Chance Encounter

by David Horne

  “I don’t want anything to do with that life anymore.”

  “Is it not good enough for you?”

  “That’s not it. I just want a normal life and to be near my family.” It was so strange to admit that weakness to this man, even if he didn’t give all the reasons for it.

  Popper laughed. “You could take care of them and still work with us; did you ever think of that?”

  “You guys don’t work this far east.”

  “We’re considering expanding.”

  The excuses weren’t going to cut it anymore. That much was painfully obvious. He was going to have to do something. Say something. Something had to make him leave. “I’m not interested.”

  “Afraid?”

  “No. I’m not afraid.” But Alex was afraid. Afraid of these people coming back into his life. It wasn’t a feeling that he liked having, but it was something he had felt entirely too often. The fear that came with the troubled life he used to live. It was terrifying to live that kind of lawless life. Being a criminal. A life of uncertainty. “Why would I be afraid of this life?”

  “Pretty dangerous neighborhood,” Popper smirked.

  He knew it was a threat. “Not that dangerous.”

  “You so sure about that?”

  “Pretty damn sure. There isn’t a person here who could cause problems for me.” Alex crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Anything could happen here and I don’t think that the cops would even notice.” Popper laughed, but it was the kind of laugh that felt strained and dangerous.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all.” Popper started to wander around the apartment. The man was exploring the place.

  Alex felt his hackles raise. He hated the thought of Popper going through his stuff.

  Popper clearly knew this. He didn’t get in too much, but he seemed to have is eyes roaming over the furniture and everything that he had sitting out.

  The smirk that was on his face said everything as the biker opened the drawers in the small dresser. Popper reached in and pulled out the gun that Alex had taken from the gang when he had left. “What are you doing with this?” The man taunted.

  “It’s mine.” Alex crossed his arms.

  “Pretty sure that’s stolen property.” Popper teased.

  “What are you going to do about it?” Alex leaned back against the wall. He was playing it cool even if he felt nothing but cool.

  “Nothing yet.”

  Alex sighed. “What exactly is it that you want?”

  “You know what I want,” Popper explained carefully. “Nobody leaves the family.”

  “My family needed me.”

  “Your family needs you now,” Popper explained.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Not my place to tell you that, and you know that.” Popper grinned. “What I’ve said so far has been the truth though. We plan on expanding.”

  “Why here?”

  “Because we already have someone here. And you can be a stepping stone.”

  “I have no intention of being that.”

  “Just come and hear us out.” Popper’s voice lost the edge of sarcasm that it had before. The man was being serious. “You can still come home, man. You’ve got friends, a family that misses you.”

  “That want me to live that life again.”

  “What’s so wrong with that life?” Popper watched Alex carefully. Alex could feel the weight of the words and something almost snapped inside of him. This life was terrifying. He had never really kept any sort of normal job and he didn’t know if he was suited to a normal life.

  Popper kept talking, offering things that made Alex feel the temptation. They were good offers, but they came at a price that he wasn’t willing to pay. And it wasn’t going to make his life any easier. He had to somehow put a stop to this.

  But Popper kept explaining why Alex needed to return. And he felt the urge for the open road. Like he was meant to be there. It was clear that his old gang wanted him back, but Alex knew better than to accept any sort of offer from them. The whole gang was nothing but trouble and the tattooed bouncer was worried.

  The conversation carried on for several hours as Alex felt his resistance start to wear down, until Popper finally excused himself and left.

  Chapter Eight

  The walls were thin in the apartment. Not enough to hear what was actually being said, but thin enough to know that there was someone there talking to Alex.

  “It’s just the television.” He muttered, but he really didn’t believe it. After all, that was definitely Alex’s voice. The man was definitely talking to someone.

  But Benjamin couldn’t figure out what it all meant. A part of him was worried about Alex running away so quickly, but he knew that there was probably a good reason that Alex wasn’t ready to trust him with yet.

  He knew that those things took time, but while he listened to the soft voices next door, not able to make out the words that were being said he felt his heart sink. The men knew each other, that much was painfully obvious by the familiar tone in the voices.

  His heart broke. This man, whoever it was, must have been the man that Alex wanted to meet. Someone that loved the man that he was starting to feel increased attraction for.

  It had been a long time since Benjamin had been with anyone. He had assumed that Alex would be different, and perhaps the man was, but Benjamin would never know. Instead, Benjamin would watch from the sidelines, keeping a secret kiss so as not to destroy a man that had realized his mistake as soon as it had happened. He didn’t want to say anything to Alex. He wanted to move but knew that wasn’t a good response to it.

  He was trapped between a rock and a hard place and it was speeding in one direction. Right toward a broken heart that he couldn’t control. And a broken heart was something he never hoped to feel again.

  His hands ran through his hair and he started to pace again. There was so much wrong with all of this. With his feelings. With the fact that he had never felt so alone as when he was listening to that other man’s voice in Alex’s apartment.

  It was torture. The kind of which he wished he had been smart enough to avoid. But he could avoid it from now on. He made the promise to himself as the voices started to grow quiet. Benjamin stepped outside the apartment. Whatever was next, he didn’t want to hear it through the wall.

  He plopped his ass down on the landing to drop his head into his hands. He had too much on his mind and didn’t even feel like picking up his phone to fiddle with whatever game he had downloaded this week.

  Instead, he sat there, wallowing in the depths of self-pity and well beyond what he should be feeling about a single kiss. He tried to remind himself of that fact, but it didn’t work.

  He didn’t move until the man kicked at him. “Hey. You mind?”

  It wasn’t Alex’s voice. Rather it was the sound of a rough voice that had seen too much hard living. He recognized it from the other side of the wall in his apartment. “Sorry.” Benjamin shifted to the side.

  “What’s wrong with you?” The man snorted. He clearly didn’t care.

  “That’s none of your business.” Benjamin wasn’t going to talk to this guy.

  “You sure?” Popper raised an eyebrow at Benjamin.

  It made the programmer feel uncomfortable. He was positive that Popper was a dangerous man. For someone that shared the same style as Alex in tattoos and clothes, it became painfully obvious that he was a completely different man. Benjamin stared the man up and down. “Yeah. Pretty sure.”

  “I got some questions for you.”

  “What kind of questions?” Benjamin snapped back. He was playing at brave, but could still feel his hands shaking.

  “Stuff about your neighbor.” The man asked quietly. But it wasn’t a gentle question. There was a real threat in Popper’s voice.

  Benjamin stared at him hard. “What kind of stuff about him? He’s only been here a few days.” />
  “I want you to keep an eye on him for me.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Popper snorted.

  “Because-” Benjamin didn’t want to answer that question.

  “Don’t want to answer then?”

  “Not really.” Benjamin looked down at his feet, trying to avoid the deadly unerring gaze of this man that towered above him.

  Then he heard the man laugh. “You’re such a little wuss.”

  Benjamin turned his eyes back toward this man and he felt his nerves on edge. He was a little worried that he might be attacked at any moment. It was a feeling that no one particularly relished, and Benjamin was no different. He wanted the man to go away, and his eyes were locked on the other man. “What?”

  The big rough guy must have noticed that Benjamin was staring. And it made his sneer with derision. This guy seemed to hate everything single thing that Benjamin was. He hunkered down and got right up in the programmer’s face. “Whatcha looking at?”

  “Uh… nothing?”

  “Nothing? You calling me nothing?” Popper stepped up to Benjamin, grabbing his collar and dragging the poor nerd up to his feet.

  Benjamin fought off the sudden urge to scream. He wasn’t tough and he wasn’t powerful. He was just a guy that was good with computers. “I- I didn’t mean it like that. Not at all.” He had to fix this.

  “You sure about that, you little punk?” Popper spat the words in Benjamin’s face.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it. Sorry.”

  Popper snorted with laughter. “Look at you squirm. What are you doing in a place like this? You don’t belong here.”

  “This- this is where I live.”

  “Move to someplace safe, weakling.” Popper laughed as he held Benjamin up on his tiptoes.

  Benjamin didn’t have a chance to explain. Before he could say anything at all, a black-clad rocket flew into the stairwell tackling Popper and shoving him against the wall. The programmer found himself tossed to the side and landing hard on the wall.

  Benjamin slowly picked himself up as he heard the growling voice. “You need to leave. Now.” There was no question in the order that had been passed to the man.

  Popper looked up at the man that had tackled him, but he didn’t look afraid. “Getting all protective, aren’t you? Figures that was why you left.”

  “You leave my neighbors alone,” Alex growled as Benjamin slowly picked himself up. “He’s got nothing to do with us.”

  “Why so protective over some guy next door?” Popper removed himself from Alex’s hand and walked away down the stairs. The man was laughing like he had just discovered a great secret.

  Alex immediately turned back to Benjamin and helped him up. “Sorry about that.”

  “Yeah.” Benjamin didn’t know what to say at all. But he was helped to his feet.

  “Sorry about that.” Alex looked honestly guilty.

  It filled Benjamin with a pang of guilt that he didn’t take the time to analyze. He had more important questions to ask about the situation. It had turned into a giant mess that he had no idea how to explain to himself or anyone who may ask about the possible bruises that may form on his body. “Who was that?”

  “Everyone calls him Popper.” Alex didn’t look like he wanted to go too far into it.

  “Is he…?” Benjamin sighed. “The reason you ran?”

  “Sort of?” Alex admitted. “But probably not the way you think. I knew him in a previous life.”

  “And he’s still coming to bother you? Isn’t that stalking or something?”

  “I don’t know what it is. But it doesn’t matter. I won’t call the cops on him.” Alex shook his head and helped Benjamin get back inside his apartment.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet. There’s a lot going on right now. It just makes things difficult.”

  Benjamin reached out to touch Alex’s hand, but the big man pulled away. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. None of this is your fault.” Alex had a forced smile, but at least he was trying. “I never expected any of this to ever affect you.”

  “It wasn’t a huge deal. Just a little scary.”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah. I can’t blame you there.”

  “Is that how he’s gonna be if I see him again?”

  “I’m hoping you never see him again.” Alex sighed heavily.

  Benjamin plopped onto the couch. “Are you two, you know, together still?”

  Alex shook his head. “We never were. It’s nothing for you to worry about.” The tattooed man perched on the edge of the couch and put a hand on Benjamin’s leg.

  Benjamin felt the relief wash over him. At least he wasn’t competing with some other lover. “I thought that you two were, you know.”

  “You thought that was why I ran away?”

  “Well, yeah.” Benjamin nodded.

  Alex smiled weakly. “No, I haven’t had anyone like that in my life in a long time. Been a lone wolf and all that.”

  “Why?”

  “My life didn’t have much room for much beyond a one-night stand when I had the chance to have one.”

  “That’s more than I’ve seen lately. I’ve been so stuck in work lately.” Benjamin smiled weakly. “I get lost in work a lot.”

  “Just lately?”

  “Maybe for the past three or four years,” Benjamin admitted. It didn’t feel as bad to admit as he thought it was going to.

  “How bad is your work?”

  “It’s hard to focus on anything else.” Benjamin shook his head. “It’s kind of silly, but I’ve never been that worried about meeting anyone. I’ve had a few people here or there, but I just don’t have much interest in going out and meeting people.”

  “You do know they make apps for that?”

  Benjamin laughed. “You’re telling me about apps?”

  “I guess I am.”

  “I guess I’m just not very good at it.”

  Alex smiled softly. “You are amazing at it. Talking to me at least.”

  Benjamin turned to Alex. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I owe you more thanks than that.”

  “For what?” Alex looked pretty confused by the sudden change.

  “For saving me from that guy. I didn’t know what he was going to do.”

  “You don’t have to thank me.”

  “Yeah, I kind of do.”

  “He wasn’t going to actually hurt you. He just wanted to scare you.” Alex explained carefully.

  “Do you not want to tell me what all of this is about?” Benjamin suddenly put it all together.

  “Not really, no. Are you ok here?”

  Benjamin nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be ok. Do you think he’s going to come back?”

  “No, I think you were just a convenient person to take out his rage on. He was mad because I turned down an offer he made.” Alex started to head toward the door. “He shouldn’t even remember you after he leaves.”

  “He wanted to get me to spy on you.”

  Alex frowned, brushing the hair back out of his face. The man looked stressed by that revelation. “If he asks you for information, give it to him. You don’t want to cross him.”

  And with that, Alex was gone, leaving Benjamin alone to think in his apartment. Benjamin headed to the fridge and opened it to grab a beer.

  He was angrily sorting through the fridge and dumping leftovers a moment later. Angry cleaning wasn’t a habit that he normally had, but there he was cleaning the fridge out of the mess that seemed to seep into every crevice of the fridge.

  He cleaned his apartment, tossing out the trash and even vacuuming the carpet with a beer in his offhand. It wasn’t a good habit, but it was clear that work wasn’t going to come at that point. There was just too much on his mind. So much going on that he didn’t even notice when he had finished the vacuuming, hitting the same spot on the worn carpet over and over.

  Chapter Niner />
  It was a long couple of days of avoiding Benjamin and Popper. He had seen both of them several times but always chose to go the other way. It wasn’t a conversation that he was anywhere close to being ready to have yet. After all, it was a life that he couldn’t have with Benjamin because of Popper showing his face in the area.

  Neither of them seemed to chase him down if they saw him, so that was an advantage. He had the time that he needed to think. Benjamin seemed to be occupied with some issue, probably with his program. Or the man was avoiding Alex as well. He tried not to worry about that too much.

  But he did worry. He worried that he was being forced to throw a chance at an awesome guy away because his past wouldn’t leave him alone. There was no hope for Benjamin. Right now, Benjamin was a liability that his old friends wouldn’t hesitate to exploit given the chance. Something he couldn’t let them do.

  He sighed as he headed back into work. Normally riding would calm him, but that wasn’t the case since he had seen by Popper. He almost wished for the security of a car. He considered asking for a ride from Benjamin but knew it was a bad idea once the idea popped into his head.

  No, he would make this happen on his own. He would find a way to solve it. And he had to do that on his own. It wasn’t the first time he had been caught in what felt like an impossible situation. It was only one guy. A part of him wanted to kill Popper and just get him out of the way. If he didn’t report back, they might assume that he ran away too. He shook his head. “That won’t work. They’ll just send someone else. Maybe more than one someone.”

  Work went fairly smoothly for the first part of the day, but then he noticed that some familiar customers came in. Benjamin’s friends that he had come in with the week before. But Benjamin wasn’t with them.

  They didn’t seem to notice him as they walked over to the corner booth. He decided to listen in again. He didn’t even take a moment to wonder if it was wrong or not. He wanted to see if they were going to talk about Benjamin.

  The boss frowned first. “I don’t like that Benjamin didn’t want to come along.” The woman was shaking her head, clearly disappointed as she sat down and flagged down one of the servers. “Beer all around.”