Page 89 of Adonis

Connor leaned back in the seat. Hehadrecognised them, hadn’t he? There had been that nagging feeling in the back of his mind when he’d looked at them. That spark of familiarity that he couldn’t pin down… Nick and Laurence were watching him.

“I don’t remember any of it,” Connor said after a pause. “The assault or the arrest. But that’sthem.”

Laurence was buzzing, but there was an expression of deep concern on Nick’s face. And, frighteningly, it was directed at Connor. “You know, I’ve been forced to listen to all Laurence’s crap about a conspiracy for months. I think I’m starting to believe. You need to find out what really happened that night.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

They stopped outside the house, Connor’s mind whirling. It had been evident for a while now that what happened hadn’t been a mere coincidence. That there had been a force working against him. But now? Now that he knew those guards were explicitly involved, evidence pointed to his dad’s involvement. “Why” eluded him. Connor couldn’t hazard even the wildest of guesses why his dad, or anyone, would do something like this, but the fact remained that someonehad.

“Laurence.” Connor leaned between the two front seats. “You go talk to Trevor. Nick, if you’re up for a drive…”

“A drive where?” Nick asked.

At the same time, Laurence said, “I want to come!”

“You can explain it to your dad and tell him who those guards are. You’ve met them before, and Nick hasn’t,” Connor said.

“Where are you two going to go?” Laurence asked, visibly unhappy at being left behind.

“I want to meet with some classmates who were at the party. Hear from them what happened and what they saw.”

“I want to come. Nick can tell Trevor about it.”

“Trevor will worry all day if the two of us go off. He trusts Nick to keep an eye on me so I don’t get sick again.And,” Connor leaned forward, pressing in close to Laurence’s ear to whisper, “You’re the only one who can talk to Adonis. I’m sure he’ll be worrying by now. Please, Laurence.”

“Okay,” Laurence agreed as Connor pulled back. “But you have to tell me everything you learn.”

“Promise,” Connor said.

When Laurence left, he got into the passenger seat and took out his phone. He didn’t have anyone’s numbers anymore, but he could log into Messenger and get their contact info that way.

He felt Nick’s stare.

“If you don’t want to come, I’ll go alone,” Connor said.

“I’ll come,” Nick said, voice lacking anything combative. He started the engine. “Which direction am I going?”

“Inland. I’ll find out the exact address on the way. Let’s go before Trevor notices.”

“He’s not going to be happy about this,” Nick said.

“I’m bringing you. That’ll keep him happy enough.”

They reached the main road as Connor sent off the first round of texts. He hesitated after finding Peter’s contact details. He mulled it over several times before typing out,give me your address, and hitting send.

“Are they really the guards from your dad’s lab?” Nick broke the silence.

“Yeah.”

“And you didn’t recognise them?”

“No. Like I said, I don’t remember much of that night. After a certain point, my memory just goes blank.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

None of the case made sense.

“Who are we going to see?” Nick asked when Connor didn’t say anything.