Page 28 of Adonis (Salt and Starlight #1)

Laurence sat in the front with Nick, and Connor got into the back. He waited until they pulled out of the drive to lie down with a tired grunt. Laurence was quick to look back at him. “Are you not feeling good again?”

“All of Trevor’s fussing exhausted me.”

“You mean where he brought you breakfast in bed? Rubbed your shoulders? Made you tea?”

Nick asked, voice bland.

Laurence gave Nick a smack on Connor’s behalf.

“It was that swim that took it out of you,”

Nick said, shrugging off Laurence’s attack. “You could do with staying in bed another week to recover.”

“I swear Trevor was in the kitchen when we left, so why can I hear his voice?”

Connor wondered.

Laurence grinned. Nick just grunted; nothing about the sound aggravated. Connor scowled at the back of Nick’s head, wondering what was wrong with him. His concerns didn’t last for long, tiredness bogging down his mind. The drive to town wasn’t long, but Connor fell asleep and woke up dazed with Laurence announcing they’d arrived. Connor was surprised when he sat up and saw that the fairground was still set up and rides were running.

“I thought this was a weekend thing?”

“The sponsors extended it for the week,”

Laurence explained.

Huh. Connor had thought to just go to the dock to find Sam, but he wouldn’t be parked where he usually was with all this going on. All the locals moved their boats to sea or remote docks for events. Safer for their equipment.

They all got out of the car.

“Is he meeting us here?”

Laurence asked.

Connor didn’t want to admit that his plan for finding Sam had just been to—

“You busy?”

a voice asked.

Connor turned to find Sam standing next to him, and a few steps behind him was Sam’s sharp-eyed sister, Mary. Sam wore long shorts and a hoodie, his red hair unruly and messy. His expression was relaxed as he regarded Connor.

“Not particularly,”

Connor answered. The customary defensiveness he felt when confronting Sam didn’t spike up; and the usual self-loathing, when confronted by his past, stayed quiet. “Want to go on the Ferris wheel?”

Connor asked.

Sam’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

Mary’s eyes narrowed, and she glared at Connor like she was about to stab him.

“Okay,”

Sam said, his gaze sweeping across Connor’s expression. He was probably looking for the part where that was meant to be an insult.

“No way,”

Mary said, stepping up to Sam’s side. “You are not screwing with Sam again. I’m not going to stand for it.”

“You’re not invited, Mary,”

Connor told her. “I’ll meet up with you guys later,”

he said to Nick and Laurence, who had stepped back to watch. He turned toward the Ferris wheel, and when he walked, Sam came to his side. He was still trying to get a look at Connor’s face, trying to read him. Mary trotted to catch up, going to Connor’s other side so that the siblings were flanking him.

“Why can’t you ever just leave it be, Connor?”

Mary asked him, furious.

Of course, Mary didn’t want Connor to be alone with Sam. Connor hardly wanted that most of the time. But…he cast his gaze on Sam, his green eyes and soft mouth. He’d hurt Sam in the past. And he’d done it because he was sharp and prickly, and he didn’t know how to handle the guilt inside of him when his feelings didn’t grow after they’d started dating. And despite all of that, Sam had helped him.

“You don’t have to,”

Connor said to Sam. “If you don’t want.”

“No, I’ll come,”

Sam said. He slipped his gaze to Mary. “I’ll catch up with you after, okay? I’m not a kid. You don’t need to protect me.”

“That’s what you said when I told you dating Connor was a terrible idea, and look how that turned out,”

Mary retorted. But she stopped, casting a final glower at Connor. “I’m going to be waiting right here, and if he gets off that ride upset, I’m drowning you.”

“Lovely as always,”

Connor said.

They were next in line, and Connor read the cost of the tickets and searched his empty pockets. He almost laughed at himself. He turned to Sam. “Do you have money?”

Sam paid for both of them with an eye roll.

Connor climbed into their narrow booth. “I’ll pay you back,”

he promised.

“It’s fine,” Sam said.

There wasn’t much room for their legs, even when sitting diagonally opposite each other. Connor leaned back as the Ferris wheel moved, and his gaze was drawn toward the ocean. Sam’s gaze was on him.

“What?”

Connor asked.

“I assumed you wanted to talk when you suggested this… or did you just want someone to pay so you could ride the Ferris wheel?”

Connor snorted. “My dad’s loaded, remember?”

“His employer is sponsoring the festival, isn’t he?”

“I hadn’t heard that,”

Connor said. Cessair again. Would he ever stop coming up? He flicked at a loose piece of paint on the panelling next to him and glanced sideways at Sam. “Do you want me to talk about what happened that summer? Or do you want to leave it as is?”

Sam stilled. He swallowed before asking, “You’re willing to talk about it?”

Connor nodded.

Sam looked at him, his brows creasing down. “Is this about what I said to that reporter?”

“This isn’t about the case,”

Connor said. “I’m not looking for anything from you here. Not forgiveness or anything else. I just thought you might want to talk about it. I know you did a while back, and I blanked you.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Sam asked. “Everything had been going fine, or, as far as I was aware, everything had been going fine, and then you—”

Sam cut off, hurt crossing his expression.

Connor went atomic was what Sam didn’t say.

“I started going out with other guys?”

Sam’s jaw tightened.

Connor looked down, shame making his cheeks burn. “I never got with anyone.”

“Bullshit,”

Sam snapped, angry. “I saw you with those stupid rich kids, getting with that guy who’d been mocking my dad.”

“I went out on his boat. I never got with him.”

“He says otherwise.”

Connor clenched his teeth together, irritated. “Well, he’s a liar, alright? Or he was drunk and imagined we got together, but we never did.”

He reached for his stomach, rubbing the bite mark through his shirt. Warmth fluttered over his stomach, and his body forcibly relaxed like he’d taken a pill to calm himself.

“I had a crush on someone at school,”

Connor said, his voice coming out calm. “He’s why I never dated during the holidays.”

“You get with a dozen guys every summer.”

“You’re the only guy I’ve ever been with out here,”

Connor replied. He looked right at San, meeting his eyes. “And as much as an asshole as I can be, you know I’m not one for lying. I might flirt with the blows in and go out on the water with them, but that’s as far as it goes.”

Sam looked conflicted, like he was trying to believe Connor but didn’t.

“I liked you. That’s why I was up for it when you made a move.”

“But?”

Connor swallowed. Those few months with Sam swarmed his memory. The nights when he’d kiss Sam and Austin’s sharp eyes would flash in his mind. His grin, his pouting lips, that pale throat. “But I still liked the guy from school. And as it got closer to the end of summer, I felt shitty that I still couldn’t get him out of my head. That was the best summer I’d ever had out here, and it was like that because of you, but I still…”

Connor pinched the bite on his stomach, a flutter of warmth spreading at the action. His worry dampened as the warmth spread. “I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me, and I felt guiltier and guiltier every time we met up, so I—”

“Stopped meeting up,”

Sam finished. “Went radio silent on me until I saw you going out on the water with other guys who would come back boasting to the poor fishing boy what a ride his boyfriend was.”

Connor flinched. He jerked his head toward Sam and saw the anger simmering in his eyes. “I didn’t know they said that.”

The Ferris wheel groaned as their booth came to a swinging stop at the bottom. There was a mechanical hiss as the doors opened. Connor took in Sam’s tensed jaw, and he climbed out first.

Mary hovered at the exit ropes, gaze fixed on Sam as she waited to read his expression. As they got closer, she saw that Sam was far from pleased, and the look she pinned on Connor was murderous.

“Suppose you’ll be drowning me, then?”

Connor asked her, his voice coming out bland as if he were bored. Truthfully, he was anything but. He didn’t like anything that had happened with Sam, and now that he knew those stuck-up idiots had been coming back and taunting Sam, he felt infinitely worse. But he was glad that they’d talked. Because he wouldn’t have gotten the chance to tell Sam that they’d been lying otherwise.

“I’m sorry, Sam,”

Connor said while Mary steamed. “You got hurt, and I’m sorry for it. You never deserved that.”

Mary gaped at Connor but quickly recovered. “A little late to apologise now, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,”

Connor agreed.

Laurence’s small frame caught his attention, and Connor turned his head to study his little brother. He stood next to three guys who, he could see from here, had nasty expressions on their faces. Whatever Mary spit at him next was lost on him as he watched with growing concern how the biggest of the guys got into Laurence’s personal space.

Laurence yelped at the sudden shove that sent him flying back. He would have fallen, but Connor had seen the danger and moved forward to catch him. He caught the tail end of an insult like that of which had resulted in Connor charged with a hate crime.

That Laurence had just been shoved—pushed—and for this reason? It infuriated Connor. If he said that he didn’t take the time to think about his response, he would be lying. He did think about it. Weighed up the benefits of walking away and shrugging this off. And then he weighed up how it would feel if he’d let Laurence get shoved like that, get called names like that, without consequence. By the time Laurence got his feet under him, Connor’s mind was made up.

Connor’s fist flew, crunching into the bully’s nose with a satisfying crunch. Connor often used his words to fight battles; he never realised how gratifying it was to have someone fall at his feet, inept.

“What the fuck?”

The bully collapsed with a groan.

“Not so fun when it’s someone your own size, is it?”

Connor debated kicking dirt into his face but held back. Accidentally blinding the guy would bring more trouble than it was worth. “You should be keeping up with the news. They’re bringing in harsher penalties for hate crimes.”

The bully glared at Connor. There was a second of quiet, and then everyone moved at once. The three of them converged on Connor, but Sam’s tall body, strong from work on the fishing boat, shoved one back. Laurence leapt at the other one, spitting curses, and the bully on the ground tackled Connor.

Connor didn’t go down. The idiot had a second to realise that he’d picked a fight with someone stronger than him before Connor shoved him off easily. And once again, he had the choice; spring on the prone idiot, lay into him with kicks and punches or walk away?

He thought of Laurence’s yelp. And then he thought of Trevor. Trevor would forgive the first punch, Connor was certain. But he was less sure about how he would feel if things went further. Would Trevor be disappointed in him if things shifted from defence to punishment?

Connor reached out, catching Laurence’s arm before he launched himself at the retreating trio.

There were a few on-lookers, but it was quiet enough that it was mainly just staff that had witnessed the scuffle.

“We’d better get going,”

Connor said, noting that a few people were on their phones. He caught the look Sam gave him. “What?”

“Since when do you throw punches?”

“I was charged with assault. It’s hardly out of character.”

“Connor…”

Sam sighed. “Go on. You’ll be in trouble if someone recognises you.”

Laurence gripped his arm, looking around them.

Connor paused just before he walked away. He glanced at Sam and hesitated. “Can I have your phone for a second?”

Sam dug it out of his pocket. Connor put in his new number and saved his contact information. “In case you want to talk,”

Connor said, giving it back. Mary, of course, was far from happy, but that didn’t concern him.

He and Laurence headed back to the car park. Laurence rang Nick, who showed up after a few minutes with two brown paper bags tucked under his arm. He glanced between them with a puzzled look. “Finished already?”

“Finished,”

Connor said before Laurence could tell him.

They hadn’t even shut the doors before Laurence swung around to Connor with his eyes shining. “I didn’t know you were that strong.”

Connor got the feeling that Laurence wouldn’t keep his mouth shut about this either way. His knuckles stung a little, and he stretched out his hand as he settled in place in the back. “Did you know them?”

Laurence shook his head. “They were talking about you, and I corrected them, and then we started arguing, and he just pushed me.”

Nick’s head jerked to Laurence. “Who pushed you?”

“An idiot,”

Laurence said scornfully. “But Connor caught me! And he laid him out with one punch. It made this crack sound, and it was awesome.”

Nick looked at Connor like he was an idiot. From a certain perspective, he was. But he didn’t regret it. “Your charge isn’t overturned yet, Connor. And it might not be. Adding another assault charge on top of that—”

“Is that Dad, I hear? I thought we left him at the house?”

Laurence wondered.

“You—”

Nick shot Laurence a vexed look. “Stop copying him.”

Laurence just grinned.

Nick turned to continue the lecture, and Laurence took out his phone to type into it. “He called me a stupid fag,”

Laurence said. “You would have punched him, too.”

“What?”

Nick’s voice rose in anger. “Who were they?”

His head turned forward, and he looked out the windscreen at the people lingering around the fair.

“My blogger uploaded!”

Laurence said, distracted. His expression changed from happy to confused. “Oh.”

“What is it?”

Connor asked.

“Um… you should see this.”

Laurence offered his phone to Connor.

Connor scanned the page, reading the title and then focusing on the image that Laurence had zoomed in on. A shiver slithered down his spine. The title. The image. The two men. Confusion rose in him.

“What?”

Nick asked. He must have seen the change in him.

“It’s a picture of the police officers that arrested Connor that night,”

Laurence said. His voice was nervous and unsure.

“Okay… and?”

Laurence looked worriedly at Connor.

“It’s the guards,”

Connor said. His voice was thick, coming out strange.

“The Gardaí?”

“The guards from my dad’s work,”

Connor said. “The Americans posted at the entrance. It’s them.”

“Wait… what?”

Nick reached for the phone to look at the picture. He read the post, which seemed to be about locating the two officers that had arrested Connor and then vanished off the face of the earth. “It can’t be,”

Nick said at last. “You’d have recognised them before now.”

Connor leaned back in the seat. He had recognised 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’s them.”

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.”