Page 37 of Hold On

“I had fun today,” Ren said.

“It was good.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a picnic as nice as that.”

“Nor me.”

“Your brother is very talented.”

“He is.”

Really?And that was the end of the conversation. Ren wondered why he was bothering. But it was Dominic who’d asked to walk back with him so there had to be some reason for that. He didn’t need to walk him back to dump him. Maybe Dominic just wanted to look at the dig site again. No one was working there today, though he could see Brett wandering around.

“Were you worried I’d get lost?” Ren asked when they were almost at the dig.

“Can we go down to the river?”

“Just let me take the buckets and stuff back.”

“Okay.”

He wondered if Dominic would even be there when he returned, but he was, standing very still, exactly where Ren had left him.

“Promise not to push me in?” Dominic said as they set off.

That hadn’t sounded like a joke. So hewasgoing to be told something he wouldn’t like?

Fortunately, they didn’t have to walk far. Dominic sat on the bank and Ren settled next to him, but not thigh-touching close, and leaned back on his elbows in the long grass. He’d come up with a list of things he might be going to hear. Dominic was in a relationship and sorry if he’d given Ren the idea that…blah blah. He was HIV positive or had some other sort of illness. Cancer? It would explain his slenderness and pale face. Ren’s heart clenched.

Dominic stared at the river. “I’ve just come out of prison.”

Fuck.Not something on Ren’s list, but now he thought about it, the clues had been there: Dominic’s pallor—though he’d picked up some sun today, his reticence, his generally reserved manner, the things he’dnottold him, the questions he’dnotasked Ren, his brother’s protective behaviour…Say something!

“At least you’re not dying.”

Dominic turned to him and raised his eyebrows.

Ren sat up and shrugged. “Dying was on my list.”

“List?”

“I knew there was something off.”

Dominic sagged and Ren felt bad because he guessed the one thing an ex-con didn’t want people to think was that they looked like someone who’d just come out of prison.Rescue this!

“I wondered if you were married,” Ren said. “Or in some sort of relationship, possibly with the church.”

“A priest?” That made Dominic smile briefly.

Ren wasn’t sure what had suddenly turned him on, the smile or the idea of fucking a priest. “Bit disappointed now.”

“That I’m not a priest?”

“Well yes. That would have been a first for me.”

“And an ex-con isn’t?”

“No. Though I didn’t know at the time.”

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