Studies in Pigskin. She was sure that Arthurian Legends wasn’t a requirement for his major.
She didn’t need this. She already had a full plate with her cross country practices and the double load of classes she was taking. Besides, this project was a big one; one she knew she couldn’t handle on her own.
“Okay, guys, I’d like you to meet with your partners. Set up your schedules and delegate tasks. I expect a full outline by next week so use your time wisely.”
The class broke apart after Miller’s instructions, desks sliding against the tile floor, backpacks falling down in thumps.
Kona didn’t move.
Keira hated this; the approach, the awkward dance of silence that always followed speaking to someone she didn’t know. She was introverted by nature, kept to herself because most of her peers thought she was a music nerd who spent way too much time writing songs or playing her Gibson Hummingbird behind her closed dorm door. Maybe she was. But being an introvert didn’t mean she’d cower under whatever glare Kona gave her when she spoke to him. Being introverted was one thing. Being a doormat was something altogether different and Keira had no intention of letting this human Volkswagen walk all over her. Mainly, she prayed he didn’t recognize her from the locker room.
When Keira approached him, Kona’s eyes remained closed, his head still in that stupid bob. She stood in front of him and waited. A full minute passed and he still hadn’t moved before Keira bumped his desk.
Kona’s eyes opened slowly, and he exhaled, as though annoyed by the disturbance. “What?” His voice was loud as he spoke over the music still working in his ears.
She only glared at him, expectant, nodded to his headphones. Professor Miller walked up the row of desks and finally Kona silenced the music.
“You need something?”
“You and I are partnered for the Elements in Modern Versions presentation.”
He looked around the classroom as though trying to confirm Keira’s claim. “Why?”
“Um… I don’t…” She couldn’t even finish, instead she offered him a weak shrug. She swallowed down her nerves, reminded herself about this class, how badly she wanted to excel in it, and tried to settle the annoyance bubbling in her stomach at Kona’s flippant attitude before she pulled a desk next to him and brought out her notebook and black pen. “Let’s get a few things straight. I’m not doing this by myself. It’s going to be a hard project and it requires a lot of research.”
“I got practice.”
“So do I.”
“For what?”
“Cross country. We’ve got four meets in the next month.”
Kona’s lips bounced against each other when he tutted. “Track? Come on. I’m sure running doesn’t require a lot of effort.” He sat up, pushing his book sack under his large chest before he rested on it. “We do five miles a day and that’s just a warm up. Besides, we’ve got two away games. That requires a little more work than your little meets.”