Prologue
Vaino watched the young man who had crouched naked on the ledge of the open window. His right knee drawn almost up to his chin, he absently took a drag from the cigarette between his fingers. The red ember flared, appearing for the span of a heartbeat like a will-o’-the-wisp in the darkness.
Vaino had to grin.
You definitely wouldn’t have guessed that delicate build beneath the shapeless winter coat.
Slowly, the young man exhaled the smoke and watched it drift away like a fine mist into the night. The dark water of the sea shimmered, faintly reflecting the lights of the neighboring houses. In a steady, unchanging rhythm, a solitary green buoy blinked in the harbor basin.
“What are you thinking about?” Vaino finally asked as he rose from the bed. With two quick strides, he crossed the distance between them and leaned against the wall beside the window, his arms folded. The icy wind that whistled into his bedroom in uneven intervals made the fine hairs on his forearms stand on end.
The boy in the window must have been freezing, yet he gave no sign of it. Once again, he merely sent a silver cloud toward the starless sky.
Abruptly, as if an electric shock had run through his body, he tore himself away from the view and whipped his head around. Even in the prevailing twilight, his gaze cut Vaino to the bone. He tilted his head slightly to the side so that the brown strands of his fringe fell untamed across his forehead.
“Do you ever wonder why some things happen and others don’t? Or why certain things didn’t happen much sooner?”
Vaino looked at him in confusion for a moment before he managed to answer.
“Sometimes,” he admitted, although he did not quite understand what the other man was getting at. But it seemed important to him. The narrow face, which made him look far younger than twenty-five, was unusually serious.
And strangely… hurt?
“Do you mean we should have met sooner?” Vaino asked teasingly.
The other man nodded slowly and, with a careless gesture, flicked the half-smoked cigarette out of the window.
With quick movements, he slipped down from the windowsill and straightened up in front of Vaino. He only came up to his collarbone.
“Vaino… chances are neither of us will still be here tomorrow. So…”
He gently placed a hand on his chest and leaned closer. He had to rise onto his tiptoes to breathe the words against his lips:
“Fuck me senseless.”
