Pestilence (22 page)

Authors: T.A. Chase

Tags: #Erotic Romance Fiction

BOOK: Pestilence

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“You better be, or I’m going to skip the steak and eat the chocolate cake I baked for you.”

Toby skidded to a halt at the foot of the stairs. He turned to eye Jensen. “What’s going on? Why did you bake me a cake? Are you leaving again?”

Jensen waved his questions away. “We’ll talk after dinner. I also don’t want the meat to get burned. So go.”

As much as Toby loved Jensen’s chocolate cake, the excitement at the possibility of eating it had dulled. Knowing that it had been cooked to soften a coming blow didn’t make Toby want to race upstairs anymore. He leaned against the wall and stared at Jensen who puttered around the kitchen, avoiding his gaze.

“Jensen? Come on, talk to me. Are you going on another climbing trip?”

He didn’t really like the trips Jensen took to climb some of the world’s most dangerous mountains, but he’d never tried to stop him. Toby understood that it was how Jensen coped with the stress of the world around him. Jensen had tried to deal with drugs and alcohol and all that had done was make him a recovering addict.

At least with climbing, he was doing something healthy. Toby silently amended that. The kind of high altitude expeditions Jensen went on would have him leave excited and happy to go on the journey, and return to Toby wasted away from the toll conquering the mountain had taken on him.

Toby didn’t like seeing Jensen diminished in any way, and he wasn’t a hundred percent sure climbing was the best thing for Jensen. It was almost as though he replaced one addiction with another and any of them could kill him if he wasn’t careful.

“Toby. Please, go change and come back down to eat. I told you. We’ll talk about it after dinner.”

Jensen looked up then and Toby saw the almost feverish glow in his lover’s eyes—a glow that caused his heart to sink. Jensen was leaving again, and Toby didn’t know if he could stand it one more time.

He trudged up the stairs to their bedroom where he quickly changed. His dress shirt went in the pile for the dry cleaners, along with his pants. His shoes were lined up neatly with the others at the bottom of the closet, socks and undershirt tossed into the hamper.

Toby dug out his favorite pair of ripped jeans and the Wyoming sweatshirt he’d stolen from Jensen. Once he got those on, he tugged on a pair of thick socks before heading back down to where Jensen waited for him. He tried to summon a smile for his lover when he stepped into the dining room, but he didn’t have one to give.

“Sit and eat.” Jensen motioned to his usual spot at the table. “I already poured you some cider.”

Toby frowned. “You managed to do all this after working at the gym today? You know you didn’t have to go to all this trouble. I could’ve picked something up on the way home.”

Jensen shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Toby. I don’t mind cooking. It helps unclutter my mind.”

Like climbing, Jensen had discovered an affinity for cooking and he was quite good at it. Toby would never complain about returning from work to find a home-cooked meal on the table waiting for him. He just didn’t want it to be because Jensen was trying to figure out how to tell him he was leaving.

Gripping his knife until his knuckles turned white, Toby stared at Jensen. “Please tell me. You know the waiting makes it worse. How long will you be gone this time?”

Sighing, Jensen set his fork down before meeting Toby’s gaze. “Do you remember me telling you that Cat, Jigger and I had planned on climbing Everest last year?”

Toby nodded even while his heart sank. Everest. One of two mountains still on Jensen’s bucket list. He took a quick swallow of cider, wishing it were beer instead before he motioned for Jensen to continue.

“We couldn’t last year because the climbing season was suspended after all those Sherpas were killed and the rest went on strike. You can’t climb Everest without Sherpas to help you. I don’t care what anyone says. Those men are mountain gods. I wouldn’t go on any expedition to Everest that didn’t use them.” Jensen stabbed at his steak, his expression fierce.

“I remember you telling me about the avalanche and that it was the deadliest single day incident on the mountain ever—even worse than the nineteen-ninety-six storm.” Toby held back the shudder threatening to take over his body at the thought of Jensen being up on that mountain when the storms started rolling in.

“Yeah. So they canceled the season and we couldn’t go. Well, Jigger called this morning and said that we got our permit and we’re going this year.” He was practically bouncing in his chair. “I’m going to fly out to Wyoming at the end of February so we can get in some real climbs and train together. We’re flying into Katmandu around the end of March. We need to get to Base Camp in April.”

“February?”

It was the second week of January. He should be glad he’d had Jensen around for Christmas and New Year’s.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I would’ve let you know sooner, but we weren’t sure we’d get another permit. The climbing season starts in March, but we decided to try and get there for the optimal time to summit, which is May.” Jensen took a deep breath and Toby could see him visibly reining in his excitement.

He didn’t move when Jensen reached across the table to take his hand with his own. Toby looked into Jensen’s hazel eyes and saw the spark that had always attracted him to Jensen. For the most part nowadays, it was there because of him. Yet Toby knew that the only other thing that could make Jensen shine like that was climbing.

“When will you be back?”

Toby tried to keep his hold on Jensen light, as though he were sheltering baby chicks in his hands. He was exhausted from worrying about clinging to Jensen, afraid that if he became too needy, Jensen wouldn’t come back from one of his climbs. That he’d run away again like he did seven years ago.

“By the end of May or beginning of June—no later. I’ll go back to Wyoming with Jigger and Cat to make sure they’re okay then I’ll come straight back here.” Jensen’s grip on Toby’s hand tightened and Toby gritted his teeth. “I’ve been dreaming about Everest since I first started climbing.”

“You told me that. You’ll be able to cross it off your bucket list if you summit, right?” he asked, hoping it wouldn’t turn into something Jensen wanted to do all the time.

“Yep.
When
we summit. There’s no doubt the three of us are going to make it all the way up to the top. I don’t plan on spending all that money and traveling that far not to conquer that mountain.” Jensen’s grin held supreme confidence.

Shifting in his seat, Toby tugged his hand free then reached down to adjust his cock in his jeans. Jensen leaned back in his chair with a smirk on his face. The ass knew exactly what he was doing to Toby.

“After Everest, you’ll have only one more mountain to summit, then you can focus on something else,” Toby commented, not willing to acknowledge the erection he was sporting. That was something they could both address after dinner.

“Yeah. K2, a bitch of a piece of wind-scarred rock. A lot of people think Everest is the pinnacle of climbing, but not me. To summit K2, you need balls and guts. I think it’ll be technically more difficult than Everest as well.” Jensen rubbed his chin. “I have to call Cat and Jigger. One of the guys we climb with a lot has applied for a permit to climb one of the routes on that mountain. I need to find out if he’s heard from the Pakistani government yet.”

Toby watched as Jensen drifted off, obviously starting to make a checklist for his K2 climb. He stretched to grab a roll then tossed it at Jensen, hitting him smack in the face. Jensen jerked and glared at him.

“What the hell was that for?” Jensen snatched the bread off the floor then dropped it on the table. “Are you trying to start a food fight?”

“No. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You have a more recent climb to train and plan for. You don’t need to be figuring out the logistics on the K2 trip yet.” Toby didn’t want him to go on
either
expedition, yet he didn’t feel like he could ask Jensen to stay home, not when he was so close to reaching his ultimate goal.

Jensen shook his entire body as though he were getting rid of everything except what was going on around him at that moment. After taking a sip of his cider, he smiled at Toby.

“How was work?”

Toby shrugged. “Crazy. You would think someone flipped a switch somewhere. Clients want to buy—or sell—and I’m trying to convince them all not do to a fire sale. The markets have been relatively steady the past couple of months. I guess people think that something bad is about to happen and they want to get out before it does. Or some of them want to see how much money they can make from other people’s panic.”

“Man, I don’t miss those days. I’d usually be calling my dealer about one in the afternoon and get him to make a delivery. Plus the fifth of whiskey I kept in my bottom desk drawer would be empty by the time I left work.” Jensen rocked back on the hind legs of the chair, arms folded over his chest.

“Seriously? I guess I didn’t know dealers made house calls. Of course, I wasn’t into drugs that much. Did some once in a while when we went clubbing, but never got hooked.” He took a bite of his steak that had gotten cold while they talked.

Jensen let his chair fall back to the floor. “Yeah. I always wanted to tell you not to do any of that shit when we went out because I was so afraid you’d get caught up in it like me. I was happy when it seemed like you were only a recreational user.”

“I stopped doing even that when you disappeared,” Toby confessed. “I didn’t go out much for a while after that. I tended to drink my sorrows, not drug myself into a stupor.”

“I’m sorry,” Jensen apologized for the millionth time.

He held up his hand. “Stop apologizing. I forgave you when you agreed to move in with me.”

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About the Author

There is beauty in every kind of love, so why not live a life without boundaries? Experiencing everything the world offers fascinates T.A. and writing about the things that make each of us unique is how she shares those insights. When not writing, T.A.’s watching movies, reading and living life to the fullest.

Email:
[email protected]

T.A. loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.pride-publishing.com
.

Also by T.A. Chase

Out of Light into Darkness

From Slavery to Freedom

The Vanguard

Two for One

Where the Devil Dances

Stealing Life

The Four Horsemen: Pestilence

The Four Horsemen: War

The Four Horsemen: Famine