Oh, that was a low blow, and I came to his defense without hesitation. “It’s not his fault he missed out on anything.”

“We’ll talk about everything I missed when the time is right. For now, sleep.” He angled his head, eyes tight on Colin as a sign not to protest, and much to my shock and awe, Colin obeyed.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped about the PlayStation,” he said once it was only the two of us.

“It was the perfect amount of steps.” I smiled. “It gets exhausting always the one disciplining. From the sounds of it, I haven't done the best job if he was sneaking out and lying about a girlfriend.”

“You did an incredible job with him. He made his own choices, and you can’t blame yourself for them any more than you can for the fact that I”—he coughed into his fist—“wasn’t in his life.”

I desperately wanted to absolve him of the guilt he shouldn’t feel, but I doubted I’d get him to that place today. “Since we’re holding off on discussing what happened for now, could you at least help ease my concerns, so I have a shot at sleeping?”

He strode closer but remained outside of my reach. “I can try.”

“How worried should I be about what happened at the rave?” I cut straight to it. “Is this gang situation more like a group of young kids getting into trouble? Or are we talking mob stuff?”

He stroked his jaw, eyes on the floor instead of on me, which wasn’t that reassuring. “I believe it’s a low-level thing, but everything will be okay.” He lifted his gaze and added, “I’ll handle it.”

Something told me he honestly would, which was why I wasn’t panicking.

“Come on, I’ll take you to your room. Just two doors down from mine.” He picked up my purse and offered it to me before going for my suitcase next.

I quietly followed him down a different hall than Colin had taken, passing closed doors and empty walls. It felt sad and lonely, and something about that fact hurt my heart for him.

Are you sad and lonely?

He stopped outside one of the doors, and I nearly collided with him. “Sorry.” I lifted my hands in apology at our near crash.

His gaze dropped over my blue scrubs before returning to my face.

I looked down and back up again. “What?”

“Nothing.” He smirked, lightly shaking his head, then opened the guest room door, waiting for me to enter before joining me.