Second Chances

by David Horne

“You’ll see. Once Caleb is gone so he can’t mess with your head anymore, you will see that it should have been me. That I’m the only one who always has and always will be here for you.”

  I gripped the phone so hard I heard the broken screen crack again. “You better not do anything stupid, Jim. If you do anything to hurt him I swear I will kill you.” I paused but there was no response. “Jim? Do you hear me? I’ll kill you!” I pulled the phone away and looked at the screen. It was blank. The S.O.B. had hung up on me. “Dammit!” I yelled and I threw the phone. I heard the crack when it landed on the concrete, and small shards of glass splintered away from the screen.

  I ran back inside and found my own phone, then I called the police again. I didn’t wait on the phone like the operator asked, I just rambled off what was happening with my address and hung up. Afterward, I rummaged through the house until I found Caleb’s keys. The ride to Jim’s house on Caleb’s slashed tires was not a smooth one, but the occasional sparks that were set off whenever the rims hit the pavement had cars moving out of my way which made the drive a lot faster than normal.

  Jim’s house was empty, which I had expected, but I had to make sure. I busted out one of the windows in his front door and let myself inside. I looked around the house, hoping to find anything that might clue me in to where Jim would have taken Caleb. His house was usually clean, everything in its place, and not a speck of dust anywhere. What I found instead was a disaster. It looked like there had been an isolated tornado which wreaked havoc through Jim’s living room, kitchen, and bedroom. Pictures were ripped off the wall with the glass broken out of the frames, couch cushions were thrown around the living room like they’d been used in an extreme pillow fight, and trash and dishes were dumped out on the floor of the kitchen.

  When I walked into his bedroom it was more of the same, except for one thing. On his bed was a picture frame turned upside down on one of the pillows. The bed was made up neatly on that side indicating it was not the side that Jim slept on. I walked right over and grabbed the frame. When I turned it around everything that had been happening with Jim suddenly came into perspective. It was a picture of us the summer before I met Ben. We were at his dad’s fishing cabin and Jim had insisted we take this picture in front of the lake. I hadn’t seen the picture since he took it. I remembered how much effort he put into setting up the camera and timer so he could get us both completely in the frame; he’d refused to just take a selfie of us saying he wanted the lake in the picture too. How had I not noticed him staring at me when this picture was taken? Probably because I just wanted him to snap the shot so we could go back to fishing. Jim was looking at me the same way Ben and I looked at each other in the framed picture kept by the bed in my master bedroom, and there was only one reason for that look. Jim had been in love with me. Hell, as old as the picture was, it meant he had loved me when he introduced me to Ben. All these years I thought he’d introduced me to Ben because he knew we would love each other, but I wasn’t so sure that was the truth now. Maybe it was just a coincidence and he’d never even considered what might grow between Ben and me once we met.

  I shook off the old memories. There would be time to overthink all of that later. What was important then was to find Caleb. I ran back out to Caleb’s truck, which I’d left running in the driveway, and took off for the lake cabin. On the drive I called the police back and gave them the address for the cabin and told them that Jim was there with Caleb as a hostage. I was pretty sure I was right, and I wasn’t about to risk giving the cops an excuse to take their time. They’d already proven to have less than optimal response times.

  Caleb’s truck was loud, especially with the rim on gravel action when I drove up the drive to the lake, so I parked far enough back that I knew Jim wouldn’t be able to hear my approach. I ran the rest of the way to the cabin. Cabin was an understatement for the place, and the two-car garage was a part of what made it so big and bold. My truck wasn’t outside where I could see it, but Jim probably hid it in the garage; wouldn’t want anyone showing up and seeing a vandalized vehicle in the driveway. There were lights on inside the cabin, however, so I was sure that I’d found where he was hiding out.

  I went around the back and let myself inside with the key that was still kept under the fish statue near the back door. The TV was on in the living room so I hoped Jim was in there and distracted, and I made my way to the bedrooms hoping I would find Caleb locked in one of them. I checked all four bedrooms, but there was no sign of him.

  “I didn’t think you remembered this place existed.” Jim’s voice came from behind me and anger shot through my whole body.

  I spoke without turning around at first, “Where is he?”

  Jim laughed and I turned on my heel to face him, with my hands out ready to choke answers out of him if I had to. What I hadn’t expected was to find him holding a gun, which was pointed directly at me. “You didn’t actually think I would let you leave if you came here, did you?”

  Of all the crazy things I had thought might happen on the way over here, staring down the barrel of a gun had not even been on my radar. “Jim, what are you doing? Are you gonna shoot me?”

  “What reason do I have to keep you alive?” he shouted. He shook the gun at me when he yelled and the reality that I might not walk away from the cabin alive hit me full force.

  “I’m your friend, why are you doing this?”

  “If you were my friend you wouldn’t keep choosing everyone else over me! I accepted it when you were with Ben because we still got to see each other all the time, and when he died, I knew you’d finally see that I’m the only one who has always been here. The only one who will never leave you, but no, you had to ignore me for nearly two years, then you decide you’re ready to move on and drag the first asshole you meet back home with you. In your bed, in the house you shared with my brother. That was supposed to be our home, Aaron!”

  Jim moved quickly, raised the gun in the air, and the next thing I knew I felt a hard crack on the side of my head and I was down.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Caleb

  I couldn’t believe I had let Jim get the drop on me at Aaron’s house. Someone knocked on the door, and when I didn’t see anyone out there I walked right outside like a dumbass and right into his hands. He’d jumped from behind a bush, knocked me in the head with what I think was a large rock, and before I could get my bearings I felt something stick me in the neck. Next thing I knew my eyes felt like lead balloons, and the pavement was moving quickly toward my face as I fell to the ground. Thank God, the idiot had not been smart enough to check the dosage of whatever drug he’d used to knock me out. The last time he checked on me, the sound of the door opening and shutting woke me from the stupor the drugs had me under. I made sure to stay still and focused on breathing normally so he would think I was still knocked out. As soon as he left the room I got to work picking the lock on the door he had me shut in; he’d apparently swapped the locks out so he could lock the room from the outside. Luckily, he hadn’t done a great job when he reattached the doorknob, and I was able to break it loose from the door and get out of the room.

  The room led out into a hallway and I heard Jim yelling, and then I heard Aaron’s voice and I immediately turned in that direction. I made sure to be quiet when I snuck toward the room, so that Jim wouldn’t hear me coming. Just when I turned into the doorway I saw Jim bring his arm down to Aaron’s face, a gun clutched in his hand, and he hit Aaron in the side of the head with the gun hard enough that I could hear the impact from where I stood in the doorway. Aaron dropped to his knees and I saw blood on his face and Jim’s hand when he pulled back.

  Fear and rage consumed me and I didn’t think, I just reacted. I leaped forward and grabbed a hold of Jim, going for the arm and hand where he held the gun. He threw his head back and clocked me in the nose, and I heard the crack and felt warm blood trickle out onto my upper lip when the cartilage broke under the force of the hit. I wasn’t going to let that stop me, and I b
rought my other hand around gripping his arm in both of my hands and I twisted his arm to the side and backwards. The gun went off at the same time that Jim screamed and fell to the floor between where Aaron was already on his knees and where I stood with Jim’s arm still gripped tightly between my hands.

  Aaron gathered himself up and stood, then he took the gun out of Jim’s hand which I had immobilized. He pulled out the clip and emptied it on the bed, then cleared the chamber and stuck the unloaded gun in the waist of his jeans along his back. Jim was still trying to break free so I leaned forward and put my weight on him with my knee dug into his back. I met Aaron’s eyes and relief flooded my heart. Seeing that gun come down on his head had been the worst moment of my life; a living nightmare unfolding in front of me.

  Aaron brought his hand up to my face and wiped the blood from my mouth. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Me? What about you?”

  He touched the side of his head and flinched. “This? It will be okay.”

  We were interrupted by a loud cracking sound, and the next thing we knew, the cops were running into the room with their guns drawn. They quickly put Jim in handcuffs and ushered him out of the cabin. Aaron handed over the gun Jim had been waving around. We spent the next several hours getting looked over by paramedics and then questioned by the police. I repeated myself so many times that I knew any chance of forgetting the bad stuff that had gone down was out the window. In all honesty, I doubt I could have forgotten anyway.

  Thanks to Jim neither of us had a vehicle to drive home, but one of the officers offered to give us a lift. “I want to go to your place,” Aaron said when the officer asked for the address. I smiled at him, happy to hear that. We’d never been to my house, and with everything that had gone down at Aaron’s place I really wasn’t ready to go back there right away.

  As soon I shut the door to my house Aaron grabbed me by the waist and pushed me back against the door and he kissed me like he was starved for me and me alone. When he finally pulled back we were both breathing heavily, and I dropped my forehead to his.

  “I was so scared when I realized he had you,” Aaron said in raspy bursts.

  “I know the feeling,” I said. “When I saw that gun in his hand aimed at you it felt like my world was ending.”

  “Can we go to your room? I just want to hold you for a while.”

  I smiled from ear to ear and took his hand and practically dragged him to the back of the house where my room was. We both pulled off our clothes, down to our boxers, and climbed into the bed and under the blanket. Aaron laid his head on my chest, wrapped an arm around my torso, and tangled our legs together. For a few minutes we just laid there together, holding each other close.

  Aaron moved after a while, pulling himself up so his head hovered just above mine. He bent his head and gave me a slow, soft kiss and I relished every part of him and wrapped my arms around his back to hold him close. When he pulled back, his gaze met mine and cupped my cheek in his hand and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “When Ben died, I thought that I’d lost the only person I would ever love. I prepared myself to be alone for the rest of my life. It wasn’t something I wanted, but it was a fact I knew that I had to accept. Then I met you and I started to feel things again; things I didn’t think I was capable of anymore. When I realized Jim had you it felt like the day I lost Ben all over again, and I knew without a doubt in that moment that I’d been wrong because I had fallen in love again. I love you, Caleb.”

  I could feel the wetness running down the sides of my face and I knew that I was crying, but I didn’t give a damn. I reached up and grabbed Aaron’s face and pulled him down into a crushing kiss. When I released his lips I could feel myself smiling bigger than I would have thought possible. “I’m not so good with words, but I do know I love you, too. So, so much.”

  Aaron crushed his mouth to mine, kissing me with everything he had. After a couple of minutes he pulled back and pointed his finger in my face and gave me a hard look. “And if you ever go after anyone with a loaded gun in their hand again, I’ll kick your ass myself. Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

  I nodded with a smile. “I’ll try to stay away from crazy, armed assholes in the future.”

  “Good,” Aaron said, then he claimed my mouth and made love to me until we both passed out, naked in each other’s arms, the way I hoped we’d be sleeping for many years to come.

  *THE END*

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