At the mention of his name, he stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around. “No. I’m sorry. I don’t think I do. When did we meet?” Nerves danced on the edge of his skin, and when he met the man’s sardonic gaze, a chill ran through him. His face was that of a stranger, but his eyes…
“It’s Oliver. Oliver Hogan.”
Nausea bubbled in his stomach, and Chess hoped he wouldn’t be sick. He knew that name. Intimately, in fact. He’d met Oliver on the streets after he’d run away. They would get high, have sex, then steal shit from convenience stores, or see who could make the most in a night from sucking guys off. Oliver was a few years older than him and had introduced Chess to harder drugs, like prescription painkillers. He disappeared one night, and Chess, lost, alone, and even less able to deal with shit, fell into the habit of trading sex for drugs.
“Oh, yeah.” Chess licked his lips. “It’s been a long time. I can’t believe you remember me.”
“It has.” Those two words set Chess’s skin crawling. Oliver’s eyes glittered. “You sure did well for yourself, snagging a rich dude like Webster.”
“Uh, I have to get back to my friends. They’re waiting for me.”
“I remember we used to have fun.”
Swallowing his nerves, Chess feigned a laugh. “That was a lifetime ago.”
“That how you met Webster? You sucked him off for a twenty and he liked it?” Oliver took a step closer.
“Stop,” Chess hissed and stepped away. His shoulders hit the door. “Don’t talk about André like that. You and I were kids when all that happened. I’m not—I don’t do that anymore. I was in a bad place.”
“Yeah, but it felt good.” Oliver came closer, and Chess’s heart pounded.
“Oliver, please stop. I have a job now…a different life.”
“Yeah, I know. You made it out, and I went to jail.”
Shocked, Chess stared at him. “Is that why you disappeared? I always wondered.”
“I picked the wrong mark, and it turned out to be an undercover cop. They found my stash on me, and I got five years.” Slouching against the sink, he sounded more defeated now than the threatening, angry man of moments before.
Chess wasn’t about to reveal that he’d also gotten caught up in the system, but they’d shown him leniency due to his age. Oliver wouldn’t be happy to hear that tidbit.
“I’m sorry. But you’re here now and doing well, I hope?”
“I work some part-time delivery job. Not a professor like you. I’m only here because I drive for a car service on the side, and the guy I’m with brought me in with him.”
“H-how do you know what I do?”
A wry smile tipped his lips up. “I saw a picture of you and your boyfriend on Page Six one day. You were at some fancy event. I wasn’t sure and had to look up the name, and when I saw you weremyChester, I did a little snooping online. Can’t blame me.”
No, he couldn’t.
Hating how his voice trembled, Chess appealed to Oliver. “Please, Oliver. It was a terrible time for both of us, but we aren’t the same people we were when we were kids. We’re better than that.”
“Do you know how hard it is to come back from jail? No one wants to hire me. Every day I try so fucking hard to make it and stay clean.” His hands clenched into fists, Oliver struck the sink top, and Chess flinched.
“And you are, right?”
After hesitating a fraction of a second, Oliver nodded. “Yeah. I have my little brother to take care of. I can’t fail him.”
Maybe he’d regret it, but he couldn’t help feeling sorry for the man and had always had a soft spot for the underdog. “I can check at school and see if there are any job openings. Do you live in the city? I can ask André if he can look for any openings at Webster Properties.”
Oliver’s jaw hung open, his voice hopeful yet tinged with uncertainty. “You-you’d do that for me even after what I just said? Why?”
Relief threatened to render him weak in the knees, but he held on. “Because everyone deserves a second chance. I got mine, and you should get yours too.”
Resignation sat in every line on Oliver’s face, defeat in the shadows beneath his eyes. He no longer looked like the devil-may-care wise guy Chess remembered.
“I don’t know what to say. Thank you, Chess. I’m sorry I came at you like that. You’re living your best life, and all I saw was red.”
