Page 5 of Locked in Wonderland

A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. They were nice lips. Pink. Full. Perfectly shaped. When his tongue darted out to moisten them, a rush of heat raced through me. I jerked my gaze away. Jesus! Calm down. Think about Warren.

“Tell me about the worst party you’ve ever been to?”

What an odd question. An expectant silence said he was waiting for an answer. “Um… I don’t know. There was one in my late teens. The beer was warm, the music was crap, and my boyfriend snogged someone else and couldn’t understand why I had a problem with it.” I had a nagging thought that perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned being gay, but it was too late to take back now.

The wind changed direction, my nostrils filling with the scent of bergamot and cedar. He even smelled good.

“So not all parties are fun.”

“Most are,” I argued. “No one throws awful parties deliberately.”

“Do you think all the people who attended the party you mentioned agreed it was awful?”

“No. I’m sure some liked the music. Their boyfriend probably wasn’t sticking his tongue down anyone’s throat. And maybe, and this is a big maybe, there are people who like their beer warm. There are all kinds of weird people in the world.”

Nico gave a little laugh, the sound seeming to surprise him, as if he didn’t do it often. “You’re probably right.”

“Anyway, I have to go there,” I said.

“Have to?”

“My boyfriend was kidnapped yesterday,” I said. “Men bundled him into the back of a van with that place written all over it.” I jabbed a finger toward the island in case he didn’t get the connection. “Literally. It said Wonderland on the van.”

“Ah.”

I studied his neutral expression. “I tell you a man got kidnapped, and that’s all you have to say?”

Nico shrugged. “Shit happens.” He angled his body in my direction, the fabric of his suit pulling taut in a way that made me think there was a killer body hidden beneath it. Not that I cared. It was just an observation. “Sounds like a job for the police.”

“That’s what I thought. I went to the police, and they said all the right things to start with. But then they sent someone to Warren’s building, and there was a woman living where he used to live, and all his things had gone. Which makes absolutely no sense because it’d only been a few hours, so I don’t know how that’s possible. The police thought I was full of shit at that point. And it didn’t help that they couldn’t find any record of him ever existing. I think they thought I’d taken something.”

“Had you?”

I shot him a glare. “No! I don’t do drugs.”

“Apologies. I meant no offense.”

“Sorry. The last twenty-four hours have been crazy. There was even a point where I thought I might be going mad.” I heaved out a breath. “I’m not, though. He was real. He lived in that flat. And someone from Wonderland abducted him. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how they could have covered things up so quickly, but that’s what happened. So you see, I have to go there and I have to find him because no one else will.”

Nico gave a slow nod. “He’s a lucky man to have you on his side. You must have been together for some time to care about him that deeply.”

My fingers curled into my palms, my nails digging in. “No. Just a couple of weeks. But when you know, you know, right?”

Noise from behind had us both turning. A waitress was assembling outdoor tables in front of a cafe. Either it was misplaced optimism, or she already knew that a bit of fog wouldn’t stop customers from sitting outside.

“Have you had breakfast?” Nico asked.

I shook my head. “I left my hotel too early.”

“Let’s have breakfast. My treat.”

My first instinct was to turn the offer down. He was, after all, a stranger. But he’d said he knew “more than most” about Wonderland, and I was hungry, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone. “Okay.” I let my gaze trail over his suit. “You’ll be incredibly overdressed, though.”

“Let me worry about that.”

We’d sat inside. Only one couple had taken up the challenge to sit outside so far, and I had a feeling they regretted it but were too stubborn to admit defeat and come in. I’d gone for a full English while Nico had settled for poached eggs on brown toast. We both had mugs of steaming tea next to our plates.

“Nice watch,” Nico said when we were halfway through eating.