CH. 10 The question is

Hi :-) First of all, sorry because I said I'd post yesterday, but couldn't make it, but here it comes..it's quite long and has 3 POV, hope you'll enjoy it, let me know!

Thank you very much again for your comments and messages, you are simply wonderful!!

You'll see how things are going and well, that was all planned and that's how I want the story to move, given the personalities and background of the characters.

Dedicated to all of you and in particular to evillittlewriter17 because I know she'll enjoy the last part and the picture of Oleg.

On the right, picture of scary and dark Oleg.

Enjoy xox

JASPER POV

One huge and big bed.

Oh. Boy.

I dropped the bag on the floor and gasped and then closed my mouth feeling Dima moving behind me. He probably leaned down and picked my bag up and then saw him walking in the dark room towards a drawer; he left the bags on the floor in front of it and turned on a small lamp on top of it. I didn’t register much of the room, because my eyes were still concentrated on the bed if front of me and I think I was about to melt and evaporate.

“You like it? We have also a small en-suite bathroom, so we don’t need to share it with my cousins or rush to get it on time. Irina takes forever inside a bathroom, honestly.” He quietly chuckled. “Need to take a shower or anything?”

“Uhm, not now thank you…I’ll just wash my hands and … uhm, arrange my things.” I knew it; I was about to hyperventilate.

Dima nodded and showed the bathroom and let me there alone. I took few breaths to calm down my heartbeat and then realized I was still wearing the winter jacket and inside here the temperature was nice and warm and my body was already about to fuse.

I walked back into the room to find him there about to take off his sweater, struggling with it, and in the motion he lifted his t-shirt and my eyes glued to his abdominals. Oh boy…I never really saw him without clothes and this was just a uhm, well, glimpse, but boy…they were so prominent and hardly shaped, his skin perfectly smooth and tensed over the muscles. I gulped down and felt my face warming up, but uhm…it wasn’t because of blushing.

I had to tear away my eyes, but they wouldn’t listen to me and kept there, then he pulled it off and chucked it to bed and tilted his head to me; our gazes met and none of us said a word for a couple of seconds. This time my face lit up and I abruptly turned to the side, fumbled with the zip of the jacket in a wreck of nerves and sweat and somehow managed to take it off. I walked back to the bathroom and sat on the floor.

Dima had looked at me in a strange way and I was terrified he had seen how I stared at him; if I were Travis, I’d say that I ate him with my eyes and probably that was true. My legs pulled me up and cold water helped my face to cool down. I heard a knock on the door and when I spoke, the door opened.

“You ok, Jas? You looked sort of pale before.” I widened my eyes. Pale?? I thought my face had reached thermonuclear temperature. He placed his hand on my forehead and I almost jumped back for the shock. “Seriously Jas, you ok? You keep moving away every time I’m about to touch you.”

“Uhm, I am ok…really.” I silently exhaled and forced a relaxed smile on my lips. He returned the smile, but instead of leaving the bathroom, he leaned over me, placing a hand right beside my arm on the sink. My eyes widened about to roll down and I bet now I didn’t look pale. “Uhm, well…you know me, I-I tend to be shy sometimes.”

His face stopped just few inches away and he moved it from angle to angle as if studying something on me. My heart was probably waking up the entire house and I prayed he would not hear it.

“Yeah, know you’re shy, but usually not with me or Travis. But guess maybe isn’t always nice a dude being this close, right?” I literally gaped at a loss of words. Uhm, what? Dima really seemed to forget sometimes I was gay and not hetero.

“Uhm, Dima? For me it’d a problem with girls…uhm well, you know I-I like guys..” He thought about it and then nodded. Oh boy, did he really forget about that? “You forgot about it?” Jasper, what on earth are you asking??

“Nope, well, not exactly. Man, don’t know how to explain it. I mean, I know you’re gay, but sometimes I reason with my mind and think that some things might be weird coming from a guy, but don’t know, Jas. I…I was afraid you’d see my brother in me.” He scratched nervously his hair and moved back, standing all tall and huge in front of me.

Then his words registered in my brain.

What??

“What? Are you crazy?” I asked not believing my ears. “Wait, was the reason you asked me those things on the plane? How did you come up with such a silly and wrong idea?”

His all figure relaxed and his broad shoulders slightly shook with relieved chuckles.

“Sorry man. Guess I’m too tired and hungry to properly think before speaking. Shall we go eat something? I’m starving.” Uhm…nope, I didn’t buy that. He wasn’t person to overly analyze situation and he always said how different they looked.

I amazed myself for my sudden boldness and stepped forward, my hand reaching for the side of his face. He eyed me somehow surprised, but a soft smile formed on his super handsome face. Dima like … him? Uhm, this wasn’t crazy; this was not of this world.

“You never had such idea in months and why now? Because I uhm…met him at your house?” He didn’t say anything, just stood there and uhm, was I seeing things or did he really lingered on my hand and tilted is head on it? Uhm, nope, bet I was seeing things. Suddenly I heard a loud yell in my head and the voice belonged to Travis. “Hell cutie, open your eyes!!” I gasped and then something else he told me returned into my thoughts. Maybe Stevie told him something to piss him off. Uhm yep, how did I forget that? They were arguing and Dima had seized my friend jacket.

“Uhm…will you please tell me something?”

“What is it, Jas?” Oh boy, his voice sounded so…uhm…so, so well, it melted everything in me and sped up my heart beat, so calm and deep, so warm and…sensual. I blushed at my own thought and then shook my head reprimanding myself. I had to ask him something.

“Did Stevie tell you something weird or silly? Because I remember you were arguing and uhm well, that’s strange of you, because you never let a comment get under your skin. So..what he said? Steven can be well, sort of sharp sometimes.”

His eyes shot me a struck look and I knew immediately something was there. It was impossible for him to conceal his thoughts, he really uhm, sucked at that. I mentally giggled, because he was sort of influencing me.

“Err..no, why you think?” He tried to say. My fingers travelled up to his hair, pulling his head down; Dima was way taller than I was.

“Dima..” A knock on the door of the bedroom interrupted my words and took me back. I saw how incredibly closed we had come and my hand cupping his neck. Oh boy. I stuttered incoherent words and scattered back.

A gentle voice called us almost whispering and I basically ran out of the bathroom.

I-I…I had to stop acting like this or…or…oh boy, what was wrong with me? When I was around Dima and he would be that close, looking at me with such intense and undressing eyes, touching me or simply messing my head with confusing words, I’d almost lose all of my shyness and act out of impulse. Oh boy…this was…oh my, this was..

“Jasper, Dima honey, I made something to eat, you ready guys?” Mrs. Denisov smiled and I tried my best to regain some calm and answer her smile.

“Oh God yes, I’m starving to death.” Dima was right behind me and his hand stopped on my shoulder. He grinned down at me. “How about something to eat and then we watch something on TV?”

“Honey, it’s late at night, no TV to disturb the others and I am sure Jasper is tired and wants to sleep.”

Sleep.

In the same bed with Dima.

Was I going to sleep?

I dropped exhausted on the bed and apparently I was really tired and haven’t realized it, but I found myself almost dozing in the kitchen. I didn’t feel like having a shower, just wanted to sleep...if I could. Jeans and jumper weren’t anymore comfortable, so I took them off and then pulled back a pair of shorts and went for the t-shirt, but the door of the bathroom opened, my eyes shot up and I almost collapsed.

Oh. Boy.

Dima walked out from it just wearing a tight pair of black boxers and my eyes widened almost painfully, eager to take in every single and little particular of his uhm well…short-circuiting hot body. Yep…my brain probably just short circuited and my face exploded in alarming red blushes. My guts clenched tightly and sent tingles all over my bodies, making me almost shiver; my heart accelerated and my breathing went erratic.

Dima was…I-I..had no idea he could be that…that…boy uhm, hot didn’t properly describe it. Handsome, too. I didn’t hear anymore what I was thinking about, because the sight of his perfect and muscular body had me gone; I was staring at him, I knew it, but couldn’t look away not even if I’d hear my own head and thoughts trying to call me back. His shoulders and arms were indeed bulky and tensed with impossibly strong muscles, but didn’t expect also his chest and abdomen to be that…that…I was at loss of words. His chest was prominent and stone-like defined..and I saw earlier a bit of his abdominals, but uhm well…oh boy, were they hard and ripped. I swallowed down and gulped at the same time. My mouth wasn’t dry, but my mouth nervously twitched and my throat kept gulping down. Dima had indeed the so-called six-pack, boy and that was perfectly hot. How would it feel touching it? Running my fingers over it and exploring all the curve of his muscles? That must feel ... what was I thinking about? Oh just stop it.

He saw me staring at him and shot me a curios look, in between smirking and grinning, and I kept telling myself to look away.

Jasper, look away, look away, stop looking that silly in front of him.

I gripped harder my t-shirt and felt every part of my body combusting. Uhm, I knew it, I was probably bright red at the moment.

He took a couple of steps and stopped in front of me. I almost took a step back, but remembered what he said about that and forced myself to peek up and try to smile normally, while I was almost melting down and inside.

“Hey, didn’t think you had such sexy abs, wow…” He said staring at my abdomen.

Uhm…WHAT? He just used the word “sexy” with me? I must have heard wrong.

“Wh-what?” I stuttered out.

DMITRI POV

I got out of the bathroom ready to go to sleep and praying I wouldn’t have weird and wet dreams tonight, because as much as I was eager to share the bed with Jas, I was also afraid of what I could say or do. C’mon man, I’m not that dumb as you think. Jasper was terribly attractive and the more we would keep close and the more he touched me, the more I wanted it.

Good God, I was going crazy here, I’m telling you.

What Sasha told me kept spinning in my head and bumping with my neurons and my head was about to split open; never been the thinker. Probably I should even stop all of this damn thinking and just go for it, act in some way, but…no, it was Jasper here, not just a common Joe and he was a sensitive person and crap, I cared for him.

If I was going to do something stupid or tactless as I usually did, he would freak out and think less of me or even avoid me for good. When he told me that he didn’t see in me my twin brother, my entire body relaxed at once and felt like a heavy burden had been lifted and tossed away. Jas didn’t say that to make me happy; his words were sincere, I could tell it, and he didn’t back off, but actually touched me and crap, did it feel good. Who was I kidding? It felt great and on the plane I straightly asked him to do so. Good thing he didn’t mind it.

I was about to ask him about tomorrow, because couldn’t wait to go snowboard, but as soon as my eyes found him, I shut up and stood there struck like a moron.

Err…could a dude be sexy? I kept asking myself that; I mean, they could be attractive and have a fit body, that didn’t take you to be gay to admit and sure after practice in the showers we all saw each other naked and stuff. I knew my friends had a damn fit and ripped body, especially that beast of Sasha, but sexy? That was another story. Argh, my friends sexy? Oh spare me from the thought, please, ugh.

And damn… Jasper wasn’t only attractive, he was sexy as hell. He stood there just wearing a pair of shorts and about to wear a t-shirt, when his gaze locked with mine. Man, I froze on the spot and then felt my entire body going hard and hot. I mean, man, look at his skin, was I guy supposed to look that soft and smooth and creamy? Good God and look at his lean muscles and.. crap, he had the sexiest stomach I have ever seen. It wasn’t bulky with wrestle-like rock abs nor flat and slightly fit like a girl. It was shaped with damn tempting and sensual lean muscles and the navel looked just oh-so edible. I groaned in my head. For crying out loud. What the hell?

Forgot about the dreams. I was about to have another problem here and the way Jasper stared at me without uttering a word, but roaming my almost naked body didn’t help a bit. He was right. I forgot he was gay, because it was like, no idea, extra and optional piece of information, I mean, Jas was Jas and period. But man, didn’t miss the way his deep chocolate eyes darkened and widened as to swallow me in; did he feel the same as I did? C’mon, I might be dense, but not completely stupid and blind. I was used to chicks’ stares of desire and I could recognize one at first and his eyes…they didn’t just have desire, they were hungry and they made me feel hot and naked in a damn good way.

Or was I simply projecting on him what I felt for him right now?

Who cares, I had to freaking wear a pair of something or we would have a not-so-funny situation here. I mean, couldn’t get hard in front of him, what would he think? I took two steps to reach my bag, but the way his abs flexed and the way he blushed made my mouth act first.

“Hey, didn’t think you had such sexy abs, wow…” I blabbed out clearly staring like a horny moron at his lean six-pack and clenched my fists to prevent from running my hands over it.

The smiled he had on his face dropped and his eyes almost popped out. Oh crap, I knew it, I just said something idiotic. But he wouldn’t slap me, right? Man, no, he wasn’t a drama queen.

“Wh-what?” He stuttered out, blushing even more.

Err, was I affecting him in some way? I hope at least half the way he did to me.

“Man, no kidding. Your abs are the sexiest I have ever seen.” What the hell was I saying? Jas wasn’t a chick, so stop saying stuff like that. “I mean, great shape. Never thought you had such..well, do you go to the gym or something?” Right, I mean, look at his arms, too, and chest and, oh shut it, dofus.

“Uhm...thank you, but well, uhm…I think yours are far better and uhm, hotter.” Now it was me widening my eyes. He said my six-pack was hot? He waved his hands in front of me and fidgeted in clear distress. “I mean, you look good..well, you know that of course, because you do a lot of exercise and weight-lifting and of course, with hockey you need a strong and fit body so..”

I just realized it now.

I was affecting Jasper.

The way he randomly talked and the way his eyes roamed my body and then snapped away told me so. The question was: what now? I haven’t considered this, because it seemed stupid to me, but hey, I was sure it was no mistake here. I affected him in some way, but no idea how much I did it.

Man, what now? How do you go or do or flirt or whatever with a guy? Damn, not with a random guy, but Jasper. Another question here without answer.

I had no idea and right now I was too tired to even try to connect my brain.

I wanted to touch him or him to touch me, damn, I was about to explode here, but I shook my head and mentally groaned. Sasha was so damn right, as usual, the bastard. I liked Jasper and didn’t find him simply attractive, but sexy and oh-so tempting and edible. But I had no idea about my feelings and couldn’t let my moronic and tactless side have the best, not with Jasper. He was something else, he was…not with him.

“Thanks man, you should see Sasha or Hayden. Well, River as well, but he isn’t that big, you know that.” He stared at me a moment in silence and then cracked a shy smile, which made my face grin like a full moon.

“Uhm, Travis told me about Alex and I remember him from last month. But uhm, you..” He looked at the ceiling, thinking about something and then sucked the side of his lower lip. Oh crap, blood rushed south-south and I had to get those stupid pair of something. He shook his head and smiled again.

Jasper was lying at the opposite side, softly and quietly breathing and I was conscious of every move he did. I was on my back and tried to sleep, but couldn’t and then suddenly he turned on his side and called my name and his voice made me mentally growl.

“Dima?” He whispered with calm and warm voice.

“Yes?” I heard him gasp; he didn’t expect to find my awake.

“Did I just wake you up?” I chuckled at how worried he sounded. I rolled on my side and met his sweet eyes in the dark, his head resting on the pillow and his hair messier than usual, asking for my hand to ruffle them more. And so I did it. He giggled softly and I liked that sound.

“No man, wasn’t sleeping yet.”

“Uhm, good..” He kept silent and then sighed out. “I wanted to ask you something, so please just answer me sincerely. Did Stevie tell you something?”

Argh, I couldn’t behave like a rat and talked behind that guy’s back, but couldn’t even ignore his request.

“Hmm, no, don’t worry Jas.” He didn’t buy it, obviously.

“Just tell me, please. You sort of acted strange after we went skateboarding and why you thought about that? It’s plain silly and nonsensical.” I chuckled, because Jasper had a far better vocabulary than I had.

“Man really, doesn’t matter and don’t like to be a backstabber or rat out people, so really..” He shot his hand so fast I almost didn’t see it. Wow, Jedi skill here. He grabbed my ear and pulled it harshly. “Ouch.” I complained.

“You’re not a backstabber or rat, uhm, why you keep saying silly and absurd things about yourself. I want to know, so tell me.” He kept pulling my earlobe and when he eased the pull, man, his fingers on there were damn turning me on. I swallowed down the sudden rush and sighed out in defeat.

“Your friend just doesn’t like me, so it’s fine. No big deal and I know I might remind him of that bastard of Anatoly, so I don’t blame him. He asked me if I ever considered the fact you might see in me my twin brother, if when looking at me or being with me well, you could see him in me and it kind of hit me hard, because I never thought about that and felt a huge moron. I know we are different, but..” His fingers trailed down on my neck and he shifted closer, pulling down my head. He slightly touched my forehead with his and closed his eyes. Oh crap, his lips looked so…kissable. I swallowed down hard, this wasn’t the moment.

“I’m sorry for what he said; I’ll talk to him and tell him to mind his words. Stevie isn’t bad or anything, he’s just very protective and one of my dearest friends, but…he shouldn’t have told you that, it was unfair and wrong. After talking to you and understanding it wasn’t you, but Anatoly, after that afternoon, the first afternoon we spent together, I kept telling myself how stupid I had been for mistaking you for him. You are not even different, you…are, uhm, yes, you look similar because you’re twin, but don’t know, you two are…like night and day. I never saw your brother in you, Dima.”

He talked the whole time with whispering voice and closed eyes and I just stared at him for once without knowing what to say. His touch was too comfortable and warm and if I were a huge cat or the sort, I’d be purring big time right now.

“Thanks Jas, this really makes me feel better. Yeah, I’m so happy you accepted my offer that afternoon, it’s been cool.” He pulled back and smiled and noticed his dimples, man, that close they look really cute. I couldn’t help myself and poked one with a finger. “You have quite deep dimples when you smile truly happy.”

Jas smiled wider and I had to fight the impulse of cuddling him big time, because he just called for that. Nah, I wouldn’t slam him down and take him senseless, like Sasha said; I mean, I’d do many things to him, but the idea of going rough didn’t ring well, the picture of him taking charge was actually intriguing…hmm…Jasper pushing me down and staring at my eyes while straddling me and passing his fingers on my skin and…argh, just STOP IT! Damn, was I some sort of moronic masochist? Thinking about such things with him here right beside me, making my blood boil and run down the south route. I swallowed down to calm my buddy, because right now it was readier than a laser saber, if you catch what I’m saying. Right, Jasper right beside me felt really good, nothing like I ever experienced. Shoot.

Make your few neurons work man and get to open your eyes as Sasha said. One thing was attraction and one thing was how I felt for him and right now that was still a mess in my head.

“Jas, you don’t need to talk to Steven, really. I’d feel an idiot if you guys would have an argument for me, so let it go, I mean, we clarified and we’re fine now. Who cares, right?”

He weighted and thought about my words, you could always tell when he was thinking about something deeply; he sighed and gave me another brownies plus extra cream smile. Nah man, wasn’t some chick, but I loved brownies and his smile was just as sweet and tempting.

“Sure, as you prefer, just don’t listen anymore to such things, ok?” I nodded and then we both yawned at the same time. He giggled and rolled on his back. “Boy, I’m about to fall asleep..”

“Yeah, same here man, so sleep well.”

“You, too.”

God please, let me have a dreamless night. Thank you.

The light poked my face and eyes quite annoyingly and I grunted for it to just get lost, but it wouldn’t. I rolled few times from side to side and seeing the light didn’t beat it, I groaned frustrated and kicked away the covers.

I paused and didn’t recognize immediately the room. Where the hell was..oh right, Aspen man, how could you forget? What an idiot. Oh God, Jasper and.. I turned around, but the bed was empty. I panicked. Did I do or say or dream about something weird and he ran away? I tried to concentrate and remember any dream, but I was sure last night I had no dreams. A sigh of relief left my mouth and then I grunted; right, no dreams, but sure my morning call was there. Someone knocked on the door and my voice answered with a raw and caveman-like sound; the messy hazel head of Jasper popped in and his smile made my buddy happier.

“Uhm..morning, did I wake you up? Your mom wanted to know if you were still sleeping, because they’re getting ready.”

“I just woke up now. What time is it?” The hell, it’s Saturday, why my family was always this hyperactive in the morning?

“Well, it’s almost eleven and..”

“WHAT? Damn it, this late? Wait here, gonna have a light speed shower and I’ll chuck down something, ‘cause I’m hungry and then we’ll reach my family.” I sprinted out and almost tripped down, but I caught my balance on time and darted to the bathroom. When I got back, I found my two cousins lively talking to Jasper and to my great surprise he was at ease and not blushing or fidgeting.

“C’mon lazy butt, how can you sleep till this late when the snow and Aspen ski slopes are out there waiting for us?” That was Ira.

“Yo man, she’s right. We take Jasper with us and wait for you downstairs, you’ll eat in town, not here.” And that was my cousin Francisco.

“What? You kidding me dude? If I don’t eat here I won’t make it till to town.” I grunted, fishing my snowboards pants and jumper. They all were dressed ready to leave.

I beat a record in dressing and eating, well gobbling down, breakfast in 10 minutes and then we were ready to hit the slopes. Man, was I excited.

JASPER POV

When I opened my eyes at the cold light of the morning, my gaze met the sleeping and handsome face of Dima. He was facing the pillow and largely lying on his belly; I stared at him for a while, before registering the fact my hand was warm and laced with something else. Oh boy. I timidly moved my fingers and realized they were connected with Dima’s fingers and suddenly my body and mind began to hyperventilate and melt. Uhm..how this happened? I was glad I woke up earlier, what would he have thought otherwise?

Our conversation ran back to my mind and while I quietly sneaked out of bed, I thought and re-thought about what happened. Was Travis right? Was Nic right? This was killing me, I had no idea, but he behaved so … uhm well, so…closely last night. I sighed and went for a shower and seeing he was still peacefully sleeping, I decided to go downstairs and greet his family.

Mrs. Denisov was in the kitchen and frying some bacon and eggs and pancakes, judging from the smell and it was making me and my stomach growl embarrassedly loud. It smelled super yummy.

“Good morning Mrs. Denisov, may I help you?” She turned back and uhm, something was different in her. She studied me a second and then smiled.

“You must be Jasper, such a pleasure to meet you. I’m Larisa, Dima’s aunt, but please call me Lara.” Oh, wow…I see why Dima had a twin. His mother had a twin, too. Her accent was less strong, though; actually quite well blended.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs..uhm, Torres?” I hope the surname was right, because last night I was so tired to remember everything.

“No Mrs. or the like, just call me Lara and we’re fine.”

“Sister dear, don’t embarrass Jasper as first thing, he’s a lovely and shy person and he still doesn’t call me by name.” Mrs. Denisov entered the kitchen and his husband was there with her, holding her shoulders in a tender hug. “Good morning Jasper.” They both greeted.

“Good morning.” I slightly blushed and then Mr. Denisov smiled and made me sit at the large wooden table looking at a wide window. Outside was bright and sunny.

“Did you sleep well? I trust my son is still deeply asleep.”

“Yes, thank you, I did. Here is beautiful and so quiet. Uhm yes, Dima is still sleeping.”

“That lazy butt.” A girl, which was an exact copy of Mrs. Denisov and Mrs. Torres, but with naturally tanned skin and black eyes, sat in front of me and stretched out a hand. “Hey, I’m Irina, that lazy butt’s cousin and you are Jasper, right? You know, I met your friend Travis during Christmas, when we went to visit Sasha’s family. Oh my, your friend is super hot and it’s pity they cannot have biological kids, because they would make some god-like ones; Sasha is every girl’s dream and it’s a pity he’s taken, but they look great together, plus he’s too grumpy for me, but who cares when you look that hot, right?”

I just looked at her blinking, Mr. Denisov softly chuckling beside me. Oh boy, she was another chatter box. I shook her hand and tried to answer her, but someone else joined the table and sat beside her. A guy looking older than us two, with caramel skin, light brown skin and hazel-green eyes. An exact copy of Mr. Torres. Uhm, this must be cousin number two.

“Hey sis, annoying already with your nuclear powered tongue? Sorry man, how you doing? I’m Francisco, this is my younger sister and we are Dmitri’s cousins.”

“Oh shut up, bro.” The girl, uhm Irina, slapped her brother on the back of his neck and he just shrugged and rolled his eyes.

“Uhm, nice to meet you, I’m Jasper.”

“Oh I know that, Dima told us about you and as my nosy sister said, we met your friend. Must be quite the badass one to tame someone like Alex.”

“Uhm well…not sure about the taming thing…” I blurted out and then blushed realizing what I just said. The both laughed and breakfast saved me from more embarrassment. Mr. Torres joined us and we had a nice conversation.

“I already like you, Jasper. Guess you’re right, they look quite the wild ones, right?” Francisco winked and bit a huge fork of egg and bacon. He was quite tall and well built, but I could tell not as big as Dima.

Oddly enough, I wasn’t feeling uneasy or uncomfortable, twitching in shyness; his family was nice and easy to be with and didn’t need to really talk, because they talked enough for everyone. I never had such a happy and carefree breakfast with my family and I envied Dima for his family, uhm well, in a good way, I mean, really. Irina poured some syrup on my pancakes and then his brother talked about Aspen and his studies and she playfully made funny face at him. Their parents were as affectionate and close as Dima’ parents, and after a while my blushing gave up and I just thought how lucky they were.

When we realized Dima was still sleeping, his cousins planned to attack him and wake him up with tickles, but I didn’t see as a good idea, so I offered to go and see.

Now we were standing in front of a slope for beginners, many people around us laughing and talking, the sun bright on the sky and the air cold with snow. Irina and Francisco left for some harder skiing tracks, because they were into skiing rather than snowboarding.

I shifted my gaze at Dima and he looked uhm well, so handsome in those clothes, holding the board with a huge and enthusiastic smile and his eyes shining brighter than the sky. He turned and grinned and then he told me how to strap the board at my feet and the basics of it. He went on a bit to show me how to move and boy, I just stared at him with wide eyes and mouth.

“Ready Jas? We are going now for simple things, just some slope-style, but without obstacles or tricky stuff, just so you get comfortable with that and then I’m sure tomorrow we can try already the half pipe; man, I love it and I’ll also show you some tricks.” Everything of him was excited and thrilled and it made me giggle, thinking he looked like a huge bear-kid having the time of his life. “So, ready?”

Was I ready?

“Yep, ready.”

ANATOLY POV: BACK IN NEW YORK

This bastard here was about to set me crazy and no matter what I tried, it was impossible to sneak out. He was creepy and scaring, appearing out of nowhere and stopping me from going out or doing whatever I felt like. My phone had been confiscated and this was bad. I had to contact the gang and the boss or they would have me for breakfast; I really got myself in deep shit and I knew there was no chance of turning back the time, but I wished for it. What mostly worried me was the fact they could go against me using my family; they hadn’t figured out yet my father was this damn rich and that only because I pretended for year of leaving in some hole.

I looked at the time and it was about lunch time and thought about my brother and parents, having a great time in Aspen, a great time because I wasn’t there. I knew that my presence would have tainted everyone else there, especially the tension between Dima and me. I couldn’t help it, though; I still had anger inside, even if now it was just some pathetic excuse of anger. What a joke, the kid I beat some time ago was now my brother’s friend and from the way he snapped at me, I could tell he was about to follow the mighty Sasha down the fag path.

What am I saying? Calling them fag. I was one myself and I wasn’t a simply fag, but a disgusting freak and living piece of crap and … lets forget about it; it was long ago and not sure how it was now, what it was now, if it was now. Whenever the thought came to my mind, I’d push it away with anger and repulsion and I would go out, mess around, beat the living shit out of someone, steal, smoke, drink and maybe do something else even worse. I almost never had sex, though. I couldn’t get it up with girls, not even if they were smoking hot and the few times, I had to close my eyes, order her to shut the hell up and think about…I was disgusting, I knew it. I was worse than a vermin.

I slumped back on the couch and decided to get something to eat, but the creepy shadow materialized and had me almost fall down.

“Where are you going?” He inquired looking down on me with dark and impassive eyes.

“Damn you, bastard. I’m hungry.” I snorted. He didn’t react; he never reacted or flinched at whatever I said. He pissed me off so much and I hated how my father glued to my ass this scary son of a b!tch. Was he really just his personal assistant? To me he looked just like a thug and I hated to admit it, but he was intimidating and I would never cross his way or trigger his mood. If my so called friends thought of themselves as real criminals, well, they never saw someone like this one here.

“Just sit and I will make something.” He said with dry and monotone voice.

“I can do it myself, you know? I’m not a brat.” His expression didn’t change while staring down at me. He turned back and I knew he was heading to the kitchen.

He had removed his jacket and rolled on the sleeves, revealing the tattoos on his arms, if you could call those huge things just arms. Why my father fussed about my tattoos, when this bastard here was probably covered in them?

“Hey, why do you have so many tattoos?” He didn’t answer my question and I had to repress the urge to go there and smack his face, because I knew how it would end. Oleg never made a conversation with me, for a matter of fact, with anyone, except answering protocol questions. He lived with us, but he kept always distant. “What am I supposed to do the entire day in here? Rotten to death?”

No answer. This was damn annoying.

“Will you answer one question, you bastard.” I groaned, slamming my fists on the table.

He turned around and silenced me with a glare.

“I am not here to entertain you, Anatoly. I am here to follow your father’s orders and to keep you out of troubles.”

“Right, my father’s orders. You could care less like everyone else if I were to die.”

“That is not correct. As part of the Denisov family, I would take a bullet for all of you.”

“Bullshit, you would dodge it and my family would celebrate my departure.” I grunted. He turned around and in two strides he was towering me; his hand grabbed my shirt and slammed my face painfully down on the table, then grabbed my neck and pressed me there. “You son of a ..”

“Do not speak like that of your family and of Mr. Denisov. You need to grow up and face your problem.”

“Let me go..” His hand pressed harder and I coughed. “You’re not supposed to hurt me.”

He laughed humorlessly and clearly mocking me.

“Hurting? This is hurting for you? You child know no hurting.”

“What the hell do you know about me? Let me go, you know nothing of my problems and if I don’t contact someone today it’d be nasty for all of us.”

“That laughable gang of yours is not a problem. I have them under control. You have only a problem with your attitude and immaturity.” He let go of me and went back cooking whatever he planned to make. I stood up and breathed hard for the anger now burning in me, but Oleg had me sit down. “If you plan to attack me, you are wasting your time. Sit down and wait in silence.”

And with that the conversation was over just like my damn day.

Author's chit-chat:

Yes, Anatoly POV was planned, I will have some of his POV here and there in the story and we shall understand his story.  It was difficult to find the right picture for Oleg and to be honest I'm not sure yet about it.

So, how did you like it? Next chapter is another one in Aspen and then back to New York and what will happen? Who knows..