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Kodiak strides right over to me, lifts my chin, and presses a kiss to my mouth. “How are you doing, Scary Girl?”

“Better.” Except, what the hell was that?

Rebel takes in our exchange without a word. But the lines around his eyes ask a lot of questions.

I don’t have answers to any of them.

Do I have feelings for the big man making a statement about what I mean to him? Yeah, I think maybe I do. But I don’t know what that means yet. Because, like an idiot, I’m probably still in love with the most dumb-assed Maddox.

Speaking of...

Riot appears with Rebel’s identical twin. They can be almost impossible to tell apart, except Rogue has a more playful energy in comparison to Rebel.

Rogue grins from ear-to-ear when he sees me. His blue eyes sparkle. He doesn’t wait for me to run to him but swoops in for a bear hug. He lifts me off my feet and spins me around. “It’s damn good to see you, Kelsey.”

“You too,” I say when he puts my feet back on the floor. The room has shrunk with all four men crowded in. Riot carries a box with both hands.

“We would have been here sooner. If we’d had any idea.” Rogue softens his hug but doesn’t let go. “We had no idea until—”

“Bro.” Rebel is still watching Kodiak.

Rogue turns to him, and the twins’ facial expressions sync up. I can tell they’re having one of those moments where they communicate on their own wavelength. It’s almost telepathic how well they pick up on each other’s cues.

So much so Riot used to get annoyed with them. If the look he gives them is anything to go by, he still doesn’t find it endearing. Or he’s jealous. I have always thought that could be the case. With him being a single. With his dad walking out and his mom’s schizophrenia. He never had anyone close like they did.

Riot shoulders Rogue out of the way. Even though he’s looking at me, it’s evident when he speaks that he’s addressing both of his brothers and Kodiak. “Can we have the room for a minute?”

To me he says, “We need to talk.”

As much as I want to tell him to go eat that bag of dicks I was imagining him chowing down on earlier, there’s something in his bearing that’s impossible to say no to.

“How have you been, man?” Rogue claps Kodiak on the back as the three of them file out.

If they’re friendly. Is Rebel too? Is he usually standoffish? Or was that more of a Riot’s big brother kind of thing?

“What an awesome fucking surprise.” Bronx’s warm tone reaches me as Rebel shuts the door behind them.

“What do we need to talk about?” I sit on the edge of the mattress while Riot stands around uncomfortably. Crossing my legs, I swing my booted foot while I pick at a tiny thread sticking out of the lace at the top of my thigh high stockings like nothing bothers me. “Is it how you left after we had sex to cozy up to her? Or do you need me to pretend everything is okay between us for your brothers? Because that ship has sailed. Kodiak practically urinated on me like I was a fire hydrant.”

As gross as that sounds... he just made a statement Riot may never be capable of making.

Maybe Riot knows that because he ignores it.

“It killed me to leave you.” He blows a heavy breath out through his nose as he crouches in front of me. He places the box on the floor. “Do you get that? I wanted to hold you all night. I wanted to wake up to your beautiful face. What I want more than anything else in this world is to be with you. We have so many things to work through. So much time to make up. But we won’t have that time if Sonatina has you put behind bars.”

There’s a whorl of emotion in his gaze. An exhaustion to the way he holds himself that is from more than the tour alone.

My heart goes out to him before I can rein it in. I stretch out an arm and stroke his cheek. Will there ever be a time when he means nothing to me? “She can try—”

He leans into my touch. Like it brings him some relief. Takes hold of my wrist and turns his head to place a soft kiss on my palm. “Micah says..."

“He says what?” I double my arms across my waist. I’d really like to know what Micah has to say about Riot choosing to be a fucking pussy.

He presses his lips together. “We can talk about all that later.”

“Sure.” It’s not like talking about it will change anything. I still don’t agree with how he’s handling her. He thinks it’s the only way. I withdraw my hand. Put it in my lap and grip it with the other. “What did you want to talk about?”

He drags in a breath. “I don’t know how to do this. What the right words are... if there even is any such thing.”