Page 55 of Dirty Little Secret

And there he was, bugging me about the very same topic that had taken up my whole morning. “No. I might call her later. I’ve got to think about it, buddy.”

His green eyes narrowed at me. “Fine!” he shouted, then took off running toward home.

I had no choice but to get up and go home with him, knowing he was mad at me and knowing the tension between us would once again fill our home when we got there.

Not wanting to catch up to him, I let him run as fast as he could while I stayed back a few feet. He beat me home and ran straight into the house, then into his bedroom.

I felt I should give him his space, so I went to take a shower and change clothes. My temper wasn’t any better than his at the moment. If I tried to talk to him, I knew I would just make things worse.

After a nice shower, I felt refreshed and went out to the kitchen to get some juice. Passing by his bedroom, I knocked on the closed door. “Hey, buddy, do you want some juice?”

When no answer came, I opened the door. He wasn’t in there. I went to look around the house, calling out his name as I went into each room. And I found each room empty.

Heading outside, I figured he was out in the back, maybe throwing the ball or something. But he wasn’t out there either. “Fox!”

No reply came. I didn’t want to panic, but it was beginning to bubble up inside me. I went back inside to check one more time, and then I called my aunt to see if he’d gone over there. “Hey, Aunt Nancy, is Fox over there by any chance?”

“No. Why do you ask? Is everything all right?”

Shit!