Chance Encounter

by David Horne

  “What kind of favor?” Haley sounded skeptical. “But we don’t really have a lot of work for you right now.”

  “This isn’t about money.”

  “Did you want to come into the office and talk to us?”

  “No, not yet.” Benjamin found himself shaking his head, even if he knew that the woman on the other end couldn’t hear him.

  “Then what is it?”

  “This is kind of hard to ask.” He was beating around the bush again.

  “How hard?”

  “Pretty hard. I never thought I would need this kind of help.” Benjamin bit his lip.

  “It’s got to be important if you’re actually calling me.”

  Benjamin couldn’t help but laugh about that. “Who calls anymore?”

  “Only when it’s official business anymore. This something official?” Haley sounded like she was enjoying the little wordplay between them. Benjamin couldn’t blame her; he missed these conversations when he was still working in the office.

  But he couldn’t focus on the fun parts of the conversation. He had to get to the business at some point. “Kind of official.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “I was wondering if I could get a favor from you guys.”

  “What’s the favor? You know that I’ll do anything I can for you.”

  “I know, which is why I was hoping that you could help me out. I’m in a little bit of trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “Does the company still have that apartment for visiting people?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, we do. What’s up with it?” Haley sounded curious. “Are you having trouble with your rent?”

  “No. Not that. It’s hard to explain.” Benjamin shook his head. “My life might be in danger and I’m being asked to go someplace else. I was hoping that I could stay there with a friend.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What kind of danger?”

  Benjamin sighed. “Some guy is threatening me and my neighbor.”

  “Did something happen? Why would someone be threatening you?” She sounded like she couldn’t believe this. He didn’t blame her. They weren’t exactly the type to get into that kind of situation. They were computer people, stronger behind a keyboard than in real life. The worst that normally happened was some idle threats thrown through the internet by someone that could never track you down. “Is this real?”

  “Yeah. It’s real. And it’s in real life. He knows where we live and he’s really dangerous.” Benjamin explained. “My neighbor is trying to get out of trouble.

  “Are you sure you want to go there?”

  “I don’t really have anywhere else to go.” Benjamin shrugged. “Or no place that can’t be easily tracked to my name.”

  “I’ll have to talk to the owners. It may be hard. You don’t work here anymore.”

  “Didn’t they let Ben stay there when his house was getting fumigated?”

  “But you don’t work here anymore.” Haley was frowning. “I can try, but I can’t make that promise.”

  “I know. I know. Do what you can, all right?”

  “I will don’t worry.” Haley hung up the phone leaving Benjamin to worry about what was going on in his life. He plopped back down on his couch. All that was left to do was to wait until he got word back from his request.

  No, that wasn’t what was going on. There was far too much at stake and he felt the need to move. So he walked around his apartment, starting to pack enough stuff to last him three or four days at an apartment.

  After he did that, he headed next door, Alex hadn’t locked his door yet, and that left the man vulnerable.

  He walked into the trashed apartment, slipping his phone into his back pocket while he tried to clean up the small studio space. He started with the food, saving what he could and cleaning up the broken jars and cracked eggs. It took longer than he expected because of the pure stickiness of the entire mess.

  But it got done. There still wasn’t a return call or Alex. He was still alone there in the apartment. So he started to pick up and fold the clothes. He found a gun in the mess, the police must have missed it. He gathered it up and took it to his apartment. A part of him told him that the gun must have been illegal, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t risk Alex being caught with it. The man was probably in enough trouble. He didn’t need any more.

  Back to the apartment he worked and waited for a call. Finally, Haley called back. “I don’t have good news.”

  “What’s the problem.”

  “They said that they would, but you don’t work for us anymore.”

  Benjamin frowned. It gave him a decision to make. They had made multiple offers for him to come back to work. “Is that offer still open?”

  “You can’t honestly be considering doing that. Not over this.”

  “This is dangerous,” Benjamin explained. “Yeah, I’m considering it.”

  “Are you going to be happy coming back just so you have a safe place to stay?”

  “I don’t know. I need time to think.”

  She could be heard sighing heavily. “Just consider it before you make the decision. You don’t know how it’s going to turn out, and you’ve left on good terms. I would hate for you to sign up for something that you don’t want to do just because of this.”

  “This is pretty serious. Two people being chased by a killer.” He sighed. “This guy has killed before.”

  “Maybe a hotel?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll figure out what to do.”

  Haley frowned. “Maybe you can both crash with me.”

  “I can’t put you at risk like that. I would rather us stay someplace where there wasn’t anyone else.”

  “I understand. I wish I could do more for you.”

  “Thanks for doing what you could.” Benjamin sighed and hung up the call. That hadn’t ended the way he had hoped, but he couldn’t say that he didn’t expect it to go that way. The company owed him nothing.

  He had a decision to make. He could possibly protect Alex and himself, offering them both a safe spot and the time to figure out. But he had plans that needed him to take more time off.

  He could have figured something else out for the app, taken the money he saved and hired freelancers to help, but then it wouldn’t be his and his alone. But it would probably be done a lot quicker. He sighed. It was stupid. His pride was not worth his life. Or worth Alex’s life. He had a way to put them up in a place that was harder to track. It wasn’t perfect and was connected to him, but he wasn’t sure Popper even knew what his name was.

  But he knew the internet well enough. It could be discovered quickly enough. A few searches would reveal a surprising amount of information about any person if that person knew where to look.

  He added it to the list to ask Alex about whether his gang was particularly computer savvy or not.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Alex looked up and down the building. This place was a lot nicer than the building he normally stayed in. In fact, it was probably nicer than any place his family had ever lived in. The was the kind of place that he read about in magazines or saw on television when it talked about how high-class people lived.

  He vaguely entertained the thought that Benjamin was a secret millionaire, hiding his fortune and living in squalor to get away from the stress, but decided that it was too farfetched. The programmer probably knew someone with an apartment in this kind of building.

  He took in a deep breath and made his way inside where the doorman greeted him and asked him for his identification. He passed the card over and the man looked him up and down. He didn’t fit into this world. That much was obvious. But here he was, hiding in a really nice building with Benjamin because his past was trying to catch up to him.

  He was granted permission to go past the doorman and made his way to the elevator. He had been given directions about where to go, but he was certainly being given strange looks for even
being there. He didn’t belong in this place. It was so far above him that it bordered on the ridiculous.

  He was still lost in his thoughts when he got to the apartment door and knocked lightly.

  There was some shuffling behind the door. Then Benjamin opened the door. “Alex!”

  Alex couldn’t help but smile. “How did you get your hands on a place like this?”

  “My company owns it.”

  “I thought you were just a freelancer.”

  “I still have enough good karma with them to make it work.” Benjamin shrugged. He was being a little distant like he didn’t really want to answer the question. It was something that Alex knew well and while he was curious, he didn’t press any further as he walked into the nice apartment. Two bedrooms, large living area, fancy kitchen. Everything was absolutely beautiful there. “What do you think?” Benjamin took the bait and changed the subject.

  “I think we’re going to be living really well until all of this clears up.”

  “We may end up missing this.”

  “I can’t blame you there.” Alex laughed.

  Benjamin turned around to look at the place. “Which room do you want?”

  “Whichever one. Which one are you in?”

  “That one.” Benjamin pointed.

  Alex paused for a moment. Part of him wanted to take his bag and drop it off at the same room that Benjamin was in. The programmer watched as he considered what to do.

  It was cute the way the smaller man bit his lip, wondering what exactly was going on there. He wondered what Benjamin wanted. And the pause was deafening between them, like a choice that had so much riding on it. But he sighed and walked into the second room.

  He heard Benjamin let out a heavy breath like he had been holding his breath entirely too long. It made Alex smile as he dropped off his bag on the bed. It was a bed that he would have dreamed of having. Large and comfortable in just about every way. This was one of those things that needed to be done. He couldn’t push his luck and move right into the same room as Benjamin, no matter how he wanted to. What he needed to do is get to know the man.

  And that was exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to learn more about Benjamin, who seemed amazing in so many different ways. He walked back out of the room to see Benjamin is on his phone. “You ready to eat?”

  “I should have picked something up.”

  “I can order.” Benjamin offered.

  “What kind of places deliver here?”

  “Did you forget about the power of the internet? I can get anything you want.”

  Alex laughed about that. “Right. One of those delivery apps?”

  “There has to be like fifteen or sixteen of them. I probably have them all.”

  “A new one will come out tomorrow.” Alex shrugged.

  Benjamin smiled. “Got any idea what you want?”

  “I’m a simple guy. Pizza works for me.”

  “Pizza it is. I’ll order some extra. We have no groceries here.” He started to tap on his phone screen. It was obvious how proficient the programmer was. Alex pondered about his own situation, and how he had avoided smartphones until there was no other choice. He had never been the type to be on the computer. He had been into sports and being outside.

  “Sure. Pepperoni and black olives.”

  Benjamin wrinkled his nose. “How about barbeque sauce, pineapple, chicken and bacon.”

  “You’re a pineapple guy? I never expected that.”

  “Get it out of your system.” Benjamin laughed. “The whole internet is already against me.”

  “It can’t be that bad. I’ll give it a try. Just order one for me in case I don’t like it.”

  “Sounds good.” He nods and placed the order. Alex made his way over to the couch and picked up the complicated remote. He stared at it and started to hit a few buttons. “What kind of drinks do you want?”

  “Uh, I’m not picky with that. How does this whole thing work?” He held up the remote.

  “Oh, that’s one of those new remotes, just use the voice activation,” Benjamin said a few words and a small box next to the television lit up, turning on the television, bringing up a service that allowed them to pick anything that they would be interested in watching.

  Alex looked at the screen and picked out some trashy reality television as Benjamin came to sit next to him. There was so much energy between them that Alex couldn’t focus on the TV. He could feel the pressure as Benjamin sat next to him.

  The silence echoed between them, nothing to be said beyond what they were feeling.

  There was a small break in the tension when the food arrived, but they soon fell back into silence, staring at the television while Alex tried to avoid the heat that he was feeling from Benjamin. It was like the man radiated an appeal that Alex couldn’t drag him away from. They were at peace, someplace safe that Popper couldn’t get to without a lot of work.

  And Alex was certain that he hadn’t been followed. “What did you do to get this place?” He finally asked.

  “I asked and they decided to help me out.” Benjamin shrugged.

  “They must still really like you there.”

  “I worked there for years before I decided to try something different on my own.”

  “That was a pretty big risk. Must have been scary.”

  Benjamin laughed. “Nowhere near as scary as your life was. I thought it was at the time, but it’s just getting easier to handle.”

  “You’re a pretty tough guy. Don’t sell yourself short.” Alex reached his hand across to place it on Benjamin’s knee.

  And the world stopped. They stared at each other like they both knew what was going to happen. Alex brought his lips closer to Benjamin’s face, pausing a beat away from actually completing the kiss.

  His heart was pounding, threatening to beat right out of his chest and he gulped about it. It was like the world was impossibly silent as he slowly moved his face forward.

  It was going to happen. He was too far gone and when their lips finally met, everything that had been pent up between them exploded. Hands started to roam over bodies, and clothes were getting in the way.

  The couch had become a place full of overwhelming passions that no one could control.

  There was no talking, no worry about anything until Benjamin grunted. “My bag.”

  “What about it?”

  “We need a condom.” He groaned, planting another kiss on Alex’s lips as the smaller man pulled away.

  “You came prepared.”

  “I knew we were going to be alone together.”

  Alex watched him walk away. It bothered him, but he forced himself to remember that the man would be back on the couch soon. Unless Benjamin changed his mind of course. That was always a possibility, albeit one that he didn’t want to think about.

  But within moments Benjamin was back out and on the couch. And that was when the nerves set in. Suddenly it all felt so real to him. If Alex did this, there would be no turning back. He paused, but Benjamin didn’t let that happen. The programmer leaned in and kissed him again.

  Alex moved his hands over the man’s body again. Benjamin was surprisingly fit for a man that didn’t exercise much. It must have been all the pacing over this program and good genes.

  Clothes started to be tossed off to the side, and within moments they were both naked. Alex touched the other man as Benjamin laid the tattooed man on the couch. “Do all these tattoos have a meaning?” Benjamin traced them with his finger as he laid over Alex’s body.

  “Most of them.” Alex was breathless.

  “You’ll have to tell me about them someday,” Benjamin grunted as he rubbed against the bouncer’s skin.

  “I will.” Alex groaned as his shaft felt the hot skin of the other man. He was already rock hard and ready to go at any moment.

  Benjamin pulled up long enough for Alex to bend himself over the arm of the couch, bracing himself as he felt the coldness of the lube trickle between his cheeks and
heard the ripping of a condom package. “God above.” He moaned, feeling the fingers prod at him, toying with him.

  “Just a second. I promise.” Benjamin’s hot breath was on Alex’s back as he shifted his hand around Alex’s body.

  He felt the other body get into position and then the slight push of the first thrust. Then, they were joined together. And it felt absolutely, perfectly natural. That was where they belonged.

  It didn’t end, the movement was rushing through them and pushing them toward the edge of desire like a speeding train. There was no control, no concern for anything except the way that he felt. Benjamin stroked Alex while their bodies slapped together with the passion growing.

  Alex grunted, his body wanting to be closer to the other man, growing closer his own orgasm. There was no concern for the mess that he was going to leave on this couch as he released the gates with a loud out of control moan, pushing himself back against the programmer, who was playing his body like it was his keyboard and a line of code.

  With a great rush, they finished together, bodies coming closer together as they caught their breath and laying together on the couch. “Wow.”

  Benjamin smiled. “That was pretty damn good, yeah.”

  “I can’t believe I waited so long.”

  “You were too busy running away from me.”

  Alex laughed. “I’m pretty damn good at running away from my problems. Did you expect any different?”

  “I can’t say I did.” Benjamin shook his head.

  Alex stopped and listened to the joined heartbeats in the room. And he realized something. He was in love with this man, and that made his throat close up. He loved this man. The thought kept repeating itself in his head. He loved this man.

  But he wasn’t ready to say anything yet. It was far too soon for that.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Benjamin pulled himself away from Alex with a smile. They had just shared an amazing moment together. And he was happy. “We should go to bed.”

  Alex laughed tiredly. “Yeah. That sounds great.”

  Benjamin pulled the man to his feet and led him to the bedroom that he had picked out for himself. He had hoped that he wasn’t going to be sleeping alone, and it had all turned out better than he had hoped. Alex plopped down on his bed, stretching out. It made Benjamin laugh. “Already getting comfortable.”