“I know, son. I’m just after saying the same thing.”
“You saw it, too, right?” Laurence frowned at Connor. “I wished you’d mentioned it earlier. We could have come up with an excuse so that he couldn’t come…or you could have stayed home.”
“It’s fine, Laurence.”
Connor blamed his tiredness for the fact that both Laurence and Trevor picked up on his discomfort. If he hadn’t been wrecked, he might have been able to put on a more convincing mask. Although…he suspected that both Trevor and Laurence were good at reading his facial expressions regardless of whether he tried to hide them or not.
“Did he hit you in the room?” Laurence asked.
Trevor’s head whipped back to them. “What?” he asked, alarmed.
“No, no,” Connor said quickly, shooting Laurence an irritated look.Technically yes, but for the sake of peace, no.
“Connor—” Trevor began.
“No, stop. I’m too exhausted for an interrogation.” Connor put up his hand to ward off Trevor. “Use your head. That would be like Laurence trying to punch you. He couldn’t hurt you even if he tried.”
Trevor’s dark eyes were serious, and his mouth set into a grim line. “So he did hit you.”
Connor groaned. His head thumped back against the headrest. “Laurence, you’re annoying.”
It took a solid hour to talk his way out of Laurence’s reveal, and even then, Connor knew Trevor had only let it go because Connor was ceaseless in making sure he did. Austin, however, was banned from the house.
Chapter Nineteen
Connor woke to a pat on the shoulder. He rolled over, squinting at the figure bent over the bed. He just about made out Laurence’s slim shoulders.
“Laurence?” he asked tiredly. He’d been in the middle of a dream and grogginess clung to his body and mind. Two days after his exhausting time with Adonis and he hadn’t fully recovered. Despite checking the dock regularly and sitting out during the day for the past two days, Adonis hadn’t shown up. Connor had trouble falling asleep, worrying about when he’d see him again.
“Can we sneak out now?” Laurence whispered to him.
“Sneak out?”
“Before Nick wakes up and stops me from going,” Laurence elaborated.
Connor’s mind caught up. They’d packed the car last night, securing the surfing boards to the top of Trevor’s car, and they had a cooler ready to be stocked up by the front door and wrapped sandwiches in the fridge. “Yeah,” Connor croaked. He rolled onto his side and covered his head with the blanket.
“Connor,” Laurence whined. The bed dipped down as he crawled onto it. “Come on, Nick will be really annoying if he comes. He’ll spend the entire time being mean to you.”
“I’m tired,” Connor grumbled.
“You spent the whole day yesterday reading on the dock. You’ll be full of energy the second you get out of bed,” Laurence said. “And I have tea ready for you. Everything’s in the car; we just need to head out. Don’t go back to sleep.”
As if Connor could with Laurence chattering in his ear. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He sighed. “What time is it?”
“…Morning time.”
“Laurence…”
“It’s a little after five.”
“Laurence.” Connor groaned. “Why do we have to go this early?”
“Please? I couldn’t sleep I was so excited.”
“It’s just surfing.”
“I’ve neverbeensurfing,” Laurence said.
