Winter Boys: Todd Read online

  He heard the ’copter whirring overhead. Okay, time to go to work.

  He slipped out, closing the door to keep Smokey in until the ’copter was gone again. He stayed against the cabin as it landed in the clearing in front of his home, offloading five men. Waving to Bill in the pilot’s seat, he hunched against the wind from the blades and headed for the execs, holding out his hand to the one who looked like the big boss.

  “Hello there. Kix Middleton. This is my team—Sam Lowers, Bob Gruene, Simon Lord, and Arthur Williams.”

  Simon Lord. No, he couldn’t have heard that right. No way. That would teach him not to actually look at the signed release forms when he printed them up. “Good to meet you, Mr. Middleton. Welcome to Winter Getaways.”

  “Thank you. Come on, lads! Let’s do this!”

  “I thought we’d start off with a hot meal and then head out before we lose the light.” He ignored the other execs and led them to the cabin, holding the door for them.

  Smokey jumped up and began barking. He whistled at her and got her next to him and quiet. She growled deep in her throat, her hackles rising. Well, then. This was that Simon Lord. The asshole who’d dumped him.

  “I’ll wait outside with the bags, sir.” Simon’s voice was soft, quiet, and he stood to the other side of the door. Todd couldn’t see the man’s face; it was totally hidden behind the heavy hood of his parka.

  God, this was going to be a really long two weeks. He almost let Simon do it, too, but he took a breath and shook his head. “Everyone needs to eat. This is going to be a long, hard trek and we all have to fuel up.”

  “I’ll stay away from you both,” Simon muttered, voice so quiet. “I had no idea.”

  Todd simply nodded—what could he say or do? Bill was gone and he’d been hired to do a job, so he was going to do it. “Okay. Chili and bread.” He dished up six bowls and handed them out with hanks of bread.

  Simon stayed in the corner, small and silent, barely eating.

  The other guys were munching away, laughing and talking like it didn’t matter that Simon was quiet.

  Was this because of him? That didn’t seem fair that their past was going to screw up Simon’s team-bonding shit. He’d get Simon alone later, tell him to never mind him and just do his thing with his coworkers.

  He’d been stunned, back when he got this offer. He’d come home to tell Simon he’d gotten his dream job to find his lover bouncing, telling him he’d finally gotten the job of his dreams—in Toronto.

  How could he tell Simon not to go for his dreams? Then Simon had dumped him. Which wasn’t a fair assessment of the situation at all—Simon hadn’t been willing to let him forgo his dream job either. Todd had wanted to try the long-distance thing, but Simon’d said he would be working a ton of overtime and it would have been hard enough to maintain a relationship even if they’d still been living together. So they’d split. Todd knew in his head it had been the right move, but his heart still wasn’t convinced the jobs had been worth the split.

  He could still remember the last time they made love—Simon sobbing in his arms, boxes all around them. It had broken his heart, but it had happened regardless.

  He shook himself and finished his chili, then went around collecting everyone’s bowls. He made quick work of cleaning them and put the extra chili in the freezer.

  “All right—is everyone ready to go?”

  “Let’s do this! You ready, lads!”

  Everyone but Simon, who stood silently by the door, yelled their agreement.

  Oye. It was going to be a fun two weeks.

  He handed out the backpacks, whistled up Smokey, and headed out.

  3

  Simon wanted to die.

  Not because of the cold or the conditions. He’d been camping his whole life. If he’d guessed for a second that Todd had been the guide, he would have contracted Ebola.

  Smokey hated him. He had to work hard not to speak to Todd, look at Todd. Hell, he didn’t want to look at anyone. He was the youngest, the smallest, the gayest, and he didn’t fit in. The guys tried, but he was just…different.

  He imagined they were shocked that he was able to keep up with the pace Todd had them moving on, pushing hard to get them to wherever they were stopping for the night.

  He’d done this for a long time, pushing himself in extreme conditions. It was how they’d met. He’d been running an ultramarathon in June. Simon had fallen in love immediately.

  Todd pushed them hard for about four hours before stopping. Simon knew setting up camp wasn’t going to be a picnic, but Kix’s team was so full of testosterone, he figured they’d cut the trees down with their teeth if that’s what Todd expected them to do.

  He worked on pitching the tents. He didn’t need help, and he worked quickly and quietly.

  “I see you’ve still got your skills,” Todd noted, having worked his way through each of them, lending a hand, encouraging all.

  Simon nodded, head down, hidden in his hood. If he didn’t look, he wouldn’t cry.

  “Well, if you need anything…”

  “Thanks.” He put up four tents, then went to gather firewood, keeping the campsite in view. Mostly.

  The guys laughing and shouting to each other. Every now and then Todd’s voice sounded, cutting through him.

  Two weeks. Thirteen nights. He could do this. He could. He had three books, a notebook.

  Hell, he thought the guys would give up in three days after the phones ran out of juice. Not that they could reach anyone out here.

  It was after dark before they were all sitting around the campfire, a bunch of beans in the pot on the coals.

  “So tell us your war stories,” Kix demanded.

  “My war stories?” Todd shook his head. “There’s no war up here.”

  “Oh, come on. Surely you’ve tangled with a bear or two.”

  Simon hid his smile, because Todd had some amazing tall tales. The man was a triplet after all. Competition was in his veins.

  “Or three. At the same time,” Todd said.

  “Three?” Kix and the others leaned in, listening avidly.

  He knew this one. He’d heard it for three years. He stole a look, admiring his lover—former lover—in the firelight. Todd’s hair looked almost red, though he knew it was a light brown being colored by the flames. His beard was bushier, but it suited the whole wild nature-man look. The heavy parka covered strong, wiry muscles. Todd was lean and mean, and he had a six-pack that made Simon drool. Not that he could see it right now. Not that he’d ever get to see it again.

  Hell, he knew full well Todd was over it, over him, and had moved on. Still, he’d be jacking off to this vision tonight.

  Todd was all lit up when he told stories like this, eyes shining, grin right there.

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Relax. You can do this. You survived leaving. You survived moving. You survived working in hell. You can do this.

  The guys were enthralled by Todd’s stories. He saved a bunch of the best ones—no doubt to tell on subsequent nights, though Simon still believed these guys weren’t going to last much more than three days, maybe four.

  The others all took turns telling work stories—they didn’t have bear stories to tell. When Kix finished his, they all turned to him expectantly, even Todd looked over at him. It was his turn.

  He froze. Just froze.

  “I-I’m not sure I have anything interesting, sorry. Altitude.”

  One of Todd’s eyebrows went up in clear disbelief. Todd opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Kix spoke up.

  “You’ve never had an adventure, Simon? Not anything? Come on—we’ve all shared.”

  “Uh. I used to run. A lot. I met the—” Love of my life. “—the neatest people then. Loggers, athletes, even an actor or two. You’d be surprised how many people run ultramarathons.”

  “Ultramarathon?” Kix asked, and the others were all watching, waiting to hear more.

  “Usually a 50K. Somet
imes, I do a hundred. It’s a hobby for me, but people do them for a lot of reasons.” I do them to get away from the shitshow I’ve created.

  “A hundred K? K means kilometer, right?” Kix asked. Everyone looked at him like they were seeing him for the first time.

  “Yes, sir. That’s exactly right.”

  “That’s a lot of running,” Arthur noted, the others nodding.

  It was like they were seeing him for the first time. All except for Todd.

  “Yeah, it is.” He went back to hiding. It was somebody else’s turn.

  “It’s getting late, guys. I think we should turn in,” Todd suggested.

  “It’s so early,” Arthur protested.

  Kix nodded. “You can turn in. We’re all a little past a curfew, though.”

  Todd shrugged. “Sure. But we’ve got an early morning and a lot of hiking to get to our next camp. The trail isn’t going to care who’s tired from going to bed late.”

  “Sam and I have one of the tents.” Bob stood, shaking his head free from snow.

  “I’ll bunk with the boss, since I have seniority. Good night all.”

  Simon watched Arthur stood, smiling at Simon. No one was mean, not at all. But no one wanted to sleep with the gay guy either. Part of him wanted to stand up and scream, “It’s not contagious,” but he didn’t. He simply got up to help bank the fire so there were coals in the morning.

  “Sorry, man, that means you get stuck with me and the dog. Trust me, she’ll help keep the tent warm.” Todd kept it light, letting him keep face with the others.

  He nodded, but he knew he’d sleep in the littlest tent he’d put up to store supplies. He wasn’t a bitch. He’d planned it that way, even leaving room for his sleeping bag.

  Todd double-checked the fire, then headed for the perimeter. “I’m just going to do a last walk around.” He whistled and Smokey bounded to his side.

  God, Todd cut quite the figure.

  He slid into the small tent. There was plenty of room. There hadn’t been when Todd knew him, but he’d trimmed off forty pounds and he was super lean these days. Lean and tired.

  A few minutes later, Todd stuck his head into the little tent. “There you are. I thought you’d wandered off. What are you doing in here?”

  “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I know… I know it’s hard.” He wanted to crawl in a hole and hide.

  “It is what it is. Get your ass into my tent. I don’t want you freezing to death, no matter what our past is.”

  “Shut up, butthead. What did you tell the dog? She hates me now.”

  “I didn’t tell her anything—you left her, too, you know? She’s going to punish you for it before she forgives you. Now come on. It’s cold and it’s late and I want to go to sleep. Come on.”

  God hated him. That was the only answer. God hated him.

  He got his sleeping bag and his backpack, feeling like a little boy that had been reprimanded.

  Smokey watched him, focus on him as he followed Todd into his tent. Then she came in and lay down between their sleeping bags.

  “She’ll make sure we stay warm.” Todd patted her head.

  “She’s a good girl.” He got in his bag before wiggling out of his coat. God, he wanted to go home.

  “I’m not going to bite,” Todd said quietly.

  “Me either.” He wanted to die.

  “Well, then, I think we can safely share a tent, eh?” Those blue eyes looked at him, staring right into him.

  God, how many times had he watched those eyes above him as they made love?

  He nodded, looking over every single feature, committing it to memory. Todd stared right back at him for the longest moment, as if they were frozen in time.

  Then Smokey woofed softly and Todd shook himself. “I know, girl. Time for bed.” Todd extinguished the camp light.

  He curled into his sleeping bag, hiding his head. If he cried himself to sleep, who would know?

  4

  Todd drove everyone hard on day two. He woke them up nice and early and kept them moving with very few breaks. Mostly because he was unimpressed with the way they were treating Simon. He and Simon had broken up because this was Simon’s dream job—and Todd knew Simon was fucking amazing at what he did. Yet these guys seemed to have a very low opinion of Simon. Or at least didn’t really give a shit to have him on their team.

  He knew that Simon could keep up with him, even if he was pushing it. So he pushed it. Let those guys see that Simon was a stud.

  Besides, when he was out in the woods, hiking through snow, he wasn’t thinking about how good Simon looked, all lean and lanky. He wasn’t thinking about all the stuff he missed about the man. And hopefully he’d be able to fall asleep quickly instead of spending half the night listening to Simon breathe.

  They got to the place where he wanted to camp with plenty of daylight left, thanks to his pushing it, and he put the executives to work putting up their tents and getting the fire going, while he set up his own tent.

  Simon had the three tents set up in minutes, while the other four worked on the fire. God, he loved to watch Simon work. The man was built to get things done.

  He crouched by the packs, grabbing the supplies for tonight’s supper and trying not to drool like an idiot. They weren’t together anymore for Christ’s sake. Looking out for the guy against the other execs was one thing, pining was quite another and that had no place here.

  “Smokey. Come on, girl. Let’s go get some water. Maybe we’ll make a snowman.” Simon whistled Smokey up and she went bounding away.

  “He didn’t stay to help!” one of the executives said, and the big boss shrugged.

  “He’s a bit of a loner, but he works hard.”

  Todd wanted to growl. The water was a necessity, and Simon had put up three tents already while these guys were still working on getting the fire going. He couldn’t do that, exactly. He could make the point without being obvious about it, though.

  “You guys need a hand with that fire? The tents are all up already, Simon’s gone to fetch the water, and I’ve got supper ready to go.”

  “What’s for supper, man? Steaks and potatoes?” Mister Short, Bitchy, and Exhausted looked eager to eat anything.

  “Venison stew, actually. So you were close. But it’ll take a while to cook. That’s why I put four of you on the fire. I thought you’d be done long before Simon and I had the tents up.”

  “Yum. We’re not runners like marathon boy over there.”

  Todd didn’t like Arthur. The florid bastard had mean eyes and looked at Simon like he was dirty. And the asshole had totally missed the point that despite what he’d said, Simon had done more than any of the rest of them to set up camp.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize that running marathons had anything to do with building fires. Do you guys need some help there?”

  Sam, who looked shaken and a little pale, nodded. “Please. It’s really cold.”

  “It is. You guys picked the coldest time of year for this trip. So it’s a team-bonding thing?”

  “It is. I voted to take a cruise.” Sam winked at him. “Man, I need to get in shape. Simon can go and go. I’m still tired.”

  “A cruise—I see you’re the smart one.” He grinned. This one he liked. “I bet you’re feeling a hundred times stronger by the time you guys go home.”

  “I hope so, on both accounts. I’m forty-five years old and this shit is hard.”

  “You don’t look a day over thirty-nine.” He clapped the guy on the back. “You guys can all make sure your sleeping bags are spread out in your tents while I get the fire going for you.” It wouldn’t take him long at all—as soon as he rearranged the kindling so it could actually breathe.

  Smokey came bounding up, wagging and covered in snow. Simon appeared soon after with fresh snow for water.

  “Hey, gorgeous. Hey.” Laughing, he rubbed her head. She licked his face, then bounded back over to Simon, dancing around him. She’d definitely forgiven him.
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br />   “Hey, pretty girl. Did we have a little run? Was it so good?” Simon hugged her, making her wiggle like a puppy.

  Todd remembered how Simon could make him wiggle like a puppy too. Hell, Simon probably still could if it wasn’t for the fact that they’d broken up. He sighed and focused on getting supper on the fire. Keep busy. That was the trick.

  Simon did the work that made things easier for them all, staying away from everyone. There was clearly no love lost between Simon and his coworkers. It made sense that Simon was avoiding him, but his coworkers? Damn.

  Sam waved Simon over. “You’re making me tired. Please sit down so I look less like an asshole?”

  Simon chuckled softly. “You’re not an asshole. Old? Maybe. Not an asshole.”

  “Oh, ouch. I think I’d rather be an asshole.” They both laughed, and soon all of them were sitting around the campfire as they waited for the food to be ready.

  Simon shrunk as the others showed up, disappearing into the heavy coat. One of them was an outright asshole, another was okay. Why wasn’t there a work atmosphere where everyone felt comfortable, welcome? Maybe that’s what this trip was.

  “Five more minutes to food. Why don’t you guys tell me how this trip is living up to your expectations? Is it what you thought it would be?”

  Kix chuckled. “I think we’re finding out who’s fierce in the boardroom and who’s fierce out here.”

  Todd didn’t get it. “You wanted to know who could take on mother nature?”

  “I wanted to see how we all acted in extreme situations.”

  “Is that an important thing in the boardroom?” Todd wasn’t being an asshole. He was honestly curious.

  “Is there anything more extreme?” That was Arthur. Figured. “We’re talking a battle. Huge amounts of money.”

  “The bears out there? They don’t give a damn about your money. Neither does the snow, the cold, or the rest of the wildlife.” He couldn’t help but think that mother nature had a hell of a lot more to throw at these guys than anything the boardroom could. Of course he always felt that. These executive types always put him on edge, and he was even more so with Simon back here too. And he totally hadn’t expected to feel so damn protective of his ex.