Page 4 of Chance Encounter

“How far is it to your house?” I ask as another jolt of pain flashes through my leg and sweat coats my body.

“We’ve still got a way to go. If I would have known I’d be saving someone’s life, I wouldn’t have walked. You’re lucky I heard you.” His dark eyes flashed in the setting sun.

“What were you doing out in this weather?” I ask lamely.

“Letting my dog out. He started barking, so I went to investigate what had him so up in arms. He’s usually pretty chill.”

I had no idea Chance has a dog. He doesn’t seem the type.

“I’ll have to buy him a big juicy steak for alerting you.”

“And what are you going to give me for saving you? It was me and not Harry who fired the shot.”

Not even twenty minutes have passed by, and he already wants his payment.

I turn to look at him for the first time since he walked up to me. I’d been trying to avoid how he always made me feel when I looked at him. Chance was always good-looking, but he grew even more into his good looks as he got older. Gone is the youthful baby fat that once lingered on his face. Now he’s all man with his angular face, sharp nose, a goatee that set off his kissable lips. The dark slashes above his equally dark eyes are angled down in concentration, giving Chance a mysterious quality.

“As much as it pains me to say this, thank you for saving me.” I grit out in pain from saying the words I never wanted to utter to my nemesis.

“Now you owe me a life debt.” The jovial tone in his voice makes me want to rage against the moment, but I hold it in. He could still leave me out here.

Sally bellows from a distance, making me look over my shoulder. I don’t see her, but it doesn’t matter. We need to get the hell out of here. She can smell us, track us, and that’s what matters.

“Can you walk any faster?” Chance asks as he speeds up. “How bad is your leg?”

“It’s not broke, but I think I sprained it pretty good,” I admit, hating to show any sign of weakness in front of him.

“Put as much weight on me as you need. We need to get out of here.” The urgency in his voice has me on edge and picking up my pace even as my ankle screams out in pain.

I grit my teeth to keep from making any noise that would indicate my level of agony. It’s bad, but death is so much worse and final. Just when I think we must be walking in circles, I see a light in the distance.

I squint my eyes, trying to see it better. “Is that your place?”

“It is. Can you make it that far?”

“Do I have a choice?” I ask, nearly stumbling.

“Of course, you do. You can give up and become bear food.” His deep voice rumbles.

“I don’t give up. Ever. You should know that.”

“Oh, I do. You’ve made that painfully obvious over the years how you’ll do whatever it takes to beat me,” Chance says with annoyance.

I’m not sure what he’s talking about. Chance has hated me since the day he met me, even before I did better than him on tests, in P.E. class, or sports. It’s never made sense to me, but it doesn’t matter now. He’s been an asshole to me for the last twenty-odd years of my life, and I doubt that’s ever going to change.

I hate him just as much as he hates me, if not more. He’s ruined my life by outing me to our town—a town that doesn’t do well with change or homosexuals, it seems.

Stepping up onto his wrap-around porch, a sense of urgency grips me by the balls. “Do you feel that?”

“Yeah, I do,” he pushes me toward the door. “I think she followed us, but why, I’m not sure. She’s too far from her den.”

“I guess I make everyone around me hate me. Is it the way I smell?” I ask jokingly. I did nothing to either of them and yet they both wanted me dead.

“Maybe she can sense how big of an asshole you are.” He opens the door and lets me walk inside first.

The second I walk inside his cabin, I’m overpowered by the cologne Chance wears. His smell is everywhere, and I’m close to walking back outside and seeing how well I’ll do on my own. If I stay here with everything that is Chance assaulting my sense, I don’t think I’ll last.

I swear this day has turned into some kind of bad horror movie.

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