Chance Encounter

by Alex Tempera

  “We thought Todd left, but he was waiting. He’d rather kill me and take Chance then take the money.”

  “I’m sorry,” Janet said. “I haven’t been around much. How close are you and my brother-in-law?” they both sat down.

  “I love him,” Evan said. “He loves me, too. He’s so amazing.”

  “I know that,” Janet said. “I just wish that he knew it.”

  “He’s learning,” Evan said. “I can’t lose him.”

  “He’s strong. He’s a fighter. If he could survive the crap that Todd put him through, then he will be fine.”

  “I only know part of it, but I’m glad that Todd’s dead. That fucker deserved worse. He hurt the man I love. Oh, sorry.”

  “Sorry?”

  “I swore. My mother taught me to not swear in front of ladies,” Evan smiled.

  “Oh, don’t worry; I’ve heard worse out of Edgar’s mouth.”

  “Edgar?”

  “My ex,” she said. “You know, Chance’s brother.”

  “I didn’t know his name. Is he older or younger?”

  “Twins,” she said. “He couldn’t be bothered to come, though.”

  “Identical?”

  “Nah, fraternal, nothing between the two is the same. Total opposites,” Janet said. “I did tell him, but he said he was too busy to come and to call him if he died.”

  “Asshole,” Evan said.

  “And that’s putting it nicely,” she smiled.

  Evan and Janet watched as the doctor removed his paper mask and walked into the room. “Are you here for Chief Endicott?” he asked.

  Janet and Evan stood up. “Yes, I’m his lover,” Evan said. “And this is his sister.”

  “I’m Dr. Westphall. Now, he’s going to be fine,” the man said. “He’s in recovery now. He had some damage to his liver, but I’ve repaired it. He’s lucky the knife was well maintained and cleaned, but we’ve put him on some antibiotics. He will have a long recovery but he should make a complete recovery.”

  “When can we see him?” Evan asked.

  “He’ll be put in a room downstairs in about an hour. You can see him then,” the man said. “Room 450.” He left the room.

  “I have to see him,” Evan sighed as he sat down. “I hate waiting.”

  “Um, are you going to stay here?”

  “Until I can see him, why? I can’t leave him. We were supposed to spend the entire weekend in bed except when he had to feed… oh, crap, Barney.”

  “I was just going to say that I should feed the dog and bring him to my house until Chance is better.”

  “Oh, that would be good. I’d take him but I can’t bring myself to leave here.”

  “I understand,” Janet said. “Anything you need, I’ll take care of for you.”

  Evan stood up. “I never loved another man before. I mean, I never loved anyone before. I’ve been in relationships but I never been in love before. Hell, half the time I didn’t even like them.” He laughed slightly.

  Janet put her hand on Evan’s shoulder. “It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” Evan smiled. “It sure is.”

  Janet kissed his cheek. “I’ll be back. Take care of my … brother.”

  “I will,” Evan smiled as she left the room.

  18

  Evan sat on the chair next to Chance’s bed when the nurse walked in. “He’s still asleep. How long will he be asleep?”

  She smiled lightly. “Each patient is different, but the Chief is a strong man.”

  “I know,” Evan said.

  “I talked to the floor doctor and he said you could stay for as long as you needed to,” she said. “Mr. Mayor.”

  “I hope … never mind. I’ll take whatever I can get,” he said.

  She adjusted the tubing on Chance’s IV and took his vitals. She wrote on the chart and then walked out of the room.

  Evan leaned forward. “I promised I wouldn’t use my status ever but this is for you and I can’t leave you.”

  “Wow, an honest politician,” Chance opened his eyes and smiled.

  Evan lightly touched his cheek. “Hi, Baby.”

  “Hi, Boss. Um, what the hell happened?” Chance looked around the room. “Where am I?”

  “County Hospital, the Presidential suite,” he smirked.

  “Oh, yeah, sure,” he looked at the door. “What the hell is that on the door?”

  “Oh, it’s your seal,” he kissed Chance’s cheek slightly.

  “My seal?” Chance said. “The city seal?”

  “Well, I did my research, and it turns out there is an actual seal for the police chief,” he smiled. “And since you’ve been the chief for over 10 years, I wanted to throw your clout around instead of mine.”

  “But you used yours to stay here,” Chance tried to sit but held his side and winced.

  “Don’t sit,” Evan pressed the button to raise his head. “I only used my clout so I could use yours. Can’t use yours if I’m not here,” he chuckled.

  “I don’t care whose clout you use, as long as you’re here,” he said. “Please, tell me what happened.”

  Evan took his hand and kissed his knuckles. “You saved my life, that’s what happened. You don’t remember?”

  “It’s a little fuzzy,” he said. “Wait, before this. Something … I told you something. You said something to me. Crap. We were supposed to spend the weekend together.”

  “We are, it’s just not at my house or your house, and we won’t be having sex, of any kind,” he smirked. “I’m not leaving until you do and yes, you told me you loved me.”

  “And you said …” Chance licked his lips lightly.

  “That I love you,” Evan pressed his mouth softly against Chance’s. “And I meant it.”

  “So did I,” he said, when there was a knock on the door. “Yes?”

  Emma walked into the room. “Sorry, the nurse said I could come in. I guess my uniform impressed her,” Emma said. “Well, I thought it did until I saw the seal on the outside of the door.”

  “Come in,” Chance said. “What’s that in your hand?”

  She looked at the plastic bag in her hand. “Since the case is closed, Mr. Manetti, this needs to be returned to you. You could’ve taken it at the scene.”

  Evan took the bag from her hand. “Oh, I wasn’t worried about this. I was concerned with Chance,” he said, as he put the bag in his pocket.

  “What is it?” Chance asked.

  “Oh, it’s just that check that Todd returned,” Evan shrugged. “No big deal. I forgot about it.”

  Chance looked at Emma and smiled. “I’m not sure when I’m getting out of here, but tell the men to not fool around and no parties in my office.”

  “They only did that once,” she laughed. “I’ll tell them. I’m sure they’ll be drifting in here now and then. Hank said he’s only in charge until you get better.”

  “They filled the lobby when he was hurt,” Evan said. “Emma, thanks.”

  “No problem, Sir,” she said.

  “Oh, and tell your sister, I’ll call her when I get back to the office, which will be whenever he’s ready to go back to work.”

  “Well, that was another reason, I came,” Emma said.

  “Oh, is something wrong?” Evan stood up. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”

  “Nothing’s wrong. We, Elaine, Janet, and I, well and some of the guys at the station would like permission to clean up your office. Jeff, he works as a tech in the morgue, he also does crime scene clean up so it’s done safely and stuff. We just need permission to enter your office since you own it.”

  “You want to do that for me?”

  “Of course, sir,” she smiled. “You’re part of our family now. Just being a resident gives you entrance into our community, but you’re family. Chief Endicott loves you and so do we.”

  “Thank you, Emma,” Chance nodded.

  “Sir, he makes you happy. You’ve never really been happy before, and now you are, well excep
t for being stabbed.”

  “Yeah, there is that,” he smiled. “Thanks, Emma. Oh, who’s taking care of Barney?”

  “Janet,” Emma smiled and saluted. She left the room.

  “Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you. She took the dog to her house until you get better.”

  “Oh, good,” Chance leaned back in his pillow. “So, tell me something, Boss.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You didn’t grab the check when the ambulance came to get me?”

  “No, why would I? You’re more important. I was scared. I thought I was going to lose you. You’re more important than any amount of money. I know what stab wounds can do to a body.”

  “Yeah, hurts like hell. Finish telling me what happened.”

  “Todd was still in the outer office. He must’ve pretended to leave and waited for us. He wanted you and to kill me. You pushed me out of the way and he stabbed you.” Evan lightly touched Chance’s side, that was bandaged. “He had tossed the check on the floor and said something nasty. I ran to your side and when he raised his knife again, I grabbed your gun and shot him. It’s a good thing you showed me your combination to use for your holster. I always thought those things just unsnapped.”

  “Nah, then every crook would try to remove a gun. Some are just idiots,” Chance said. “So, you killed him?”

  “Yes, because he hurt you and I thought he’d hurt you again,” Evan sniffed. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You won’t, Boss. I saved you and you saved me, we’re even,” Chance smirked.

  “Not even close,” Evan pulled back the sheet and lifted Chance’s gown that covered the bandages. He lightly kissed the bandages. “You saved my life. You got stabbed because of me.”

  “It’s all right. I’ll be fine. Another scar, but I’ll be fine. It’s close to the other one so, no big deal. Maybe he should’ve aimed for the scar, that way it would’ve gotten rid of it.”

  Evan covered him up and leaned on the bed. He lightly touched Chance’s cheek. “It’s a scar that should be on my body, not yours.”

  Chance smiled. “Boss, it’s all right,” he smiled. “It’s for you. Everything I do is for you. For you and I.”

  Evan wiped his eyes with the back of his finger. “You need your rest.”

  “And someday, you need to talk to me,” Chance smiled.

  “About what?”

  Chance put his hand on Evan’s heart. “Why this is guarded.”

  “It’s not,” Evan said. “When I told you I loved you, I said I never loved anyone before.”

  “That’s what you said. I said it, too.”

  “I don’t mean that I’ve been hurt or whatever, I have but that’s not what I mean.” Evan stood up and walked over to the window. He sat on the ledge of the heater that was under the window.

  “Evan?”

  “I’m sorry, Baby,” he said.

  Chance held his side and sat up. He dangled his legs over the side of the bed.

  Evan turned around. “Don’t. Your sutures,” he sighed.

  “What?”

  “Your stitches,” he sighed.

  “That’s not what you said,” Chance said. “Evan, what’s going on? Please tell me.”

  Evan stood up. “I should go.”

  Chance held his groan as he pushed himself to his feet. He grabbed Evan’s arm. “Don’t walk out on me now,” Chance held Evan’s face. “If you can’t talk to me, at least stay here.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll tell you, soon. I just can’t do it right now.”

  “It’s all right. Will you just lay with me?” Chance said.

  Evan nodded quietly.

  Chance held his side and winced as he lay down and untangled his IV tubing. He moved over and patted the bed. “Lie with me, Boss,” he whispered.

  Evan took off his shoes and lay on the bed next to Chance. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you,” Evan whispered.

  “We deserve each other and all it took was one encounter,” he smiled.

  “A Chance encounter,” Evan laughed slightly.

  “Not even funny,” Chance said. “Rest.”

  “I’m supposed to say that,” Evan said.

  “Then say it, Boss,” Chance lay his head on Evan’s shoulder.

  “Rest, Baby,” Evan closed his eyes as he held Chance close to his body.

  19

  Chance heard his voice in the distance. He’s mine now. You will obey me or he dies, you fucker. You stole him from me. Evan is mine. The darkness covered Chance’s eyes as he felt Evan being pulled away. “Evan!” he screamed as he sat up quickly.

  Evan rushed over to him. “You’re gonna pull out your sutures,” he held Chance’s face in his hands. “What’s wrong? You were tossing and turning.”

  Chance looked at him and sighed heavily. He grabbed on to Evan without saying a word and hugged him tightly. “Don’t leave me,” he wept.

  Evan sat on the bed and held him tightly. “I won’t leave. I promise,” he kissed the top of his head. “I won’t leave you, Baby.”

  Chance looked up at him and sighed. “I’m sorry. It felt so real.”

  “You wanna tell me about it?”

  “I just had this dream that someone was taking you away from me. I didn’t see his face but he acted like I stole you.”

  “No, Baby, it was a dream,” he kissed his cheek and wiped his tears with his thumb. “I said, I’m not leaving you. The doctor came in when you were asleep. Do you want to rest some more?”

  “No, I want to stay up,” he sighed. “You probably think I’m foolish.”

  “Never, just shows how much you do love me, but, Baby, the next time you scream my name, it won’t be from a dream,” Evan flirted. “And it will be more like a moan.”

  Chance laughed slightly. “Did the doctor say what he wanted?”

  “I have to have him paged now that you’re up,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s fine,” he said. “What were you doing?”

  “Just reading the town codebook and getting myself more familiar with some local statutes,” he smiled.

  “Oh, entertaining,” Chance said.

  “Well, it’s not what I read for entertainment.”

  “I know. I saw your library,” Chance smiled.

  Evan gathered up his books and files and set them in a neat pile on the table. “Personally, I love to read James Patterson or Amy Shannon. She’s not quite famous yet, but she writes some great crime dramas.”

  “Hmm, I’ll have to check her out,” Chance smiled. “So, tell me about this collection you have.”

  “Don’t you like to read?” Evan smiled.

  “Oh, yes, I do. I like to read a lot of different stuff,” he licked his lips.

  “Oh, seriously? Like what?”

  “Well, I like reading Born by Marianne Maguire. It’s a paranormal erotica romance novel, I have a lot of different tastes, it depends really on the book not the genre. I like a book because of the story,” he grinned. “Oh, there is something else you like to read. You’re not all about Crime. I mean, I love reading different crime procedural books, but what about you? You have a hidden fascination.”

  “Yeah, I like erotica. I can’t help it. Gay. Straight, paranormal, shifters, whatever,” Evan said. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not embarrassed to say that my favorite erotic book was Broken Walls by Alex Tempera. It’s a gay erotica book about a cop and firefighter who fall in love.”

  “You never have to be embarrassed with me,” Chance said. “Evan, I love you. Hell, one of my most prized albums is Michael Jackson’s Thriller.”

  “That’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Evan smiled. “Zeppelin and Jackson.”

  “Well, I also own Madonna’s Like a Virgin.”

  “Did you own an album store before you were a cop?” he laughed.

  “No, did a lot of shopping on Ebay,” he said. “I also have lists of every album that made the charts for every year that I was alive,” Chance leaned back into his p
illow and held his side.

  Evan walked over to him and sat on the bed. “Hurts still? Maybe you should rest.”

  “I like talking to you,” Chance closed his eyes and then reopened them.

  “I’ve seen some of your albums. You also have ones I never heard of.”

  “Yeah, I like a variety of music,” Chance took a deep breath. “Evan, this really hurts.” He put his hand on his side.

  Evan lifted the sheet and gown that covered his side. “You’re fucking bleeding,” he said. “Lay back, Baby.” Evan pressed the emergency button. He grabbed a pair of latex gloves out of the box that was on the shelf above his bed. He put them on and peeled back the bandage. “Oh, you did pop a suture, but this doesn’t look right. Where the fuck are they?” he said.

  “Evan, do you know what you’re doing?”

  “Yeah, Baby,” he said. “I do. I’ll tell you all about it later, just relax and breathe slow.” He opened the locked drawer with a pin number he had watched the nurse use and took out some supplies. He started to clean the incision.

  Dr. Westphall walked into the room. “Excuse me, Mr. Manetti, what are you doing?”

  “It’s Dr. Manetti, but you should’ve came here faster. He’s broken his sutures and it looks like there’s something in the wound.”

  “Please, step aside and let me tend to my patient. Even if you are a doctor, he’s my patient and your lover.”

  “Fine. Just fucking fix him. I want to know what you missed.” He took off his gloves and tossed them into the trash. He walked to the other side of the bed and held Chance’s hand.

  Chance looked up at his lover. “Doctor?”

  “Yes, but it’s been a long time,” he sighed. He kissed Chance’s forehead. He looked over at Dr. Westphall as the nurse walked into the room.

  “Doctor?” she asked.

  “Get him prepped for the OR,” Dr. Westphall instructed.

  “Yes, doctor,” she said. “Chief, I’ll need you to lie back.”

  Dr. Westphall took off his latex gloves and walked over to Evan. “Thank you. I’m sorry I was rude. I didn’t know you were a doctor.”

  “I’m up with my certs, but I don’t practice anymore.”

  “I can see why he was patched up so well when he was brought in. I thought the paramedics did it.”