Christmas Delights 3 (30 page)

Jake eased his fingers closer and closer to the crotch,
teasing with each subtle gesture. Just as his teasing hands reached the crotch
of the jeans, a shrill ring interrupted the scene and Jake’s hand pulled back
in a flash.

Benson growled under his breath before grabbing his phone
from the cup holder.

“What?” he groaned.

Jake waited patiently as Benson listened to the muffled
voice on the other line.

“How long?” He seemed surprised before sighing in
exasperation. “Fine, I’ll be there in ten.” He jabbed his thumb at the screen,
ending the call, before he dropped the phone unceremoniously back into the cup
holder. “We have to make a stop.”

“Okay,” Jake shrugged.

“It shouldn’t take long.” Jake felt a swell of pride in the
fact that Benson seemed both annoyed by the interruption and anxious for the
fun to start back up.

They arrived outside the Newport News Iceplex seven minutes
later. Benson sped past a tow-zone warning as he parked his car in a space
labeled “Sonny Dawes.”

“So your name is Sonny?” Jake quipped. He figured at this
point, it was safe to assume anonymity was impossible.

“Don’t call me that,” Benson rolled his eyes. “Just call me
Ben.”

“Ben,” Jake tested the name before nodding. The media never
referred to him as Ben.  Something felt intimate in the moment and Jake
relished the permission.

He followed Ben into the player’s entrance of the hockey
rink. He figured Ben would’ve told him not to if he cared. Ben’s large legs
charged forward as the six-foot-three muscle god sped through the large,
concrete tunnel leading through the home-team locker facility and then out into
the rink. Jake nearly had to jog to keep up.

Once at the edge of the ice, Jake saw what Ben had been
called to the rink for. A man, unknown to Jake, was lying on his back in just
sweats, a t-shirt, and skates. Ben sighed and motioned for Jake to stay off the
ice before he stepped on and carefully made his way to the man.

“Marc,” he said sternly, but caringly. The rink was so quiet
that Jake could hear the entire interaction. “What happened?”

“She’s gone,” Marc choked through his spent tears. “She left
me... on Christmas Eve!”

“Shit,” Ben said, his voice lacking surprise. He rubbed his
head in frustration.

The conversation began to seem just a little too private for
Jake to be listening to. He left as he began to hear Ben saying some soothing
words to Marc. Jake wandered back into the still unlocked locker room.

He wandered around the room until he saw the number 14
flanked with the letter “C” for captain and “DAWES”. His space was immaculate,
organized to a fault. In the back of the locker was a small picture, bent on
the edges and held up with a small magnet. Jake grabbed the photo for a closer
look. He nearly gasped. The man in the photo was not the same man who’d picked
up Jake. Ben had a huge smile, bright white teeth flashed at the camera and his
eyes crinkled at the sides from the breadth of the smile. His arm was wrapped
around another smiling person, a smaller girl with identical dark brown hair
and thick eyebrows – his sister no doubt. The Ben who’d picked Jake up was
reserved and had one thing on his mind, nothing like the free and happy man in
the tattered photo.

Jake could hear Ben’s voice approaching the locker facility,
his tone of voice still a caring and calming crooning. Jake quickly stuck the
picture and magnet back in the locker and stepped away, hoping he was pulling
off the level of coolness he was trying to convey.

Marc froze as they stepped into the locker room.
Well
shit... should I have gone back to the car?

“Who are you?” Marc asked, the crying-exhausted tone still
in his voice, his head dipped in embarrassment.

“Ummm...” Jake fumbled.

“Cousin,” Ben said without blinking. His gaze pleaded for
Jake to play along.

Jake faltered a moment longer before clarifying. “On his
mother’s side.”

Ben visibly relaxed, but Marc seemed to have lost interest.

“Do you have a place to go tonight?” Ben asked his friend.
Jake didn’t miss the desperate pleading in Ben’s tone, his anxiousness to
return to the planned activities for the evening apparent to Jake.

“Yeah, my brother came in to town,” Marc replied. “I should
get back to him.” He left with a small wave and the door banged shut behind
him.

“That was nice of you,” Jake observed.

“I’m the Captain,” Ben said as if that explained all.

“So...” Jake wiggled his eyebrows. “Were you thinking of making
a different sort of memory in this locker room?”

Ben huffed a laugh. “No, let’s get going.”

Going they got – but not far. Just as Marc’s car disappeared
around the building, Jake and Ben found themselves in a completely empty
parking lot. Jake felt Ben tense as he noticed his missing sports car.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

“They towed your car?” Jake tried and failed to disguise the
laughter in his voice. “They work on keeping the parking lot empty even on
Christmas Day?”

“Fuck!” Ben spat, ignoring Jake. “It isn’t the car I drive
to work. It didn’t have a pass. We were in there for ten minutes!”

Must be nice to have two cars.
Jake let the smirk
die. He could hardly afford rent, much less a non-public form of
transportation.

“You could call Marc?” he suggested.

Ben ignored his guest again, choosing to call the number of
the towing company from the sign at the corner of the lot. “You towed my car.”
- “Yeah we’re there.” - “Thank you.”

Ben sounded relieved. Minutes later, the tow truck appeared
with Ben’s Camaro securely attached behind it.

“Glad you just caught me!” a gruff man grunted as he pushed
himself out of the cab. “I hadn’t gotten far.”

“Thank you for coming back,” Ben laid on a very fake
gracious tone.

“Holy shit! You’re Sonny Dawes! You’re the best!” the man
exclaimed.

“Yeah.” Ben ignored the praise.

Must be nice to have praise. The closest Jake got to praise
was ‘whore’ and ‘slut’ from some of his johns with colorful vocabulary and a
taste for the rougher sort of fun.

“So I was parked in the right spot,” Ben said pointing to
the sign indicating the spot as his.

“Yeah, but you’re supposed ta have a tag,” the man drawled.
“I couldn’t see a tag.”

“I know, it’s not the car I usually drive to the rink,” Ben
rubbed his forehead, annoyed.

“Who are you?” The man said, some spit dribbling from the
side of his mouth. Jake just noticed the sizable wad of chewing tobacco lodged
in the man’s cheek.

“Jake, Sonny’s cousin,” Jake smirked as he used Ben’s public
nickname and held out a hand. The truck driver shook it as Jake continued, “on
his mother’s side.”

Ben looked nearly livid and about to burst, irritation
painted in his scowl.

“Can I just get my car back?”

“Pleasure,” the man responded before turning back to Ben.
“The rate is $200.”

“What?” Ben shook his head in shock. “That’s outrageous!”

Jake had the good sense to lose the smirk. Ben was probably
overcharged a lot when people recognized him as the highly-paid sports star he
is. Shit – even Jake had tried it.

“It’s the rate,” the man shrugged. “I can take it back ta
the car yard and ya can get it there if ya like.”

Ben’s mouth snapped shut, his lips a tight line barely
visible in the night. The man placed his hand on the side of the Camaro,
leaving a large smudge from his oily skin. Ben’s chest rose fast and he nearly
lunged before Jake jumped in between the two men.

“Here,” Jake said forking over the $150 Ben had given him
earlier and an extra $50 from a blowjob earlier in the evening. “That should
cover it.”

Jake reached blindly behind him in the dark and grabbed
Ben’s wrist hard, hoping the touch would serve to relax the fuming man. The
trucker unhitched the car from his truck and sped off much richer than before.

“All right big boy,” Jake winked. “Let’s get this show on
the road!”

Ben still seemed monumentally pissed, but Jake’s suggestive
tone seemed to get Ben’s mind wandering in more interesting, racy directions.

“Fuck, it’s nearly one,” Ben sighed as the car began to roar
and they peeled out of the empty parking lot. “How much for you to stay
longer?”

Jake smirked, “Well considering you owe me two hundred, I’ll
say an extra fifty will keep me around a bit longer.”

Ben swallowed his anger and nodded, “I don’t have that cash
on me. We’ll have to stop at an ATM.”

Ten minutes later, still in an unsavory part of Newport
News, Ben stood at an ATM fishing out the bills. Jake leaned against the
passenger side door looking up at the cold night sky.
Merry Christmas.

Jake exhaled a wisp of visible breath in the cold air. He
watched it dissipate in the darkness, the only light coming from the screen of
the ATM. He furrowed his brow. That was odd. He looked up to see that the
street lamp above this segment of the sidewalk was out.
Oh shit.

Muted darkness moved and a man dressed in all black came out
from the shadows, a gun aimed at Ben.

“Give me your money.”

Jake, with his heart racing, watched as Ben’s shoulders fell
in defeat and he reached to grab the bills spat by the machine to give to the
man. If he weren’t so scared, Jake would’ve laughed. Ben just couldn’t catch a
break. The man hadn’t noticed Jake and so Jake decided an early Christmas
present was in order.

Having worked for as long as he had on the street, he’d
picked up more than a few self-defense techniques and an eye for someone who’s
not really ready to shoot a guy. This man seemed more nervous than Ben. The
man’s back was to Jake and the gun trained on Ben’s chest. Jake leapt, grabbing
first at the man’s arm and pulling it back, hard and fast. He yelped as the gun
fell to the ground.

Jake yanked the man’s arm behind his back and shoved him to
the ground, kicking the gun down the sidewalk. Ben stood in shock at the expert
disarming his hooker was capable of.

“It’s all right honey,” Jake winked. “Go back to the car.”

Ben growled, his eyes squinting in annoyance at Jake’s
flippancy and the nickname, but he got in the car nonetheless.

“Come on dude, you’re better than that,” Jake whispered in
the mugger’s ear. “Don’t mug people on Christmas.” He hit the guy hard and
jumped up, running to the passenger side of the car before the mugger could get
his bearings and find his gun.

“You’re fucking insane!” Ben shouted, obviously pissed.

Jake cackled in crazed amusement. “Holy shit! That was
awesome!”

“I could’ve been shot!” Ben’s face was bright red beneath
his stubble.

“Oh baby, were you scared?” Jake put on a fake pout that
only enraged Ben more. “I can help you forget it.” Jake grabbed hard at Ben’s
crotch and rubbed. The redness deepened on Ben’s cheeks as Jake playfully
teased, then leaned over and licked the fly of Ben’s tight jeans.

“Fuck,” Ben breathed as he chanced a quick glance at the wet
spot from Jake’s mouth on his jeans.

“We’re gonna have some real fun tonight,” Jake said as he
pulled back with the wad of cash Ben had withdrawn. He began counting out his
share and stuffed the rest back into Ben’s jeans.

“You’re insane,” Ben choked out. Obviously, Jake’s
transformation from the teasing, reserved hooker he’d picked up to the crazed
vigilante hero had been a little much for Ben. The fact was Jake considered he
didn’t really have all that much to live for. Moments like the mugging were a
shot of life, adrenaline to push him on and forward. Most people found that in
sex – Jake hadn’t felt that from sex in years.

Finally, the Camaro pulled out of the dingy, dark streets of
the Shipyards and into the nice section of Newport News – from Bad News to the
Swank.

Jake whistled as Ben pulled his car into the underground
parking of a large, old apartment complex. “This is fancy.”

“Thanks,” Ben said stepping out of his car. His nerves
seemed to have calmed during the latter half of the drive. “Come on,” Ben
huffed as he jammed his thumb on the up button of the elevator.

Jake froze and stared at the huge metal doors. He could feel
his hand shaking slightly. He didn’t do small spaces. That included elevators.

A high-pitched ding accompanied the sliding open of the
doors. Ben stepped in and the elevator creaked a bit. He put his arm against
the door holding it open. “You coming?”

“Uh,” Jake swallowed. “Yeah.” He jumped into the elevator
and held his breath. The doors shut and Jake began to shake more. He looked
down at the number Ben had pressed. 14. They just had to make it up to 14.

Fuck, this is a slow elevator.
Jake couldn’t be sure
if Ben had said anything; he wouldn’t have heard if he had. Ben was turned away
from him and was staring at the numbers slowly crawling on the elevator’s
display. He obviously wanted to get off as soon as possible.

The elevator lurched a little, and Jake felt his stomach
turn and somersault with terror rising like bile. A second lurch made him lose
his balance for a moment before the elevator shook a third time and stopped.

Ben groaned and pressed the call button. “Tony, the
elevator’s stuck again!”

A beat of silence followed by, “Sorry Mr. Dawes! It’ll be up
and running in a couple of minutes.”

“Thanks Tony,” Ben sighed letting go of the call button.
“This happens all the time, it’s an old building...” Jake watched as Ben turned
to face him.

Jake shook furiously, and he could see the shock on Ben’s
face at seeing his escort shaking in the corner. Jake had tears in his eyes as
he cowered. “I... I...” Jake tried, but his shaking worsened as he began to
choke on air, incapable of taking a breath.

Ben’s face fell into that pitying look Jake tried his
hardest to avoid. The man reached down and enveloped Jake in a tight hug.
“It’ll be okay. Just give it one minute.”