Page 17 of Should the Sky Fall

“It will be over soon. I promise.” The arms around him tighten, making him sink deeper into the embrace with a sigh. “I will always keep you safe.”

The words bring a smile to his face even if he doesn’t understand them.

“Dawson.”

His heart skips a beat. “Yes?”

“Dawson. Dawson.”

A foreign touch jerks him awake. He blinks against the brightness, shielding his eyes. Peeking through his fingers, his gaze falls on a familiar figure.

“Ellis?”

Someone groans next to him. Dawson turns, seeing Kieran blinking his eyes open, red creases on his cheeks. Right. The hospital.

“Hey,” Ellis says, his signature frown firmly in place. “Sorry to wake you.” He doesn’t sound sorry.

Dawson runs a hand over his mouth to check he didn’t accidentally drool in his sleep. “It’s fine. We were waiting for you anyway. This is Kieran,” he says when Ellis fixes a calculating gaze on Kieran. “My friend.”

Kieran gives him a nod that only seems semi-conscious. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Ellis says with disinterest and looks at Dawson. “Did they let you see him?”

The image of Cal in the hospital bed, at least three different tubes protruding from his body, flashes in front of him. “Yeah, for a bit. He’s in the ICU and they’re running a bunch of tests.”

Ellis nods, like it all makes sense. “What did they say?”

“Something about a collapsed lung, bleeding, and low oxygen.” The doctor must’ve given him the watered-down version. “They want to keep him under for a couple days.”

Ellis frowns at that. “But he’s okay?”

“They said the surgery went well.”

“Okay. Fuck. Okay.” Ellis runs a hand through his hair. He must have been doing it a lot today because it’s in disarray, gelled strands sticking out on the sides in all directions. Dawson feels a pang of sympathy for him. At least he didn’t have to jump on a plane and fly all the way here straight from work.

“I’m sorry,” he says, because it’s the only thing that comes to mind.

Ellis eyes him critically. “For what?”

Dawson shrugs. “All of it.”

“Don’t be stupid. Cal is an idiot.”

Dawson’s eyebrows shoot up. Ellis was pretty much having a mental breakdown just seconds ago. Now he’s back to insults. Is this a sibling thing? Dawson and Olivia aren’t like this.

“Why?”

Ellis’ shoulders sink. Sighing, he grabs the chair next to Dawson and turns it so he can sit in front of him, ignoring Kieran completely.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence it happened today. Shit went down at work, he lost us a lot of money and—” He huffs, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter. Bottom line is Cal must’ve freaked out. He probably wasn’t in his right mind when he was driving.”

“Oh.” Dawson can definitely see that being the case. Cal’s always had a short fuse, but nothing makes him more prone to losing his temper than stress from work. Dawson’s been tip-toeing around him for months. It just keeps getting worse.

Ellis goes on. “I’d have to come here either way to iron shit out, but I didn’t expect to spend time at the hospital.”

That’s right. Depending how long Cal will be out of commission, Ellis will have to take over for the time being. Poor guy.

“Mr Reeves?”