Chance Encounter

by David Horne

  It was the moment that Benjamin first realized what he would do for the man above him. He wasn’t ready to call it love, it was far too early for that, but what he felt was deep and real as hands started to roam, toying over the tattoos that littered Alex’s skin. He wanted to touch them all, kiss them all. Take them all in and feel the glory of the man.

  The bodies rubbed together, slowly discarding clothes off to the side as the explorations continued until neither man was wearing more than his jeans. Alex’s chest was a thing of wonder, chiseled and powerful and covered in the same tattoos that he had seen on the man’s arms.

  But his thoughts were interrupted by Alex’s breathy voice near his ear. “Heaven help me, we shouldn’t do this.”

  “Are you sure?” Benjamin groaned in frustration as his body physically ached for the man laying with him.

  “Yeah. Not till I have all this settled.” Alex sounded hurt. “I want to, more than anything, but I need to know it’s safe first.”

  It was painful for them to pull apart. “Sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for, it’s just not the right time.”

  “When it is?” Benjamin was hopeful.

  “When it is, I’ll be right over at your door. I promise.” Benjamin watched as Alex grabbed his shirt and made his way out of the apartment again. He groaned in frustration. He wanted that man, and couldn’t even explain why.

  There had to be a way to make it possible, but he would be damned if he had any idea as to how he could ever hope to accomplish anything like that.

  Chapter Eleven

  Alex woke still smelling Benjamin on his skin. It felt almost perfect, except for the fact that he was alone. The bed was empty except for him. He remembered that he had panicked a little when they had gotten close and decided to run away. It was becoming a bad habit for him. Getting to close to Benjamin just turned his hormones into a ragged mess that would do anything to get even closer to him.

  He groaned as the knock sounded on the door. He was sure that Benjamin was coming to check on him and didn’t bother checking through the peephole before he opened the door. It took less than a second for the large black boot to be shoved into the door.

  Alex tried to slam the door shut when he realized it was Popper, but he wasn’t quick enough. Popper forced the door further open with a stiff shoulder, sending Alex reeling back. “We need to talk.”

  “I already said everything that I needed to say to you.” Alex rubbed his chest where the door had hit it before straightening his posture. He was still taller than Popper, even if the smaller man was infinitely more dangerous than he was. “It doesn’t matter what you have to say anymore. It’s not going to happen.”

  “You might want to rethink that.” Popper snorted.

  “Nothing you can say is going to make a difference.” Alex shook his head. “I’m not going to fall for whatever trick you try to pull.

  “You so sure about that?” The threat was clear. But Alex wondered what part of his life the man was planning to target. A thought passed through his mind that Popper already had something specific already underway. Maybe he already had a threat.

  “Yeah. I’m sure.”

  Popper laughed. “You know that this is just stupid, don’t you? People don’t leave our life. At least not and go to normal lives.”

  “Why the hell not? It’s not like I’m going to the cops or anything. I wouldn’t do anything like that.”

  “You think I can trust you?”

  “You’re probably right, but you can’t trust someone who did what you did.”

  “All I did was leave.”

  Popper snorted. “You gonna stick with that story then?”

  “There isn’t a different story to tell.”

  “Sure.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “Keep trying, buddy.”

  “Just leave. You can say you never found me and everything will be fine and you got a free vacation out of it.” Alex tried to negotiate again. “I’m not going to call the cops. You’ve got nothing to worry about on my end.”

  “There’s always the risk that you get some stupid conscious and turn on us.”

  “I’m not stupid enough to do that.” Alex snorted, squaring his shoulders. He could feel a fight was about to start and he didn’t want to be caught unprepared for it.

  “You say that now. But all it takes is for you to get sweet on some girl and her talking you into it.”

  “That won’t happen.” Alex shook his head. He had kept a few secrets from the gang.

  “You really think you’re going to live the life of the loner now that you’re here?” Popper snorted. “Everyone has a girl that gets to them.”

  “Why don’t you just leave. I’m not doing what you want.”

  “You’re one of the best riders we got, you really think we’re going to let you go?”

  “You’ll have to kill me.”

  “That can be arranged.” Popper laughed. “Or maybe I just need to find myself some leverage.”

  “That wouldn’t end well for you.”

  “You think you scare me?” Popper was taunting him. Letting Alex know that he wasn’t forgotten. “We know what you took anyway.”

  “I didn’t take anything.”

  “I tried to do this the nice way.” Popper shook his head.

  “I already told you. I didn’t take anything with me.”

  “You expect me to just believe that money and guns walked away at the same time you left?” Popper started to walk forward. He didn’t seem to care that the door was left wide opened and anyone would be able to hear him.

  Alex didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t taken anything. He didn’t know anyone had stolen anything, but he was being blamed for it. This explained why Popper had followed him and why he wasn’t dead yet. They were wanting to find out where the money was. “I didn’t take anything.”

  “You have some nerve, stealing thousands of dollars and enough guns to put us all under and running up here.”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” Alex didn’t have a clue what this guy was talking about. He knew that he hadn’t stolen anything at all. He had purposely left everything that belonged to the gang behind. It was better that way. It gave them less reason to chase him down.

  Popper must have gotten tired of waiting because he started to rifle through the small studio apartment. Alex moved to block him. “Get out of my way.”

  “There’s nothing here.” Alex put his hands up. He knew now that he had to talk Popper down.

  “Prove it.” Popper kept moving around, physically forcing Alex out of the way.

  Alex shoved back, forcing Popper back toward the door. He wasn’t going to take this. But Popper wasn’t having much of this, squaring off for a full-fledged fight. Alex squared his shoulders, balling his fists. If there was a fight going to happen, he was going to win. He had height and weight on Popper.

  He had the urge to punch the man in front of him. A part of him reminded him that he was trying to be a better person, but instead of fighting the thought Alex stood firm. He had thought that Popper would back down but Popper pulled a gun out from under his jacket. “How about you just sit down and shut up.”

  “What the hell, man?” Alex slipped back into his old habits for a moment, playing it all off like it was some kind of game, everyone playing with guns.

  “You heard me. Sit down, X. Just relax and let me check the place. Unless you want to save me some time.”

  Alex grunted. “Why don’t you just take a second and think about this.”

  “Think about what? I’m here to get what you stole back.”

  “I didn’t steal anything.” Alex started getting louder.

  “You think shouting is going to make me believe you?” Popper laughed, starting to pull the drawers out of the dresser and dumping the contents onto the floor. “This will go a lot easier on you if you just tell me where it is.”

  “I don’t know where it is, because
I never took the stuff, damn it.” Alex didn’t know how many times he could say this. It wasn’t useful though because Popper didn’t believe him at all.

  “Bullshit. It didn’t just walk off.”

  “Did you check anyone else.”

  “Nobody else left.” Popper flipped a knife out of his boot, keeping the gun trained on Alex while he slashed the pillows and mattress open to search them.

  There was nothing there, but Popper seemed to take great pleasure in damaging Alex’s property that way. Popper only took the gun off the tattooed man while he flipped the mattress. Alex watched in awe as his apartment was destroyed.

  Popper didn’t stop at making his bed impossible to sleep in. He moved over to the cabinets and started to violently empty the contents onto the floor. Then he went to the fridge. Once again all the contents were tossed the floor, jars shattering into a large mess.

  All of this noise must have attracted attention. “Is everything ok?”

  Popper’s gun swung around and pointed right at Benjamin’s head. The man popped back around the corner and out of sight. “What do you think you’re doing.”

  “You need to get out of here Benjamin.” Alex felt his heart start to race. He was worried before, but now he was in a full-fledged panic. He knew that Popper wasn’t going to take the interruption well.

  “You need to get out of here,” Popper growled.

  “I’m calling the cops,” Benjamin said.

  Alex groaned. “No. Don’t. You don’t have to worry about it. I’ve got this handled.”

  “You do not have it handled. You’re being held hostage. I’m getting the cops.” He heard the door to Benjamin’s apartment swing open then slam shut.

  Popper went to follow him, shouting obscenities and threats.

  Alex saw his opportunity and tackled the gang member. It was almost too easy to get the gun out of the distracted man’s hand.

  Alex pointed it at the man. “Time for you to leave.”

  “I’ll be back.” Popper sneered as he backed off into the hallway and toward the stairs.

  “I’ll be ready for you.” Alex was ready to kill. This man deserved everything that he got from this. And now that Benjamin was involved he definitely considered taking the first life of his career.

  But he knew that it was better to send Popper running with his tail between his legs. Popper didn’t have the kind of back up he would need to really retaliate. He would have to wait for the right moment. And the man was going to have to go figure out a new way, especially with a gun being missing.

  Alex watched the man scurry away and headed over to his window to watch Popper run out of the building and fire up his bike. He considered firing off a few warning shots toward the bike but decided against it. It wouldn’t end well for him.

  It would give Popper more reason to retaliate. Instead, he went next door and knocked. “Benjamin?”

  “Alex?” He could hear the shaking in Benjamin’s voice. It made a crack form in his chest. He hated the sound of the pain in the man.

  “Can I come in? He’s gone.”

  “I saw him leave.” He could hear the deadbolt slide open and Benjamin looked worried.

  “Did you call the cops?”

  “Yeah. I did.” Benjamin nodded. He was still looking a little pale. Alex realized that this man must have never seen anything like this before. It was easy to see how Benjamin would be disturbed seeing these things.

  “That’s not going to end well.”

  “Are you going to get arrested?”

  “I managed not to get caught. I’m not wanted for anything that I know of.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”

  “Was he going to kill you?”

  “I really don’t know.” He touched Benjamin’s shoulder, brushing off a bit of lint.

  “What was he looking for?”

  “Apparently some money and guns went missing.”

  “Did you take them?”

  “No. I didn’t take anything. I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to come after me.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “Someone probably went and took advantage of me running.” Alex sighed. “But this explains so much that’s going on. Why he came all this way after me.”

  “How much would they kill you over?”

  “It wouldn’t take much. A couple thousand would be a death warrant. But he won’t kill me right away.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’s gonna try to find the money first. Which is a lot easier if I can lead him to it.” Alex explained. “I’m safe for the time being.”

  “Is that why he tried to get you back first? And why he tried to get me to spy on you?” Benjamin sighed and leaned back against the couch.

  “Yeah. Probably.” Alex when and plopped down on the couch. He felt bad dropping all of this on him.

  “We have to do something about this,” Benjamin spoke up again. He looked more than worried. “They can’t do this to you.”

  “It’s my own fault. I’ll fix this.”

  “I’m already involved.” Benjamin frowned.

  “Do you have someplace you could go for a few days?”

  “Yeah, maybe?”

  “You should go. You need to get out of here. He won’t hesitate to kill you. You aren’t important enough to keep alive.”

  Benjamin seemed to think about it, and then they began to discuss logistics, trying to figure out how they would make sure that Benjamin wasn’t followed there. He had to be out of sight for long enough to Popper to leave or permanently disappear.

  This wouldn’t be the last time that Alex would consider just killing the man. He already knew that. And wondered if it was even worth trying to be a better person considering the entire gang had turned on him and someone had blamed him for robbing everyone.

  They might have let him go if someone hadn’t taken so much group property. Now he was doomed to be chased. If Popper didn’t check in with the guys in charge, they would just send someone else, and he would most definitely be killed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Benjamin watched Alex leave his apartment. He had offered to help him clean up the mess, but Alex had refused, insisting that Benjamin find a place to stay for a bit. He thought about it. About the entire situation. It bothered him deeply.

  The computer programmer sighed and looked down at his laptop. He had an idea of a place that would be difficult to track to him. His former company owned a small apartment that they used for clients that wanted to come into town. As far as he knew it was pretty empty at the moment, and he could probably stay there.

  But that meant that Haley was going to try to get him to come back. He couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen. She would quickly come up with a plan to convince him to come back. And with the apartment over his head, it would get even worse. “What the hell are you going to do?” He didn’t have any family in town since his parents had retired to Florida, that wasn’t a possibility unless he felt like randomly taking an out of state trip. He had no siblings and had no real family that he was close enough to explain this to.

  He only had so much time to worry about it before the police showed up and knocked on his door. He explained to them what happened and then they headed over to Alex’s apartment. This wasn’t a great part of town, so they probably wouldn’t do much, assuming that they were up to no good. He struggled with the wait. Waiting for the police to finish up and he could see Alex again and present what he thought would be a good plan.

  At least it was something, but he didn’t know what was going on with Alex. His worry started to kick up as the cops stayed over there for longer and longer. This was starting to look bad and looked even worse as he saw Alex step out of the apartment with his head hung low. He was flanked by both of the officers. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m just heading to the cop shop to make a report.” Alex offered a weak smile to Benjamin.

  “A report? Do you ne
ed someone to drive you back here?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll give you a call.”

  “I’m going to find a place that I can go.”

  The cops nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. He’s going to be finding a safe place after we talk to him for a while.”

  Benjamin turned back to Alex. “Do you have someplace?”

  “I can probably stay with family.”

  “Let me see what I can do. Maybe I can find a better place.” Just like that Benjamin had made up his mind. He knew what he was going to do and what would be expected from him for it. He had too much to lose if something happened to Alex. Whether it worked out between them or not, he wasn’t going to be so cold-hearted as to leave the man on his own.

  So after Alex left he made the call. “Haley.”

  “Hey, what’s up?” The boss at his old office asked.

  “A lot has been going on.”

  “Good lots or bad lots?” She sounded curious, but there was still suspicion in her voice. The woman had been worried.

  “That’s a little hard to explain.”

  “Have you figured out stuff with that guy you were having trouble with?”

  “If it’s even possible that’s gotten even more confusing.”

  “Do you need anything. I’m still a friend.”

  Benjamin sighed. “Again. That’s a little hard to explain.”

  “Are you being evasive on purpose?” Haley was starting to sound pretty worried about him. And he couldn’t blame the woman. He was acting weird, but he couldn’t make himself form the right words to get his point across.

  “No. I’m sorry. This is just weird. I can hardly believe what happened.”

  “Are you ok? Did he turn out to be a creep?”

  “No. Nothing like that. I promise.” Benjamin shook his head even if Haley couldn’t see it.

  “Then what is it?”

  Benjamin bit his lip. It was time to actually start on the real reason that he called. Haley deserved better than him jerking the context of the call just out of her reach. “I wanted to ask a favor.”