Page 79 of Back Room Host

“I’ll be in Barcelona for the next few days,” he said as he headed to the cloakroom with a full bag. “We probably won’t see each other again for another two weeks.”

“Okay, then … have fun.”

“I will,” he said, turning around one more time and winking at me. Then he left the apartment.

Was he not traveling with his family? Now that I knew about his preference for men, I didn’t even want to imagine what he was up to in Barcelona.

But well, that’s his business. I’ll just take care of my own stuff.

My project. It’s about time I got moving on that. Everything else can wait.

The sauce was almost ready, and the pasta was al dente when Juri came out, rubbing his face tiredly.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” he murmured, limping over to the dining table.

“I was going to. You’re just in time.”

I prepared two plates and set one in front of him. I ate my portion in silence, unable to shake off Hector’s words from my mind.

More profound things. Hmm …

Well, it was worth a try. Maybe that would spark some ideas for me. And as dejected as Juri looked, maybe a conversation would do him good.

After we both finished eating, I piled the empty plates in the kitchen and sat back down with him. The cable was still on the table since our last conversation, so I plugged in my phone and started recording.

“What’s this?”

“Just ignore it,” I said, placing it back in the same position as last time.

He sighed. “You want to know more.”

“No. I just want to talk. Is that so bad?”

Grumbling, Juri lit a cigarette and opened the window.

“You can take the ashtray inside,” I said, lighting a cigarette myself. When he sat back down and exhaled the smoke, I noticed his glassy eyes. “Why did you take something?”

“Because I’m slowly going crazy here. I feel like I’m in prison.”

“But now you can walk again by yourself.”

“Yes! Like a damn cripple.”

I grinned, tapping my cigarette over the ashtray, wondering how to have a profound conversation. And before I knew it, Juri was meeting me halfway.

“What was that earlier? You were really freaked out.”

“I…”Mind your own business, was my first reflex, which unfortunately I couldn’t ignore, so I turned the tables. “You were lying unconscious on the ground. With a damn noose around your neck. I thought … Do you do this often?”

Juri bit his lower lip and fiddled with his lip piercing. Tapping the ash off, he took a deep drag from his cigarette. “Occasionally,” he admitted and blew out the smoke.

“Why?”

“It calms me down. Keeps me from slipping into drugs.”

“You were on drugs,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, but that was nothing.”

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