Reunion

Reunion

Because love deserves a second chance

By

J J Harper

©Copyright 2016 JJ Harper

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places or incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used factiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons living or dead, events or locals are entirely coincidental.

The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission.  The publication/ Use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Jay Aheer Simply Designed Art

Edited by Tash Hatzipetrou
, Wicked Pleasures Editing Services

This goes to my two friends, for their constant encouragement. This would never have happened without these amazing girls, they have laughed, cried, and moaned at me and with me. At times when I couldn’t work they were there to pick me up. So for all the hours of laughter that caused tears to run down my face I give Nico and Ryan to Rae and Fee, sisters by choice.

Paul has to get a mention, as always he is there for me. His encouragement and praise do wonders for my self-esteem, I love you Paul.

I want you. I want us. I want it all. With you. Only you
.

It’s Thursday and the reunion is still two nights away, but the hotels are beginning to fill up as the old students from Grande Valley High School start arriving for the ten year reunion. I had to swap shifts with Doug so I can be free to join my old school friends. I’m working with Matt tonight on patrol, not quite the same patrol as I’m used to. But after spending eight years in the deserts of foreign lands with the army, give me downtown Grande Valley than the horrors of streets and alleyways of Afghanistan or Iraq any day. Over the last few weeks I’ve been searching the lists on the school’s online pages for the new names added as more and more people accept the invite, yesterday I saw it. He’s coming. Nico Angeles is coming. My heart beats just a little faster as I remember the last time I saw him; Prom night, the happiest night of my life which then turned into the worst night of my life just a few hours later.

As we patrol along the street that has the most bars, we hear the noise of a muffled cry of pain as we reach the end of a dark alleyway. Matt looks at me and we quickly turn down into the dimly lit alleyway. Looking ahead past the many dumpsters I can see three men standing over someone on the ground, one delivers a vicious kick to the victim’s ribs. Before we reach them they pull him to his knees and tug his jeans down off his hips.

“Take it faggot, take the fucking lot.” I recognize the voice of Chip Palmer, the local hot shot car dealer and total asshole. “You love sucking cock so much, you can suck mine dry!” He shoves his dick hard into the man’s mouth pulling his head back by his hair.

The two other guys laugh, one has the victim’s hands held behind his back and the other is stroking his dick, watching. Todd Mitchell and Davey Greenacre. These guys have been following Chip since Kindergarten, Todd is now a successful realtor and Davey is the owner of three fast food restaurants; you can tell just by looking at him, how much he loves his food. These three consider themselves very big fish in our very small pond; they’ve never ventured outside the city limits, probably knowing they wouldn’t make it anywhere else.

We’re both running and only ten feet away now. I can hear the gagging sounds coming from the guy on his knees as his mouth is pounded. Fuck fuck fuck! It’s Nico! What the fuck? Blind fury floods through me as I reach them, the pain I want to inflict on Chip Fucking Palmer running through my mind.

“Stop! Police!” Matt calls out loud and the three men freeze.

I speak confidently and loudly, “Step back and put your hands up!”

“Fuck off Connelly, this has fuck all to do with you,” Chip speaks through gritted teeth, at least he has pulled his dick out of my old boyfriend’s mouth. “This fucking faggot has had this coming to him for fucking years. You’re just the same. Fucking gay boy!” He spits on the ground.

“Oh okay, if you think he deserved it then we’ll wait for you to finish before we arrest you.” Matt has already got his cuffs out as he steps up to Chip.

I can see Nico’s bleeding mouth, now that Todd has let go of his arms. I watch him collapse to the ground, coughing hard before vomiting all over the pavement and joyously over Chip’s probably expensive Italian leather shoes. Watching him jump back in disgust has me smiling.

“Look we didn’t mean any harm. I wasn’t going to do anything. I heard the fight and came to help him!” Davey splutters at me.

“Shut the fuck up Davey, you dick!” Todd finally finds his voice.

“Yeah? Well you see Davey, the fact that you’ve still got your skinny little dick in your fat hands doesn’t make it look like you were just passing through.” Matt opens his cuffs and slaps one on Chip’s wrist before pulling his other arm into the other half of the handcuffs.

“He came on to us! Fucking faggot! We just thought we’d teach him a lesson; teach him not to hit on straight guys.” Chip tries to take a step towards me, trying in his usual brash and bullish way to intimidate me. Not going to work dude, not now, not ever.

“Yeah, I could tell
you
were straight Chip by the way you had
your dick
in his mouth. That’s just what every straight guy does.” I can see that Nico has sat up and now has his arms folded over the top of his bent knees with his head resting on top. His shoulders are still shaking and his breathing is labored. I can’t see any major injuries. I just wish he would look up, just to let me see his amazing blue eyes once more so I can see that he is okay. Those eyes have starred in every dream I’ve had for the last ten years, one more glimpse would make those empty years worthwhile.

“I’m arresting you, Chip Palmer and Davey Greenacre for aggravated sexual assault and indecent exposure and I’m arresting you, Todd Mitchell for aggravated sexual assault.” I finish reading them their rights and then straighten up before pulling my radio from my belt. “Hey Chrissie, can you sen
d
the wagon for three guys to the alley on West Street between The Westcoast Bar and Martine’s Hairdressers. I will need an ambulance too.”

Uproar ensues as I cuff Davey just as he throws his arm out to punch me. “Do you want me to add resisting arrest and attempted assault of a Police Officer to the list as well?” I get the cuffs on his wrists as the wagon arrives.

“Well, well would you look at this.” The wagon turns up just moments later and Braydon coughs out a laugh as he climbs down from the driver’s seat. “Gentlemen what have you been up to?” He cuffs Todd quickly without waiting for an answer.

I’m listening to the shouts of outrage and protest, but turn back to approach Nico.

“Hey Nico, it’s me Ryan Connelly. Do you remember me?” I ask softly as I squat down to his level. I so desperately want to touch him; to wipe the sweat soaked dark brown hair from his forehead and eyes. Watching him lift his head up to face me, I at last get to see the beautiful eyes that have haunted me for the past decade. They are such a bright blue, a color that shouldn’t belong with his olive-toned skin, and they pierce mine, making my breath hitch in my throat. Fuck, he’s even more gorgeous ten years later. My first and only love.

He slowly nods his head and in a gravelly whisper says, “Of course I remember you Ryan. Thanks for saving me.” He coughs, gagging again. “I’ll be alright from here.”

“Don’t say any more, I think you need to be checked out by the doc at the hospital. I know you don’t want to go, but to prosecute these assholes we need the med’s to check you out. It won’t take long, I promise.”

He’s still protesting as the paramedics turn up. “Please Nico, let them help,” I plead with him. “You’re cut up and bleeding.”

“Yeah but I’ve had worse. I’ll be fine. I just need to get back to my hotel.” But as he tries to stand his knees give way and he drops down to the ground once more.

“He’s down, let’s get him out of here.” Carly, the paramedic sweeps into action and within seconds Nico is on the gurney and ready to be lifted into the back of the ambulance.

She looks at me. “Are you coming too, Ryan?”

Nodding my head, I step up into the ambulance and let them shut the doors behind me. Carly starts to assess Nico’s injuries and from where I’m sitting I can see that those assholes had managed to bust him up real good. Both his eyes are already turning black and blue; the left has a deep graze above it. Those bastards! I am so angry, I want them to be punished for this but I have a horrible feeling that Nico is not going to want to press charges. I’ll just have to try and persuade him otherwise, these guys need to be punished.

Once Carly has checked Nico’s blood pressure and oxygen level; I watch her place an oxygen mask over his face. His eyes are still closed giving me the chance to look him over. I take him in. He looks taller than the eighteen year old I knew ten years ago. He’s packing some muscles now too. I looked everywhere for him for so long, he disappeared for years. It was about six years or so ago that I saw him again. This time on the cover of Fitness Monthly; a national magazine that I buy religiously, not just for the work-out tips but for the pictures of the hottest guys in the country. I was sitting in a tent in the middle of a fucking desert and there he was, muscled, oiled and so fucking hot! My ex-boyfriend. The man I have loved since I first saw him when I was a confused fourteen year old. But hell the minute I spotted him I knew I was definitely gay. No more confusion, I nearly came in my pants!  After seeing him in print I scoured the internet for him, stalking every site and social media outlet, watching as he became a superstar. His face and perfect body became a hot commodity. He walked red carpets and attended fashion shows as both a model and a celebrity, always with the stunning Italian man, Franco De’ath, the owner of the hottest chain of gymnasiums and fitness studios in the U.S., Nico was his protégé it seemed. This only proved how much he had moved on without me, strengthening my decision to stay away from him. Nobody wants to be walked away from twice.

What puzzles me now is why he would want to come back here. After walking away without even a goodbye, not even a ‘fuck you Ryan’. He has made no attempt to contact anyone, no-one has seen him since the night of our high school prom. It had been the best night of my life, the night we finally said I love you to each other for the first time. When I called at his house the next day looking for him his parents refused to talk to me; the door was just slammed in my face.

The drive to the hospital is smooth and quick, Nico’s handover to the triage nurse and doctor takes just moments. “You’ll have to wait here Ryan.” Carly puts her hand on my shoulder to stop me. “They will keep you informed.”

I nod my head but the need to stay with him is huge, the tension running through my body is hard to manage. “I know, thank you.”

I’ve known Carly for a few years now and we socialize in the same crowd. I think she wanted to make it more than friendship but after gently turning her down on more than one occasion she understood. I remember the day she asked me outright if I was gay. I was startled by her bluntness and I was only able to nod. Since the day Nico left me, I haven’t had a long term partner. I’ve only been with men to scratch the itch, crude I know but true. My heart has always belonged to one man and one man only. The man I’ve just seen for the first time in ten long years.

I can feel Carly’s eyes watching me as I watch Nico. “It’s him isn’t it Ry? He’s the one you love.” Her voice is so quiet I know it wasn’t overheard.

“Yeah, he’s the one. He just doesn’t know it.” I can feel the thickness in my voice as I try to contain my tears.

“Then you have to tell him, don’t let him go again Ryan. You deserve someone in your life, make sure you make it him.”

“I don’t know him anymore. He may be married with kids for all I know. He’s been seen with the same man for years .The nurse will have to check for his next of kin. I may be able to find out some more about him then.” Nico never talked openly about his private life, nothing much was known about it or him. The press gave up trying to second guess him, when a few lawsuits were threatened.

“I don’t think he’s married,” she answers quietly.

Turning my head away from the doors he disappeared through, I look at her inquiringly. “Why do you think that?”

“He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, we always check these things out when we do our assessment, and he wasn’t wearing any rings. I have to get back to work Ry, but don’t let this go you may not get another chance.” She smiles gently and pats my arm before walking away.

It’s another couple of hours before I see Nico again.