Chapter 6
When I opened it, I was suddenly overcome by an acute feeling of tiredness. I think my emotional roller-coaster ride must have taken its toll. Francesco’s reaction was priceless. He gaped at me with the expression of a deer blinded by headlights.
‘Come in,’ I bobbed my head, waving him in. ‘Didn’t they tell you?’
I was still struggling to pull myself together. I had to play the role, instead of just pulling him into my baroque bedroom to snuggle up to him under the canopy. But how much I wanted just to snuggle up! The urge was so powerful that it gave me shudders.
Francesco slowly entered, looking around in awe, as though he had never seen this room before. I came up to him, took the tray out his hands and left him to live his moment to the full.
I sat down in front of my coffee table and started opening the Champagne.
‘I must say,’ I continued, ‘I have to admire them for not giving it away.’
‘I’ll deal with them later,’ Francesco finally said. ‘What is it, Ralf?’
‘I’ve booked a room!’ I said, throwing out my hands. ‘I’ve requested room service. Would you like to sit down?’ I popped the Champagne.
Francesco slowly sank into the armchair in front of me. I passed over to him one of the glasses.
‘To you!’ I toasted. ‘I’m damn happy to see you.’
I must have said it with a lot of feeling. Francesco’s look immediately softened and he seemed to be more at ease.
‘I’m always happy to see you,’ he said, stretching his lips in a smile ever so slightly. He took a small sip. ‘But right now I’m more startled than anything.’
‘Please, don’t be. Have your Champagne. I’ll explain. Strawberries?’ I asked, bringing the bowl closer to him. He didn’t refuse.
He picked a strawberry with a touch of cream over it and brought it to his lips. His eyelids were slightly lowered and I didn’t see where he was looking. He was probably contemplating and processing the news. I reached out for his hand before his lips wrapped around the strawberry, and managed to place my finger between them just as they came over it. He bit at the strawberry and my finger ended up in the gentle clutch of his lips. Here Francesco’s eyelids totally shut and it overwhelmed me. I cupped his cheeks and brought my lips to his. I gripped them and heaved a very long and heavy sigh, squeezing his face in my hands. The aroma of strawberry flowed into my system. He pressed his lips into mine and his body trembled with fervour.
‘I’ve been missing you so much,’ I breathed out. ‘Please, eat,’ I whispered, passing my fingers over his cheek bone, then his lips and registering the motions of his face as he began to crush the strawberry in his mouth.
Francesco moved away and looked into my eyes, replacing the rest of the strawberry in the bowl.
‘Ralf, what the hell is going on?’ he finally asked. ‘Do you know the price of this place?’
‘Yes, don’t worry. I’m very comfortable financially right now. You never asked.’
‘Comfortable???’ he exclaimed. ‘This is not comfortable! This is what they call fucking rich!’
‘I’m not rich, but I did tell you I’ve had a certain degree of success and recognition. I have patrons. I’ve recently sold one of my paintings for a fat sum. It doesn’t happen every day, but I’m not a complete pauper. In fact, I’d say I’m on the rise now.’
‘It makes me wonder why your boyfriend dumped you.’
‘I hadn’t told him about it. He had already announced that he was getting married when this deal came through. I had already done more than my fair share of begging and promising and trying to lure him back, and I’d had enough. I couldn’t grovel any longer. I decided to come to Venice in style to lick my wounds. And you know what? Ha! Listen to this! This is the right Calle de la Malvasia. I’d booked at your hotel all along!’
‘Really?’ Francesco laughed. ‘In this case it’s destiny.’
‘I couldn’t agree more!’
‘Still, we have more modest but no less charming rooms here.’
‘Oh, no, I hadn’t booked the presidential suite, if that’s what you think. Unfortunately, I didn’t turn up in time and they’d given away my room. This one was the only one left.’
‘I’ll talk to them. A few guests are leaving tomorrow. They should at least be able to put you somewhere else temporarily.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I’m alright for now. I’ll have this room until they’re ready to give me something more permanent. And I hope you’ll be able to join me here from time to time. You haven’t seen the bedroom yet!’
Francesco laughed.
‘I have. It was very blunt of you, but I’m not offended,’ he said gracefully. ‘Yes, do show me the bedroom.’
I smiled and took him by the hand. We stood up and I ushered him to the final destination of my grand plan. The canopied bed was all I needed to complete my quest. I’d done it! I’d conquered him again! He was mine, albeit on shaky ground, as before. But it didn’t matter. Whatever it took. For as long as it lasted… And then I would come up with another plan, and so on until the day I died.
He was in my arms and it started to flow again. My desperate lips were gliding over his pliant body. My stomach concaved from emotion and it projected my crotch forward, my hardening penis brushing over his skin. He shuddered as it happened. That sent me into a frenzy. I was devouring him, clutching his body with my unruly lips in oblivion, in a pious trance. I was worshiping him and desecrating him all in one act.
I was almost passing out when I reached for my pocket. My shaking hands were clumsy. I opened the tube and squirted the lube fiercely. Almost the entire contents came out on my hand. I pressed my hand flat to his crack, splitting his buttocks. He groaned. My shoulders shrank and my middle finger slipped in. Francesco moaned and his body twisted. My finger wriggled to exhaustion. Francesco was writhing in my arms and I was losing my marbles. I gathered up my compromised consciousness for one final act. I had to enter him before it was all over. I saw no physical necessity in it, but I knew I wanted to be over him when I collapsed. I knew I was not going to move for a while and I needed to be with him. I wanted our bodies to be properly entangled. I curled my arms around his knees and pushed in. We had enough life in us for only three stabs before we came. My content went inside Francesco and his lubricated our bodies, since I collapsed, as planned, and didn’t let it go any further.
We took our time and didn’t move at all for a while. I was still in a state of euphoria, relieved to be in Francesco’s arms again after days of misgivings. I thought Francesco was in a pretty similar state, for reasons that were not entirely clear to me. But analysing was the last thing I wanted to do at the time. I just rested and recuperated. When I was able to move again, I pulled the blanket over us, as it was becoming quite chilly and we were not exactly dry.
‘It’s gonna be one almighty mess to clean up,’ I murmured. ‘I dread coming back to reality.’
‘Don’t. You’re forgetting how much you’re paying for this room.’
‘Oh, no…’ I exclaimed. ‘You’ll allow your colleagues to clean up after us?’
‘Ralf, this is their job, and they’re used to cleaning this type of mess. It’s a five star hotel.’
‘I suppose it’ll be a while before I get used to five star living.’
‘I hope it will never happen.’
‘What? I’m not sure exactly what you’re wishing for me here.’
‘I’m wishing you to come back to your senses and stop living beyond your means. Better keep your money for living expenses until you make another sale.’
‘Oh, that may never happen,’ I laughed heartily, slipping down to Francesco’s side and burying my face beneath his arm.
‘Then that is even more of a reason to spread your money over a longer period and secure another source of income in the meantime.’
‘Are you always this prosaic?’ I chuckled.
‘You’ve seen my poetry books.’
‘And what do they say?’
‘Look after your poet.’
I burst out laughing.
‘Yes, daddy, carry on,’ I said.
‘Moving tomorrow then?’
‘Not yet. Just let me be myself for a bit.’
‘That’s some statement. We’ve finally met, Mr Rockefeller.’
‘I’m not him. Far from that. I don’t need money. I want to spend it fast on things I love most - Venice and you. This is what I am. This is how I live.’
Francesco leaned over me and looked into my eyes.
‘Don’t you understand?’ he said. ‘The things you love most don’t need these offerings from you. We’re both shocked at what we see.’
‘Maybe you. But I’m sure the girl likes it,’ I chuckled, closing my eyes.
I was sure Francesco rolled his eyes, although I didn’t see it. He didn’t know about my plan and my thinking behind it. I had probably misled him, suggesting that I was a romantic. I was a desperado and my every step was carefully calculated to save my own life.
‘Shall we change the bed sheets?’ Francesco said, detaching himself from me.
‘So, you’re not going to invite your colleagues to do it for us after all?’ I asked, leaving the bed.
‘I’m certainly not doing so now,’ Francesco said, standing up and taking hold of the blanket. ‘If we could just disappear for the day as though nothing had happened and come back to clean sheets, then okay…’
‘I see…’ I drawled helping him to take the duvet cover off. ‘So long as you’re doing it for the right reasons.’
Francesco looked up at me as I was reaching for the edge of the bed to get a grip of the fitted bed sheet.
‘Just pull that corner, will you?’ he said. ‘I always knew I would find Mr Right. I had no idea what it would feel like.’
‘Keep on talking and this is going over your head,’ I said, lifting the sheet with patches of our cum all over it.
‘Reminds me,’ he said, looking at his sticky chest. ‘Perhaps it makes sense to wash ourselves first? Oh, wait. Let me call them. I’m not going back to work, am I?’ he said with an ironic smile looking at me.
‘Oh, that would be wonderful, if you could...’
Francesco came up to the handset and pressed the button.
‘Gene, it’s Francesco. Is it possible to do without me today?’ He chuckled when he heard the response. ‘Yeah, he still owes me two shifts. Oh, and regarding tomorrow… Yeah, you get it. Thanks. Ciao…’
Francesco looked into my eyes.
‘I’m off for the rest of the day.’
‘Would you like to go out today?’
‘No, tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?’
‘Yes, I’ve got the whole day off tomorrow and I’m taking you somewhere really special.’
‘Wow! Another Di Fiore place…’
‘Whole Di Fiore island.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m taking you to where I was born. To the island of Sant’Erasmo. I’ll show you my hut and my field. And my beach… My whole island. Isola Di Fiore.’
I was speechless. I gaped at Francesco, uttering only ‘Thank you.’ I could not believe how well my plan had worked.