What's His Passion 2 - Climbing the Savage Mountain (20 page)

Jensen wiggled around until he faced Toby and Nancy. “See the difference between K2 and Everest is there is way more rock climbing involved with K2. It’s not easy stuff either. It’s some of the most difficult I’ve ever done in my life. Add into that, the crazy weather, fear of avalanche and rock falls, and K2 is one of the deadliest out there.”

Toby knew how lucky there were that all Jensen suffered was a broken leg, a bump on the head and some light frostbite. He thanked God and every other deity he could think of every night since Jensen had gotten back to the states for bringing him home alive.

“As terrible as the whole experience was, Jensen’s one of the lucky ones to get off the mountain alive.” Jigger shrugged when Nancy glowered at him. “I’m just saying, ma’am. What happened could’ve been a lot worse.”

“Right. I was lucky that I was almost back to Base Camp when I fell. If it had occurred farther up the mountain, I could’ve lost my fingers—or even my hands—to frostbite. If the wounds had gone gangrenous, then there wouldn’t have been anything the doctors could’ve done to save them. Plus it’s a bitch having to haul someone down from the upper camps to Base camp. Something like that could have disastrous consequences for everyone involved.”

Clearing his throat, Toby dropped his gaze to the floor, not wanting to think about all the things that could’ve gone wrong during Jensen’s rescue. He didn’t need any more nightmares. He saw Jensen’s bandages come into view and he looked up to see Jensen watching him. Trying to give him a smile, Toby admitted his attempt was pretty weak.

“But I didn’t because Jigger, Ransom and the other guys were there to haul my ass out of the crevasse and get me down to Base Camp. Then Jigger chartered a helicopter to get me to the hospital at the one of the Pakistani military bases.”

Jigger rolled his eyes. “Having money helps with being able to rescue people. Christ! You would think they’d have done it out of the goodness of their hearts, but no. I had to grease everyone’s palms until we got to Germany.”

Cat sighed. “Yeah. It was so much fun coordinating that trip.”

“Let me know how much it cost,” Jensen informed them. “I’ll pay you back for it.”

“I don’t think so,” Jigger protested. “You don’t owe me anything. I know you’d do the same for me if I needed to get my ass flown somewhere.”

Toby could see that Jensen was going to argue and he knew Jigger wasn’t going to accept any money from Jensen. He made a mental note to talk to Cat to see if there was a way they could reimburse them without insulting either man’s pride. Maybe they could put the money in Pammy’s education fund, though it wasn’t like Jigger didn’t have enough money to send ten children to college.

“When did you decide to go to the summit,” he interjected, not wanting them to get mad at each other.

Both men frowned as they thought about it. Cat bumped Toby’s shoulder, mouthing ‘Thank you’ to him and he grinned. She obviously didn’t want them fighting either.

“Around our fourth week there. We’d spent four days in Base Camp after going up to Camp Three and back for our last acclimatization climb. Ransom had an eye on the weather, which was clear and wasn’t supposed to get any better than it already was. God, it was fucking cold though.” Jigger shuddered. “I must be getting older because it was cutting right through my jacket and when I got back here, I never thought I was going to get warm again. Still get chilled from time to time.”

“Tell me about it.” Jensen motioned to the three blankets he had covering him. “I think I might need another one before I go to bed tonight.”

“I can go ask the nurse for one,” Nancy offered then she left.

“It’s not as bad as Everest was. Maybe because we didn’t spend as much time on the actual mountain. Just one night at each camp on our way to the summit, then one night at Camp Three on the way down.” Jigger pursed his lips as though he was working out whether that assumption was right or not.

“We set out for the summit from Camp Four at like eleven o’clock at night then hit the Bottleneck Couloir. That was brutal, full of rocks and ice. There are other ways to circumvent that area, but once Ransom had a good look at them, he decided the best thing was just to take the normal route because none of them were particularly safe.” Jensen continued the story. “So we pushed on to the summit and made it there around eight the next morning. There’s nothing in the universe like standing at twenty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty-one feet and looking out over the world.”

Jigger and him shared a smile and Toby felt a little hint of jealousy. He would never know what that feeling was like, never know the sense of accomplishment climbing the world’s tallest mountains could bring a man. Yet when Jensen caught his gaze, Toby realized that didn’t matter. Climbing made Jensen happy and helped him grow strong enough to keep away from the drugs. It gave him the high he needed to enjoy life without killing him. Toby hesitated at that thought. Well, without killing him slowly. If he were killed during a climb, it would more than likely be quick—or at least Toby hoped it would be quick.

“Here. These are the pictures from the summit. We didn’t stay very long. Maybe fifteen minutes tops. It was freaking cold up there.” Jigger handed him Jensen’s camera.

Cat stepped closer as Toby scrolled through the pictures. There was a great one of Jigger grinning at the camera, holding up a sign that said, ‘I love you, Cat’. Her breath caught at that and Toby decided to have it printed and framed for her. It was just like the one Jensen had taken at the top of Everest that Toby had hanging over their fireplace in his study at home. Jensen held a sign that said ‘I love Toby’. When he’d seen it, he had tears in his eyes. It was Jensen’s way of letting him know that Toby was never far from his thoughts.

There were more photos showing the beauty of K2, which seemed to hide the true danger of the mountain. That was the truth that made the tallest mountains so alluring to humans. Their beauty told lies to the people who wanted to climb them. It said that there was nothing difficult about scaling the slopes and walls, yet danger was around every rock and crack, under ice seracs and simple snowdrifts.

Jensen was proof of that and how the mountain could change in a matter of mere minutes. What once was the safest path down could become the deadliest. Toby shook his head, letting that thought go. His husband wasn’t going to be climbing any more mountains—at least not ‘the eight thousanders’. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted Jensen to climb at all, not even the ones that were mere hills in comparison to K2 and Everest.

“Once we were done, we headed down to Camp Three where we spent the night. Now we did all of this without supplemental oxygen. So by the time we got to our tents at the camp, we were exhausted. We climbed into our sleeping bags and had our tea, water and soup to try and warm up. Our porters had chosen to stay at the lower camp. They didn’t want to summit.” Jigger sounded as if he couldn’t believe the men who were their support staff hadn’t wanted to climb to the top.

“Is that normal? I thought the Sherpas always wanted to summit, and were quite disappointed if they were chosen to stay at camp,” Toby asked, remembering what Jensen had told him about Everest.

“Ah, but these aren’t Sherpas. These guys are Pakistani HAPs—or high altitude porters. They don’t look at K2 the same way as the ones in Nepal do about Everest. Different attitude.” Jensen waved his hands around and Toby suppressed his smile at the image Jensen made as though he were a little kid wearing mittens. “They were very helpful for what they did, don’t get me wrong—just not quite like the guys we dealt with elsewhere.”

Jigger and Cat both nodded, having dealt with guides and porters all around the world. Toby would take his word for it.

“The next morning, we got up and moved out, heading down to Base Camp. I was in the lead with Jigger behind me and Ransom bringing up the rear. It was another clear day out, and while I had to be careful of solar radiation because of how clear it was, I felt good. Sure, I was still tired from the summit push, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. We passed some other climbers heading up for their own try at the top. I wished them best of luck. It looked like quite a few people would get to summit K2, which isn’t always the case.”

Jensen leaned back against his pillows and Toby could see that he was tiring. He made a little motion to Cat, who nodded.

“I think we should head back to Toby’s, Jigger. Give Donald a break from Pammy for the rest of the night. We can come back in the morning.” Cat gave Toby a hug then Jensen. “Now that you’re out of the woods, we’re going to head back to Wyoming in a couple of days. Toby’s parents have you covered until you can get around on your own.”

“Yeah. You don’t need to stay here, watching me sleep and heal. It’s probably as exciting as watching paint dry,” Jensen teased as he hugged both of them.

Cat and Jigger were walking out when Nancy returned.

“We’re going to back to the house,” Jigger let her know.

“I’ll go with you,” she told them before bustling over to hug Jensen and give Toby a kiss. “The nurse will be bringing you another blanket. We’ll see you boys in the morning.”

They left as quietly as they’d arrived and while Toby was happy they’d come to visit with Jensen, he liked being alone with him.

“Are you driving back and forth from the house?” Jensen frowned. “If yes, you should’ve gone with them.”

“No. I have a hotel room about a block from here. I’ve been going there to shower and get some sleep. I just wanted to be closer, in case something went wrong.” He studied Jensen. “I talked to the doctor earlier. He said if your hands are still good as they are now, I can take you home in two days. Then I’m going to have to go back to work.”

Jensen shifted as though he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Toby used the knuckle of his right hand to lift Jensen’s chin, so their eyes could meet.

“What do you want to say?”

After licking his lips, Jensen said, “I was thinking that I might start up a small investment firm out of the house. I thought you could go in on it with me as my partner. When we need to hire more people, we can always move to an office in town. That way you’re not driving back and forth to the city every day, plus I’ll have something to do with my education.”

Surprise rocketed through Toby. “I thought you didn’t like the whole stocks and investment business.”

“That’s not it exactly. I don’t like how fast paced and competitive it can be. See, the thing is, I have more than enough money to not work another day in my life, but I can’t do that. I need to be doing something. Just a small firm with a few clients. Nothing big. It would be nice to work from home and have you there with me.” He cleared his throat. “Especially when the kids come.”

Toby started. “Oh my God, I totally forgot to tell you. Bill said that all the proper forms are in order and we can start thinking about adopting at any point we want to. The adoption itself might take a while, but luckily, us being gay doesn’t matter at all.”

Jensen closed his eyes and sighed. “I didn’t think it would, but you never can tell sometimes.”

“I know.” Toby brushed back the hair off Jensen’s forehead. “Maybe we’ll worry about a kid in about four or five months after your leg’s healed. I’m not sure you’ll be up to dealing with one in the house while you’re rehabbing.”

“Good idea,” Jensen mumbled.

Toby didn’t say anything else, letting the silence settle between them, knowing it would help Jensen fall asleep. Now that he knew Jensen was going to be okay, he could start planning the rest of their lives. Jensen’s idea of them working together had merit. Toby would have to look into that a little later.

Chapter Nineteen

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

—Sir Edmund Hillary

Jensen dropped into the chair on the deck and groaned as he lifted his leg to rest it on the stool Toby had brought home one day.
Christ! It’s been two months and I want to cut this cast off myself.

“Only another week or so, then it’ll come off,” Toby spoke up as he walked out from the house, carrying two glasses of lemonade. “Then the real fun starts. You get to start rehabbing it.”

He rolled his eyes. “I can just imagine how fun that is going to be. After going through that shit for my hands, I can’t wait.”

Toby seemed amused by his sarcasm. “You’ll do it because you want to go running with Coop and me.”

The mutt they’d adopted before Jensen had left for K2 stood from where he’d been lying in the shade to wander over to them. He rested his head on Jensen’s leg, demanding to be petted and Jensen obliged him. Coop was medium-sized but muscular. The people at the shelter had said he probably had some Staffordshire terrier and Mastiff in his bloodline somewhere, so Coop appeared intimidating, but was actually the sweetest dog Jensen had ever met.

One of the best things about Toby taking Coop on runs with him was that Jensen didn’t have to worry about anyone messing with them. Just the dog’s presence was enough to make anyone think twice about bothering Toby.

“True.” Jensen hated the imposed non-activity. “Thank God, I have to lift weights now, or else I’d be gaining weight like crazy.”

“It helps that you’re making the meals and keeping them healthy,” Toby pointed out. “I talked to Bill about getting business papers drawn up for our firm. He said they should be done in a week or two.”

He caught Toby’s hand and stopped him before he could walk back inside. Toby stood there, smiling at him with affection clearly showing on his face. “Thank you for throwing your lot in with me.”

Toby threaded his fingers through Jensen’s hair. “I threw my lot in with you the moment you came back to me, Jensen. This is not anything special. I think it’s a great idea and we’ll be able to make a go of it. Plus, like you said about your own money, I have more than enough to not work for the rest of my life too. So this isn’t that big of deal. Isn’t this what happens when you get married?”