Arrhythmia Read online

  Rather than sink into sentimentality, I took another sip of prosecco and turned the conversation back to wedding plans.

  Chapter 14

  After about two hours of wedding talk, the guys persuaded us to move on. They’d had enough of table centerpieces and were eager to lean against a bar, sip whiskey, and listen to loud music. And so, around eleven o’clock, we marched over to Go. One advantage of The Goose was that it sat directly across the street from the club. Very practical. Particularly because it meant we didn’t have to worry about a designated driver.

  The main entrance was swarming with people. It seemed like all of Wollbach was set on a night out. I feared the inside would be even worse.

  When we finally pushed past the brawny bouncers, my fears were validated.

  Go was as busy as the Munich airport during a blizzard. The path to the bar was the first challenge. We fought our way through until Frank eventually managed to find a place at the counter.

  “I’m not leaving this spot for the rest of the evening,” he declared a little breathlessly.

  He ordered whiskey and Cokes for the men and wine spritzers for the ladies, doing his best to defend his spot at the bar. It was a good thing he was so strong, because it took some effort not to be swept away by the thirsty crowds. The rest of us tried to support him in order to preserve our source of alcoholic sustenance.

  In ten minutes, I was completely exhausted from all the pushing and shoving. Frank must have noticed my sour look because he pressed a shot into my hand. I downed it without hesitation, knowing I couldn’t possibly tolerate these masses of people without a buzz.

  Vera spotted some coworkers, excused herself briefly, and pushed past me. Shortly thereafter, I heard screeches that could only mean a certain someone had just flashed her engagement ring.

  Sebastian and Frank were involved in a conversation, the content of which I could not make out because of the loud music, and for a while I stood around and people-watched. Even though there were some nice-looking men to check out, I couldn’t help being a little bored. Vera had vanished and the constant shoving was just too much.

  At some point, though, things got more interesting as a lover’s quarrel played out directly in front of me. It seemed this young woman’s boyfriend had paid too much attention to another female’s décolletage, and she had a problem with that—a loud one! Ah, kids. How quickly they turned a minor annoyance into a huge scene. On the one hand, I felt sorry for the young boyfriend with the sloping shoulders, and on the other, I knew he’d probably brought this on himself.

  Women look at forbidden fruit, but at least they know how to be subtle about it. A woman sees a good-looking man, thinks nice, and turns her attention to more important things in life.

  A man, on the other hand, sees a good-looking woman, thinks not bad, checks her rack, thinks wow, checks her ass, thinks sweet, rechecks the rack, imagines the whole picture without clothes, and eventually cranes his neck to reevaluate the entire appearance from behind.

  Come on, gentlemen. You can’t deny it, can you?

  This must have been what the jealous girl was thinking, because she decided to finish off her tirade with a resounding slap to the face before disappearing into the crowd. The poor guy stood there a minute, holding his face, without making any attempt to follow her. Maybe he was deciding whether she was really worth the trouble or whether he should just go back to checking out other girls. He eventually chose his girlfriend and glumly slunk after her.

  I hoped they’d work it out. Breaking up over something so trivial was ridiculous.

  “Good evening, beautiful,” someone whispered in my ear.

  I turned my head, astonished, and looked directly into Desiderio’s smiling face.

  What’s he doing here?

  And why the hell does he have to be so good-looking?

  He was wearing stonewashed jeans. His dark blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves was the same color as his eyes, which were competing with the lights bouncing off the disco ball.

  “You look ravishing.” He looked me up and down without shame.

  “What are you doing here?” I hissed at him, trying to disguise my embarrassment.

  “I’m your personal stalker. Have you already forgotten?” I was not amused, and he swiftly corrected himself. “I’m here with some friends.”

  “I see.”

  “Hey, I live here. It’s not that unusual, is it?”

  “Hm.” I pretended to be disinterested and let my eyes wander across the room.

  After a while, Desiderio launched his next attack. “Have I already mentioned that you are by far the most stunning woman here this evening?”

  For heaven’s sake!

  Despite the strange things taking place in my lower abdomen and the burning heat in my ears, I managed to put on my haughtiest face and say, “I know.”

  Desiderio laughed. “Will I ever be able to pay you a compliment that you enjoy?”

  “No.”

  At least not one I would admit to enjoying.

  He rolled his eyes. “You really are a tough nut to crack, you know that?”

  “Yes.” I shrugged. “But I’ve told you more than once that you don’t stand a chance. Are you just now getting it?”

  “There is nothing that cannot be cracked,” he said roguishly, destroying my hope that he might at last leave me alone. “All you need is the right tool.”

  “Ha! And you think you have the right tool?”

  “Yes, I do. Shall I show it to you?”

  Good God. Now things were really getting out of hand.

  “Gross!” I shouted, insulted. “Keep your fucking toolbox closed!”

  Although just a little peek . . .

  He shook his head reproachfully. “Really, Lena! I’m shocked that you’d think such dirty things.”

  I had to admit I was equally shocked by where my mind had just gone.

  “Then don’t talk about showing me your tool,” I groused, feeling caught. “And in the future, please spare me these mental images.”

  His grin almost reached both ears. “You have mental images? Could you describe them to me?”

  Instantly my face was on fire. I found myself in this situation every single time I underestimated Desiderio’s chutzpah.

  I hastily finished my wine spritzer and pressed the empty glass into his hand. “Here, hold this for a sec.”

  And I took off.

  I plunged into the crowd and blundered along to the restrooms, where I got into the seemingly endless line and started beating myself up about fleeing from Desiderio.

  Why could I not just keep my cool and respond to his double entendres with a smile? Why did he make me act like a shy schoolgirl?

  I’d been called many things in my life, but shy wasn’t one of them. And normally, when it came to being crass, I could absolutely keep up with the men if I had to. Blushing and speechlessness were normally not problems that I had.

  By now, the shots of schnapps were beginning to have their effect, and I sensed my legs becoming a little unsteady. The line inched along slowly. As I stood by the door, Steffi, of all people, teetered out toward me.

  Were only idiots out this evening?

  We looked each other over with mutual disgust and forced out hellos, and then she was gone.

  What a stupid cow! Did she not own a mirror?

  Steffi was wearing a skirt that would more honestly have been sold as a broad belt. To complement it, she had on a shiny top with an open back that plunged almost to her butt. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought she was working in a certain profession.

  How embarrassing!

  Spotting a few ugly pimples on her naked shoulders improved my mood immensely. I gloated and grinned as I watched her leave. When I finally reached a stall, I really did have to pee.

  As I
walked back to the bar, Desiderio was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, my friends had disappeared as well.

  Great.

  Admittedly, I had run away, so why should anyone wait for me?

  I used brute force to get hold of a Coke, hoping to counteract total intoxication, and then started my search for the others. I slowly meandered through the large rooms and looked around carefully.

  Well, what I was doing wasn’t really meandering, because anything so relaxed was absolutely impossible in these throngs. Ultimately, I wound up tightly squeezed between sweaty bodies and realized I had no chance at spotting any individual trees in this insane forest.

  Coincidentally, I ran into a coworker from the radiology department. Literally. Our shoulders collided and we were about to bitch at each other when we recognized one another.

  “Why don’t you pay . . . Oh. Hi, Eva! I haven’t seen you for ages!” I exclaimed.

  “Lena! Yeah, I’ve been on vacation,” she explained. “Dude, I almost slapped you just now. All this shoving is a real pain in my ass.”

  Eva was from Poland and, despite being almost ten years older than I, she always spoke really slangy teenybopper German, sprinkling in lots of words like “dude” and “I can’t even.” Plus, she was one of those women who don’t need to inhale much while speaking and can thus spew out a lot of words at one time.

  I liked Eva and her strange ways, but I could only take her for about an hour. After that, my ears and I always needed a little rest.

  “Oh, I know. I think there must be at least three hundred people here tonight,” I agreed. “So? How was your vacation? Did you go away?”

  She nodded and made a face. “We spent three weeks with my monster-in-law. Three weeks! Can you imagine?”

  “Oh my. Was it that bad?”

  “I can’t even!”

  She inhaled deeply, as if she were taking a running start. Then, in one breath—which I suspected must been some sort of record—she told me every detail of her trip to visit her in-laws. Every detail. Since Eva had basically no sense of shame, I even learned all about her and her husband trying to have sex at his parents’ house. I knew my coworker well enough by now not to be too shocked, and I just tried to put the most salacious details out of my mind.

  By the time she was finished with her account, I was already done with my Coke. I placed the bottle on the nearest table.

  “Your relaxing vacation really doesn’t sound all that relaxing,” I said as Eva started to breathe again.

  “Not at all. What’s new at the hospital? Did I miss anything?”

  I thought for a moment. “Hm, not really. We had another guy with a missing dildo up his ass, but otherwise . . . no, nothing unusual.”

  “Another one?” Eva hooted. “No shit! Why do men always have to be so greedy? If I stick something up my ass, I’ll be careful or buy something especially for anal use or whatever! There are those special things with handles to grab and not let them slip inside.”

  “I really don’t know much about that stuff.” I cackled.

  “Neither do I! That gay guy in the endoscopy department told me all about it one time.”

  “Suuure.”

  “Do you think I’m into that stuff? Nah, not my thing. But YOLO, dude. Whatever floats your boat . . .” She shuddered in disgust.

  Since Eva was so wonderfully agitated about it, I shrugged and gave her a dopey grin. “Sure, whatever floats your boat . . .”

  She rolled her eyes in exasperation at my teasing. Then something behind me attracted her attention.

  “Hey,” she said and poked me excitedly. “Isn’t that that Castello guy?”

  “DiCastello,” I corrected her. I turned around as inconspicuously as possible. Desiderio had his back halfway turned toward me, but I recognized him immediately. He was standing just a little ways away at a bar and was talking to . . .

  “What’s he doing with that ho?” Eva said. My question exactly.

  “Steffi,” I said with clenched teeth.

  “Exactly. Dude, that chick looks nasty.”

  Truer words were never spoken!

  I studied the mess of makeup, plastic, and cheap material and wondered what she was telling Desiderio at that moment. Judging by the way she was twirling the strands of her hair around her finger, it must have been something quite interesting. Whenever he answered, she leaned forward, provocatively baring her scrawny neck.

  Jesus. There was hardly a clearer way of saying Take me!

  Horrible.

  Apparently, Desiderio had said something incredibly funny, because she touched his shoulder and threw back her head as she laughed.

  I turned away, furious.

  “My God, check him out!” Eva whispered as she continued watching the two. “What a hottie. If I weren’t married, I’d send that slut over there packing, I swear. I’d grab that guy and then shit would get real!”

  I grimly chewed my lower lip. Even without looking, I knew Desiderio was an enticing sight even from behind. His well-formed shoulders and straight back were well delineated under the thin material of his shirt. And I remembered all too well how good that back looked naked . . .

  Fine! I had to admit to myself that I was not immune to Desiderio’s sexual charisma. But I still had several reasons for not succumbing to it:

  I had sworn to myself that I would not give in and that, for the first time in his life, he would learn to accept rejection. So if I were to give in, I would be losing our strange fight.

  We worked together, and that alone should have been reason enough to keep my hands off him. A one-night stand would inevitably create an unpleasant situation whenever our paths crossed at work.

  . . .

  OK, so I couldn’t think of a third reason. But two should be enough, right?

  So why was I aching to go over to him, shove Steffi aside, and throw myself into his arms? Maybe Vera was right and my sex life was not as fulfilling as I’d thought. If it was, why did my hormones do somersaults at the sight of him?

  “You know, I’m going to grab another drink, OK?” I told Eva, hoping she would not notice my change of mood. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  “Sure. If not, I’ll see you back at work soon. Later!”

  Anxious to get as far away as possible from Desiderio, I continued my search for my friends.

  At long last, I discovered the three of them in the main room, where they had succeeded in staking out a relatively large space at the bar.

  With a sense of relief, I joined them and took my time studying the drink menu. Feeling halfway sober once more, a little tipsy at most, I summarily decided on a Long Island Iced Tea.

  Connoisseurs know, of course, that this cocktail is not for sissies. It’s basically a mess of different types of alcohol to which a dash of Coke is added to lend the whole thing a little color.

  Just the thing for my present state of mind.

  Determined to get my hands on one immediately, I resolutely tried to squeeze by Frank to get to the counter.

  “Hey, there’s no pushing allowed here!” he scolded good-naturedly and blocked my way.

  “I’m dying of thirst; I don’t have time to be considerate,” I whined.

  “I see. Where were you all this time anyway?”

  “I looked for you guys but you disappeared!”

  “You were the one who disappeared first. There were too many people back there, so we found ourselves a quieter spot.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” I put him off. “Can I please order now?”

  He laughed and made way. Sebastian said something to him, so he turned away from me. I leaned on the tall paneling of the bar and impatiently drummed my fingers on the counter. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the guy next to me was eyeing me curiously. I turned slightly to him and carried out a brief check myself.
A little taller than I, buzz cut, body type suggesting too much time spent at the gym and perhaps an affinity for steroids. On his neck, he flaunted a large tattoo of a snake. All in all, really not my type.

  Still, I gave him a reasonably friendly smile before nabbing the overworked bartender and ordering my drink. As I was waiting, I continued to sense this character next to me. To prevent him from getting the notion of talking to me, I did everything I could to ignore him and continued to drum on the table. As soon as I had my drink in hand, I beat a hasty retreat and went to stand next to Vera.

  “What’s that you’re drinking?” she wanted to know.

  “Long Island,” I answered curtly and took the first sip.

  Ew, disgusting . . . and somehow delicious.

  Vera shook her head and grinned. “Are we going to have to carry you home again tonight or what?”

  “Oh, I’m sure I can handle one little glass!”

  “We shall see,” she giggled and raised her caipirinha.

  We reminisced for a while about our worst drinking experiences. The infamous iced tea was indeed doing its worst and, after only half a glass, I found my tongue becoming a little heavy. But I was still within the acceptable range, so I continued sipping away through my straw.

  When I noticed Vera looking over my shoulder with a mixture of surprise and delight, I knew that Desiderio must have found me.

  And sure enough, next thing I knew, he was whispering in my ear. “Hello, beautiful. Buy you a drink?”

  I held up my glass by way of explanation. “Already got one.”

  “Oh, I can wait until you’re finished,” he declared airily. Then he pushed a suntanned arm past me and extended his hand to Vera. “Hi, I’m Desiderio.”

  What the hell? Now he was putting the moves on my best friend?

  “Vera,” she breathed and briefly shook his slender hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  I choked on my drink and coughed into the face of my former best friend.

  What was that? Had she lost her mind, saying something like that to him?

  “Oh really?” Desiderio grinned next to me. “All good, I hope.”