Page 7 of Adonis (Salt and Starlight #1)

Connor and Laurence drove around the parking lot, the heat of the evening sun beating down on the car.

“It’s not as scary anymore,”

Laurence said. “Or hard.”

“It’ll be even easier next time,”

Connor said. Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. His mom’s car sat at the checkpoint, and Liam walked toward them.

“Will surfing be like this?”

Laurence asked, not noticing that their lift was there.

“Surfing is harder. Can you pull up in front of the lab?”

Connor asked. “I need to grab my things.”

“Okay. Oh, is—uh—can you tell me what’s happening? I have to focus.”

Laurence needed to focus on driving through a giant, empty parking lot with literally nothing he could hit. Connor fought to repress another grin. He’d fought smiles all afternoon.

“Mom’s there. And there’s a very scary, angry-looking guard marching toward us.”

“He’s angry?”

“He looks furious. He’s got the baton out.”

Laurence whimpered, and his head whipped up to see that the guard’s hands were empty. “That’s not funny.”

Laurence glared at Connor. “He actually is scary.”

“I think it’s more that you’re timid.”

“I’m not timid.”

Laurence shot Connor a smug, self-satisfied glance. “I wouldn’t be able to drive if I was timid.”

“Not sure I’d call this driving.”

Laurence pouted. “I’m learning. I’ll be out on the road soon enough.”

The pout transformed into a private little smile. Connor noted it; Laurence didn’t mind a little teasing. He parked in front of the lab.

“I’ll only be a minute.”

Connor was about to enter the lab but paused. He backtracked down the steps and intercepted Liam.

“I’m getting my things from downstairs,”

Connor said. “And he’s scared of you, so he’s waiting in the Jeep until I’m back. Leave him be. I’ll bring you guys some Starbucks next time I’m in.”

Liam stared down his nose at Connor. There wasn’t anything outright hostile in his eyes, though his presence was intimidating enough. Less intimidating now that Connor was used to him.

“Coffee jugs?”

He broke the silence.

“They’re inside.”

Liam nodded and entered the lab ahead of Connor. Connor glanced at Laurence, who was peeking over the steering wheel. The passenger window closest to Connor rolled down. “Are you okay?”

Laurence asked in a loud whisper.

“Fine,”

Connor said. “He’s making coffee. You just wait there.”

Connor trotted to the elevator and entered the lab. He glanced out at the ocean, pausing, hoping, but didn’t linger when he saw nothing more than a few clownfish darting among the weeds. Connor gathered his books and copies into his arms and returned to Laurence.

Laurence jumped out of the Jeep and jogged to Connor’s side, immediately taking two heavy tomes from the pile. “I left the keys on the dashboard. Is that okay?”

“If a car thief is willing to break in here to steal it, they deserve to find the keys left out for them,”

Connor said.

“Good point,”

Laurence said, glancing at a metal post with a camera fixed on top. He sidled up closer to Connor. “Did you get much work done today?”

Laurence asked, his voice pitchy, his energy erratic. “These are… ocean currents?”

He read the title of a book he’d taken from Connor. “The judge told you to… oh.”

“Dad’s work is interesting,”

Connor said, distracted as he watched a change wash over Laurence’s face. Saw him remember Connor was on probation and, according to the entire world, a living pile of dog crap.

“Cool,”

Laurence said, his heart obviously not in it. He drifted away from Connor as if physically repelled by him. A heavy, oppressive weight settled in Connor’s chest. And for a moment, he debated opening his mouth and just saying it.

I didn’t beat him up because he was gay.

But they got to the car, and the guard dogs made Laurence nervous, and Connor’s mom was glaring daggers, and Connor remembered that nobody stood up for him when the accusation came out, and that nobody said, no, he wouldn’t do that, that’s not Connor. And if the people he grew up with couldn’t say that about him, then trying to explain himself to somebody new would get him nowhere.

Connor climbed into the front seat. As Laurence got into the back, Edith twisted around. “Laurence, honey,”

she said, her brow creased in concern. “What are you doing here?”

“I ran into Connor at lunch,”

Laurence said. His voice was a forced chipper, as if he knew Edith would be upset if he was in a bad mood. Was he aware that the anger would only be directed at Connor? Connor leaned his elbow against the door and stared out the window, waiting.

“I’m not sure how that’s possible,”

she said gently.

“I was in town getting food,”

Connor said, cutting in, her tone racking his nerves.

Her gaze cut to him. “Unsupervised?”

“Did I say I went alone?”

“Did you?”

Connor remained silent. If he replied, it would be something like, who gives a damn? It seemed a waste of energy to point out he was unsupervised all day in the lab. Or that he only needed supervision when doing work, to be sure he was putting in the hours.

Edith looked away from him. She jerked the car into gear, and they sped away from the checkpoint in charged silence.

At the house, Edith reached out, catching Connor’s arm before he could get out of the car. “Wait,”

she told him.

Connor felt the sudden tension as Laurence inhaled sharply behind them. “Edith, I was the one that, that,”

he floundered. There wasn’t a way to claim responsibility for Connor leaving the lab without supervision.

“Go in, Laurence,”

Connor said.

“But—”

“I just need to have a word with Connor, honey,”

Edith added. Her voice was void of all warmth. “Head on in.”

Laurence, in halting movements, got out of the car. His feet dragged as he walked up the drive, and he kept glancing over his shoulder at them. His face was white.

Connor took that in. “He’s sensitive, isn’t he? To people.”

He didn’t look at her, just waited quietly for the bile and venom. For the acid to come spilling out, for him to hear what a horrible boy he was and had always been. Usually, it wasn’t until the end of the summer that he received the full-on attacks. How gratifying it must be for her to have the whole world agree that she’d been right all along.

“You are not to go near him,”

her voice came out low.

Connor frowned. Normally, it went up. Apprehension coursed through his veins when he noticed her gaze, eyes burning with resentment.

“If this was supposed to be some power play or threat, then you clearly don’t understand how fragile your situation is. Trevor has agreed to let you stay here and to monitor your probation, but that is all over the second you threaten his son.”

Threaten? Connor opened his mouth to object venomously, but before he did, it clicked in his head. Her words. Nick’s attitude. The way he’d urged Laurence to get away from him and was furious about Connor’s presence in the house.

“He’s gay?”

“Don’t say it like you didn’t know. How dare you—”

“I didn’t know,”

Connor said. Usually, he stoked the flames of his mom’s anger, but the urge to fight fizzled out. She genuinely believed he could hurt Laurence. “I was teaching him how to drive. That’s it. I just wanted to get to know him a little better.”

Since Laurence seemed to be the only person in the world that didn’t hate him.

Scepticism radiated from Edith as she stared him down.

Connor sighed. “Whatever. Finish your threat so we can go in for dinner.”

“You’ll go to jail,”

she said. “And there’s going to be nobody to bail you out this time.”

She said that as if she showed up at his hearing. As if she picked him up from the detention centre.

“I got it.”

“Stay away from him.”

“We live together. Don’t ask for the impossible,”

Connor muttered. “How did you even let me in the house?”

How was Trevor being nice to him when Laurence was gay? He frowned. Even if Connor was his stepson, Trevor should have prioritised keeping his son safe before inviting Connor in for a second chance. What if the charge had been true? What if Connor had been a bigot that attacked gay people?

Laurence could have gotten hurt.

There was such a thing as too big a heart, and Trevor was clearly afflicted. Laurence, too, for that matter. Connor scowled. What had he been thinking getting into the car, just the two of them? Had he no sense of self-preservation?