Free Puzzle Me This by Eli Easton

that he saw the text message he’d received the night before. It was from Marco.
    Dude! Stoked ur coming in from the barren wilds of gaydom. We’ll hit every club in the Castro. Me so horny.
    Luke shut his eyes and groaned. Great. Thanks, Marco.

Chapter 7
     
    L UKE watched Marco and Denny dancing under the colored strobes at The Mix. It was a packed Saturday night, the first night in a week he and Marco had a few hours off. He used to love this place, but tonight it felt crowded and shallow and wrong. All wrong.
    A dark-haired guy was giving Luke the eye from the bar. He was good-looking, a bit on the dangerous side. In the old days, he would have been just Luke’s type. But Luke knew how it would go—mutual blowjobs in the bathroom or, if it was high romance, a fuck at the guy’s apartment nearby. There’d be a wink and a clear invitation to leave when it was done.
    Luke had no interest in that, not when he was feeling so homesick for Alex. Alex, whose sweet body fit perfectly against his; Alex with the unbelievable mouth; Alex who made him laugh, who loved him; Alex who’d said having Luke make love to him had been the best thing that ever happened in his life.
    Standing here, remembering a string of one-night stands, Luke knew it had been the best thing that had ever happened in his life, too.
    At that moment, Luke had another minor epiphany. He would rather be sitting on a couch with Alex watching a movie than in the hottest gay club in San Francisco. And he would rather spend his life walking on rail trails, if Alex was by his side, than climbing the most magnificent peaks. And the thing is, he could go climb those peaks if he wanted. Alex would be happy to cheer him on. But chances were that most of the time he’d prefer to be with Alex. And that was okay. That was better than okay.
    Luke checked his phone again. Alex had not returned a phone call or a text since Luke left him eight days ago. Luke had been swamped since he’d stepped into the office, so he hadn’t had too much time to worry about it. But the bad feeling that had been growing in the pit of his stomach was now turning into a chilling dread.
    Luke wove his way through sweaty bodies onto the dance floor and told Marco he was leaving. Marco looked at him like he was crazy, but Luke just shook his head and made his way out.
    On the sidewalk, Luke tried Alex’s cell phone again. Voice mail picked up. “Hey, babe, it’s me. Message number eighty-nine. I guess you’re really upset with me. Please call me so we can talk.” He hung up.
     
     
    T HE next day Luke stepped out into the lobby at City Shark Games and made the call he’d been avoiding. Amy had given him her number, in case there was ever an emergency. It was humiliating, but he dialed it. She picked up.
    “Amy, it’s Luke.”
    She was silent for a minute. “Hi, Luke.”
    “I’m trying to reach Alex. Is he okay? He hasn’t been returning my e-mails or calls.”
    “Alex doesn’t want to speak to you.” The finality in her voice cut Luke to the bone.
    So this was not some communication mishap, then. And Alex was not in the hospital. Luke really was being dumped. “Why?” was all Luke could manage.
    “I guess you’d have to ask him.”
    “I would, but he won’t speak to me ,” Luke said. His voice broke.
    Amy seemed to take pity on him. “Look, I’ll ask Alex to e-mail you.” She hesitated. “You should know that he won’t be at The Woodsman when you get back. We’re moving his stuff out at the end of the month. He’s going to live with our folks until he finds something else.”
    “But… that’s Alex’s place. It’s set up for a wheelchair. He can’t just leave it!”
    “Yeah. It sucks that he has to. Good-bye, Luke.” Amy hung up.
    Luke was going to be sick. He made it to the men’s room and sank down in a cubicle, cold and sweating. He felt hot pressure behind his eyes. When was the last time he’d cried? High school maybe. He covered his face with his