Live for the Day Read Online Free

would I want to put myself in danger when I have Michael back home?”
    He drifted. His leg and wrist had gone numb.
    That’s better…
    The drone of an engine startled his eyes open. He peered into blackness—Jeez, time had streaked along and the temperature had dropped dramatically. He shivered, teeth chattering, body shuddering. Was it the same day—or had he slept the clock round?
    “Please don’t let that be the enemy…”
    The thwap-thwap-thwap of copter blades sliced the air around him, sending sand upward to coat his body, his face. He blinked to shield his eyes, listening to the voices of the men who had jumped out of the copter.
    American accents.
    American.
    His angel had done her job once again. He’d see Michael now, his beautiful Michael.
    He passed out.
    Michael came out of the store, an ice cream tub in each hand. Steven shuddered away the memories, feeling as cold as he had on that building. He smiled, not wanting Michael to know he suffered from daydreams that were more like nightmares. He accepted his ice cream, and thankfully, without needing to speak, they walked on, eating the soft scoop with little plastic spoons. It gave Steven some much needed time to get himself fully back in the present.
    It seemed in no time at all they were at Steven’s place, a one-bedroom apartment on the edge of the valley above a small gas station run by this old guy called Jed. Steven rented the apartment above Jed’s large mechanics shed, which stood a few feet from the gas pumps, so he’d have somewhere to go other than his childhood home. Mom fussing sometimes got too much.
    “After you.” Michael gestured to the metal stairs that led upward. “Always follow you so I can check out your ass.”
    Steven grinned, shocked at what Michael had said, although he shouldn’t have been, not really. Michael always came out with shit that made people’s eyes bug, but it was the knowledge that Michael had checked out Steven’s ass long before now that had him stunned. Steven had had no idea…
    He took the stairs, at the top after a bit of a struggle when his leg ached owing to the walk from town. Fishing about in his pocket for the keys, he gave Michael a sideways glance. Michael was looking down at Jed below. Jed’s skin was well weathered and brown as a conker from too much sun over the years.
    “Hey there!” Jed called. “Good to see you back, buddy. You seen your mom yet?”
    “Shit,” Steven whispered, closing his eyes briefly. “Not yet,” he said louder. “Plan on going over there soon—or at least giving her a call in a while. It’s a surprise I’m back, so keep it to yourself, huh?”
    “You got it.”
    Jed disappeared inside his shed and Steven let out a sigh of relief. He’d meant to call his mom before he’d caught the flight home, and again once he’d arrived in town, but he’d seen Michael in the café and everything else had gone out of the window.
    Steven opened his door, greeted with the musty smell of a place locked up for months at a time. He jerked his head for Michael to follow him inside, and Steven ditched his bag in the hallway then walked through into the living room to open the windows.
    “You should call her,” Michael said behind him.
    Steven turned from the window to face Michael. “I know but—”
    “No buts. Call your mother.”
    Steven nodded, drawing his cell out of his pocket. “I won’t be long.”
    “Be however long you need, man. I’ll still be here.”
    Yeah, Michael would still be there. As he always was. Waiting. Patient. The best friend anyone could ever have.
    “I love you,” Steven said with not a dash of embarrassment.
    “Yep, and I love you too. But you still have to call your mother. She deserves to hear you’re back safe. She worries. We all worry.”
    Michael was right. As usual.
    “Ten minutes tops,” Steven said, going into his bedroom.
    “Like I said, however long you need, man.”
     

Chapter Three
     
     
     
    Concern had nipped at