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I need Rowan.

“What the fuck did you do to my sister?!”

I turn as Kodiak charges out of the clubhouse with Tate right on his heels, desperately trying to grab him and stop him but he just brushes her off each time, his eyes blazing as he charges right for me. The ache in my chest is deeper when I think about the distance between us these past two days and the spark that has been missing from her eyes as I shake my head at him.

“Uh… nothing.”

His lip curls back. “Bullshit. You did something to her.”

“Lincoln,” Tate urges, grabbing his arm as he stops in front of me and I peek a glance over at the crowd, which has grown suspiciously quiet.

“This is not a good place to do this, brother.”

“Don’t fucking call me that right now, you little fuck,” he snaps, balling his fists at his sides. “The only reason I’m not snapping every single one of your fingers right now is because I promised Rowan I wouldn’t unless I saw her crying because of you, which I haven’t, but she hasn’t been acting normal so whatever the fuck you did, fix it. And if you break her heart or hurt her in any way, so help me God, I will fucking end you. Are we clear?”

My gaze flicks back to Tate and she chews on her bottom lip as she flashes me a wide-eyed look. I consider telling him that our relationship is casual before Storm’s comment about him dropping me off of the roof pops into my mind. Instead, I nod. “I got it.”

“Good. I saw her going up to the roof ten minutes ago to read.”

“You’re ordering me around now?” I ask, arching a brow and he takes a menacing step toward me. I hold my hands up in surrender before I set my bottle of beer down and stand up. “Fine. I’m fucking going.”

“Not one goddamn tear, Streak,” he calls after me as I walk toward the clubhouse and I raise my hand to let him know I heard him. Emma and Quinn are lounging on the couch when I slip inside, watching their kids play around them and I nod to them before walking over to the stairs and taking them two at a time. I have no fucking clue what I’m going to say to Rowan or how I’m going to get her to open up and tell me what is bothering her but I know I have to. The distance between us is killing me and it has to be doing to same to her so I’ll do whatever it takes.

Opening the door to the roof, I step outside and she glances over her shoulder at me from the air mattress that has been up here since the night I surprised her with star gazing. A range of emotions flicker through her eyes before her brows knit together and pain swarms her gray depths. It only lasts a second, a fraction of one even, before she regains her composure and turns away from me. It doesn’t matter though because it was enough to confirm for me that this isn’t all in my head.

But what the fuck is going on?

“Hey,” I say, rubbing my sweating palms on the side of my jeans as I close the distance between us and sink onto the mattress next to her. “What are you doing?”

She holds her book up. “Reading.”

Fuck.

Now what the hell do I say to her?

I try to come up with something to say, something witty that will make her say more than a couple of words to me or hell, at this point, I would settle for something that will make her angry enough to start talking but my mind is completely blank. Peeking over at her, I watch her read her book and remember her doing the same thing in my bed as I worked. Each time she would feel me looking at her and glance up, offering me a smile before she turned back to the page in front of her but now, she won’t even give me even a sliver of attention.

“You want to go back to my room and watch a movie?”

She shakes her head. “Maybe later.”

“Well,” I muse, nudging her with my shoulder. “Can I get a kiss?”

Looking up, she turns to me and searches my eyes for a second before leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine but there is no feeling behind it. All of the fire and connection that was there two days ago is gone and when she turns back to her book, I rake my hands through my hair before turning to look out at the horizon.

You know what?

Fuck this.

I’m not this fucking pathetic and I’m crazy about this girl so we’re going to hash everything out right now. As I glance over at her again, I decide to go with the angry option since she always reveals more than she means to when she’s all fired up, and swipe her book out of her hand. Her head snaps up and she levels a glare at me.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Closing the book and tucking it under my arm, I shrug. “Getting your attention.”

“Congrats, you got it. Now give me the book back,” she snaps, holding her hand out expectantly and I search her gaze. She’s mad but not mad enough to spill the beans so I flash her a grin and shake my head.

“No.”