Page 62 of Unexpected Boyfriends

“Trust me.” I tell him.

Then I leave. When I look back, he’s huddled on the towel, eyes closed, one hand clutching the tiny starfish hanging from his neck.

It occurs to me that he isn't wearing his Scorpius chain, and I wonder about that.

I push the boards back into place and leave no sign at all that anyone has been here.

Chapter 24

A Missing Person

AXEL

I walk back along the beach, past the boatsheds and past the houses that front onto the water until I reach the point where the lane runs down to an asphalted boat ramp and the sand widens into a proper swimming beach.

The air is very fresh, though there’s already the faintest hint of spring in the air. The sun wouldn’t be far above the eastern horizon yet, and this beach faces west, with a tall hill behind it, so no sunlight will reach here for some time.

Boats dance at their moorings just a few metres offshore, rigging tinkling as the boats swing and jostle in the gentle early morning breeze. The wind makes things extra cold. A shiver passes through me.

Only a crazy local would swim here right now, but that's what I’m going to have to do to explain my absence from the house at this hour.

As I strip off my outer layers, I realize I forgot an essential item – swimming briefs. Shit! I curse mentally. But I can still do this,because I’d left my boxers on under my pj’s last night and thank god I’m still wearing them.

Dressed only in my boxers, I plunge into the freezing water. Right in, head under. I come up gasping for air, my chest constricted and aching from the cold.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I mutter to myself. The water is freezing, the warm summer currents a distant memory, or a distant hope, whichever way I choose to look at it.

I swim a few strokes, but I’m not really warming up, just going numb and possibly blue, so I leap out of the water faster than I went in. God, I think I’ve frozen my balls off!

It’s enough anyway, I just need to look wet. Goosebumps cover me and my teeth are chattering. A wisp of wind blows over my wet skin and my whole body shivers.

At this point, I discover my second mistake – no towel. I left it with Justin. I pull my trackpants over my soaking boxers, and of course the water immediately soaks through. I pull on a hoodie and run back to the house.

Although I’d rather the police not know about the back gate, I come in the back door anyway, because it would look really weird – to my mother, at least – if I came in the front, given that the front door is the furthest from the beach.

The door bangs shut behind me as I rush in shivering and three heads turn towards me. My mother and two police are standing in the living room at the end of the hallway.

“Oh, there you are!” I hear the relief in my mum’s voice. “We’ve been wondering where you were. Can you come in here a minute? The police need to talk to you.”

“Just a tick,” I call back, heading into the bathroom. “I forgot to take a towel and I’m dripping everywhere. Let me get changed.”

I dry as best I can, and duck across the hallway to my bedroom to find some clothes to pull on. I take a deep breath –I can do this- steady myself and go back out. At least I can cover my nerves with the excuse of being freezing!

“This is my son, Axel.” My mother gestures towards me when I join them in the living room. “Axel, this is Constable Matthews and Constable….” My mother pauses as she squints at his nametag, “Collins. They want to ask you some questions about the Beechams’ grandson. You remember, you met him last summer…”

She knows full well I did more than meet him, but this is her way of warning me to be careful, to notincriminate myself. She’s the one who warned me off having a relationship with him, though I think she was most worried about what his grandparents would think. With a stab of guilt I remember I totally forgot to google the legalities of my relationship with Justin, although since he was eighteen I'd decided it was probably fine. At the time it hadn't seemed to matter since we wanted the relationship anyway, and then later it hadn't mattered because I thought he'd dumped me. She has no idea how I have just compromised myself.

“Sure,” I say, shaking their hands. My hands are freezing. That’s a good enough reason to explain why they’re shaking, right?

“Morning swim, eh?” says Collins. “Isn’t it a bit cold for that?”

I shrug.

“One of the perks of living at the beach, I guess. It’s energizing, and then you can usually come home and have a hot shower,” I say pointedly.

He ignores the barb and steps forward, showing me a photo. It’s a photo of Justin, from several months ago at least. Before they took him away. Before he lost all the weight.

“Do you know this person?”

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