CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jack
It had been a long day and so Nate and I left the club at around ten p.m. I was still full of puppyish energy and wanted to let the delicious anticipation between us stretch out.
A tramline ran down the middle of the boulevard and we could have taken a tram to Brandenburg, or hailed a cab, but it was a gorgeous cloudless summer night and the stars twinkled like jewels. I wanted to romance my date a little.
“Let’s walk back to the hotel,” I suggested reaching for his hand. We walked in companionable silence down the tree-lined boulevard, my skin buzzing at the simple contact with the man I adored. I was happy to walk, happy to do anything with Nate. I just wanted to be in his orbit.
“Can we pick up something to eat on the way? I’m starving,” Nate suggested as he playfully hip checked me.
We hadn’t eaten dinner because the weather was so balmy neither of us was that interested in food.
But now, walking down Prenzlauer Alee the scent of fast food hit me.
Bratwurst and onions grilling at a street vendor’s booth, and then spicy scents from an Indian restaurant. My belly growled.
I noticed on the other side of the road a black SUV with tinted windows was crawling close to the curb. It struck me as odd as there was little traffic. But my attention was taken again by Nate as he squeezed my hand.
“What do you fancy?” I asked.
“You.”
“Duh…obvious,” I said pulling our joined hands up so I could kiss his knuckles. “To eat,”
“You!”
“Food, silly!”
“Same answer,” he turned and as his eyes met mine, they twinkled with laughter. I couldn’t repress a wide grin. Ahh hell! I was so gone for this guy.
“You know I’m all yours when we get back to the hotel, but we missed dinner, and I need to refuel. So, what’ll it be, pizza, burgers, Bratties, fried chicken, Chinese?” I relayed.
“Well, I do love to chow down on a big long Bratwurst…but now that you mention it…fried chicken sounds good,” Nate decided.
We continued strolling, our hands swinging between us like we were teens, before he said, “It feels so weird to not have my phone, free, like when I was a kid and could play out for hours without my folks knowing where I was or what I was up to, y’know.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I never take my phone with me when I go for a run. I feel more…connected to nature when I’m not anticipating the ringtone. Switching off and logging out’s good for the soul, man!”
“Hallelujah!”
It was a Monday night so many of the food outlets had closed or were closing, but half way down Prenzlauer Alee we found a Korean fried chicken outlet called Angry Chicken.
It seemed we’d gotten there just in time as one of the staff was outside stacking the tables and chairs.
I opened the door for my date and we stepped in to be hit by a wonderful mixture of spicy scents.
There was no queue, but a handful of people were finishing meals at the in-house seating area.
Nate and I looked up at the florescent menu board with the menu in German and English in a cartoon font.
We had a lot of choice–the chicken could be friendly, without sauce, or Sexy, So-So Angry, or Furious chicken, all of which came with varied spicy sauces.
I loved spicy food, but I was planning some hot hanky-panky when we got back to the hotel, so I didn’t think spicy burps or heartburn would do much for the sexy moves.
We decided to share a box of boneless, friendly chicken, I paid, and we continued on our way down Prenzlauer Alee towards Pariser Platz.
“Damn, this is good chicken,” Nate groaned minutes later as he took his fourth piece from the box I was holding.
I’d had a couple of pieces but my appetite waned as watched Nate put the crispy chicken to his glistening greasy lips, take a bite, chew, and swallow.
He licked his fingers. I gulped. I was mesmerized.
I couldn’t last until we got back to the hotel.
I had to kiss him now. I tossed the box into a bin as we passed it, to hear Nate’s complaint of “Hey, I was enjoying —“ I dragged Nate into the recessed doorway of an ornate, pre-war building, and crushed my mouth to his. Nate groaned appreciatively and I felt that groan in my nuts. He gripped my ass in both hands and pulled me closer. Our whole night had been like this, edging, pressed together, frotting in the middle of a packed dance floor, and then we’d separate to cool-off.
Now we were here again, submitting to the magnetized pull, unable to keep our hands off one another.
Nate was a dominant kisser, taking what he wanted, pushing his tongue in, and fucking my mouth.
I loved it, but I had to pull away to catch my breath.
“Hmmm…you’re delicious, chicken flavoured,” I smiled before Nate was on me again, pushing me back to the opposite wall of the doorway, taking what he needed.
All of a sudden, a light flicked on overhead and a clunking sound came from inside the building.
We were in the doorway of an apartment block and someone was coming down. Was there a doorbell camera? Balls!
“Shit, c’mon,” Nate took my hand and pulled me out of the doorway.
Holding hands, we ran down the street in the direction of our hotel.
I saw it again then, the black SUV with tinted windows.
We were about to cross the bisecting road.
The vehicle turned at the junction, and Nate and I paused in the middle of the road to let it pass, then we hurried to the other side.
I gripped onto Nate’s arm, pulling him to my side and started to laugh at the ridiculousness of what we’d just done.
I felt like a teenager again, carefree and full of happiness.
I snuck my arm around Nate’s shoulder, pulled him in, and kissed his cheek.
It was like the years, and stress of adult life had melted away.
Then, suddenly, something was over my mouth, it smelled strange.
I let go of Nate to try to get it off me, but there was a man to my back, a big man.
Oh fuck, we were being mugged! I remembered my combat training and let my body relax into his grip.
That was the key, to let your body go floppy so you become harder to manoeuvre, then, I’d surge up, and head-butt him in the face and break his nose, I’d stamp on his foot, turn, and kick him in the balls.
But…my body wouldn’t get with the program.
My body was actually floppy and I couldn’t control my limbs.
What the hell? Nate, fuck, where was Nate?
My vision went blurry. All I knew then was I was being dragged backward, and then pushed into a vehicle, my body ignoring my inner roar to fight back.
In the car I felt the weight of another body pressed against me.
I knew that scent, sandalwood and musk, my anxiety lessened a little.
Whatever was happening, Nate was with me.
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