Thin Love (Thin Love, #1)(62)

“Today.” He rubbed his face and released a deep breath. “Tonya f*cked with her, got in her head and Keira lost it. She completely lost it. Called me on all my shit.”

Luka whistled, stared after Kona like he wasn’t sure he’d heard him right. “She’s getting to you? And you’re letting her?”

Kona glanced at his brother, head shaking. “She wasn’t wrong. But, she had me so pissed off, downplaying what was going on with us that I threw her in my car, tore off down the interstate.” Kona still heard the screech of the tires and he swallowed against the bile he could taste in the back of his throat. “Got too close to a median and she smacked her head on the window.”

Luka whistled, an amazed sound that grated Kona’s nerves. “She okay?”

“No thanks to me.” He deserved whatever Keira gave him, he knew that. He deserved to have her tossing him out like he was nothing. He felt like nothing. “Shit.” Kona laid back on the grass uncaring about the mud seeping into his hair. “Why this one girl, brah? What the hell did she do to me? I can’t think. I can’t breathe. All I wanna do is be around her. I care what she thinks.” He turned his head, looking up at his brother, hoping he had answers. “Why the hell do I care what she thinks?”

Luka frowned, gnawed at the inside of his cheek, considering Kona, looking at him like he was losing it. “I don’t know, brah.” His twin looked down at his feet, features relaxing before he spoke again. “She’s a sweet girl and maybe she’s good for you. Maybe she’s what you need. You think it’s pilialoha?”

Kona slipped his gaze toward his twin, staring at him for a few stunned seconds before he closed his eyes. The term was always in the back of Kona’s mind. To be in a bond of love, according to his tutu kane. It’s what Kona wanted to avoid. What he thought he’d never have for himself.

“I don’t know,” Kona said, not sure he liked how his mind began to convince himself that’s exactly what he had with Keira.

“Listen, brah, you don’t need this bullshit. Girls will mess you up if you let them and you’ve got too much coming your way. Keira’s a nice girl. She’s hot.” Kona sat up, glared at Luka, his brother rolled his eyes, making Kona feel like an idiot. “I’m just saying. But brah, you gotta back off. You can’t let her control you like this. You gotta walk away.”

“Not necessary. She tossed me.”

“Good.”

“Fuck you, Lu.” Kona dug his heel into the ground, pulling up the grass and dirt as he thought about not being around Keira. Luka didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how she calmed him, how much he liked her.

“The season is wrapping up and she’s affecting you. Before you know it, winter camp will be here and she’ll only get in the way. You aren’t running like you should. You aren’t performing and people are noticing.”

“What?” Kona said, gaze shooting to his brother. His stomach dropped when Luka shrugged, when he nodded. If people were talking, even if it was just the players, then Kona was already in deep shit.

“I heard a few of the guys talking. Coach isn’t happy with you. Nathan said he heard Coach tell Fleming that he’s thinking of playing him Saturday.”

Ryan Fleming was about twenty pounds lighter and much slower than Kona. The kid was a joke and if Coach was going to play him, then Kona must be dragging ass. “He can’t do that.”

“The hell he can’t.”

The half-assed efforts had all started when Kona and Keira amped up whatever it was they’d been doing. But even before that, when Kona told Ricky he was done with his shit, he had noticed his performance slipping. Luka would hate it, Kona hated it, but Ricky had something that could help. At least for tomorrow’s game.

“You need to listen to me, brah. I’m your older brother.”

Kona rolled his eyes. “By three minutes.”

“Still, I’m worried about you. How we gonna get our rings if you keep messing up?”

Kona smiled at his twin, couldn’t help remembering the promise they made to each other as kids. The Hale boys, with matching Super Bowl rings. They didn’t care about the money, not really. It was the rings, what they meant—that the hard work, the effort had paid off—that both of them wanted. Kona looked down, forehead dipping as he thought about how poorly he’d been playing, how his distraction had threatened all the plans he and Luka had made together. Then suddenly, Kona knew what he had to do.

“I gotta go,” he told his brother, jumping to his feet before Luka could stop him. Like always, his twin followed behind.

“Where to?”

“I have some shit to take care of.”

Luka pulled on his arm. “Brah if she tossed you…”

Kona twisted out of his brother’s grip. “I’m not going to see Keira.” Luka would follow, he always did, and Kona knew he’d give him shit for hooking back up with Ricky. Still, he wanted to know what Kona was planning. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be in his business. “I need an edge.”

“Kona…”

“Look, I let myself slack off. I had to because it was messing with me and you see what happens? I didn’t work my ass off to just f*ck off my chances here. I need an edge. What I don’t need is you telling me I’m about to lose my spot and then bitching at me when I try to handle it.”