Chance Encounter Read online

  “I think she is.”

  The back of the office had a bunch of people gathered around the table in the center of the large open space. “What’s up?”

  Haley looked up from the head of the table. “Hey. We got an issue over here. Think you could take a look?”

  Benjamin walked over to the table and sat down. Someone slipped a laptop in front of him and he logged into it. “What’s the issue?”

  Everyone started talking over each other. Everyone seemed to have a different idea of what the problem is. “Ok. Ok. Take a second guys. Just give me a chance to put it all together.”

  Ben looked up from across the table. “Just take a look at it.”

  Benjamin spent a few minutes just figuring out what the problem was before he actually started tapping on the keys. It felt like it took an eternity for him to finally get that silly work finished up, but it did happen eventually, which he was eternally grateful for.

  The afternoon dwindled by, bursts of work punctuated by laughing and joking as he added a new point of view to the project. But it was still far into the evening by the time they managed to finish the project. And a part of Benjamin didn’t want to leave. He did sort of miss this place.

  “So, that's it.” Benjamin finally stood up from where he had hunched over the desk.

  “Looks that way.” Haley grabbed her coat from her office, not bothering to lock the door.

  “Man, I could use a beer.” Ben groaned as he stretched.

  “I think everyone could,” Evan spoke up from his desk. The oldest guy in the office and he was only thirty-two. He had claimed the spot of office dad and just about everyone showed him the kind of condescending respect that his imagined age acquired. “Even this old man.”

  “You need your cane?” Haley laughed.

  Benjamin couldn't help but join in. He was a part of his tribe again. “Give the old guy some respect. He was walking uphill to work both ways.”

  “Barefoot!” Heather stepped into the main office. “Everyone else is already gone.”

  “More beer for me,” Ben announced.

  Heather thought for a moment. “We should all go to the bar tonight.”

  “Don't you all have to work tomorrow?” Benjamin asked.

  Ben shrugged. “Who cares?”

  “I could really use that beer.” Evan piped up again.

  “When couldn't you use a beer?” Haley teased. For a boss the woman maintained a pretty friendly atmosphere, working to make it comfortable for the table full of nerds that existed in the large space.

  Benjamin nodded. “You guys mind if I join you?”

  Ben nodded his head. “It’ll be just like old times.” The man certainly looked happy to have Benjamin come to

  “Yeah. It'll be great.” Heather always seemed to practically explode with excess energy. This was no exception as she bounced from one foot to the other.

  And that excitement was contagious as they figured out which nearby bar they were going to head to.

  The decision didn't take long. There was a really good place nearby. Actually, it was a place where Benjamin used to date one of the bartenders before he had left to find himself a career that wasn't the family business.

  He hadn't been around there much lately, even if it seemed that most of the staff had changed.

  It was still a little raw for him. Haley must have noticed the look on Benjamin's face because she slowly made her way over to him before he got to his car. “You gonna be ok with this?”

  “Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?”

  “Damien.” She frowned as they watched everyone else pull out of the parking lot.

  “It’s been three years since all of that. I’m fine.” Benjamin shrugged. There was no way that he was having this conversation with his old boss.

  “You sure?” She still looked worried about him. She had the type of mind that worried about entirely too much. Even about things that weren’t a part of her job. She insisted that people did their job, but cared about how their lives

  “Pretty sure.” He nodded.

  With a heavy look, she made her way back to her car. “See you there?”

  “Yeah. I’m excited. I love going out with you guys.” He pulled out his key to his own car.

  She didn’t exactly look convinced but she let it go. He was grateful for that as he climbed into the driver's seat of that old Toyota.

  And off the group was. On the way to have a good night. And he promised himself that he was going to enjoy the time with his friends.

  Chapter Three

  Alex couldn’t help but notice the young man coming with the group of nerds. He didn’t know any of the people that he was with, but it wasn’t like he was paying much attention to anyone other than the neighbor that he hadn’t even gotten the name of yet. There was something about the man that called to him in a way that he couldn’t explain.

  Jan caught him staring and shot a smirk in his direction. Great. He knew that meant it was going to be the talk of the entire bar now. But he couldn’t honestly say that he cared about that.

  A part of him wondered if the handsome next-door neighbor would recognize him. But there was little chance of that. People didn’t pay much attention to the employees in the bar. At least not enough to recognize a man that he had ran into once in a hallway.

  He watched as Benjamin and his friends sat around a table and visited with each other. He moved closer to listen to what they were saying.

  “Has it been busy since I’ve been gone?” Benjamin was asking.

  “Pretty much. They moved up a deadline for one of our contracts.” The woman that must have been the boss said.

  “Ouch. You let them do that?”

  “They offered a bonus if we could finish early. Which thanks to you, we’re going to get done.” Ben raised his glass of whiskey.

  Benjamin laughed. It caught Alex’s eye. But the man still looked a bit out of place, like he wasn’t quite comfortable with it. “That’s good. You guys deserve it.”

  “You should come back to the office.” A smiling woman spoke from across the table. She was young and pretty, and the type of person that people put upfront to make the office look nice. And she was definitely flirting with Alex’s neighbor. A pang of jealousy welled up in the bouncer, but he knew that he had no right to feel that way. Not for a guy he hadn’t even exchanged names with.

  Benjamin shook his head. “No. I have other plans. I like being more independent.”

  “Right. Designing a video game.” The older man smiled. Except he wasn’t that old. Just the oldest that was at that table.

  “Yeah. I think it’s gonna be pretty good.” Benjamin shrugged.

  “I know it’s gonna be.” Boss woman smiled. “Doesn’t mean we don’t miss you at the office every day.”

  “That’s really nice of you to say.” The neighbor nodded, but he was blushing and looking away from the woman who was speaking.

  Alex continued to listen to them talk amongst themselves. It was clear that these people had worked together for a while. They were all friendly and it was a nice thing to see. People so happy to be spending time together. He just watched, but he wanted to walk over. To talk. To say something.

  But he knew better than to do that. Those were customers, and it was clear that Benjamin hadn’t recognized him. Plus, the thought of it was simply nerve-wracking. Talking to him in front of all of his friends from whatever he did for a living.

  Instead, he listened to Benjamin laughing at a joke one of the other’s said. He had a nice laugh. “Do you mind giving me a hand?” Tracy’s voice caught him off guard.

  “What?” Alex nearly jumped out of his skin.

  She laughed. “Help me pull some stuff in the back.”

  He nodded and headed through the swinging doors. “Whatcha need?”

  “You gonna stare any harder?” Tracy followed him and dropped all pretense on the situation.

  “Stare at what?”

  “That guy in the big bo
oth.” She teased him.

  Alex sighed. “Was it that obvious?”

  “Yeah. It kind of was.” She laughed.

  “He’s my new neighbor.”

  “From the place you just moved into?” She tilted her head curiously.

  “Yeah. We didn’t talk or anything. Just ran into him in the hall. I don’t think he recognizes me.”

  “But you recognized him?”

  “He didn’t look up from his phone much.” Alex shrugged.

  “Are you sure that’s the type of guy you should be all gaga over?”

  “I’m not all gaga over him.” Alex rolled his eyes.

  “Deny it all you want.”

  “That’s because it’s not true.”

  “You don’t even look like you believe that.” Tracey laughed loudly. He was sure that the customers outside could hear the laughter leaking out of the backroom.

  Alex groaned. “Do you mind?”

  “Are you going to talk to him?”

  “Maybe someday.” Alex shrugged.

  Tracey laughed again. “Don’t worry. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”

  “You know that life isn’t that simple.”

  “It can be if you let and you’re willing to work for it.”

  “Can I just get back to work?”

  His cousin grinned as they headed back to the front. “I’ve got to get back to work anyway.”

  He followed her out, only to see the room in chaos. One of the men was standing above the bar, scowling down. His fist was balled up.

  Alex knew that he had to move. He shifted his body closer to the angry drunk, a man so obviously upset with the world around him that he was ready to fight. He was well acquainted with men like that. They were all the same. Angry me with very little to do with their lives.

  “Hey buddy, calm down.” He spoke calmly and firmly.

  “You don’t tell me what to do.” The man snapped.

  “There’s no need to fight.” Sometimes Alex felt more like a counselor than the muscle, but the instructions were to handle things calmly if he could. “Let’s head outside and we can have a talk about it, all right?”

  “You’re just trying to get me out of here. Do you think I’m going to fall for that shit?” The man scoffed.

  “Of course, you’re not.” Alex shook his head. His head was spinning. There wasn’t a clear course of action here, but he knew that he had to do something about it. This guy wasn’t just going to walk away. “Why don’t you tell me what the problem is?”

  “This guy stole my beer.”

  “I offered to pay for it. Didn’t mean to grab the wrong bottle.” The offender put his hands up. Clearly, he didn’t want to fight any more than Alex wanted to end one. That was at least an advantage that he had in this situation no matter how impossible it seemed.

  “He spit it all over me.”

  “It wasn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t see him there.”

  “Why don’t you let him pay for it?” Alex wasn’t going to let this argument continue. He didn’t need to hear more. Mixing booze with a temper was never a good idea. And this just proved it.

  “I ought to kick his ass.”

  “Nobody here wants that kind of trouble. And you don’t want to have to leave and be banned, do you?” Alex reminded him of the consequences as he felt some people start to filter out. Nobody wanted to see the fight that might occur. And he couldn’t blame them.

  If there was a fight, the police would be called. And Alex did not relish working anywhere near the police. He didn’t have any sort of warrants on him, but he had spent too much time on the wrong side of the law, even spending short bursts of time behind bars.

  He had to pause and remind himself that he was on the right side of the law this time. Nobody was going to arrest him for stopping a fight when it was his legal job to do so.

  He stared at this drunk, his eyes growing to hard steel until the man dropped down back onto his stool grumbling. “I think you’ve had too much.”

  “I should get home.” The man grumbled, tossing a few bills on the counter and heading for the door.

  “You got a ride man?” Alex grabbed his shoulder.

  The drunk pulled out his phone. “I can get an Uber.”

  “Good man, don’t need anyone driving out of here drunk.” Alex agreed.

  The man left and Alex leaned against the wall. Tracey was practically dancing while Jan rushed up to him. “How the hell did you do that?”

  Alex laughed. “It’s pretty easy to tell when I mean business.”

  “Can you teach me?”

  “I don’t think you got the muscles for it.”

  Jan pouted a little bit. “I can do the whole steely-eyed glare thing. I know I can.”

  “Not when your lip is stuck out like that.”

  “You look like a little kid.” Her twin sister teased from the other side of the room.

  Alex’s gaze followed the other voice and he noticed that the booth was empty. Benjamin had left, probably during the entire debacle with the angry drunk man. He couldn’t keep a frown from his face. And he didn’t even realize the way his heart had dropped before he heard Jan speak up again. “Don’t give me that look.”

  “I’m not.” Alex forced his mind back on track and rolled his eyes, heading back to get to work. “What needs doing?”

  “You need to teach me to be scary.”

  “Wouldn’t you rather be adorable?” He teased his little cousin. The girl had been a bit of a kid sister to him and he appreciated it. The girl meant the world to him in so many ways.

  All of the girls did. And as he looked over the bar, he felt the feeling of home sink in more. This was where he was meant to be. He regretted ever leaving this place.

  Work continued, the bar calming down to a friendly buzz of people that seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere now that trouble had been shown out the door. Even if Benjamin had been driven off, he felt the place comfort him in a warm embrace.

  But by the time the place closed down and all the cleaning was done he found himself exhausted. It had been a long ten hours on his feet. “Glad I got my bed put together.”

  “Man, you just got into town today, didn’t you?” Taylor dumped the mop bucket down the drain. The place had been cleaned from top to bottom. Alex had found himself working hard in the kitchen. The girls handled the bar just fine unless they needed something heavy lifted, so he had been doing dishes.

  “Yeah. I could use a damn drink too.”

  “Grab a beer from the bar. Just give the cash to Tracey.” Taylor shrugged.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. Just take it home with you.”

  “Do I get a discount?”

  “You get it at cost, but no free stuff.”

  “I don’t plan to steal from family.”

  “I didn’t think you would.” Taylor shrugged.

  “How much more we got to do?”

  “We’re done now.”

  “And only half an hour before closing.”

  “Glad for the extra help. I think we’re all done tonight.”

  “Can’t blame you there. It’s a lot of work.”

  Tracey stuck her head back in. “You should talk to him.”

  “Are we on this again?” Alex groaned.

  “Promise me you’ll at least think about it?”

  “I’ll think about it.” Alex reluctantly agreed. He didn’t think it was the greatest idea, but he knew that his cousin just wanted him happy.

  He tried to convince himself that he was just agreeing to think about it to keep his cousin happy as he drove to his tiny apartment. But he couldn’t get that small inkling out of his head. The one that told him that maybe she was right.

  Maybe there was something special about this man. There was only one way to find out.

  Chapter Four

  Benjamin stopped himself from pacing again. He knew that he was better than torturing himself over the problem. There had to be a better way to do
this. There always was a solution, he just had to calm down and stop trying to force it.

  Maybe a distraction. He headed to the fridge to grab a beer, but there wasn’t any beer there. “You don’t need to drink so much anyway.” He chastised himself over it. He had found himself reaching for a beer more and more since he had been spending more of his time at home alone.

  “You need to do something, damn it.” He couldn’t get his head wrapped around it. He reached to pick up his phone.

  “Nothing.” He groaned to himself. “What are you hoping for anyway?” He shook his head. There was nothing to really pray for in that aspect. He had just spoken to his work friends the day before. They weren’t going to just show up on his phone now. They all had their own stuff to do.

  He sighed and walked back across the front room to plop back on the couch. But another sound distracted him as he turned back to look at his laptop. Someone was knocking on the door.

  For a moment he considered answering it but decided against it. He wasn’t in the mood to find out whoever it was at his door.

  But the next knock made him pick himself up and head to the door. It opened to reveal an absolutely beautiful man. The type of man that he never thought would end up at his door. He stopped and stammered at him. “M-may I help you?”

  “Ah.” The man hummed awkwardly. “I’m just next door. Just moved in.”

  “I didn’t even notice I had a neighbor.” He felt like he should have noticed that.

  “I was worried the moving might be disturbing you.” Alex held out a tattooed arm.

  Benjamin glanced at it before he realized that the man was offering to shake his hand. He reached out a bit awkwardly, feeling the strong grip on his hand. Benjamin was pretty sure this man could have crushed his hand if he wanted to. “You weren’t disturbing me at all. Sorry, I’m just a little distracted.”

  “Something I can help with?”

  “That’s very nice of you, but how much do you know about coding?”

  Alex laughed. “Honestly not much. Oh, I’m Alex Woodward.”

  “Benjamin Langtry.” He returned with his name and Benjamin felt a small smile start to form on his face. “I’m afraid you can’t help much then.”