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Robin came to him and gave him a hug. “Take care, Mason. We’ll see you for dinner at our place on Sunday.” She made the statement without it sounding like the order it was, reminding him of his own mom.

Mason waited for the Wildes to depart before he pulled out his phone.

“What the fuck, man. Are you all right?” Hawk, normally calm, cool, and collected, sounded on the ragged edge of desperation.

“I’m fine. My angel, she took care of business.”

Hawk’s sigh of relief echoed through Mason. “Thank God. Okay. So I take it the asshole’s in custody.”

“Nick’s got him. I’m headed to the hospital to get a head wound checked out, but otherwise I’m fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“All good.” Mason hugged Lyric to his chest. “Lyric’s just looking after me.”

“You deserve it.”

“So do you,” Mason reminded his troubled cousin.

Lyric snatched the phone from him. “Hey. I have a question.”

“Anything you want, sweetheart, it’s yours.”

With Lyric pressed to him, Mason could overhear everything.

“How many women call you at work desperate to talk to you and get a date?”

Hawk took a long time answering. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“That is not an answer,” Lyric pointed out, a wicked grin on her face.

“I don’t know,” Hawk grumbled.

“The quiet ones always seem like a challenge.”

“I’m not playing anyone’s game.” Hawk was a loner. Had been for a long time now. Maybe too long.

Maybe like Mason, he was hoping to find someone worth taking a chance on.

“Thank you for helping me today.” Lyric seemed to understand that, like Mason, Hawk was hiding who he truly was under a mask of what he showed to the world.

“You’re family now.”

Tears gathered in Lyric’s eyes as she stared up at Mason but spoke to his cousin. “Next time I call, make sure the person answering knows who I am.”

“Why would you be calling me again?”

Lyric grinned, not caring one little bit about his cousin’s grumbled tone. “Because we’re friends now.”

“We are?” Hawk sounded oddly curious about Lyric’s assertion.

“We are. And when Mason brings me up to see his family, I’m going to hug you so hard.”

“Why would you do that?” Hawk sounded disgruntled and maybe scared.

“Because you need it. I’ll talk to you soon, Hawk.” She hung up on him.

Mason stared down at her. “Why all of that?” He acknowledged the touch of jealousy but knew she wasn’t interested in his cousin that way. But he didn’t get why she was pushing for a friendship Hawk would probably resist. And then it hit him. “You hear me in him.”