The cold war 22

Chapter 1 – Babe, what’s the plan?

Having completed another lap of his living room, Jake stopped once more looking out at the street. A week had passed since the infamous dinner, and having hardly slept a wink since, his head felt foggy, and his thoughts were muddled.

The last week had been a rollercoaster of emotions, starting with fear, fear of what might happen to his family and himself if he didn’t agree to do what this crazed Russian man wanted, and fear of not knowing what was going to happen.

Fear was followed by anger, first anger with himself for antagonising the Russian man, cursing himself for not keeping his mouth shut. But that quickly switched to being angry at Danila himself, as he imagined himself putting his fist right through his arrogant looking face, wiping off his smug shit-eating grin in the process.

Checking the clock on the wall, he wondered where Ben was and thought about giving him a call, they had arranged to meet at four-thirty, and it was now almost five.

“No, give him another ten minutes”, he thought to himself, not wanting to pressure him, things had been a little awkward between them over the last week and he wanted tonight to go smoothly.

After leaving the restaurant, thankfully without Danila who had left in his own chauffeur-driven car, the pair had shared a taxi, and with Jake still shook up and visibly scared after the experience, he had filled Ben in on the conversation, he had missed, between himself and Danila.

The reaction wasn’t what he was expecting, Ben, who rarely raised his voice or showed his anger, suddenly started screaming at yelling at him, calling him an idiot and a fool, cursing him for not keeping his mouth shut.

Jake still on edge, didn’t react well to being yelled at, calling Ben an ungrateful bitch, and telling him how he was only there to help and support him.

Angry and with his emotions getting the better of him, Jake had continued, saying a lot of things he would later regret, even saying how if anything were to his family, Ben would be to blame.

The argument continued right up until they reached Ben’s apartment building, where Jake watched as Ben jumped out, slammed the door before storming off in his fancy looking evening dress, furiously tottering towards the entrance, waving his arms, and looking rather uncomfortable on his tall stiletto heels.

They hadn’t spoken since. on a few occasions, Jake had considered calling to apologise, but with Danila’s threats still playing in his mind, he wasn’t sure what to say, deciding instead to give Ben some time to cool off.

But things had changed a few hours earlier that day when Jake's phone suddenly pinged before he opened it to find a message from an unknown number, it said to be at the address given, the next morning at 11am sharp.

He instantly dialled Ben's number, who picked up almost immediately and seemed to know without being told why Jake was calling.

It was a short call, but they decided to meet at Jake's place, his apartment being the best option as they would have the place to themselves to discuss a plan of action away from Elena, who had now returned from her trip but was still in the dark in regards to what was happening.

After completing another lap of the room, Jake looked out at the street once more, “come on Bunny”, he said aloud, “where are you"?

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“Was that Jake”? Irina asked, having eve dropped on the phone conversation.

Ben nodded, “yeah, Danila wants to meet him tomorrow, for that job”.

“Pizdets!” Irina exclaimed. banging her fist on the armrest of the sofa, “did he say what he has to do”?

“I don’t think so”, Ben replied, with a weak smile, “but I'm meeting him later at his place”.

“Just the two of you”? Irina said raising an eyebrow, “alone”?

“Yes, alone, what does that matter”? Ben shot back, his voice having raised an octave or two.

“Oh, no reason”, Irina replied innocently, “so what are you going to wear”?

“Wear”? Ben repeated, “You think I should change”?

Irina smiled, “up to you, Bunny, you look cute right now but if it was me, I would change one or two things”?

Ben pouted, “really, like what? will you help me”?

“Of course, come with me”, Irina said taking a hold of his hand, “let’s see what we can find”.

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After twisting his finger, this way and that, finally manoeuvring his hand into a position where he could ring the Buzzer, without his long acrylic nail tip getting in the way, Ben took a deep breath.

Looking down, he wondered if asking for Irina’s help had been a mistake. He didn’t hate his outfit, and apart from his ankle boots, which seemed to be a little much for the occasion, it was too uncomfortable and did look rather casual compared to what he normally wore.

But there were two main problems, the first being the hooded top, which was in his opinion, way too small, leaving a section of his midriff bare, luckily it was a warm evening.

The short top led directly on to his second issue. coming about as he caught a glance of his backside in the mirror before leaving the apartment, pert, round and begging to be squeezed, his bum cheeks pushed up and held in position by his skin-tight designer jeans and leaving him in utter shock that he was looking at his own reflection.

He had spent most of the taxi ride over, fidgeting and feeling rather self-conscious, worrying about what Jake would think of his outfit. He didn’t want to give off the wrong signals, things were complicated and confusing enough as they were, without Jake getting the wrong impression.

Giving his short top, one last tug in an attempt to cover a little more of his exposed stomach, Ben jumped and let out a little squeal, as the door suddenly flew open.

“I’m so glad you’re here”, Jake announced, “I was worried you weren’t coming”, leaning forward to give the feminized boy an awkward hug.

"Sorry, I was getting changed and then traffic was awful”, Ben replied talking into Jake's shoulder.

“It’s ok”, Jake said stepping back and smiling, “please, come in, I like your outfit, you look really stylish".

Ben blushed feeling happy but confused by the compliment before following Jake into his apartment.

“So, can I get you something to drink”, Jake asked as they entered the living room.

“erm… ok, I’ll take a soda”, Ben replied looking around the room.

“Coming up, make yourself comfortable”, Jake said with a smile.

“Ok”, Ben replied, not knowing why he felt so awkward, he had been to Jake’s house hundreds of times before, but this time felt different somehow.

Turning Ben took a few steps forward, hearing the loud clack of his boots on the hardwood floor, before turning gracefully and lowering himself gently on to the cushioned sofa, feeling the denim of his jeans tighten around his legs.

Crossing one leg over the other and placing his hands on his lap neatly, Ben suddenly felt as though he was being watched.

Looking up he saw Jake, who was still standing in the middle of the room, with his mouth hanging open just staring at him.

“what”? Ben announced.

“Oh, nothing”, Jake replied grinning.

“No, tell me, what is it”? Ben repeated more forcefully, “why are you staring at me”?

“Well, it’s just… how can I put it… you just look so natural… I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner”, Jake said his smile becoming even broader.

“See what”? Ben replied pouting.

“That you are a girl", he blurted out.

Ben sighed loudly, giving him an angry look, “just go get my soda will you, we don’t have time for this, we need to talk about what you are going to do tomorrow”.

Reminded of the text, Jake’s face changed to a more serious look, “ok, be right back, babe, do you want ice”?

Ben slowly shook his head, staring at Jake in disbelief, “did he really just call me, babe”?

(See image 1.1)