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    Chance Encounter
    Chance Encounter
    Chance Encounter
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Chance Encounter

    By Christiane France

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    About this ebook

    In high school and through their first year of college, Jase Thoman and Matt Lester were best friends and lovers. Then Matt’s family moved, Matt transferred to another school, and they soon drifted apart.

    Ten years later, they meet again by chance. Jase is a private investigator, desperate to find his kid brother who, in addition to two other teenage boys, disappeared after last being seen at a local gay bar. Matt is an undercover police officer, brought in by the local police department in the hope he can succeed where they’ve far failed.

    Matt is the only man Jase has ever really loved, but ten years is a long time. They’re not the same people they once were. When Matt tries to pick up where they left off, Jase takes a step back. His first priority is finding his brother. As far as Matt is concerned, Jase feels how he imagines a deer would feel when caught in the headlights of a vehicle with little or no chance of escape—confused, unsure, and at the same time, positive whatever he does will be the wrong thing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristiane France
    Release dateMay 12, 2016
    ISBN9781533779748
    Chance Encounter

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      Book preview

      Chance Encounter - Christiane France

      For my Boys.

      Chance Encounter

      Jase Thoman noticed the guy in the tattered, skintight jeans and tacky sequined top the moment he walked into Rafe’s Nightclub. A real sad-looking guy, with long, unkempt hair, chipped black nail polish, glittery eye shadow, and an air of desperation that served as an unpleasant reminder of the one time Jase had found himself down to his last few dollars.

      Things hadn’t been so bad for Jase he’d found it necessary to beg or sell his body for a bite to eat, but starting his own business on a shoestring had been quite the balancing act. He’d had a firsthand taste of the panic that comes with the rent being a couple of months behind and bills piling up like snowdrifts. The threatening letters and the nasty phone calls. Worst of all, being scared stiff to answer the door just in case the last thing he saw in this life was a baseball bat aimed at his head. Between a small stroke of luck in the form of two regular clients and a lot of hard graft, he’d managed to survive those first few months, but the scary memories had never quite faded. He knew exactly what desperation felt like in all its colors and every shade in between.

      He glanced idly around the immediate area. Rafe’s was a rough place with a bad reputation made worse by the mysterious disappearance of three local teenage boys at different intervals over the past year. The first boy, Jase’s kid brother, had vanished about a year ago, the second, some six months later, and the third and last within the past couple of months. All three were known to have sneaked into the club during its busiest time, somewhere between eleven and three in the morning, but what happened to them after that had everyone, the cops included, completely mystified.

      Until recently, Jase thought there were just the two clearly marked exits—the main entrance at the front and a delivery door in back. But after receiving an anonymous tip to the effect there were other ways in and out of Rafe’s, he’d decided to drop by and check the place out for himself.

      At a few minutes short of ten, with only a thin scattering of customers, it was too risky for Jase to snoop around to see if what he’d been told was true. He’d have to wait until later, say around midnight, after the live music came on and the action was starting to heat up. By then, the place would be packed, and with the lighting turned way down low, the likelihood of anyone being interested in his movements would be less than zero.

      Jase had been here to Rafe’s once before just a few months ago. He vaguely recalled the location of the toilets, the back rooms available for the customers’ use, and a hallway leading to the back door. If there was another exit, he would find it.

      He knew most young boys were clever at sneaking into places where they weren’t supposed to go. He’d done it himself a few times when he was a kid. He’d usually been challenged within minutes of getting in and swiftly tossed out again, but that had all been part of the fun. However, no one, including the cops, had figured out how the three teenagers, who were known to have gotten into the bar, had somehow been spirited out again without anyone seeing a thing. Jase’s brother had been almost seventeen and the other two, eighteen. All under the legal drinking age and not one of them had been known to carry phony ID. In any event, going by the photos Jase had seen in the papers and on TV, they all looked much too young to try pulling a stunt like that. It wouldn’t have fooled anyone, least of all the savvy staff at Rafe’s.

      If his anonymous caller was proved right and there were other ways in and out of the premises, it would solve the mystery as to how the kids had left without being seen. Jase couldn’t see how knowing about another exit would help find his brother, but perhaps the call had merely been intended as a warning that what had happened before could happen again.

      While he waited for the bartender to take his order, Jase continued watching the guy with the chipped black polish and wondered what had brought him down so far he needed to troll for business in a dive like Rafe’s. Booze, drugs, or had he simply woken up one morning to discover his job and life as he knew it, had vanished just like the three missing boys? Another scruffy-looking case standing next to the guy moved on farther down the bar, and Jase stepped into the empty spot.

      Buy you a drink, bro? Jase offered.

      The dude’s skanky top had a few sequins missing, while others were coming loose, but his dark eyes showed a spark of interest and his features formed themselves into a hopeful smile. You talking to me?

      Sure am. Looks like you could use a cold one. What’ll it be? Beer or something stronger?

      The man hesitated, frowning, but then his smile suddenly broadened, giving Jase the distinct impression the guy thought he knew him. By all that’s holy... Jeez, I don’t believe it. This is really wicked, man.

      There was no recognition on Jase’s end. But then he constantly met all kinds of different people in the course of his job. Could be they’d crossed paths at some point, and he just didn’t remember. What don’t you believe?

      That it’s really you. I guess, after all this time, you’ve forgotten I’m basically a beer drinker, but right now, I’d rather have a nice cold glass of OJ.

      Forgotten? After all what time? As in I’m supposed to know you from somewhere?

      Jase narrowed his eyes and looked the dude over more carefully. The lighting in the club was lousy, but somewhere between the glitter, the cheap glamour and false eyelashes, one of which was rapidly becoming unglued, there was something vaguely familiar about the guy. He searched his memory and came up dry. Sorry, man, I think you must be mistaking me for someone else.

      The man gave a soft, sexy chuckle, raising hairs on places Jase had always thought were hairless. He flipped through his memory banks for a second time. He still didn’t recognize the face, but he knew he’d heard that chuckle somewhere before. Where or when, he couldn’t remember...but something about it reminded him of his college days and March break—cheap motel rooms, heavy breathing, sweat-soaked sheets, and the overpowering smells of stale beer and sex.

      S’okay, Jase. It’s been one helluva long time, the guy said quietly. And I know I have you at a disadvantage in this getup. But you were looking me over pretty good, so I figured I should say something fast in case you recognized me and blew my cover.

      Sorry, man. Like I said, I think you’re— Before Jase could finish what he was about to say, he realized the guy had used his name. Then, something clicked in his brain and the memories came flooding back...along with a rush of pure sexual need he hadn’t felt in a very long time. You’re— Oh, my God, it’s— But it can’t be. You’re—

      Matt Lester in the flesh?

      Jase stared in shock at the guy standing beside him. He and Matt Lester had been lovers, best friends, and roommates through the last couple of years of high school and the first year of college. Then Matt’s family had moved to the west coast, and

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