Thin Love (Thin Love, #1)(60)
“You’re rebelling again. I’m the new Diego, right?”
Keira hated Kona then. She hated the self-effacing smirk on his face and the way he curled his arms tight across his chest. He was mocking her, trying to sting her on purpose, like she was a child, like she needed to be protected from herself, from him.
“Get out.”
“I’m just saying that you…”
“Get out!” She moved back onto her bed, turning away from him. “Just leave. Now. The project is over. There’s no need for us to see each other anymore. Just walk away.”
“I can’t do that.”
She turned to face him, hating that he still stood back, still kept himself rigid. She knew what he was doing. She knew he was looking for reasons, excuses that would make her angry, have her lashing out until she told him she didn’t want him. Fine, she thought, unwilling to fight for something that was never real.
“You don’t have a choice. I’m done. I’m so done with getting glares from every girl that you’ve been with. I’m sick of people talking behind my back like I’m some sort of naive idiot. I’m sick of being compared to every girl you… just leave, Kona.”
He took a step, cautious, slow but his eyes were wide, desperate. “I can’t just leave you here. I’ll wait for Leann…”
“No!” Keira sat up and the quick jostle of her body had her head swimming again. “Just get out of here. I can take care of myself.”
“Don’t do this. I don’t care about… just don’t do this to me.”
She was mad, distracted by the burn in her eyes, by the collection of tears that stuck on her lashes. “I’m doing what you want, Kona. I’m giving you an out.” She laid back down and pulled her pillow under her chin. “Just take it.”
Keira thought he might stay. She thought the way his breath hissed out of his throat meant that he struggled with ignoring her and walking away like she knew he wanted to do. She counted the seconds, rubbing her eyes against her pillow, breath held until she heard the click of her door. And then, when she knew she was alone, when Kona’s thick scent didn’t clot in her nose anymore, Keira fell asleep with her tears wetting her pillow.
For the first time in his life, Kona didn’t want to play football. It wasn’t the frigid temperatures or the fact that he was running like shit, working his drills like an amateur that made him want to tear off his pads and leave. Kona just didn’t want to be around anyone.
“Hale! Get your f*cking head on right!”
Kona stopped mid run, walking back down the field as Coach Robins yelled after him. He tried again, getting back in formation, Luka next to him staring, but Kona bent down, hand on the grass ready to try the Shuffle Read Run again. His heart wasn’t in it and his mind was clouded with Keira’s sobs as Kona stood outside her door listening just an hour ago.
Robins’ whistle blew and he moved, nothing more than instinct making his feet shuffle. Then Chris Willis, their running back, charged forward and Kona twisted his shoulders, not thinking, not really caring that he’d completely taken himself out of the play.
“Son of bitch!” Robins’ voice carried across the field and Kona lowered his head, hands on his hips as he waited for his coach’s approach. The man got right in his face, yanked on Kona’s helmet to catch his eyes and Kona just took that angry scowl like medicine, focusing on the hard wrinkles around the man’s green eyes and the way his already pink face got redder. “You’re behind your runner and somehow still managing to lose f*cking ground! Where you at today? Huh? You forget how to run?” Robins pushed Kona’s helmet back as though he couldn’t look at him another second. “You try that shit again and I swear to Christ if you don’t move your f*cking feet I’ll kick you off my field.”
Kona regrouped, jogged back to the line, shaking his head to clear it of Keira and her soft skin and that huge knot on her forehead. “Shit,” he said to himself, squeezing his eyes shut to get rid of her face.
Luka elbowed him as the settled in formation. “What the hell is going on with you?”
“Back off, Lu.”
He dug his feet in deep, hustling, working his muscles until they screamed and somehow managed to block his man, to get his runner right where he needed to be.
“Finally!” Robins yelled, but Kona didn’t bother with more than a nod in his coach’s direction. “Second line, move your asses.”
Kona tore off his helmet, grabbed a water from the sideline bench and drank down half of it before Luka could jog next to him.
“Brah, what’s the problem?”
His brother’s features were set hard and Kona appreciated the concern, the way Luka was trying to help him, but he didn’t need a lecture; he was tearing himself up enough for the both of them. “I need a minute, Lu.”
“You don’t have a minute. You’re in your first year of eligibility, jackass.” He got in Kona’s face, slapping the water bottle out of his hand. “Get your shit together and run like your ass is on fire.”
And for once, Kona listened to his twin. He spent the next half hour tearing down the field, hustling, shuffling with his shoulders straight, attacking the sleds like an animal, pouring everything in his head onto each pad and the poor redshirts that got landed with him.