Chance Encounter, Chapter 9
Things went along pretty smoothly for the first part of the week that Karen was away. The boys got in several hours of work at the store, and Chance convinced his doctor to let him put in a few hours at the shop in addition to going back to school. He had already decided he was going to keep up his class-work with or without the doctor's approval.
He was dead tired the first day, but rebounded the second. By the third day, he was nearly back to normal. Of course, I wouldn't let him lift a finger at home. The boys took up the slack admirably, and I was able to resume my normal schedule.
My work was caught up, and I had the chance to meet with a couple of new clients, Mark Hanson being one of them. From knowing his mother, I wasn't surprised that he was as genuine as he had appeared at our first meeting. His goals were as modest as his current salary, but he agreed that investing a small amount from each paycheck on a continuing basis would be a good plan. I set up an account for him that would begin to build for retirement in the distant future with money he wouldn't miss in the present.
I was also helping Chance invest the new-found wealth that had come from the go-fund-me campaign. He would have more than enough to settle his medical bills and pay for the rest of his schooling. He said that getting shot was a lucky break for him and probably happened because God was looking out for his future. I didn't agree! I said that God didn't "let him get shot" but that it simply happened. God might have given him the spirt to turn the incident into a positive outcome, but not the pain and near-death experience that went with it.
He didn't go crazy with spending, as some would have, but he did allow himself a few luxuries. Well, mostly he bought things for Gavin and me. Gavin was now the proud owner of a good phone of his own, and Chance upgraded our "family" account. He insisted on paying for it, and I didn't argue. His "macho pride" was one of the qualities I admired in him.
He also purchased the chrome wheels that I'd been lusting for to replace the steel ones on my convertible. At the same time, he chose to keep his old car rather than buying a newer one. He was generous to others, but conservative on his personal spending habits. That's my awesome guy!
Having Kip added to our family, al-be-it temporarily, was also a perk. He was great company, and his sense of humor was infectious.
All in all, life was looking great!
Our good fortune made the call I received from Gavin all the more dreadful by contrast.
"Matt, please come quick. We need to take Kip to the hospital. We're by the parking lot on the trail; the one that's by the creek across from Home Depot. Please bring your papers about being Kip's guardian."
I kept him on the line while I grabbed the papers from under a magnet on the front of the fridge and jumped into my convertible to make the short half-mile drive.
"I'm on my way. Is he bad off?"
"The police think he'll be fine, but I'm scared. I'll explain it all when you get here. Please hurry!
"I'm actually almost there. Can you see my car?"
"Yup! Thanks!"
When I arrived, there were two cops, several spectators, and a man in handcuffs. A lady was holding onto Kip and assisting him in taking a few steps.
I introduced myself to the police officers and showed them the document that gave me authority over Kip's care.
"I'm his guardian while his mother is out of the country on business. May I take him to the hospital for treatment?"
"Karen had no business going abroad and leaving my boy in the care of others!" the handcuffed man spoke up. "I was taking him to a place where he could be cured from being a faggot!"
"You have no say in this," Officer McClellan told him. "You would have done him harm if his buddy hadn't stopped you. Get in the car and keep your mouth shut!"
With that, Sergeant Forbes, and he, practically carried the man to their cruiser and unceremoniously stuffed him into the back seat. He resisted all the way.
"Transporting the boy will be up to Ms. Mortenson," Officer McClellan responded to my question when he returned. "She's an emergency room nurse who happened to be out running on the trail."
"What do you think, Ma'am?" I asked.
"He should be checked over to be certain his lungs are clear, but I'm sure he can travel by car instead of having an ambulance. I'll be happy to accompany you if you wish."
"I'd appreciate that to no end!"
"May I take Gavin along?" I asked, gesturing with my hand toward our young bro who was now holding onto Seth for dear life.
"We need to interview him before we let him go. We can have someone bring him to the hospital when we finish, but we want all the details while they're still fresh in his mind," McLellan responded.
"Corbin and I can take him," Landon spoke up.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't even see you standing there, Landon! I'm sorry."
"No problem. I'm about as overwrought as you are. This was a scary situation, but it looks like it's all resolved now. We drove over today instead of walking because Corbin was tired, but with all the excitement, he's kind of hyper now."
"Thanks for the offer and I'll take you up on it. There's no one I'd trust my little bro to more than you or Michael."
Gavin had tears in his eyes when he gave Kip a kiss on the cheek as we got him settled in my car. His deep caring for his boyfriend evidently trumped his concern about showing affection in public. I doubt anyone saw it as anything but the concerned gesture that it was.
I was careful not to exceed the speed limit by much as we drove to the emergency room. Having Ms. Mortenson along was a great comfort for me.
"How are you doing, Kip?" I inquired.
"I've had better days, but I feel like I can breathe okay now. I'm still a little dizzy. I wonder what he did to me."
"I believe he used some sort of chloroform," the nurse answered. "The police will have a better handle on that after they do a lab analysis of the cloth he put over your face."
Having a resident nurse as your advocate does wonders for getting immediate treatment. I've never seen a quicker response, but then, I've never seen a crime victim in the ER either.
Kip was quickly put on an oxygen treatment, and then examined thoroughly. I was allowed to be there just as if I were his parent and he held onto my hand for assurance, almost as if I were his father.
I was curious as hell about what had happened on the trail, but at present, I couldn't ask Kip who was occupied with answering the questions of the attending medical professionals. It was evident to me that they were checking his memory as well as his reflexes.
The examination took a while, but they were nearly finished when I heard Gavin's voice in the hall.
"You can go tell him I'm fine," Kip said.
"Are you sure you want me to leave you?"
"Yeah, I don't want him to worry. He was more scared than I was, I think. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't been there and kept his cool."
Gavin was in a "state," as my grandmother might have said. He practically knocked me over as he hugged me.
"Is he gonna make it?"
"Better than that, I don't think they're even going to keep him overnight."
"Oh, thank God! And thank you for bringing me, Landon."
"Yes, thanks much for helping us," I added.
"It's the least I could do. I'd certainly want someone to do that for our Rory or his boyfriend."
"It looks like you're gonna lose Corbin to the sandman. You'd better take him home. We have room in the car for Gavin, even if we may have to fold him up to get him in that small back seat."
"Okay, in that case I'll go. Once Corbin got in the car to come here, it was like someone turned off a switch. Please let Seth know that our thoughts and prayers are with him."
"Will do, and thanks again!"
"So, I take it that guy they had in handcuffs is Kip's father."
"Kip prefers to call him his sperm donor. He hasn't been much of a father to him for several years. Did you know he was attempting to kidnap Kip and take him to some therapy camp where they try to make you straight?"
"I heard him say that, but I know nothing else at this point other than his father tried to knock him out with some kind of chemical."
"I want to tell you everything that happened, but I think we should wait until we get Kip home, and maybe until Chance gets off work. I'm not sure how many times I want to relive it."
"That's fine with me. You don't want to dwell on it, but sometimes it's good to get it out of your system, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I'm not gonna bottle it up. I had to do that most of my life before I came to live with you guys. I'm not going back!"
We dropped Liz Mortenson at her condo, which wasn't far from ours. She had said she could take a cab, but I didn't feel right about having her spend money on top of the time she'd expended helping us with Kip. Her presence had been like that of a guardian angel. I would send her a gift card to a popular restaurant when I could get to it. Possibly we could have her over for dinner sometime as well.
The boys remained stuffed in the back seat instead of either of them moving to the front after Liz got out. At the moment, neither one of them wanted to be that far apart.
When they got home, they took me up on the offer of a snack before heading for Gavin's room. They left the door ajar as Gavin stripped them both to their briefs before they snuggled in his bed.
Given the stress they'd been under the past several hours; that was probably the best therapy for both of them.
In the meantime, I seasoned the prime rib roast that I would put in the oven at 4:00 and made up the batter for Yorkshire Pudding so it would chill sufficiently.
Then I caught up on a few things I'd dropped in order to meet them at the trail. I thought it ironic that one of the stocks I'd been in the midst of purchasing when I got interrupted had dropped an additional 50 cents per share. I could now buy several more shares for the money I was planning to spend. And no, I didn't see it as Divine intervention!
Given the afternoon's events, it was difficult to concentrate, so I stopped trading and began to prepare a large salad to serve with dinner.
The whole drama, what I knew of it, kept circling in my head. I was dreading having to break the news to Karen. Perhaps the fact that Kip and she had Skyped the night before would preclude our having to contact her tonight. I didn't like the idea of keeping information from her, but I also hated to distract her from the important project she was directing. I'd have to play it by ear to determine how Kip wanted to deal with it.
The boys emerged from the bedroom dressed in shorts and T's a little before Chance came home. Kip acted like his old self, and they were both smiling. They were unusually demonstrative in their affection for one another, but who could blame them for that?
"It looks like your nap made a difference," I observed.
"Yup, I'm good as new, but I'd like to see my sperm donor spend a while in jail!"
"That may or may not happen; and it could lose him his job so he wouldn't be able to pay any child support," I cautioned.
"He doesn't pay that much, and it's always late. I can make up the difference by sacking groceries!"
"You'll have to see how your mom wants to proceed."
"Speaking of Mom, do you think we can wait until she's home in a couple of days before we tell her? We had a great visit last night, and I don't want to stress her out. If she doesn't call tonight, can we let her hear it all later?"
"That's a hard decision to make, but I was thinking along the same line. If you feel it's best to put it off, I can go along with it. I don't know how I'd feel in her situation. I don't want to make her angry with me!"
"You didn't tell me about Chance until you had to," Gavin reminded me. "And that was okay. I'm glad I didn't have to think about it longer than I did."
Chance came in right after that with a big smile on his face.
"I had a really good day! I hope you all had as fine a one. I got a raise!"
"That's wonderful!" I exclaimed as I kissed him. "I'll let the guys fill you in while I continue making dinner. I have to let the meat rest 20 minutes while I bake the pudding."
There were a few tears shed over the telling, but the boys' spirits seemed to be remarkably resilient. They had urged me to record their narrative so that they wouldn't have to go over it again from scratch when Karen got back from London. The gist of the story is as follows.
They were running on the trail in the early afternoon, competing with each other, in the hopes of building up their endurance for cross-country track in the fall. Gavin had put on a burst of speed as they neared the parking lot and had passed Kip who had been in the lead. As they slowed their pace to cool down, he had turned his head to smirk over his victory. That's when he saw someone grab Kip and cover his face with a cloth.
By the time Gavin spun around, the man, who turned out to be Kip's father, Kyle, was dragging his son's limp body into the back seat of a car which was idling in the lot. Gavin wasn't sure he'd be able to overpower the guy, so he used his brain to do the next best thing. He jumped into the shotgun seat to shut off the car. It was one that is operated by a "smart" key, which he spied lying on the console. He pushed the button on the dash to kill the engine and jumped back out with the key in his hand.
The man let go of Kip to chase after Gavin. Of course, Gavin could outrun him, but he didn't want to get too far away from Kip. So, he stopped, pushed the panic button to make the horn start beeping, and then threw the key into the trout stream that passes near the lot.
A few people moved toward the car to investigate the racket, but most ran or biked right by, assuming someone had accidentally set off the alarm.
Landon was among the ones who showed concern. He remembered Gavin from the time I'd pointed him out several weeks before.
Kyle Kipps accused Gavin of hurting his son and trying to steal his car. Instead of getting into a shouting match to set the record straight, Gavin called 911.
Landon knew it couldn't be true, so he didn't respond to Kyle's request for him to drive Kip and him away in his car. Seeing his ploy wasn't working, Kyle began to panic and threated to harm Corbin if Landon didn't cooperate. That led to his downfall. Landon literally jumped past Corbin, who had been between them, and kicked the man in the chest sending him sprawling down the embankment. That is where the cops had put the cuffs on him, a few moments later when he resisted them.
It was at that point that the nurse came to see if she could help. A few minutes later, I showed up.
Between us, Gavin and I gave Chance the rest of the details. We were pretty well talked out when the timer on the stove announced that dinner was nearly ready.
"Wow!" Chance exclaimed, as we dug into our roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding. "That had to be scary."
"It wasn't anything like what happened to you," Kip insisted. "I was pretty well out of it until I got to the hospital. Gavin had it worse."
"I was kinda scared," Gavin admitted. "I couldn't let anything happen to you, but I felt so powerless, being a skinny kid against a man."
"Your problem-solving abilities more than made up for your physical size. Besides, I'll bet you could have done some damage to Kip's father as the adrenaline kicked in. Landon isn't a real big guy either, but when his kid was in jeopardy, he must have become like the Incredible Hulk!"
"Yeah, now that you mention it, he probably could have killed him bare-handed," Gavin nodded. "I've never seen anyone move that fast except in the movies."
That was one of the best meals I've ever eaten," Kip said, leaning back and patting his stomach. You'll have to give that recipe to Mom. Her Yorkshire pudding isn't nearly as fine.
"It was awesome," Gavin agreed. I'd never eaten it before, but now it'll be one of my favorites!"
"Um perhaps I'll make it again when we have Karen over for dinner and then share the recipe if she asks for it. It wouldn't be polite to let her know her son liked mine better."
"That's true," Kip agree, "but she'll probably overlook a lot of my faults when she finds out what nearly happened to me.
I had a distinct feeling he was right. Karen would likely spoil him a bit, but not enough to make him rotten! She seemed to be raising a great kid.
Chance and I shared a shower before going to bed that night, and I heard the other shower run fairly long as well. I suspected that the teenagers might be planning an intimate night like Chance and I were. Whatever went on, it would probably be therapeutic.
For us, it certainly was. Chance not so subtly asked me to "fuck him senseless" and I was all too happy to grant his request. Whenever he bottomed, he was a power-bottom. His raise, along with his other good financial news, probably helped to fuel his libido.
When we were very close to our climax, he sent me over by asking me to fill his body with my "white-hot" cum! He was well aware of how I reacted to a little naughty talk.
We went to sleep pretty quickly, but I thought I heard a bit of gasping and grunting from the bedroom down the hall as I drifted off.
The boys put in a few hours at the store the following day. As long as they were up to it, I figured that getting back to a normal routine was the best course. They were still pretty clingy, but, knowing them as I did, they would likely not act overly affectionate in public. Again, I felt bad that they couldn't.
To make up for our calorie splurge from the night before, I served fish and veggies done on the grill that night. We all felt pretty good.
On Friday afternoon, I got a text from Karen saying she had just gone through customs at Dallas/Fort Worth and her flight home was on time. We would be able to pick her up before dinner.
I planned a meal that Chance could put in the oven when he got home, because we would be at the airport when it needed to be started.
Author's notes: Thanks to John L, Jim M, Wayne, Dan H, Dick M, Tony F, Mendy D, Jeremy R, Walter Sz, Hayden O, JCH, Mark W, Larry S, Geoff S, Tom A, Bill K, Walt S, Chandra B, Jim L, Zero, Jim W, John N, Ott H, Charles G, Bill T, Paul F, Paul R, Bill DW, and Peter M who emailed since last week.
This story was intended to be a very short story, but it grew out of hand. Chapter 10 will be the final one. It has to end sometime!
Thanks to Nifty and my editors for making it possible.
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My best,
David