Page 29 of Dark Room Junkie

Damn! I couldn’t get enough of him. He was so hot! As he leaned against the wall again, he buried his fingers in my hair and drew me so close to him that I felt his heartbeat against my chest. My knees went weak.

“I should go,” he said, pulling up his pants.

“What? No. Where do you want to go?”

He paused for a moment, then shook his head.

“Stay. You can sleep here.” As if I had spoken a different language, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I heard you had a long day. You probably want to shower.”

He nodded hesitantly but didn’t move from the spot. I let go of him and motioned for him to follow me. Of course, he knew the way to my bedroom; it hadn’t even been a week since he was last here. On the way there, I threw the condom in the trash. In the room, I handed Noé a new towel and left him alone again. Luzia cleaned a lot, but I didn’t want to burden her with wiping sperm off the wall.

I took a quick shower myself. When I came into the bedroom naked, with just a towel around my hips, Noé was leaning against the wall on the bed in boxers and a long-sleeved shirt, typing something on his phone. I snatched a fresh pair of boxer briefs from the closet, put on a shirt, and crawled next to him.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Nothing much,” he replied softly, exiting the app before I could see anything.

“I’m not spying on you, you know,” I teased, relieved when he laughed.

“You say that so lightly. But I know what kind of person you are,” I replied with a smile.

“What kind of person,” I repeated, feigning offense. “What kind of person am I?”

“It hasn’t been a week since you stared at my phone.” His smile was truly mesmerizing. “A really daring move to start a conversation with me.”

“What choice did I have?”

“The architects?”

I grimaced and shook my head. “They’re too slick for me. I’m not going to them and asking them to introduce me to you. Patrick, the guitarist of the Lighteners, although the office where he works gives me assignments, I still feel like he has something against me.”

“Against you?” Noé asked, surprised. “I can’t imagine that. You two seemed totally collegial last week.”

“Yes, he has his bright moments sometimes. But most of the time, he behaves rather arrogantly.”

“Hmm ... I have to admit, that’s intriguing,” Noé tapped his chin, pondering. “And what about Claude, the bartender?”

“Yeah, I could have asked him,” I admitted involuntarily. “But after being informed about your reputation, I’m glad I didn’t.”

“My reputation,” Noé said with a hint of mischief in his voice. “Yeah, I probably won’t get rid of that anytime soon.”

“Is it true? I mean ... what Marco hinted at when he asked where we met.”

Noé lifted his head toward the ceiling. “Probably.”

Before the conversation threatened to veer in the wrong direction and the mood shifted, I lay on my back and also looked up. “I’m glad I looked at your phone,” I admitted. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be sitting next to me now, would you?” When I sought his gaze again and found a smile on his face, a weight lifted off my heart.

“You’ve taken great photos,” he said with a casualness that surprised me. “How long have you been doing this?”

The question stirred up unpleasant memories in me, and as if I wanted to shake them off, I sat up and leaned back against the wall. “For a long time. Maybe ... fifteen years?”

Noé widened his eyes in surprise. “Fifteen years? How old are you then?”

“Turning twenty-six soon,” I said casually. “I started with photography when I was thirteen or fourteen ... well, not quite fifteen years yet.”

“Twenty-six?” he asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

“Yeah, what did you think?”

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