Chapter 7

GARVIN HANDED William the helmet and had him put it on over his thick hat. Then he hurried back inside and returned with blankets, water, and rescue gear, which he placed in the insulated box. As soon as he raised his hand as a go signal, everyone took off. It had been less than ten minutes since that knock on the door, and he was damned impressed that William not only understood the urgency of the situation but got ready so fast.

"Where are we going?" William asked, holding him tightly around the waist.

Without slowing down, Garvin pointed toward the peaks just west and north of the trading post. When they reached the trading post, Enrique topped off all the tanks, and then they were off, screaming down little-used paths that got them to the base of the pass faster than if they had used the roads. Others joined them, probably from the forest service search and rescue.

"The missing people are the caretakers at a mining camp eight miles up the pass. The remains of the buildings have been found, but they were strewn over a large area." Enrique spread a map over the seat of his snowmobile. "We need teams of two, and the areas have been divided. We'll head up until this point."

Garvin knew the area well and nodded, his mind already plotting the directions.

"After that, we'll fan out. Go no farther than two miles, otherwise you could get too low on fuel. Return here after you've searched."

Enrique passed out radios, and William took theirs. "Check in every fifteen minutes and report your position. This is dangerous, and we don't want to add to the rescue. Does everyone understand?" He passed out maps as well. William tucked one in an outer pocket of his coat, shaking a little.

Garvin noticed the shiver and said, "If you're cold, you can stay here. "

William got on the snowmobile. "Not cold. Just excited and ready to go." He patted the seat, and Garvin shook his head. This was the last reaction he had expected. William was really surprising him.

"Fine. But stay with me, and under no circumstances are you to go off on your own." Maybe he was stupid for bringing William along, but he took solace in the fact that the most likely areas would be taken by the forest service and the local volunteers would be searching the outlying areas just in case. It wasn't likely they would actually find anything, and this was largely going to be a long snowmobile ride.

"Got it. Do you know the way?" William asked, and Garvin nodded. "Then let's go." William pulled everything down tight, and Garvin started the snowmobile forward.

The sky was clear and the air cold and dry. He was grateful his goggles were tinted; otherwise he'd be completely blind in the glare off the snow. To save time, Garvin pushed the snowmobile as fast as he dared, reaching the meeting point in about twenty minutes. "Tell everyone that Ghost and Mr. Chicken have reached the meeting point and are heading out."

"Who?" William asked.

"That's us."

William pulled out the radio and sent the message. "And I'm the ghost. You can be Mr. Chicken." He put the radio away once they had been acknowledged. "There's someone else coming." He pointed, and Garvin looked, but it took a few seconds before he heard the engine. Damn, William must have bat hearing or something. "That's Enrique. He's going to be our other half."

William waved, and they got one in return. Enrique signaled, and Garvin took off to their assigned area. "I'm glad the engine is under us. It's keeping my butt warm."

Garvin smiled as they continued farther into the wilderness.

There was a road, but it was closed and under feet of snow, so for now, this area had reverted almost completely to nature. Enrique pointed and veered off. Garvin followed, going as fast as he dared. William held on tight, not saying anything. After a few minutes, they reached what had to be the leading edge of the avalanche.

"Jesus," William said, pointing to where the snow had come down, cutting a huge swath through the landscape. "Can anyone survive that?"

"We have to try to find out." Garvin continued forward and heard William call in that they had reached their area. He nodded and smiled to himself. William seemed to have picked up on what they needed to do.

"Do you see anything?" Enrique asked. Garvin shook his head.

"Turn off the engines," William said loudly. Garvin switched off his machine, and Enrique did the same. Instantly, the area turned quiet, with only the breeze and the snap of branches that gave up under the weight of the snow. William went stock-still, turning his head. "Okay, let's go."

"What are you doing?" Enrique asked.

William leaned closer. "In all this mess, it isn't likely we're going to see anything unless it's a bright coat color. There's too much jumble in the landscape. But we might hear something."

Enrique nodded and then pointed, and they were off again.

They made a large circle of their search area, stopping every few minutes to listen before continuing on. "There," William said, pointing as they neared the end of their loop.

"I don't hear anything," Enrique said.

"Over there," William insisted. Garvin started the engine and slowly headed in that direction. "Stop."

Garvin turned off the engine, and William pointed once again. "I'm hearing something on the wind from over there." He pointed once more and then stilled. This time Garvin heard it as well. He wasn't sure if it was a voice, but Enrique nodded, started the engine, and continued forward.

"There." Enrique pointed, and sure enough, something yellow marred the snow. "Stay here." Enrique grabbed snowshoes from the back of his snowmobile, and William radioed in that they might have found something.

Garvin carefully moved forward, and Enrique waved his arms before hurrying back. "It's all three of them, and they are definitely injured."

William immediately called it in and then handed the radio over. Garvin detailed the GPS coordinates. "We're going to need a chopper. We have all three, but they are injured and probably suffering from exposure." Garvin had no idea how they got all this way, but avalanches had been known to carry people and debris for miles.

"We're converging on your coordinates. We have a helicopter on the way."

"Excellent, we are rendering what aid we can." Garvin handed William the radio and carefully made his way around him to the insulated box. He handed William a bottle of water. "Drink all of it." Garvin saved one for himself and then wrapped the others in the blankets and handed the bundle to Enrique, who moved his snowmobile closer to the men. Garvin followed.

"Okay. Stay here and man the radio. I'm going to help Enrique." He stepped off the snowmobile and sank nearly to his waist. He had expected it, and he propelled himself forward toward a depression the caretaking crew had managed to dig out for themselves to be able to sit, pushing the packed and jumbled snow behind him in a swimming motion.

Garvin handed out blankets for additional warmth and got them all wrapped up. "He's the worst," the smallest of the three men said, pointing to a taller man. "I think my leg is broken, Claude dislocated his arm, and Mark probably has cracked or broken ribs. We managed to stay together as the snow rolled us like laundry."

"Okay. We have help on the way." Garvin gave them all some water and helped them all share warmth until more snowmobiles sounded in the distance, followed by a second one with more blankets and supplies as well as an EMT, who took charge. Garvin stood, peering out of the depression, taking in the surrounding devastation. Trees, boulders, and chunks of wood from buildings stuck out at random intervals from the sometimes-dirt-strewn snow. It was a miracle they all survived.

Something caught Garvin's eye up the slope, and he tried to see it more clearly, but the light was fading as clouds rolled in. He gave up when a whoop-whoop sound indicated the rescue helicopter was approaching.

"We'll guide in the chopper," the other team said through the radio. "Need to move fast. Another front is expected."

Everyone worked quickly. EMTs from the chopper arrived on snowshoes, bringing baskets to get everyone out and transported by snowmobile to the chopper. Once the injured were on board, Garvin gathered everything and climbed out and onto the snowmobile, moving it away from the depression and pointing it toward home.

"You did amazing," he told William.

Enrique pulled up next to them. "Head back to the trading post. Angie will have hot sandwiches, soup, and plenty of coffee waiting." He took off, and Garvin made sure William was all set before they began the ride back, with Garvin closely watching the fuel. They had burned more than they should have, and the needle hovered at empty as they broke out of the trees just across the field from the trading post. He swore they glided the last bit of the way before he turned off the engine outside the main door, parking next to the group of others.

Garvin sighed and climbed off the snowmobile, his legs aching as he took the first steps toward the door. The sun from earlier was gone. Clouds had rolled in and hung low over the lake. As William joined him, the first flakes began to fall. At least with some cloud cover, it wouldn't get as cold. The worst were the clear nights, when it could get far below zero. "Let's get inside, get warm, and then we can put gas in the tank and go home."

"I take it you're tired," William said, apparently still filled with energy. Sometimes Garvin wondered where all of it came from.

"Let's go inside." He pulled off his helmet and took William's, and then they headed inside. As soon as they stepped through the small vestibule and into the main room of the post, applause broke out. Devon and the other guys began patting William on the back.

"That was good hunting," Enrique told him. "I never would have found them, but you heard something, and there they were." It turned out that the injured men had heard the snowmobiles and called out, but they couldn't be heard over the engines.

"I always had really good hearing." William took off his hat and outer layer and hung them on a hook. Garvin did the same, and then they sat at a table while Angie brought soup, coffee, and big subs that they practically inhaled .

"I just heard that all three of the folks we rescued are going to be okay. Their bones have been set, and they were treated for exposure, but they should all recover." Devon patted William's shoulder before moving on to make sure everyone had what they needed.

Garvin sat back in his chair, watching William soak up the attention, his cheeks flushing every time he received a compliment. "It was Enrique and Garvin who did the heavy work," he said. "They actually knew what to do to help them." He ate the rest of his soup, and for the first time, Garvin saw William in a different light.

He had always thought of William as attention-seeking. The guy made a career of walking runways and spending time in front of the camera doing commercials. He practically screamed "look at me." But maybe that was just an impression Garvin had. William could have hammed it up and made the most of his notoriety, but instead he seemed uncomfortable and kept throwing the light onto others.

"I'm really tired now that I've eaten." The day seemed to have passed in a flash. "We should get back to make sure Sasha is okay. I put some food in his dish before we left and made sure he had water, but I bet he needs to go out and should be fed again."

"Okay."

Garvin finished the last of his coffee and then thanked Enrique for the food and headed for the door to put on his gear. William did the same, receiving pats on the back and big smiles from everyone. Garvin huffed to himself as he yanked on his snow pants. He needed to stop himself from falling into old patterns, but it was hard. They had all worked together to help the avalanche victims. He pulled on his coat and hat, making sure everything was in place. Then, without waiting for William, he stomped out into the snow.

He checked the tank on the snowmobile, surprised and pleased to find it full. After climbing on, he started the engine and backed the machine away from the others. William came out and got on behind him. As soon as his arms slid around his waist, Garvin started the machine forward, heading south along the shoulder of the highway then turning down the lake road. He said nothing, stewing in his own juices, and the shitty thing was, he didn't know why.

So what if William had actually found the people? They needed help, and William's keen hearing had been instrumental in locating them. That was something Garvin should be happy about, not all roiled up inside over. He turned on the headlights and continued driving until he pulled the snow machine to a stop next to the cabin. Once they were off and the box emptied, William went inside, and Garvin covered the snowmobile and grabbed a load of wood to carry into the cabin.

William already had his outer gear off and was feeding Sasha, who sat next to William, looking up at him like he was the center of the world. Garvin got his gear off and then lit the fire, adding small pieces of wood to get it going and burning well. Then he added some logs and closed the stove door.

William took off the rest of his gear and hung it all up before grabbing two beers and flopping down on the sofa. Sasha curled up next to him, his head on William's lap. It seemed like William was everyone's man of the hour.

"What's up with you?" William asked. "You're never this quiet." He took a swig of beer and handed Garvin the second bottle. "We did good. You should be happy."

The shitty thing was that Garvin knew he should be pleased. They had found the folks who were missing, and in the end everything had turned out okay. That wasn't always the case in a situation like that. Often, search and rescue operations in severe cold weather found nothing… or weren't in time. But he was all twisted up. "I'm fine." He opened the beer and took a good swig.

"Bullshit," William countered. "You are not. I've known you long enough to know when you have your panties in a wad, and right now they're so tight, they're cutting off circulation to your balls." His glare grew colder than the air outside.

"I don't fucking get it, okay?"

"What's there to get? We did good—we found them."

Garvin scoffed. "You found them," he muttered.

William shrugged. "I heard them. Big deal. You and Enrique developed the pattern we followed to cover the entire search area. That brought us close enough that I could hear them. So big deal. Is that what has you all tied up? That the greenhorn who doesn't know anything up here actually located them?" He stared blankly at Garvin. "I never pictured you as an ass before. You can be a jerk sometimes and a definite PITA, but a real ass… nope."

"I am not," Garvin growled.

"Then get over yourself. We worked together and found them. That's good and what we were out there for. So what if everyone thinks I did something special? I actually contributed to the team instead of just warming the snowmobile seat with my ass." William set his bottle on the scarred coffee table. "Everyone was happy because the mission was a success." His gaze softened as he turned to Garvin. "Besides, the only person I wanted a pat on the back from… was you. Okay?"

Garvin swallowed hard as heat built inside him. William stayed still, his eyes filling with warmth. Was this going to happen? Garvin wasn't sure it should, but the pull toward William was becoming too great. The past couple of nights, it had taken all his willpower not to pull William to him, slip his hand under those sleep pants, take his cock in hand…. Garvin wanted that lean, luscious body, and he wanted it bad. He didn't know what to say. The current between them was too strong to ignore. He shifted closer, and Sasha lifted his head and looked at each of them before jumping down to lie in front of the fire.

"Smart dog," William said, and Garvin nodded without looking away. William licked his full lips but didn't move any nearer. Garvin found himself drawn closer, his entire body pulled to William by some invisible force that he couldn't control. "What do you want?" William whispered.

Garvin's mouth went dry, because he wanted William—badly. But he wasn't sure this was a good idea. They were friends, they had a history…. The one thing he did know was what he wanted. On a pure, basic level, under all this doubt and worry, he knew it was William that he needed, and as soon as he acknowledged that, William was right there. Garvin tilted his head, William stayed still… and finally Garvin crossed the last few inches between them.

Long before he had actually gotten the chance, he had imagined what kissing William would be like, but it was nothing compared to the reality. Garvin was transported. William's lips were firm yet soft, and he tasted and smelled clean, like the outdoors. William slipped his fingers through Garvin's hair, deepening the kiss. He pressed Garvin back against the cushions, settling his weight on Garvin, and Garvin wrapped William in his arms and held him tightly as his head grew light.

"Damn," Garvin whispered when William pulled back slightly. "What the…?" He hadn't expected something that intense, and yet he could barely see straight… in the very best way possible. He hadn't experienced anything like that since he lost John, and it took him by surprise. He had never thought he would feel that again, and now that he had, he would have expected it to remind him of John, but it didn't. This was all William.

"It's really good that I can reduce you to incoherence. That's definitely a good thing." William kissed him again and then slowly sat back up. He helped Garvin upright once more and took his hand. He expected William to press on to something more, and part of him was disappointed that it didn't happen. Yet it was really nice that William seemed to want to take things slowly.

"What do you have as far as movies and stuff?" William asked.

Garvin opened the cabinet under the small television and let William choose something to watch. Then they settled in front of an action flick where Bruce Willis and his team set out to save the world. Not that Garvin paid that much attention. Sasha climbed onto the sofa again, settling on the other side of him, and Garvin leaned back against the cushions, closed his eyes, and let himself be truly happy for the first time in years.