Page 30 of Back Room Host

“Is he okay?” I asked, casting a concerned glance over his shoulder at this long-haired guy who somehow didn’t fit with the other three guys.

“His mother passed away last week,” Juri replied quietly.

“He’s probably drinking away the pain.”

“Hm,” Juri grunted, clearly avoiding looking back again.

I found it sweet how he cared about this guy. It showed a side of him I wouldn’t have expected. I knew he shielded himself with a tough exterior, but the fact that this Noé softened him … He even apologized for being a bit distracted and for coercing me into that tequila shot. I told him it was no problem, yet I felt a pang as if I had just lied to his face. Where Juri had previously given me his full attention, I now shared it with this rocker. And I had to admit: I didn’t like it at all.

Fuck! Am I jealous?

I tried to steer the conversation back and figured it would be easiest if I picked up where he left off. Stupidly, my phone battery died just when the opportunity arose to steer the conversation to something more personal.

“Where did you grow up?” I asked nonchalantly, taking a sip of beer.

“Oh … uh … not far from here. But … anyway … and you?”

Seriously?

“I … uh … well … near the zoo. Nothing special.” I tried to make the words sound as casual as possible, but I doubted I succeeded. I was a lousy actor. But even growing up on the richand fancy hills of Zürichberg hadn’t stopped my schoolmates from bullying me. For a while, I even blamed my parents for everything, but now there was peace regarding that matter again.

“I would have liked to grow up a bit outside,” Juri said, thoughtfully eyeing the bottles behind the bar. “Not that it wasn’t cool here, but my home was suffocating.”

“Do you have siblings? I mean … blood-related siblings?”

“No, do you?”

“A brother,” I replied. “But we’re not particularly close.”

“Why’s that?”

“We’re very different,” I answered. “He’s studying at HSG in St. Gallen.”

Juri laughed. “Oh yeah, I think that says it all.”

His carefree demeanor from earlier hadn’t returned yet, but I was glad he laughed and at least relaxed a bit. But our conversation had stalled.And all because of him!I thought, shooting a poisonous glance at that wannabe rockstar. Juri seemed completely distracted. And the way he twirled his beer between his hands, tapped his foot, and played with his lip piercing, he had no intention of confiding in me about what was going on inside him. Since he didn’t even look at me anymore, I took the opportunity to study the scar on his neck. It started about two inches below his ear and disappeared under his black sweater. I lacked the imagination to figure out how that thing could have happened.

“Hey! What’s this about?” someone yelled out of nowhere.

A guy dragged Noé outside onto the street, followed by one of the guys from his table—I think his name was Pascal. And before I knew it, Juri stormed after them.

What is going on?

Our drinks were already paid for and both glasses were almost empty, so I grabbed my jacket and followed Juri outside.What I found there surprised me. Indeed, Juri was beating up the guy who had dragged Noé onto the street. Completely beside himself, he punched him to the ground with a right hook and doubled with a left.

From a distance, I could see that he hadn’t received professional training, but he didn’t shy away from the fight and finished the guy off. While Pascal helped Noé back on his feet, I sprinted toward Juri.

“That’s enough!” I said, pulling him off the guy.

For a moment, he seemed disoriented, but he quickly regained his composure. He gave the half-unconscious guy another kick in the stomach and turned to Noé. As absent as Juri seemed, he had heard Pascal suggest to Noé to go to sleep.

“I’ll take care of him,” he said. “Can you bring me his backpack?”

“Of course,” Pascal replied and disappeared inside.

“I told you to contact me if anything happened. You seem to be suffering from memory loss.” Juri’s voice was so loving and gentle that he surprised me once again.

“You said you were at Romero’s,” Noé mumbled.

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