Asa tugged on her hand, urging her to sit on the bed beside him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. He’s not a problem until he decides to be one.”
“Then it might be too late,” Lyric said as she sat beside him. Her hand covered her mouth, and her eyes turned glassy.
He pulled her hand to him, cradling it against his chest. “Listen, he’s not a problem.”
“Yeah, the other Wilsons are gonna hang out in jail for a while, and he probably doesn’t want to join them,” Dawson said. “I personally hope he decided to skip town and start a new life in Nantucket or somewhere equally far away and boring.”
Lyric let her hand fall into her lap. “Only you would think Nantucket is a boring place.”
Dawson lifted his hands. “I really have no idea where that is.”
Asa shifted on the bed a little. His back was sore from lying in the same position for so long. He might not want Lyric worrying about the Wilson brothers, but he’d been playing over the events in his mind every minute he’d been awake. “Actually, what was up with Zach?”
Dawson rubbed his chin. “You mean how he pushed Bobby’s gun away from Lauren?”
Lyric looked back and forth between them. “You think he saved her?”
“That’s what it looked like to me. Bobby and Zach were fighting about something. Then Zach pushed the gun at the same time it went off.”
“And you got shot instead of Lauren,” Lyric finished, her words trailing off at the end.
“It looked like he was trying to protect her,” Asa said.
Dawson rubbed his hands together. “I can’t wait to hear what he says in the interrogations.”
“Does that mean Zach might have been trying to stop Bobby?” Lyric asked.
“I wouldn’t go that far. He’s a Wilson, not a hero. Still, she’s probably alive because of him.”
Asa tried to sit up more, but the movement pulled in all the wrong places. “I need to talk to him.”
“Easy, tiger. You’re not talking to anyone but the doctors for a while,” Dawson said.
Asa grunted. “What did we find out about why they restrained her?”
“She said they grabbed her as she was leaving work,” Dawson explained. “They wanted information about her cousin, who apparently owed them money.”
“They got a little more than they bargained for,”Asa said.
Dawson looked around. “Dude, where is your mom? Did she get lost?”
Lyric stood. “I’ll go find her.”
“No, you stay. I’ll find her.” Dawson lifted his shoulders and puffed his chest out. “All in a day’s work for a hometown hero.”
“Good grief. Spare us the theatrics and go find my family,” Asa said, pointing toward the door.
Dawson gave a stern salute before heading toward the door. “I’ll check on you tomorrow.”
Lyric’s shoulders sank as soon as the door closed behind him. “I’m glad he was with you. I don’t want to think about you going into that situation alone.”
Asa rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, focusing all his attention on the smooth skin instead of the pounding in his shoulder. “He’s a good guy.”
Lyric released his hand to wipe over her eyes. Her words shook as she whispered, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Asa rested his hand on her waist and pulled her down to him. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and sighed. He rubbed circles over her back for a few seconds before she rose up and pressed a kiss to his lips. He turned his head slightly and winced at the sharp pain.
“Ugh. I can’t even kiss you properly without hurting you. I’m so sorry.”