Thin Love(74)

Keira wasn’t so sure about that. She bet that supposedly harmless maneuver had landed many a gullible girl in his bed.

Hale Hawaiian demon magic, she thought.

“It’s okay, but Kona’s not here,” she told him, figuring that was the only reason Kona’s twin would be at her door. She tried not to think about what post-game activities the big linebacker was up to. “I thought he’d be with you.”

“He’s at Lucy’s with the rest of the team.” Luka nodded at her, as though he wanted an invitation inside and Keira relented, opening the door wider.

“Okay.” For the life of her, Keira couldn’t think why Luka would be there. She and Kona had kept things between them. At least, she thought they had. He’d certainly never mentioned talking about her to his brother, and anytime they went out it was always alone and never involved anywhere his family or teammates would be. But Luka came into her dorm room, eyes roaming around, hands swinging at his side, like he had something to say to her. He turned away from Leann’s desk and offered Keira a smile, glancing once at her bed.

“How was the game?” She moved her guitar and notebook out of his way and offered him the foot of her bed.

“Good. We won. Fourteen to ten.” He shrugged, waved his hand like their match with the Florida Gators hadn’t been a big deal. Keira knew better. Well, she knew better because Leann told her it was a huge deal. Luka leaned back against the footboard when Keira sat across from him. “Could have been better. Kona was off. He’s been off for a while.”

“He didn’t mentioned anything about it.” She cleared her throat. “We never talked about football.”

That smile was dangerous, flirty, and Keira rolled her eyes when Luka waggled his eyebrows. “He wouldn’t.” When she didn’t return the stupid smile, Luka exhaled, sat up straighter. “Look, Keira, it’s none of my business what’s going on with you and my brother.”

She felt awkward with him here, not like she had that first time with Kona, but there was still a strange sense of discomfort in the room. “But you’re making it your business?”

“I guess I am.” Luka got off the bed, walked around her room with his hands touching random things—her picture frames on the dresser, Leann’s bracelets. “He’s my twin,” he finally said, bouncing Leann’s rubber tension ball onto the floor. “There isn’t anybody in the world who I know better, who knows me better and when he’s going through shit, we handle it. Together.”

Keira lowered her shoulders, thinking that all this nervous behavior was about Kona and the stupid way he drove around the city. She thought Luka was trying to smooth things over, maybe convince her not tell anyone why she’d ended up at the ER. “If this is about the wreck…”

“He feels like shit.” Luka threw the rubber ball onto Leann’s bed. “He feels worse that you cut him loose.”

Keira would have preferred him asking her to keep her mouth shut. Luka wanted to smooth things over, all right. He was playing mediator?

“I did what he wanted. He was pushing me, Luka. I just gave him an out.”

“The thing is, I’ve never seen him like he is with you. At first, I didn’t like it. I told him as much yesterday.” Luka moved back to the bed, this time sitting closer to Keira. “But he got worse. At practice and even tonight at the game, he was keyed up, but off, on edge and I figured it was because of you. I figured if he had it so bad for you before, then you breaking up with him made him ten times worse.”

“We weren’t together. Not really.”

He waved his hand, dismissing her. “Doesn’t matter. He’s better with you. He’s calmer. He smiles more and Keira, my brother never smiles easy. That’s me, not him.” That flirty smile returned to Luka’s face and Keira realized he was more lethal than Kona. She could imagine him using that smile to get out of everything stupid he landed in.

She didn’t care about Luka, not really and part of her really didn’t appreciate him butting into her life, into whatever had gone on between her and Kona. But Keira didn’t have any siblings. She didn’t know if this was something normal, something brothers did for each other when shit got messy.

“Did he send you?”

Luka’s laugh was loud, almost paranoid and Keira blew out a breath when his laughter didn’t taper off. “Are you serious? He would kick my ass if he knew I was here.” When she only stared at him, a tight frown making her mouth ache, Luka finally stopped smiling. “Shit, Keira I mentioned how hot you were to him yesterday at practice and he almost jumped me. In fact, I’d appreciate you not mentioning to him I was here.” He looked down, seemed to just realize he was sitting on her bed and Luka jumped up and leaned against the wall.