Wonderland Read Online Free PDF Page B

We went in, looked around, nothing. No sign of him.”
    â€œDid you call?”
    â€œHis phone was on his coffee table.”
    â€œWhat the . . .”
    â€œWhen was the last time you saw him?”
    â€œLast night.” But was it? I saw two people there, but was one of them him? One must have been. You didn’t kidnap a guy and then make out in his living room. Did you? “He was with someone.” I told them what had happened. Dinah shook her head even more judgmentally this time around. I needed a new hag.
    â€œMaybe he just went for a run and left his door open,” Dinah said. “Or maybe his date did.”
    â€œSteven would never do that,” I said. “He was anal about that. Adorably anal.” Brandon snickered at my unintended double-entendre. “Oh grow up,” I snapped. Where could Steven be?
    I took out my phone. “We told you he doesn’t have his cell with him,” Brandon said. I shushed him and dialed Steven’s number. It rang. Oh wait, it was ringing right there at the table? Jesse took a cell out of his pocket.
    â€œWe brought Steven’s with us,” he explained. “In case he called it looking for it.”
    â€œYou don’t leave a brand new iPhone on a table with your door unlocked and wide open. Not with so many gay boys in the area looking for a cheap upgrade.”
    â€œWell you’d know about cheap upgrades, wouldn’t you, Brandon?” I sneered at Allan.
    â€œHey now!”
    Everyone started talking at once, and I couldn’t be bothered to sort through the voices. I got up, took Steven’s phone off the table.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Dinah asked.
    â€œSteven’s place to wait for him to get home. I’ll talk to you guys later.”
    â€œWant me to go with you?” she asked.
    â€œNo, you stay here and visit. You can get brunch though.” I stuck out my tongue. Yes, I was worried, but that wouldn’t stop me from scoring a free meal. I was nervous, not stupid.
    The boys had locked Steven’s door when they left but I had a key. I knocked, waited, rang the bell, waited, and then let myself in. It was quiet, maybe too quiet, and as soon as I thought that, I realized I was just spooking myself. It was normal Sunday-morning quiet. I turned on his TV for background noise, not even caring that it was some church show. As the TV pastor pleaded for dollars, I looked around.
    His keys were in the bowl by the door like always when he was home, but there was no sign of him. There was no sign of a struggle in the living room, nothing in the kitchen either. I walked into his bedroom. His sheets were rumpled, so he’d slept there at least. Well . . . maybe not slept, but he’d used the bed anyway. I went to the small garbage can by his nightstand—no condoms. That was good at least. Maybe he hadn’t cheated.
    Or had cheated but hadn’t played safe.
    No, that didn’t sound like Steven. Any more than vanishing did, I added to myself. I lay down on the bed where I’d spent so many nights and let out a dramatic breath. I looked at his phone. It was locked, and I didn’t know his code. I tried calling it, just to hear it ring, just to hear his voice on his voice mail.
    â€œYou’ve reached Steven. Leave me a message.”
    He’d clearly checked it since Saturday morning then. Where could he be? There was nothing really to do except wait for him to get home. I closed my eyes and breathed in his smell.

Chapter 9
    â€œW hat are you doing here, Alex?” It was Steven’s voice.
    Oh good , I thought, a dream sequence, and woke up. Well, the wake-up you do when you’re sleeping inside a dream.
    Steven was sitting there on the bench, and looking over his shoulder at me. The sun was going down behind him, and the river was pink and gold. I’d been here before, many times. It was “our spot.”
    â€œI was looking for you,” I said.