The cold war 34

Chapter 7 – moving on?

After miraculously managing to get into the house without his parents seeing him, Jake had run straight to his room where he ripped off his borrowed outfit and tossed it to the back of his closet before quickly changing into the comfort of his own clothes.

Triple checking the coast was clear, he crept into the bathroom, where he spent the next 30 minutes scrubbing his face his mother’s make-up remover and trying to get rid of the blobs of glue from his forehead after painfully ripping away the wig from his head.

Paranoid that his eyelashes were still too dark from the mascara and that his lips were too red, Jake spent the rest of the day locked away in his room, skipping dinner with neither an appetite for food on offer nor the company.

The only person he did speak to that day was Bunny, who had text him a few times obviously worried that something had happened to him. Not wanting to talk but feeling as though he needed to let Bunny know he was ok, they exchanged a few messages, where Jake made up a story about delivering some packages, telling him how easy the job had been and not to worry.

Over the next few days, Jake tried to put the experience behind him, but that was easier said than done, as the memory of the day and the fear he had felt tottering through the rough part of the city dressed as a sissy and trying to contact with anyone, was constantly on his mind.

As the days passed, he shut himself away in his room, not wanting to speak to anyone, he hardly slept or ate as he recalled being called a sissy, a fag, and all manner of other awful names as he tried to cover his beet-red face and make it to the subway without getting beaten up or worse.

If it wasn’t for agreeing to meet Bunny on the Wednesday evening, Jake would have probably stayed in bed the whole week, but having promised to meet him for dinner, he took a long overdue shower and made his way into the city.

It should have been a pleasant evening, the food was amazing, and he was with a person he cared for and loved spending time with, but all evening Jake just felt strange. He felt as though every person was staring or talking about him, spinning around every time someone made a loud noise or laughed aloud.

After struggling to keep it together over dinner, Jake agreed to walk Bunny home but found even simple conversation difficult. It was on the walk where things got worse as Bunny turned and asked in a sad voice whether he had regretted the kiss they had shared. The question hit him like a dagger through the heart, he didn’t regret it for one moment, in fact, he wanted nothing more than to be with him.

But try as he might to reassure him that everything was ok, being sleep deprived and mentally exhausted, Jake couldn’t find the words.

The night finished on an awkward note, with Jake feeling frustrated and annoyed with how he had handled the situation.

It wasn't until a full week had passed that Jake finally managed to get a full night’s sleep and having not heard from Danila in all that time, he felt hopeful that the awful experience was behind him.

The first thing he wanted to do was apologise and make things up to Bunny, but after trying to call and leaving multiple messages, it was clear he was ignoring him.

It was an agonising wait for a reply but when it finally came through Jake felt on top of the world, he hadn't completely blown things and still had time to put things right. Promising to make it up to Bunny, they arranged another date for the following weekend, no expense spared.

Feeling both apprehensive and excited about his date at the end of the week, the following week passed slowly for Jake as he returned to work having taken the previous one-off sick. It didn’t help that his job was pretty dull, being a junior office clerk or essentially a glorified coffee boy, he was at the beck and call of the rest of the office staff and given all the job they didn’t want to do themselves.

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Friday evening

As Jake made his down the elevator at work, a broad smile crossed his lips, he had made it through the week, and he was only one day away from his date with Bunny.

There was a skip in his step as he exited the office building as not even the grim miserable weather could ruin his mood. With the office closing at 2 pm that day, as it did every Friday, Jake had the whole afternoon to relax.

Putting up the hood of his coat to protect his head from the cold drizzly rain, Jake put his head down and headed for the subway but didn’t make it.

Stopping to cross the road, he didn't sense anything was wrong until it was too late, as a car pulled up. Like a panther, out of the back door pounced a man, he would later recognise as Boris.

It all happened so fast, Jake never even got the chance to scream as he was thrown into the back seat of the car to come face to face with Danila and as Jake stared into his menacing eyes, he almost pissed his pants.

“Little, lamb”, Danila said greeting him, “how have you been? I’ve missed you”.

Jake didn’t respond, he just continued to stare in horror, terrified about what was about to happen.

After Speaking to Igor, the driver in Russian, the car took off down the street, “you know, you should really put your seatbelt on”, Danila said looking over at Jake, “you Americans are crazy drivers”, he added leaning over to help him.

Like a helpless child, Jake sat there motionless as the much larger man, placed the belt around him and fastened it with a click, “not very talkative today I see”, Danila said patting him on the leg and smiling, “well, that’s ok, you don’t need to speak for what we have planned".

“Where are you taking me”? Jake said in a shaky voice.

“To visit Natasha”, Danila replied, “the last shoot went so well, I have another job for you”.

“No, please, no, I don’t want this, please let me go”, Jake pleaded, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

Surprising Jake, Danila turned and shouting some instruction towards Igor in Russian and the car came to a screeching halt, “If you want to do the job, I won’t force you, you’re free to leave”.

Studying the intimidating man, Jake knew it was some kind of trap but wanting nothing more than to be away from the man, he quickly tried the handle, watching as the car door flew open.

“Oh, but before you go”, Danila added stopping him in his tracks, “did your girlfriend mention I visited her at work yesterday? You know, I had forgotten what a beauty she is, her and her sister that is”, Danila announced, sending a shiver down Jake’s spine, “I offered her a job while I was there, but can you believe it, she turned me down, in fact, she was quite rude".

Jake turned to see the crazed look on Danila's face, “A few years ago, that girl of yours and her sister would already be on their way to the Middle East to live out the rest of their lives in servitude, but lucky for them, I'm trying to change, I'm trying to grow to be a better person”, Danila added as Igor and Boris started to chuckle, “That’s why I'm giving you the chance to make things right, or you could just walk away, I won't stop you".

Processing the words, Jake felt sick to his stomach as he sat there motionless as the rain tapped down on the roof of the car and bounced off his work pants.

It took all his willpower to swing his soggy leg back into the car before closing the door with a thud.

“Good decision boy”, Danila said patting him on the shoulder, "let's go, Igor".

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Three hours later

Jake was once again in Natasha’s studio as she transformed him ready for another photoshoot but this time as he lay on his back, the butterflies in his stomach were threatening to break free as he knew this time, his makeover was going to be a little more difficult to undo.

Staring blankly up at the ceiling, his whole body felt weird. Wearing only a pair of panties that were painfully pulling his penis back tightly between his legs, he felt the cool air on his freshly waxed skin.

His makeup had been slapped on this time as humongous spider web-like fake lashes obscured half his vision. Natasha had told him she would trim them down later when she finished styling his hair but that was little consolation as he imagined how ridiculous he must have looked. But funnily enough, it wasn't the lashes that worried him most as  Natasha went to work on his fingernails, it wasn't even his still tender plucked eyebrows.

This time he wasn’t wearing a wig, instead, Natasha had, after pining up his own hair in some elaborate style, started clipping in long strands of fake hair to his own. She spent a lot of time blending in the extensions with his own slightly darker hair as Jake had sat there in silence, too afraid to ask what she was doing.

The new hair felt incredibly heavy, pulling at his scalp and as he felt the synthetic material rub and tickling his exposed nipples, he desperately tried to remember where his mother kept the kitchen scissors.

(See image 7.1)