Page 27 of Lyric

Jinn bowed his head. “Thank you.”

When the officer left, I put my hand on Jinn's shoulder. “Please come home with me. I know I can keep you safe. I'm invested now. Lyrican and I care what happens to you.”

“Your dragon has very protective instincts,” Jinn replied with a sheepish smile.

“Well, it's an alpha thing, too. I can't deny it. I feel the same way as Lyrican.”

Jinn put his palms up to his face and rubbed hard. “I'm so sorry I got you involved in all this.”

“It's not your fault.” I squeezed his shoulder. “It's Colt's fault. You must remember that. None of this is your fault.”

“I know, but?—”

“But nothing. I would love to have you come stay. My house is big and I rattle around it alone most of the time. If you say no, that's all right. But I will constantly worry.” I leaned down to him. “No pressure.”

“I do feel safe with you, I'll admit. And I really wouldn't want to worry my fathers. It's embarrassing to them that I'm not married with kids yet. They wouldn't understand why I got myself into this situation. And they'd probably blame me.”

“With me there will be no blame. I'm between races right now. I have nothing planned and I told my agent I didn't want to do any interviews right now. We'll see if he booked me anyway.” I rolled my eyes. “But what I'm trying to say is I have time to escort you to and from work if you want to keep going. And I will enjoy having a guest. That's the honest truth.”

“And you're not just being polite?”

“No, Jinn. I honestly welcome your presence.”

The hospital finally released Jinn that afternoon.

Standard procedure was to wheel an outgoing patient out in a wheelchair. I demanded to be the one to do it.

As I was pushing him through the halls past the big waiting room, Jinn turned his head to look at me.

“How are we going to get to your house?”

“Don't you worry. I've got that all taken care of.”

“What do you mean?”

I remained silent as I wheeled him through the glass front doors. There, waiting for us by the ER exit, rumbling softly, was a sleek black limo.

When I wheeled him up to it, his mouth dropped open. “This is for us?”

“Yep.”

“You have a limo?”

“No. I have a service. They take good care of me.”

“That must be nice.” He started to get up.

I came around to the front of the wheelchair and helped him stand as the driver opened the back for us. Jinn got in carefully. I could tell he was still in pain, but the doctor gave us a prescription for that which would be delivered to the house.

The hospital had given Jinn crutches, and I handed them to the driver to put in the back.

I got in behind Jinn, and we settled ourselves in for the ride.

“It's about a twenty-minute drive,” I said.

The car started to move. I reached into the fridge and got us each a cold bottle of water.

“I've got soda, too.”

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