Chapter 2 – Chapter 2

The guys made good on their promises. On the morning of the third day, with very little wear and tear on David, Siegfried and Egbert gave him 2,000 euros and handed him into the backseat of the Bentley, with Heinrich driving, and waved him off, blowing him kisses as the Bentley rolled down the tree-lined drive.

As they were leaving, Siegfried helpfully said, "Cologne is that way," pointing toward the northeast.

The three men parted quite amicably. David's only regret was not having had more time to spend with Heinrich in his cottage. Heinrich made up for that, though, by pulling down a nearly obliterated track off the main road before the Bentley reached the German border; joining David in the backseat; stripping the young musician down, while he remained nearly fully clothed in case they had to drive out of there on short notice; and fucking David's lights out. Heinrich laid the young man on his back on the backseat, lifted his legs so that his feet leveraged of the velvet ceiling of the sedan, knelt between David's legs, mounted him, and fucked him and fucked him and fucked him.

"Couldn't let you get away without letting you know how much I enjoyed you," he said.

"And I you," David responded. "I would have liked to have more time with you."

"Can I give you my contact number in case you wish to come back?" Heinrich said. "I know having a mere chauffeur after a prince–"

"You are my master," David said. "That's so much better than being a prince."

That made Heinrich smile. He drove David to Cologne and to a better hotel than the young man had originally booked.

"This isn't the right place," David said when the Bentley pulled up to the Hilton Cologne Hotel on Marzellenstrasse, close enough to the cathedral that he could walk to practices and the performance. It was also close enough to the cathedral's front steps, which, like the sitting wall at the Luxembourg train station, was, David had been told, a place he could pick up tricks if he needed the money.

But he wouldn't need money for the hotel in Cologne. When David checked in, with Heinrich standing behind him, holding his bag, not showing the desire to leave him yet, David discovered that his bill for the next week had already been covered by the prince in Luxembourg.

"Thank Seigfried for me," David said, turning to Heinrich. Heinrich gave the musician a lopsided smile and nodded his head. David took that as a suggestion that the chauffer come up to his room with him before returning to Luxembourg. Taking the hint, David said, so those at the reception desk could hear him, "Could you carry my suitcase and violin upstairs for me, Heinrich?"

He could and he did, and he stayed long enough to fuck David again up against the wall next to the door. He hung around for dinner before he left. Neither one of them wanted to part from the other.

The next day, April 1st, was the first day of practice at the cathedral for Gustav Holst's The Planets. David passed a newspaper kiosk while he was walking to the cathedral. A photo the young man saw there on the cover of an English-language Luxembourg newspaper made him pause, do a double take, smile, and mutter, "Well Shit. April Fools."

The photo on the cover was of Prince Heinrich Hollenzollern von Mecklenburg presenting the keys to a Luxembourg City homeless shelter that was just opening thanks to his generous contribution. The photo wasn't of Seigfried. Siegfried might be a Hapsburg but he wasn't the prince in Luxembourg who had hosted David for three days as his luxurious villa. For whatever reason he had to fool the young musician, the real prince was the man who pretended to be the chauffeur, Heinrich.

David took out his cellphone, found the contact number for Heinrich, and called him.

"You fooled me," David said. "Why didn't you tell me you, not Seigfried, were the prince?"

"I didn't do anything special to deceive you," Heinrich answered. "Siegfried and Egbert are my permanent guests and I prefer living simpler in the cottage. And I already told you that I liked driving cars. But as far as not telling you I was the prince, if you were going to let me have you, I wanted it to be because you were physically attracted to me rather than you thought I was a rich prince. And how did that work out? I'm sorry if you saw it as a tasteless April Fools joke?"

"How did it work out?" David said. "If your invitation still holds, rather than going on from Cologne, you can pick me up here and take me back to Luxembourg with you."

"Done. The Bentley can use the exercise," Heinrich said.