Six
FRIEDRICH
The door snaps shut,and I immediately reach for my phone. Miles picks up on the second ring.
“Hey, man. Everything okay?”
I run a hand down my face. “Yeah, it’s fine. Fine.”
“You called. You never call.”
“Miles, I think I’m about to do something really fucking stupid,” I say, going back to the minibar and picking out a scotch old enough to order its own scotch.
“Wait, am I talking to Friedrich or Claus here? You sound so similar on the phone.”
I groan.Why does everyone keep bringing my brother into this? Oh, right, cause he’s usually the one on the verge of a major fuck up, not me.
He laughs. “Sorry, man. What’s up?”
“You remember the girl from the party last weekend?”
“Don’t tell me you’re still on about her,” my friend sighs.
I choose to ignore the hint of bitterness in his tone and press on. I’ve got to talk this out with someone, and if not my best friend, then who? “She’s here.”
“She’s where?”
“On the tour. Now. With me.” The smokiness of the scotch hits just right as I stare out of the train window and try to rein in the ideas running rampant through my mind.
“I thought you said she was a nanny.”
“Yeah, to Dietrich Maier’s kids,” I explain. “She’s here with them.”
“Okay, and?”
“And we’ve seen each other around a little.”And I can’t stop staring at her when she’s not looking.
“Mm-hm.”
“And we’ve talked some.”And my mind won’t stop wandering to thoughts of her.
“Fritz, can you get on with it? I stepped out of rehearsals ‘cause I thought something was wrong since I can count on two hands the number of times you’ve actually called me in sixteen years.”
Shit. Miles has been trying for months to break into the main band at the jazz club where he works when not stuck in the office at his stepfather’s business. Answering calls in the middle of rehearsal probably isn’t a good look.
“Okay, okay. She just came to my cabin, and I think she asked to be fuck buddies?” My voice goes up at the end as I’m still mulling over what the hell just happened.
“W-what?” Miles sputters.
“Yeah.”
“But you don’t fuck women.”
“I don’t fuck anyone, but that’s not the point.” My cock stirs to make it known that it’sdefinitelythe point. My own little code of ethics may allow for getting off in other ways, but actual fucking is out of the question.
“Look, man. Don’t go toying with this poor girl’s heart. You have a big role to fill, and you are basically all but spoken for.”
“Since when did you become the voice of reason?”
