Coming Soon from Totally Bound Publishing:
What’s his Passion?
Mountains to Climb
T.A. Chase
Released 11th July 2014
Excerpt
Chapter One
Stepping in the bar was almost like getting hit by a car from the noise. Not that Toby Schwartzel had ever been struck by any kind of moving vehicle. He didn’t think a bicycle counted. He paused in the entrance to give himself a chance to adjust to the sound level and to scan the crowd, searching for any of the guys from the firm.
“Hey, Toby. We’re over here,” Simpson called from one of the back corners.
After acknowledging him with a wave, Toby wound his way to the bar where he ordered one of his favorite microbrews. While he waited for the bartender to pour it, he glanced around, checking out the possible hook-ups. It was Friday night and Toby didn’t have to work during the weekend, so he was looking for a little fun.
“Here you go, Toby.” Gray slid his mug across the wooden surface.
“Thanks, Gray. This is for you.” He slipped a five-dollar bill in the tip jar before taking a sip.
“I see your friend finally dragged himself out from whatever rock he’d been hiding under.” Gray jerked his head over toward the corner where Toby’s gang hung out.
“What friend?” He frowned as he tried to figure out whom Gray was talking about. All his friends were accounted for. Well, that he knew of anyway. He’d been so busy working on closing a big deal for a client during the last three months that he lost touch with a few of them that he didn’t see all the time at the office.
“Brockhoff. Saw him come in with Simpson.”
Someone yelled for Gray at the other end of the bar, so he shot Toby a quick smile before walking away.
Toby was frozen to the floor. What the fuck is Jensen Brockhoff doing back in town? Why the fuck hasn’t he called me in six years? The bastard couldn’t be bothered to tell me he was leaving. All I got was some ridiculous email about needing to get clean. Now he didn’t worry about letting me know he’s back. I should just leave.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to see he had a text from Simpson.
Get your ass back here, fuckhead.
He should’ve known Simpson wasn’t going to let him leave.
I think I’m heading home.
Sighing, he pouted as he sent that reply. He’d been eager to relax, drink and take some stranger home to fuck him into his mattress. It’d been a while since he’d had sex with someone else. Lately, it had been his hand and his dildo.
Fuck no! Brockhoff isn’t here to see any of us. He wants you.
There was a winking smiley face at the end of Simpson’s text.
Toby rolled his eyes, still not convinced it was the best idea for him to go over there. He wasn’t sure he could control his need to punch Jensen in the mouth for leaving like that. Get a fucking grip! It’s not like you were partners or anything. Just friends with benefits. It wasn’t like he owed you anything. Yet he did think that Jensen at least owed him the respect of telling him that he was leaving town, instead of just disappearing. Maybe he shouldn’t feel so bad since Jensen hadn’t informed anyone else either.
Tough. You deal with him, Simpson. I’m going home. I’ll see you in the morning.
He finished his beer then set the mug on the bar, turning to push his way through the growing crowd to get to the door. Just as he was about to make his escape, Simpson stepped in front of him.
“Don’t be a fucking coward, Toby. Go back there and face that ass.”
Toby shook his head. “I have nothing to say to him. It’s not like we were in a relationship or anything, Simpson. We were just fuck buddies.”
“Bullshit. I know you thought you were more than that to Jensen. Hell, I was just a drinking buddy of his and I was pissed when he bugged out like that. All he sent you was some idiotic little email that explained nothing. I poured your ass into bed when you drank yourself stupid for almost an entire week after he disappeared.” Simpson grabbed Toby’s arm. “I’m not going to let you run away from him. Don’t let him take this away from you.”
“I don’t want to face him. I don’t have anything to prove to Jensen or you for that matter, asshole.” Toby poked Simpson in the chest as he took a step toward him. “I’m frigging embarrassed that I reacted that way. We never made any promises to each other.”
“Then why are you running from him? Go back there. Have a good time. Pick up some guy and take him home. Prove to Brockhoff you don’t give a flying fuck about him or what he did.” Simpson took a hold of Toby’s wrist before dragging him off to where the rest of their friends were standing or sitting.
As much as Toby didn’t want to go, he also didn’t want to cause a scene. He wasn’t interested in having everyone stare at him while he pitched a fit about not going anywhere with Simpson.
“I hate you,” he muttered at Simpson.
“Whatever, asshole. Suck it up and prove you’re over him,” Simpson whispered in his ear then nodded in the direction of Jensen.
That was the thing. Toby wasn’t sure he would ever be over Jensen Brockhoff. Toby reluctantly turned to face Jensen and seeing him for the first time in six years, his mouth dropped open. Jensen’s smile held a hint of hesitation as he met Toby’s gaze.
“What the hell happened to you?” Toby couldn’t help asking.
“Fell off the side of a mountain,” Jensen answered before easing to his feet then limped over to where Toby stood. “It’s great to see you again, Toby.”
Jensen was about to hug him and Toby shook his head. Toby took a step back, staring at his ex-lover the entire time. Jensen’s light brown hair was caught back at the nape of his neck, so his face was exposed to the light. Jensen had a black eye, a split lip, and a bruise on his right cheek. He also wore a brace on his right wrist and Toby had already noticed the limp.
“You look like shit, man,” Toby commented, trying hard to ignore just how much he wanted Jensen to wrap his arms around him. But he couldn’t accept that anymore. Friends didn’t hug like that, even friends who used to be lovers.
Jensen chuckled. “Well that’s what happens when your first belay holding your rope malfunctions and you drop thirty feet before the second one can take up the slack. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soon enough and I hit the side of the mountain. Busted up my face, my wrist, a couple ribs and twisted the shit out of my ankle.”
“You weren’t kidding about falling off a mountain.” Toby clenched his hands, resisting the need to touch Jensen and make sure he was all right.
“It was my third time climbing Denali, man. I didn’t have any trouble the first two. Should’ve known it wasn’t going to be the charm for me.” Jensen shook his head. “Luckily, Jigger and Cat were with me, so they helped cart my ass down to base camp. Then the wildlife guys had to come in and truck me out.”
“Why didn’t your friends take you to the hospital?” Simpson asked what Toby had been thinking.
Jensen chuckled. “I wasn’t about to ask them to postpone their climb. Weather around Denali is wicked. It can change in the space of five minutes. You’ll have sun and relatively blue skies one minute. Then you take your eye off the situation, and a storm’s rolled in. No one in their right mind wants to be caught on that mountain in the middle of a storm. I told them to go back up. I hung around the camp until the officers got there.”
Toby blinked, not sure if he was horrified that Jensen’s friends had left an injured man alone without knowing for sure how badly wounded he was or by the fact that Jensen didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with that.
“What the fuck kind of friends are they? Who the hell leaves an injured guy at a camp where there are probably bears and shit? If your ankle was bad, you wouldn’t have been able to run away.” Toby couldn’t help but speak up. He wanted to find these so-called friends of Jensen’s and smack them upside the head.
“I had a rifle and people were coming to get me. It was all good.” Jensen’s smile was huge and happiness seemed to ooze out from every pore.
Toby was struck by how different Jensen appeared. Before he’d left, he would’ve been dressed like Toby and the rest of the group. Expensive suits, designer dress shirts, and silk ties worn to show how successful they were and how much money they had. His hair wouldn’t have been so long and he would’ve never shown up anywhere in ripped faded jeans and a torn Henley that had seen better days.
Instead of Italian leather dress shoes, Jensen wore battered boots. Yet even though he looked like he’d been living rough the past six years, there was joy in his hazel eyes that Toby had rarely seen when they were friends. He thought about those rare moments, and he grimaced when he realized most of them had been while they had cuddled together in bed after sex.
Remembering how much he’d enjoyed those times as well brought Toby full circle back to his anger. He took a deep breath and forced a smile on his face. “Well, it was great chatting with you, Brockhoff. I’m glad to see you’re still alive. Don’t be such a stranger and go another six years without calling anyone.”
Toby slapped Simpson on the arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Usual place and time?”
Simpson nodded and Toby left, pretending not to hear Jensen call his name. No. He wasn’t going back there again. He wasn’t going to put his heart on the line only to have Jensen disappear and crush it.
“Don’t go after him, Brockhoff,” Simpson said as Jensen started to chase after Toby.
Whirling around and almost tipping over when he put too much weight on his bad ankle, Jensen glared at Simpson. “Why the hell not? He didn’t give me a chance to talk to him.”
Simpson folded his arms over his chest and smirked. “What the fuck were you going to explain? How do you explain why you bailed on him six years ago? What possible excuse do you have to disa-fucking-ppear without a word?”
Jensen shoved his hand through his hair, forgetting that he’d tied it back until his fingers got tangled in the leather thong he’d used. “I sent him an email. Jesus, Simpson. You know why I left. I told you last night when I showed up on your doorstep.”
“I saw that email, asshat, and it didn’t explain anything about you making like Houdini and pulling the vanishing act. Why didn’t you go to Toby’s when you got back in town? Why come to me? It’s not like we were fuck buddies or anything like that. Hell, if I remember it right, you fucking hated my guts.”
He hated the fact that Simpson was right. Jensen had spent a lot of his life hating people for no God-damned reason except for jealousy and envy. Neither emotion served any purpose except to give him an ulcer and make other people hate him as well. He tugged on the ends of his hair.
“I know that, and I’m sorry, Simpson. I don’t think you should forgive me for that or anything, but the world we used to live in didn’t really help build friendships, you know. We were all rivals trying to make the most money with big stock deals and managing hedge funds.”
“Toby and I still live in that world, but you ran away from it. To be honest, I think it takes a lot of fucking courage to give up your penthouse and fancy cars to go grubbing around in the wilderness and all that shit. It’s impressive that you chose to do that.” Simpson sneered. “But you took the fucking coward’s way out by not telling Toby you were leaving. Even calling him the day you took off would’ve been better than what you did.”
Jensen didn’t have an argument for that. Simpson was right, pure and simple. How could I explain to Toby that I had to get away before I went crazy? How could I tell Toby that he wasn’t enough to keep me from losing myself in the world we lived in?
“No matter what I said, Toby would’ve been hurt, man.” Jensen didn’t want to get into it with Simpson at the bar. Not in front of all the men who used to be his friends, but whom he now had nothing in common with. “I don’t want to talk about it here. I have to go find Toby and see if I can get him to listen to me.”
Simpson studied him before heaving a sigh. “Toby’s moved since you left. I know you won’t stop until you talk to him, though I’m still not entirely convinced it’s a good idea. Let me give you his new address and phone number.”
“How was I supposed to get a hold of him if he changed his number?” Jensen asked as he pulled out his cell to punch in the information.
Rolling his eyes, Simpson said, “He still works at the same company, jackass. You could’ve called him there.”
Okay, so that had been a stupid question. Jensen met Simpson’s gaze. “Thanks for this.”
“If I don’t see you until tomorrow morning when I meet Toby for brunch, I’m going to be questioning Toby’s judgment.”
“You’re not being very supportive about this whole thing. Excuse me if I hope for a different outcome that ends up with me in bed with him.” He started to limp away from the table.
“Oh, Jensen,” Simpson called to him.
When he stopped to glance back, he saw Simpson shooting him a hard glance. “Yeah?”
“Don’t hurt Toby. If you’re only here for a week and want to get your rocks off, find someone else. He’s never recovered from you leaving and it’s going to be harder for you to convince him to let you back in. Don’t make the effort if you’re not going to stick around.”
“Warning heard and understood, Simpson. Are you and Toby dating? Am I stepping into the middle of something?” He held up his hand to ward off Simpson. “If he’s happy, I don’t want to ruin that.”
Simpson burst out laughing. “I’m straight, man. There’s nothing but friendship between Toby and me. I was there when he needed someone to pick him up after you left. Toby hasn’t been really happy for six years, and you coming back only to leave again won’t help him.”
With that last damning sentence ringing in his ears, Jensen left the bar to try to find the man he’d never forgotten. Toby Schwartzel had wormed his way into Jensen’s heart years ago. Not even running away from his high stress job and soul-numbing life had erased what Toby meant to him. In fact, Toby had been the only bright light in the darkening world Jensen had found himself in.