Page 32 of Back Room Host

“Come on.”

As I leaned my head forward and peeked up into the fourth floor, I noticed Juri disappearing into the apartment with Noé. He left the door open. Hesitantly, I climbed a few more steps. I felt like I was doing something forbidden, when Juri suddenly appeared again in the doorway. He was about to close it when our eyes met.

What was happening in the few seconds in Juri’s darkly made-up eyes overwhelmed me. But in an instant, he crossed the upper landing and pushed me back into the third floor.

“Damn it, what are you doing here?” he hissed, grabbing me by the collar. “Why are you following me?”

My body reacted to the attack all by itself, grabbing Juri’s wrist, twisting it behind his back, and slamming him against the wall with his chest.

“What the …?” Juri gasped.

I realized too late what I was doing, but I let go of him and stepped back. “I’m sorry, that … was reflex.”

He spun around and massaged his wrist. “What the hell was that? Following me here and acting like Van Damme? Who are you? A stalker or what?”

“You just left me standing there!” I retorted accusingly, and I was surprised at how offended I sounded. That wasn’t like me at all. “You could have at least given me your number.”

“You have no idea what’s going on here! Just go before you get into trouble.”

“This house is open. So I can come and go as I please. Maybe I’m a customer.” I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. My heart was racing, and I regretted almost every word I spoke. And yet I couldn’t leave.

“Shh,” he hissed, pushing me back against the wall and pressing his hand over my mouth. With a meaningful look, he gestured upwards. “My landlord is an asshole. It’s better if you never meet him.”

At that moment I didn’t care about anything. Being so close to Juri, his hand over my mouth, his body against mine … My heart skipped a beat, I was paralyzed and melting inside.

In Juri’s face, something happened. He felt it too, I was sure. He raised his eyebrows in confusion. Then, hesitantly, he removed his hand from my mouth. But it took a moment for him to move away from me and create distance between us again. He seemed somewhat distressed, which made me feel sorry for him. I forced a smile and tried to lighten the mood.

“You really live here?”

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” he said. “My dear drunk friend has no place to stay, so he’s glad I have this place. He’d be lucky to afford something like this at all. So don’t act like a snob.” The words were harsh, but his voice sounded sad and a little ashamed.

“I … I didn’t mean to!”Shit! Did he see through me?“I … I just wanted to …”Deep breath!“You were enjoying yourself tonight too, weren’t you?”

With a soft grunt, he nodded, as if admitting this was incredibly difficult.

“I just want us to meet again. That’s all.”

“So I can inspire you?”

I couldn’t deny it. Standing here in the stairwell of a brothel ignited fireworks in my brain. The dark corridors of my own back rooms lit up so brightly that I felt confident I would soon organize my ideas and develop a concept. The fact that Juri also lived here was the wild card on top.

Overwhelmed, I could hardly believe that Juri lived in such conditions and was even grateful for it. Yet my heart fluttered, and I longed for more touches from him.

“You’re truly much more than just an inspiration,” I whispered. “You’d better give me your number, because now I know where you live, and I’m sure you don’t want me suddenly showing up here.”

“Promise me you won’t do that.”

I smiled because the fear in his eyes made me happy. “Then give me your number.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Your battery is dead.”

“That’s okay. You can still call me.”

Reluctantly, he pulled out his phone. “I’ll block you if you harass me. And I’m not one of those who always text back right away.”

“Got it. Call me. And as soon as I have power again, I’ll text you a confirmation.”

“Number?”

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