“It is more than the attitude that has me uneasy, Connor.” Trevor met Connor’s eyes. “Please, change in the living room.”
Connor stared at him a moment but relented. “Alright.”
Adonis glanced around himself as Connor led him into the living room. Everyone hovered, staring and not staring, as Laurence darted upstairs. He returned with clothes bundled over his arms. “Here you go. I got the biggest I could find. I hope they fit.” Laurence walked straight up to Adonis, not a hint of fear in him. Trevor and Nick both shifted uneasily.
“Enough with the glaring,” Connor said, irritated. He hadn’t expected to introduce Adonis like this, and having everyone at each other’s throats was irritating if nothing else. He was sore and tired, and now that the pressing urgency to see his family was safe had been met—he was wrecked. He hadn’t seen Edith yet, but if Trevor said she was okay, he believed it.
“It’s like Laurence said. Adonis was the one who got me away from those psychos.” Connor took the clothes from Laurence when Adonis didn’t reach for them. “Could everyone please turn around?”
Everyone turned, and Laurence sat on the nearest couch and covered his eyes. Adonis turned his back to Connor.
He leaned in, pressing his lips to Adonis’s nape in a fond kiss. “I didn’t mean you,” he said. Adonis shivered.
It took longer than it should, with Adonis objecting to the clothes with snorts and huffs. Eventually, he agreed to put on the clothes.
“Are those gills?” Nick was the one that asked. “On his neck and his sides?”
Connor opened his mouth to answer.
“Yes,” Adonis said.
“Right. Okay. Gills,” Nick said. “That’s um… interesting.”
“He has a tail,” Laurence said, excited. “It’s like—massive.”
“Yes,” Adonis agreed, approval in his voice. “Massive.”
Connor’s lips twitched. The genuine pride in Adonis’s voice got to him. He could barely stop from laughing. “It’s very impressive,” Connor agreed, and he watched pure pleasure fill Adonis’s eyes.
Connor guided Adonis to the big couch and pulled him to sit next to him. “He’s all changed now. Also, it goes without saying he’s a secret. No more psycho billionaires.” Connor thought about locking Cessair into the bathroom. Was he really dead? And what about Austin and Liam going for the boat? He hoped they made it. He didn’t feel the same for the others. If he was responsible for their deaths, he refused to feel guilt for it. Not when them being gone made it safer for the people he cared about.
Though if they had survived, and that tear was ripped open with people from over there were coming through, then that would be more fascinating than any remnants of genetic material left in Connor.
Trevor approached the front of the couch and knelt in front of Connor. He glanced at Adonis, then focused on Connor. “Can I see your stomach? Laurence, could you—”
“Clean shirt? I’m on it.” Laurence hopped up and raced up the stairs.
“Nick, could you—”
“Med kit?” Nick guessed. “Yeah, one minute.”
Connor lifted his arms, and Trevor pulled the shirt over his head. Connor grunted, his arms not liking the moving around. Trevor’s eyes darkened as he examined Connor’s torso.
“Trevor,” Connor said, drawing him out of his thoughts. “I’m okay. I know I don’t look it, but I am.”
Trevor let out a shaky breath. “I thought I’d gone through the worst of my worrying when Nick started going out drinking. And then with you going out alone in the water. Although… you weren’t going out alone, were you?” His gaze darted to Adonis. “Adonis. I’m Trevor, Connor’s dad. Well, I mean, I’m his—” Trevor cast a worried look Connor’s way.
Connor imagined how he felt. Fear that he’d overstepped, that he was imposing his role on Connor when he didn’t want that. Connor couldn’t describe how good it felt to have that label attached. Dad. How it felt that Trevor thought of himself that way. Considered Connor one of his kids.
“Chill, Trevor,” Connor said to Trevor’s panic. “‘Dad’ works fine.”
God, his voice was too pleased. Way, way too pleased. “Adonis, if I look at you and you’re still glaring at Trevor, I’m going to be mad.” He scrubbed his face with his hands, trying to hide that it had gone red. “I need a nap.”
Trevor grinned broadly. He could see it through his fingers.
“I will not attack,” Adonis promised Connor.
Connor huffed.
