Page 6 of His Last Chase

“Just give this a try and we’ll talk later. Gotta go. My sassy boy is streaking across the room and that ass is in need of a David-sized handprint.”Click.

Some images I could do without. Especially when they were attached to the body of my godson whose diaper I changed as an infant. Oh, how times had changed.

But disappointing David wasn’t an option, though deciphering his cryptic message would prove challenging.

Well, one final round through the halls of Cordes would surely assist with the closure I sought.

Nostalgia hit me as I entered the familiar lobby. For so many years I lived for Saturday nights here and the occasional munch they held. How lost I’d become as no boy I’d played with held my interest for very long. Was it me? Were my expectations set so ridiculously high they’d never be met?

Possibly.

I waved to Beth who stood behind the glass divider as she checked my ID.

“Enjoy your evening, Casey,” she said in parting.

Friends had come and gone within these halls. Some partnered up with their forevers while others moved to new places or onto the great beyond. Guess I would become one of the ones who moved on now.

You would think that by the time you reached your forties the wanderlust would be sated as you settled down. So much for that, the settling down part that was.

Uncertain what David expected me to find, I wandered down the corridor to the littles’ room and there he stood just outside the door.

Chase.

Sure, I’d seen him as an adult when I attended a couple of their shows with David’s parents, but we’d never conversed. Chase was shy and reserved when off stage and many times I’d had a boy on my arm, so my attention was elsewhere. But there he was, right in front of me, nervously chewing on his lip as he watched the others play.

I gathered my wits and approached him.

“Would you like to go in?”

He gasped and turned to face me.

“I know you.”

“Not if you don’t want to. Anonymity is key here. Why don’t you go inside and look around. You don’t have to engage if you don’t want to.” He nodded and crossed the threshold like it was an entrance to another dimension, which I supposed it may be to him. I could almost hear his thoughts as they raced in a million directions at once. His head bobbed as he scanned every inch of the room, taking in all it offered.

This reaction right here was a key element that used to drive me here week after week. Oh, how I’d missed that feeling, especially with a newbie little attached to it.

And David knew. Somehow, he knew this would reignite the dying fire inside me.

I followed Chase and paused as two boys engaged him. What they said, I couldn’t hear but I spotted a couple of old friends and wandered over to them, though my eyes never left Chase.

“That has got to be two of the sweetest boys I’ve ever seen,” I said to Daddy Jensen as I approached.

“Casey, it’s been a long time.” Jensen hugged me. “You remember my partner, Mitchell?”

“I do.” Mitchell and I had only met a couple of times, so we shook hands in lieu of an embrace. But there was another familiar face I hadn’t seen in even longer. “Great to see you all again, especially you, Timothy. It’s been forever.”

“Just took the right boy to get me back in.” Timothy smiled as he glanced at the boys who appeared to have taken Chase under their wings.

“I take it the boy playing with Henry is yours?”

“Yes, that’s my Jamie. Who’s the boy they just adopted?” Chase was slow to join in but as he finally sat where the boys pointed I breathed a sigh of relief. Tentatively, he took the car Jamie handed him and played with it, albeit a bit reluctantly. When had I last been this enthralled watching a boy play?

“I-I…I don’t know. He looks familiar, though.” It wasn’t my place tooutChase. Until he said otherwise or told them his name, or whatever name he chose to give them,I’d play dumb.

Mitchell wandered over to the boys and crouched down beside them. We couldn’t hear what he said, but they smiled at whatever it was. Even Chase. Mitchell walked away and returned with three juice boxes. When they were empty, he tossed them and rejoined us.

“His name is Chase, he’s here on a friend pass for the day. Says his best friend David comes here.” I was a bit surprised he gave his real name, but Mitchell confirmed as much.

---