At the restaurant, Jaume was thinking first about Kiril, then about his German language teacher. The man, who he had egotistically decided was just an old pathetic cock sucker, was instead a lonely man, thirsty for love. Now Jaume was almost ashamed for the condescension with which he "paid" for his lessons. The man, who knelt in front of him, who gave him head with so much desire, was a human being worthy of all his respect. Even if he valued the man as a teacher, he never valued him as a human being. And now he was ashamed, yes, he was really ashamed.
"José, the bread is missing on that table. Get your head out of the clouds!" he whispered to a waiter.
He had to wait more than twenty-four hours to see Kiril again. To drown in those eyes, blue-violet like a summer dawn. To lose himself in that body with skin the color of light gold, so beautiful, so sensual. To pass his fingers through those ancient gold curls, so soft. To feel the delicate hands, the warm and soft lips of his friend roaming all over his body, exploring it, upsetting it. And he, in turn, devoting himself body and soul to Kiril. Awakening his senses, bringing him to a pleasurable explosion, feeling him shuddering between his arms and his legs, and shuddering with him.
"Welcome back, sir Count. Madam. Your usual table is ready. If you will follow me..." Jaume said with a short bow to the client and his new companion. The man gave good tips, because Jaume always treated his new conquests as if it was always his wife... and that pleased the girls. All the trick was in that "Madam" instead of miss, and "Your usual table"...
Jaume, without any doubt, was skilled.
Somehow or other the evening passed. Jaume went home and changed his clothes. He decided he had to find a client that evening. Somebody to help him forget about Kiril. One young and beautiful.
He went to the Parrot's Pub, where the patrons were often young. Perhaps with little money, but nice and good people. He entered, greeted the barman and asked for a beer. While he was waiting, he looked around the room over his shoulders, in the mirror. There were two more hustlers, Roberto, who was talking with a young man who seemed to be a Yankee, and Julio, still alone, leaning near the jukebox, who slowly explored with his eyes the place evaluating the clients and waiting for a nod.
Jaume saw at a table a lone nineteen or twenty year old boy. He gave the impression of being the shy, lost type. Really handsome. Lean, with short dark brown hair, fair skin and a well shaped body that could be made out through a sports shirt open at his chest and jean shorts. He was turning between his hands a half-full jug of beer, his eyes lost in the white foam. Jaume took his jug and went straight to the boy's table.
"May I sit here? Are you waiting for somebody?"
"No, please have a seat..."
"My name is Jaume. First time here?"
"I arrived two days ago."
"You are Basque, right?"
"Is my accent so strong?" the boy asked, somewhat embarrassed.
"No, but I am trained, I seldom make a mistake. I am Catalan, by the way."
"From here?"
"Yes. Do you plan to stay a long time?"
"Four more days. I'm on leave."
"Ah, a soldier. Where?"
"Valencia."
"And... how come you traveled so far, to be here?"
"Well... for... I've heard that here... one can amuse himself." the boy said blushing and his eyes fell back to the foam on his beer.
"Yes, that's true. Especially if one can find a friend with whom to amuse himself. But here it is easy to get friends, isn't it?"
"You think so?"
"Are you still alone? You really are a handsome boy."
"Thanks... yes, I'm still alone."
"Strange. Because, I would like to get to know you better. More... intimately, I mean. You understand me, right?"
The boy blushed violently but nodded in assent, without looking at him. Then Jaume brushed his hand: "There are way too many people here, too much noise. Let's go outside for a walk, okay? So we can chat quietly."
The boy nodded again. They finished their beers and left. They strolled along the shore, skirting the Platja de la Ribera, then the Bassa Rodona. The boy was talking about his military service, about his mate's jokes, and seemed to have lost some of his shyness.
"Don't you have any... intimate friends, among the other soldiers?" Jaume asked, underlining the word "intimate".
"No, are you joking? Just friends... casual ones."
"It must be miserable, to be near so many handsome boys and not being able to do anything, isn't it?"
"Well, sure..."
"Listen, I live nearby. Do you feel like coming to my place? We can drink something and..."
The boy looked at Jaume for a moment then, lowering his eyes again, said: "I... I would like, but... you see, I have very little money, I am a soldier and... if you do it for money..."
Jaume smiled: "I don't do it for money. I like you. Are you coming?"
The boy blushed again and said: "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. The fact is that last night I met another boy, so beautiful, blond, tall, a French boy... But he was a hustler and asked me for 20,000 pesetas, so... nothing happened. Even just 2,000 would be too much, for me."
"Twenty thousand? Christ! What's his name?"
"I think Jacques."
"Ah, my own name, but in French. No, don't worry, come, I am for free! But you still haven't told me your name..."
"Oh, sorry. I am Mikel."
"Come then, Mikel. I'm not interested in your wallet, but something else you carry inside these shorts..." Jaume said laughing and taking him arm in arm, guided him to his house.
For a moment Jaume thought that the hustler could be Kiril! But Kiril, with his Basque soldier, had a quickie and right at this moment was with him in his room. Evidently it was somebody else, even if Jaume didn't know any blond French hustler with those prices. Possibly this Jacques was a seasonal hustler just arrived from France.
He took the young Basque soldier upstairs. First he had him sit in the lounge and offered him a beer. Then he started to caress him, to kiss him. Mikel at once responded in a hot way and he seemed to lose a little more of his shyness. Jaume pulled off the boy's sports shirt and started to kiss him on the chest while he caressed his neck and back. Mikel opened Jaume's shirt and pulled it off.
"Jaume, you are... so beautiful!"
"I too like you, Mikel. Go on, open my trousers, touch me there, feel how he stands already at attention, my little soldier."
Mikel giggled but didn't need to be told twice. After a short while they were both naked, standing in the center of the lounge, brushing one against the other, touching and fingering each other, reciprocally exciting.
"What would you like to do, Mikel?"
"Oh... I would like... well, can you put it in my ass? fuck me?" he asked, blushing for the umpteenth time.
"Sure, sure I'll like it. You have a nice little ass."
"Do you have a bed? I prefer doing it in a bed..."
"Yes, come." Jaume said and took him into the room of mirrors.
As soon as Jaume switched on the light, the boy looked around, widened his eyes and said: "Wow! How beautiful! It seems we are doing an orgy, here. Look at all those boys with their glorious hard-ons!"
"Yes, and look, in a while, how many fucks - enjoy them all. Come on the bed... here. Go down, on all fours. Look, look in the mirrors... There is all the barracks that is ready to fuck, you see? Look how they draw near, how they spread their mate's buttocks, they are full of desire, do you see? ... And now... now they spread some gel on the little quivering holes ready to receive those beautiful, hard cocks..."
"Yes, it's wonderful... go on, go on..."
"Here, look how the ones in the back are pointing their weapons, hard and straight, at the holes. How they grasp the young soldiers on all fours at their waists to hold them fast, how now they all are pushing, slipping inside the love channels, all together, all at the same time..."
"Yes, all to the hilt. Strongly... oh... oh how good. So... yes..."
"Look now, the ones on the back take in their hands the young soldiers' cocks, and they beat them, while they are fucking them... look how much the older soldiers are enjoying the younger soldiers... and vice versa..."
They continued that way, in a mix of game, show and passion until both came with low pleasurable groans. They collapsed on the bed, panting.
"Did you like it, Jaume?"
"Yes, sure. And you?"
"Fucking hell, so much! It's been so long that I had to content myself to wank alone. Goodness! Do you know that you really are good? Listen... do you feel like meeting again? Perhaps tomorrow?"
"No, I can't. Tomorrow I have to meet a friend."
"Oh, that's a pity... I hoped..."
"Listen, stay here, tonight. Later, before sleeping, if you want, we can have an encore. And possibly also tomorrow morning, before I leave for work..."
"Really? Well, thank you. You know, after I will have to wank alone in the barracks toilets, god knows for how many weeks, months... I have to fill the tank, in these days, can you understand me?"
"Sure I understand you, my little soldier." Jaume said ruffling his hair in a gesture of affection.
It was hot. Jaume stood up to open the door towards the veranda, then switched off the light.
"No, please. I like to look at our naked bodies reflected all around. Switch it on again, please..."
Jaume giggled but complied. Then went back to the bed. Mikel put his arm around Jaume's shoulder. Then asked him: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No. Do you?"
"Yes, I do. His name is Juan, he's twenty-six."
"Then, why didn't you go see him, while you were on leave?"
"I couldn't. He's in Germany, he works there."
"When will he be back?"
"He won't, he emigrated."
"But then..."
"He's waiting for me until my army service is over. He already found a flat and he says that a job is waiting for me too."
"Do you love him?"
"Sure. We will live together, forever."
"Forever? Don't you think it is too long a time?"
"No, when you are in love. Even forever is too short."
"But if love dies?"
"We two will never let it die."
"But one of you could one day get tired, change his mind. Then the other will suffer."
"But the good days spent together, they remain, nobody can steal them."
"How long are you together?"
"Six years."
"Six? So you were fourteen when you decided to be together?"
"Yes, and he was twenty."
Jaume shook his head, but kept silent.
The following morning when they said goodbye, Jaume asked him: "Will you tell Juan about me? About last night?"
"Sure, we always tell each other everything."
"But won't he feel bad?"
"No, because when I will tell him, I will be in his arms. If he was here, I would never have gone with you." Mikel said and blushed. "Oh! I didn't want to say... You are so beautiful and I really liked how you fucked me, all three times. But I am in love with him."
Jaume ruffled his hair: "Bye, little soldier. Good luck to you and to your Juan."
"Bye, thank you. I'm staying at the bed and breakfast of Travers Balmina... if by chance..."
"We'll see, but it is unlikely. I am so busy these days. Well then, bye Mikel."
"Bye, thank you."
"For what do you continue to thank me? The pleasure has been reciprocal, right?"
"I understood that you possibly... usually do it for money. The room of mirrors... and then... therefore, thank you."
"It has been beautiful. You paid me, don't worry, more than if with money. Bye and good luck, Mikel."
"Good luck to you, Jaume. I'll write you, I stole one of your name cards!" the boy said going down the stairs four at a time.
Jaume smiled - on his name cards there was not his address, just his telephone number. He went to work. Somehow or other, the day passed. In the evening, at the end of his second shift, he rushed back home. Reaching the top of the stairway, sitting on the last step, there was Kiril who welcomed him with a radiant smile.
"You are already here?" Jaume asked.
"I was longing to meet you. You are so beautiful, in your waiter's uniform, very elegant."
"Do you think?"
"But I prefer you naked."
"Not so aloud out here. My neighbours..."
"Don't they know about you?"
"I don't know, but I don't like to tell them out loud."
"Sorry, but it just came out spontaneously. Because it is true."
They entered and at once kissed. So strong was the desire that stirred both that in one moment they were naked and their bodies intertwined on the bed in Jaume's bedroom - behind them they left a long track of clothes, from the entry to the bedroom.
They made love with a mixture of savageness and sweetness, giving themselves to each other without any restraint. Then, sated for the moment, they relaxed, tightly embraced, caressing each other.
After a while Jaume proposed: "It's hot. Let's go to the terrace."
They lay on the thin mattress among the plants, embracing again.
"Tomorrow is your day off, you said."
"Yes, Kiril."
"So I can stay with you until the day after tomorrow, right?"
"Sure, but... don't you have other appointments?"
"No, I cancelled them. But... you?"
"For me you cancelled them?"
"For us, for me and for you."
"I like being with you, Kiril."
"Me too, and so very much. It's a pity we cannot be a couple. We would make a very nice couple."
"Yes, but..." Jaume started, but then became silent.
"Look what a moon! It's full!"
"No, it will be tomorrow. But it is beautiful."
"He's looking down at us."
"That's why he smiles."
"He smiles?"
"Don't you see?"
"That's true... Why does he smile?"
"Because we are beautiful - two naked young males..."
"Is the moon gay?"
"Didn't you know?"
"No. I need to kiss you..."
"Kiss me."
"Jaume... it would be better if I leave, if I go back home..."
"Eh? What? Why?"
"I'm afraid that... I'm afraid I'm falling in love with you. Two hustlers cannot fall in love, should not. Right? But you are becoming too important to me. I'm scared, Jaume."
"You too... I thought I was the only one to... Oh, Christ!"
"Don't curse. But it is a nice mess, right? Therefore it would be better if I leave, right?"
"I... don't know. Why can't we just be two good friends? A fuck from time to time... it would be great, wouldn't it? Yes, it would be great."
"I didn't just fuck you... I made love, I'm afraid."
"That's true. Me too. That's the trouble."
"And now, what can we do?"
"I don't know. I don't know. I... I feel too bad at the idea that you... that you leave now. Listen, I have enough money for both of us, to stop hustling."
"You stop, then! Do you think I am pleased thinking you are with another... a lot of others?"
"I can't. I like it, and then... and then we really know each other too little... I could be a monster, what do you know? Or possibly it's you the monster. No, not you, that's impossible. Kiril?"
"Tell me..."
"We should not fall in love. Do you promise?"
"We can try. But what if it doesn't work? Isn't it better if I leave now, immediately, and that... we don't meet any more?"
"No!" Jaume almost shouted, then added, with a more subdued tone: "Perhaps we don't need to do that. I want to make love with you, you are different from all the others. With the others, I often like it. As with the boy I had last night. But it is completely different, believe me."
"I know, for me it is the same... You are beautiful, kissed by the moonlight."
"You said you wanted to kiss me. What are you waiting for?"
They again made love, this time with yearning sweetness. Then they fell asleep on the terrace, clinging to each other.
When the rays of the sun woke up Jaume, he saw he was alone. He jumped, sitting up, alarmed, and with his heart in his mouth, he called: "Kiril?"
No answer. Jaume felt his heart thundering, drumming at his temples. He stood up and went into his room.
"Kiril?" he called with a loud voice. He went to the kitchen - empty!
"Kiril?" he called, almost shouting.
He searched his entire apartment. In the lounge his clothes were folded on a chair and those of Kiril were no longer there. He let himself fall on the sofa and burning tears slowly wet his cheeks. He left! He heard like an echo inside his head, the words of the previous night: "We must not fall in love. It would be better if I left!"
"Oh, Christ! But I am already in love with you, Kiril!" Jaume murmured, letting his tears pour freely and shaking his head, dejected.
After a few minutes, he heard the key turning in the entry door. He had just enough time to dry his tears and jump up, when Kiril was in front of him with a small bag in his hands.
"Oh! I hoped to be back before you woke up. I took your keys from your trousers. I bought some fresh pastries, for breakfast..."
"Ah, thank you."
"I hope you like them. For breakfast do you drink coffee or tea?"
"Milk, just milk this morning."
"Warm?"
"Yes."
"Come, then, I'll prepare it."
"I'll get dressed and be there in a minute."
"No, stay as you are. Rather, I'll undress again. Isn't that better?"
"If you stay naked in front of me, who can resist?"
"Sorry, but why do you have to resist?" the boy answered with a provocative smile, rapidly undressing. "Come, let's go have breakfast, now."