Lucas Hay (Oscar Curtis) tells Dillon Ray (Nathaniel Dass) that he wants nothing to do with him in Hollyoaks next week due to his boyfriend’s allegiance with Rex Gallagher (Jonny Labey).

Rex, as viewers know, is grooming Dillon and Frankie Osborne (Isabelle Smith) into a life of crime as part of a child exploitation storyline that kicked off last month.

Lucas knows full well what Rex is up to and has pleaded with his beau and best friend to move out of Weirside View and stay away from the gangster – to no avail.

Dillon and Frankie agreed to sell drugs at a party on behalf of Rex, who piled on the pressure earlier this week. Lucas was appalled when he learned of such a thing and when he confronted Frankie, she accused him of being ‘miserable’.

Lucas subsequently drank from a cup containing drugs and fell unconscious, much to the horror of Dillon, who pleaded with his boyfriend to wake up.

What happens in the immediate aftermath of these scenes remains to be seen but next week Lucas is back at work – and he makes it quite clear that he wants nothing to do with Dillon or Rex in light of what’s happened.

Losing the love of his life is the last thing on Dillon’s mind, however, as he hands a package to Grace Black (Tamara Wall) – who is running the exploitation operation – that Rex tasked him to deliver.

Grace advises him to stay under the radar after she sees him showing off his new car.

Lucas, meanwhile, feels well and truly like he’s stuck in the middle and, determined to protect Dillon, he’s unable to confide in anyone about what’s going on.

Rex, however, finds himself distracted from the mission as he spends time looking after Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson), admitting that he finds it difficult to stay away from the chef.

Ste is determined to find out why Lucas turned to drugs and proceeds to quiz him on the subject, which leaves the father and son duo at odds.

Lucas shares his concerns about Rex, telling his dad that the gangster is nothing but trouble but Rex insists on smoothing things over with the teen.

Rex doesn’t come down hard on Lucas and, having had a taste of family life, he promises him that he’ll walk away from Ste if he ever makes him unhappy.

But, knowing what he does about Rex’s dodgy dealings, will Lucas take action in order to protect both Ste and Dillon from the criminal?

Hollyoaks streams Mondays to Wednesdays from 7am on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.