Second Shot K.O.K (The Brooklyn Bears: Season 1)

5. College

FIVE

COLLEGE

Nalani

W hen Koa tried to wake me up, I faked sleep … due to mortification. Then he whispered, “See you when I get back.”

As soon as I hear him leave, I drag my ass out of bed, find my phone, which he sweetly put on a charger on his side of the bed, and immediately message Sofia to find out where she is. I then sneak out of the house and freeze my ass off in yesterday’s clothes as I run through the small patch of woods to KET, because hell no I’m not going to see him until I’ve pulled myself together, washed off my embarrassment, and thrown on some dignity … and lip gloss.

I cannot believe I threw up. I can, but I hate it. I drank more than I should’ve, which is not me. In my defense, I was drinking for courage.

“Come on.” Sofia opens the door, letting me in.

I follow her up the stairs, into Lauren and Noelle’s room, and sink down into the queen-sized air mattress. Sofia lies next to me.

“Please let me sleep until graduation.”

The three of them giggle, but I don’t have the strength to tell them I’m dead ass serious.

Ten minutes later—or at least, it feels that way—Sofia is shaking me. “Wake up.”

“Did they call my name?”

“What?”

“To get my diploma?” I rub my eyes.

“No one called your name, but there is a very hot hockey player downstairs, surrounded by some thirsty sisters, cooking breakfast. He’s requested your presence.”

“What?” I say in unison with Lauren as I spring up.

Sofia grins. “Oh, and there’s also a Dash of a little something else downstairs. My advice, you two shower and get downstairs before your boyfriend?—”

“My what?” I ask.

“That’s what he told Hilda”—the house mom—“when she asked him who he was trying to impress.”

“What’d Dash say?” Noelle asks.

“He said he wasn’t at liberty to discuss his motives.” She claps her hands loudly. “Now move it!”

Walking down the stairs, freshly showered and dressed in silky red and clean pajama shorts and a matching button-down shirt that Lauren insisted I wear, I hear his laugh, and everything inside me clenches, except my heart, which begins beating to a rhythm I have never felt before.

Walking into the massive kitchen, I can’t help but notice how tiny it looks with him standing at the stove, flipping pancakes. And Chef Gary doesn’t even seem pissed he’s at the helm of his precious Oseberg, which is what he’s named the Viking appliance.

He’s in track pants and a tank top, his damp hair pulled up. His back is ripped, just like his chest and abs, and his shoulders and arms … pornographic.

“First round’s up.” Dash lifts a platter full over his head and walks to the table in the adjacent dining room. Pausing when he sees us, he winks at Lauren, who’s in the same shorts and button-down I am wearing but in black. “Morning, ladies. You’ll have to wait your turn. No perks for the privileged who sleep half the day away.”

“The cook disagrees.” Koa turns and looks me over. “My lady gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it.”

“Remind me to call my grandmother and ream her out for not living next to a hot guy my age with a lawnmower,” one of the girls mutters.

“I’m calling my father and shunning him for not owning a surfing school,” another sputters.

“Your father owns a chain of hardware stores,” Noelle reminds her.

“Not the kind of hardware I like.” The other wags her brow as she starts to walk toward me.

I’m not sure if I should trip her or …

The stabby thoughts stop when she pops a kiss to my cheek. “Can we schedule this every Saturday morning?”

“You’ll have to ask the chef. I’m not his boss.”

She gives him a pleading look.

He chuckles. “My lady doesn’t reside on Athens Lane.”

She smiles. “We have an extra bedroom.”

“She’s not wrong—Sheena dropped,” another girl pipes in. “You can move in with?—”

“So did Hannah,” yet another adds. “I have a bed free.”

I catch Sofia out of my peripheral, wilting like a flower.

“Not sure that’s how it works with housing, but even if it did, I’m never leaving Sofia. She’s the reason I rushed.”

“The house could use the funds,” Hilda pipes in from where she’s sitting in the corner, flipping through a magazine. “I’d be open to talking to the advisors; see if they’d talk to housing. You girls would have to speak to your parents, and you two”—she points to the two sisters with spare beds—“would have to move in together.” She looks at Koa. “Before any of that happens, you’d have to commit to cooking breakfast Saturday mornings.”

He chuckles. “I’d love to, but we have away games?—”

“The Saturdays you don’t,” she cuts him off.

He lifts his chin at me, as if looking for my input.

I hold up my hands. “This has nothing to do with me.”

“Ku’uipo,” he says in a smoldering tone, “it has everything to do with you.”

“Oh my God, that’s so sweet.” Sofia sighs. “Wait—what does ku’uipo mean?”

“Sweetheart,” Koa and I answer in unison.

“I thought romance novels completely ruined me, and now I know it’s real.” Sofia pouts out her lip. “I’m going to end up having five cats and living in my childhood home, in a room that’s Barbie pink and looks like a library exploded in it.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Hilda pulls her e-reader out from under the magazine she’s pretending to read and winks.

Everyone, including Koa, cracks up.

Sitting on the bleachers at Hayward arena, wearing Koa’s jersey from last year, I’m a mix of exhausted and excited.

Sofia sneakily tries to hand me a tumbler.

“Hell no.”

“It’s hot cocoa,” she assures me. “I didn’t want you to freeze.”

“You don’t have to take care of me.” I lean into her. “Thanks.”

“You’re like my fairy godmother. First, a hockey party, and now we’re moving into KET early? I’d rub your feet”—she shakes her head—“if I liked feet and you asked me to … even though I seriously hate feet, so please, please, please don’t.”

“I can’t believe we may be moving again so soon.”

“Maybe?” She laughs. “We totally are!”

“It’s not approved by housing yet. Even though my parents and yours said they didn’t care about losing money, I do.”

“And I love that about you. I’ll make sure to tell everyone how you valiantly fought against this because people are starving and stuff, but?—”

“Stop!” I laugh.

“I swear, I’ll be the villain in order to save us from those dreadful dorms.”

“I kind of like them. I met you there.”

“I swear if anyone saw the way you were looking at me right now, they’d think we were dating.” She smiles. “I love us.”

“Me, t?—”

“These seats taken?”

I look up at an older couple. They’re wearing Lincoln Lions scarves.

“This is the student section,” Sofia informs them, “for Hayward students.”

They look around at the empty section, and then the woman asks as if she’s affronted, “Where is your university’s team spirit?”

“Right?” I ask, nodding.

She points to my key lanyard. “KET?”

I point to Sofia. “We both are.”

“I was a KET.” She beams proudly.

I move my bag. “Please, have a seat.”

Smiling, she sits beside me. “I promise not to ‘dis’ your team. But when our Dean does something amazing, we must applaud him.”

“Your Dean?” I ask, keeping the conversation rolling. This woman is seriously older woman gold, completely adorable. Like my grandmothers.

“Our grandson is the goalie for the Lincoln Lions.” She looks around, face puckering as she takes in Hayward’s arena then back at me. “We just had a new arena constructed. It’s state of the art.” She reaches into her Birkin bag, pulls out her wallet, and removes a card. “You should have your people contact me when they decide to give your team a much-needed remodel.”

I take it, even though I don’t have “people” to remodel an arena.

“My information is on it, too. It’s always nice to have KET contacts. Shoot me a text message so I have yours.”

“Will do.” I smile.

Sofia looks around me. “This is Nalani’s first game, not mine. Yet, I admittedly never paid attention, so she and I are pretty clueless about the game.”

She leans in and whispers, “I don’t know much more.”

The Lions skate onto the rink, and this sweet woman jumps to her feet, pulls a massive foam finger from inside her coat, and holds it up. “That’s our Dean!”

I choke back a laugh.

“We’re so fucked,” Sofia whispers.

“Totally are. But she’s adorable.”

A tap and a gasp from beside me causes me to look from Sofia toward the rink.

Koa winks at me as he places his giant gloved hand against the glass. I hold mine against it. He then skates off.

“Oh my, that must be the young man our Dean spoke about. The Cock, right?” she asks.

I nearly lose it. However, I manage to gather myself quickly and turn to her. “That’s what they call him. His name is Koa.”

“Interesting.” She watches the ice. “But the name Coc?—”

“His full name is Koa Olu Kelekolio. His initials K.O.K., so …” I shrug.

“He’s Nalani’s boyfriend,” Sofia informs her.

“ Ooo … very, very interesting.” She grins.

“Very,” Sofia whispers.

With minutes left before the start, the stadium begins to fill.

“Notice it’s mostly women,” the lady states. “How smart are we women to let them think they rule the world.”

“So true.” I laugh.

“Very, very smart.” She gives me a long wink.

The game begins, and Koa is on the ice, and the rest of the world fades away.

It’s obvious that he and Dash are the stars of the team, but Koa rules the ice … on Hayward’s side. I wonder how someone who played football could make such a switch. I quickly realize it has nothing to do with football.

Koa’s on the water; it’s just frozen. He’s surfing but doing it on blades. He’s in his natural element, and he’s absolutely amazing.

Even though the Lions are killing them.