“Are you not worried at all about your case?” Nick asked him, his pale blue eyes steady on Connor. There was less glaring than normal from him.
“No point worrying until I know what’s going on,” Connor replied flippantly.
Nick stared at him.
“Well, are you going to threaten me or do you need to work up to it first? If I don’t bring Laurence back safe and sound, you’ll…” Connor prompted.
Nick held out his hand, and Connor automatically took what was in it. A pack of soothers. His mind struggled to make sense of it. “Are they poisoned?”
“Am I a chemist?” Nick drawled, like talking to Connor was the most boring thing on the planet. “No, they’re not poisoned.”
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Dad told me you’re gay,” Nick said.
Connor wasn’t stung by Trevor sharing—it was sure to be in Alice and Harry’s next article, anyway. Connor didn’t care if Nick lived in fear that Laurence could be Connor’s next target, but Trevor had no doubt seen this as the opportunity for Connor and Nick to finally get along.
“And you believe him?” Connor asked mockingly.
“You used to date Sam, didn’t you? A classmate told me. And there’s the forum Laurence showed me that your friends put together. Those pictures with Austin obviously show you two together,” Nick said.
That there were pictures of Connor and Austin together out in the world didn’t feel good.
“So yeah, I believe you’re not a gay basher. I still think you’re an asshole.”
“I’m not ever going to like you, either.”
“I don’t care.”
“Ready?” Laurence asked, coming to Connor’s side.
Connor looked away from Nick. He wondered was this the end of the cutting glares? “Let’s go before Trevor comes chasing after us on the surfboard.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Connor and Laurence kicked off to sea. Connor stayed on his knees, his balance feeling steadier that way. It didn’t matter if he stayed down; with both him and Laurence rowing, he didn’t need the extra leverage that came with being upright. They passed the turn in the shoreline, where they lost view of the dock. Waiting ahead with his head poking out of the water was Adonis.
His dark eyes gleamed and once they were past the bend, he approached with a quick lash of his tail. He surged out of the water next to Connor. Connor had already set his oar down to meet the affectionate greeting with both hands.
A startled noise came from Laurence.
Adonis didn’t spare him so much as a glance as he wrapped his arms around Connor’s waist and buried his cheek against Connor’s stomach. His body shook as he hummed, letting out noises of delight from deep in his chest.
Those noises soothed Connor’s nerves. His anxiety and worry melted away under the bounding affection from Adonis. He hoped he would always greet him like this. Like he’d never been happier to see someone in his life.
Connor sunk his fingers into Adonis’s hair, massaging his scalp affectionately.
“I’ll be able to stay out until after lunch today, so long as Laurence doesn’t get bored,” Connor told Adonis.
Adonis jolted in Connor’s arms. He pulled back, his gaze jerking to Connor’s face. An unhappy expression flitted across his face. He touched Connor’s throat, his warm fingers gentle against his swollen glands, and he made a questioning sound. “Sore?”
Laurence gasped.
“A little, yeah,” Connor told him. “I have medicine for it, though.” He dug the soothers Nick had given him out of his pocket. “These will help.” It was a lie. Medicine never had any effect on him.
Adonis glanced at the soothers. “Medicine,” he repeated. His voice wasn’t nearly as husky as it had been for his first few words.
“I was thinking of going to the nearer shore. You know where it’s all ferns on the land? And we could drift there.” Connor popped one soother into the mouth.
