Page 36 of Adonis (Salt and Starlight #1)

His mind churned out several better ideas than approaching a possible ambush, but at that point, he was stepping onto the back porch. Connor pressed his back to the wall and peeked in the living room window. He spotted two bodies; Nick and Laurence stretched out on the couches with blankets thrown over them.

Laurence stared at the ceiling, completely still.

Connor’s stomach dropped. Breathless, he lifted his hand, rapping his knuckles against the glass.

Laurence’s head turned; their gazes met.

Laurence leapt up from the couch with a cry, startling Nick, causing him to fall off the couch. Connor wanted to cry in relief. “Why were you playing dead, you little shit?”

he cursed under his breath as Laurence vanished from the room. Laurence called out, ‘Dad!’ as his footsteps echoed. The door flew open, slamming against the house and bouncing back on Laurence.

Laurence skidded out the door, launching at Connor. Connor grunted at the impact but returned his hug, gathering up the smaller guy and squeezing Laurence tight in his arms. Laurence trembled. He let out a choking sound that, after a moment, Connor recognised as a sob.

Heavy footsteps crowded down the hall; Trevor and Nick reached the door at the same time. Connor threw his gaze over them. Nick had a ferocious shiner under one eye, and Trevor’s temple was a sickly green. Despite the sight of injuries, relief flooded Connor’s body. The high tension in his body released all at once, and he sank his fingers into Laurence’s hair with a heavy sigh.

It wasn’t until he saw them, safe, alert, that he knew he wouldn’t have been okay to find them otherwise. Even if he got Adonis out, even if they were free—he needed Trevor and Laurence to be okay as well. And Nick. But Nick was more about keeping those two happy than Connor.

Laurence let out a cry of distress.

Connor tensed again. He pulled back, sweeping his eyes down his slight frame. “Are you hurt?”

Laurence stared at Connor’s stomach with an expression of panic and devastation. “Dad, Dad—there’s blood—”

Laurence sobbed.

“No, no, it’s okay,”

Connor said. “All patched up, see?”

He lifted the hem of his shirt, showing off his bandages. He glanced down and saw the blood from his clothes had run onto them, turning them pink. “You guys are okay? Is Edith fine, too?”

He looked over Trevor and Nick’s shoulders, but the space behind them was empty.

“We’re okay,”

Trevor said, his eyes sweeping over Connor the way he’d been examining Laurence. “Edith’s fine. She’s in the kitchen. Come in; we can have a look at you and decide do we need to call an ambulance.”

In all honesty, an examination wasn’t a bad idea. He had been stabbed, and even though Adonis had healed him with his magic, a doctor’s opinion was a good idea. He glanced at Nick, catching his confused frown as he looked over Connor’s shoulder.

Connor heard the sand sifting behind him and turned as Trevor surged forwards.

“Excuse me,”

Trevor’s voice boomed out, filled with authority and force. “This is private property.”

He stepped off the porch to stand between Connor and—

Adonis stood on the path. Tall, dark eyes menacing, legs bare and silvery. His cock hanging out, exposed.

“Chill, please,”

Connor said, stepping off the porch and putting himself between Trevor and Adonis. “This is my boyfriend. He’s the one who patched me up and everything.”

With a grunt, he shrugged off his jumper and approached Adonis.

He wrapped the sweater around Adonis’s waist, covering his dick, though he didn’t have enough fabric to cover the back. Connor stared up at Adonis, unimpressed. “You said you couldn’t transform here.”

Adonis’s hooded eyes fixed on Trevor. His jaw was tensed, his gills flaring out. Well… nobody was so far away they wouldn’t see that. There was also his eyes… black on dark blue, no whites. Connor sighed. If things started looking sketchy, he’d bail with Adonis into the ocean.

“Adonis, don’t glare at him,”

Connor warned.

Adonis didn’t stop.

“If you hurt anyone, we’re breaking up.”

Adonis’s gaze snapped to him. He made a sound of protest in his throat and lifted his hand to gesture at Trevor. “He is—”

He stopped mid-sentence to sneer at Trevor. “—nothing. I am stronger.”

Connor’s back was turned, so he didn’t see Trevor’s reaction to being sneered at. That was probably for the best. “Of course, you’re stronger. But you have to be nice to my family. If anyone tries to kidnap you, me, or any of them, then you can show off how strong you are.”

Adonis’s weight shifted, a dark look colouring his features as that sneer in Trevor’s direction turned into more of a glare. “I am stronger. You and Laurence stay with me. Not him.”

“You find Trevor threatening, do you?”

“He is no threat.”

Adonis scoffed.

“Right.”

“Connor?”

Trevor called.

Connor glanced over his shoulder, seeing Trevor’s unease. His eyes were on Adonis but slid to Connor as he turned. There was a question in his gaze. Worry. Adonis’s behaviour was undoubtedly setting off a million alarms.

“He finds you very intimidating,”

Connor said. “Come on, Adonis. Let’s go inside and get you some trousers to wear. And,”

he added quietly, “I’m serious. No hurting anyone.”

“Just him,”

Adonis said, his eyes on Trevor.

“No one.”

Connor stared at Adonis until he peeled his gaze off Trevor and looked at him.

“But—”

“No buts.”

Adonis let out an irritated huff but didn’t object further.

“Great.”

Connor grabbed his hand and kept him close as he approached the house.

“Did he save you when the ship sank?”

Laurence asked, staring at Adonis’s legs.

Connor stumbled. “It sank?”

Laurence’s eyes were glossy as he nodded. “We thought you were on board. They’re still looking for bodies in the wreckage.”

Connor’s mind jumped to locking Arthur and Ben below deck. Bolting the door from the outside. Locking that stupid billionaire into the bathroom. Abandoning that stupid unconscious guard as roiling seas broke over the deck.

“Have they found any?”

“It was only calm enough to search the wreckage last night,”

Trevor said. “We knew you were on the ship. There was footage from the docks of you being taken there, and then we heard about the storm capsizing the ship…”

He swallowed thickly.

They thought he was dead.

“I’m alright,”

Connor said, stating the obvious for Trevor.

“You look seriously fucked up,”

Nick said. There was no bite in his voice but the same relief that was in Trevor and Laurence.

“I bet,”

Connor said.

“Okay, let’s go in,”

Trevor said. “Adonis… I’ll… actually, Laurence, could you grab a pair of tracksuits from my room? And a t-shirt.”

Everyone stared at Adonis as he walked by them. At his gills, his eyes. And everyone got an eyeful of Adonis’s ass, too. Adonis didn’t seem to mind.

“We’ll change up in the room,”

Connor said.

“It might be better to stay in the living room?”

Trevor suggested.

“He saved me, Trevor,”

Connor said over his shoulder. “You don’t need to be nervous about him being with me. He just doesn’t like you.”

“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.

“Let’s get some fresh bandages on this first,”

Trevor said. “And then you can lie down while me and Adonis get acquainted.”

Despite Trevor’s easy tone, there was something threatening about that “get acquainted.”

Adonis must have thought so, too, because his back straightened, dark eyes darting to Trevor. He was a second away from a sneer; Connor just knew it.

“No, you can quiz Laurence about him, and he can lie down with me,”

Connor said. Trevor peeled back the wet bandage on Connor’s stomach as Laurence and Nick came back. Trevor glanced at Nick. “Did you let Edith know Connor is here?”

Nick crouched next to Trevor, setting down the med kit and unzipping it. He cast Trevor a serious look. One that Connor interpreted as. “yeah, she doesn’t give a shit.”

There was a spike of hurt that was quickly squashed within Connor. Now that he knew how she’d been treated during her pregnancy—and a pregnancy she didn’t want—he couldn’t feel the same about her attitude towards him. It wasn’t just pointless spite that made her hate him growing up; it was trauma.

Trauma and pain.

No wonder she’d always wanted to be rid of him.

Connor let out a breath to steady his emotions. As he did, Adonis reached for his hand, casting Connor a quizzical look, his dark eyes scanning his face. He must have sensed the dip in Connor’s mood.

“That’s a bit… weird looking, no?”

Nick turned everyone’s attention to Connor’s stomach.

Connor himself had yet to see the wound. He was able to move around remarkably well for someone recently stabbed, and he saw why as he looked at the slim scar on his abdomen. The skin was covered in silvery scales. Connor reached out, running his fingers over the shimmering skin, and found that it formed a protective layer over the scar.

Laurence leaned over Adonis’s far side to stare. “It’s like his legs,” he said.

“Hurts?”

Adonis asked.

“No, it doesn’t hurt.”

Adonis let out a huff. “Lie. Again.”

“Considering what happened, it doesn’t hurt the way it should.”

Connor prodded in at the skin. “I have you to thank for that.”

“What happened exactly?”

Trevor asked, studying the wound. The almost-healed cut hardly seemed to be the cause of so much blood.

“I caught it on a piece of metal,”

Connor said.

“Yes. Metal knife,”

Adonis added, most unhelpfully.

Trevor’s expression jumped to sharp alarm. “You were stabbed?”

“Adonis has a neat healing ability. He took care of it.”

Connor ran his fingers over the wound before reaching for the clean shirt Laurence had brought. “I don’t think it even needs another bandage. Laurence, can you explain about Adonis? We’re going to go up and crash. I rushed here because I was worried about you guys, and now that I can see you’re okay, I’m flagging.”

“He’s a merman,”

Laurence informed them as Connor and Adonis stood up. “And Dad, his tail is like, three times the length of your car. And—”

Laurence’s voice faded as Connor climbed the stairs, leading Adonis by the hand. He walked to his bedroom and closed the door. Connor discarded all his clothes—even the fresh shirt—and climbed under his duvet covers. He scooted in to the wall and held up the edge of the blankets for Adonis. “Come on,” he asked.

Adonis stripped as well, joining Connor in bed. He nuzzled up to Connor, wrapping his body around Connor and setting his hand on his stomach. “Heal, now?”

Adonis asked.

“You said it tired you out. Can you still do it and change your legs to a tail?”

“Yes.”

“And what’s the deal, by the way?”

Connor didn’t try to roll over to read Adonis’s expression, too comfortable with his back pressing against Adonis’s chest. “You said you couldn’t change over here.”

“I couldn’t. Now I can.”

“Because that tear is open?”

“Probably.”

Connor thought about those rafts approaching the tear. “Are the people coming over here dangerous?”

“I am the strongest.”

Connor chuckled. “Yes, you are the strongest. But are they dangerous to other people?”

“Some, maybe.”

Curiosity burned Connor’s mind. There was a whole other world out there with people like Adonis. Different skies, different trees, different waters.

“Did you see where my friend went?”

Connor asked, his thoughts drifting to the night on the ship. Liam knocking Austin over the head, taking him by force to the boat. Roiling seas. A ship that sank. “Austin. He was the one I tumbled down the stairs with. Did they get away on the boat?”

“Yes. Away.”

Adonis ran his hand over Connor’s side. “I did not think he was your friend.”

Connor wasn’t too sure about it all, either. “I think he was doing his best to be,”

he admitted. “He was scared of the man who owned the tank and the ship. Cessair seemed stupid to me, but I don’t know the whole story.”

When Connor considered Austin’s fear, he couldn’t hold a grudge against him for his actions. Not all of them, anyway. He could forgive the part where he screwed Connor over. He wouldn’t forget about him trying to get Adonis locked away in exchange for his own freedom.

“You worry again,”

Adonis said matter-of-factly. He rubbed his nose against Connor’s nape. “Can we finish talking so I can heal you?”

Connor twined his fingers with Adonis’s as he set his palm over his stab wound. “Can we explore over there? In your world?”

“Yes.”

“Would you enjoy that?”

“Yes. Us, together. Yes.”

Connor sighed in contentment.

“Done talking now?”

Adonis asked.

Connor’s content sigh turned into a laugh. “Oh, you can be such an ass, you know that? Yes. Yes, I am done talking. Please make all the aches and pain go away.”

Warmth blossomed in Connor’s stomach. Heat turned his body boneless, and he went slack in Adonis’s arms. Safe. Held. He heard the sounds of the others downstairs, and as bliss filled him, he knew that this was the most peace he’d ever felt.