Jacob can’t help staring at him, at his naked body, at his hard cock, and he can feel the attraction awakening inside him. All the frustration that’s been brewing inside him since that night in the garden. This is so far from all his plans and goals and tightly controlled life. But this was what Vargander meant, he supposes. This is what he was offering him, and somehow that gives him permission to give in.

‘Okay,’ he says. ‘Show me your little room then.’

The young man has wrapped the towel around himself again, and he walks past Jacob towards a small pool, a few deep and low sinks, and showers where a few men are busy washing themselves. No one pays them much heed.

‘Here,’ the young man finally says, opening a door next to a dry sauna.

Jacob takes a deep breath, but he knows he’s already made his decision, and he can feel the excitement pulsing through his veins. He steps into a room with a leather-covered massage table at its centre and a small sofa on the short-sided wall. The man locks the door behind them and walks slowly towards Jacob while letting his towel fall.

‘I want you to fuck me,’ he says. ‘I want you to be brutal. Do you dare?’

Jacob’s heart is pounding in his chest. Simon was tender and careful, excessively aware that Jacob was inexperienced. It felt safe in the beginning, then boring. Now something awakens inside him, and for once he lets it.

‘Get down on your knees,’ he says, trying to sound brusque, but he can hear how insecure and inexperienced his voice sounds. The man smiles provocatively.

‘You’ll have to be harder on me than that,’ he says, taking a step towards him.

The young man bends forward and bites him lightly on his earlobe.

‘I wanna be your little whore, do you understand?’ he whispers.

It feels crude and a little dangerous, and it scares him, but that’s not the only thing Jacob feels. He stops, hesitates, and for a moment considers turning around, going back to the locker room, getting dressed and leaving. But there’s something in all this that he finds alluring. It’s not sexual excitement, or not only that. It’s the adventure.

He takes a step closer to the man and looks straight into his eyes.

‘Get down on your knees, whore,’ he says.

The man obeys immediately, gets on his knees in front of Jacob, whose towel falls to the floor. Now he’s standing in front of a nameless man, completely naked. And the man stares up at him with pleading eyes.

‘Hit me, hit me in the face,’ he whispers.

Jacob reacts, this is another step towards the unknown. ‘Are you…’ he says. ‘Are you sure?’

The man gives him an almost scornful look. ‘Don’t be a little pussy, hit me now!’ he hisses.