Luis felt Karim look at him, then at Julien. “Maybe. I–I just–” Another gusty breath.
“Okay,” Julien said soothingly. “Luis, Karim needs a moment, he’s just going to step out and get you another water and something for your hands, okay?”
Luis nodded, letting him go. Karim’s expression was terrifying, like he was about to rip into someone. Fear clawed anything Luis might have said out of his throat.
“Be right back,” Karim said with barely concealed rage, and marched out.
Luis sucked in a breath, then turned to Julien. “I–is Karim mad at me?”
Julien’s expression softened further. “No, no sweetheart.” Julien took his freed hand. “He… has a complicated history with bad parents. He just needs a minute to cool off so he doesn’t say or do anything he’d regret. He’s not upset at you, he’s upsetforyou.”
Luis licked his dried lips and tasted blood. Had he been biting his lip? “Okay.”
Julien’s thumb smoothed over the back of his hand. “I think the first thing we should do is call the police, and report the kidnapping attempt,” Julien said after a small gap of silence. “It’ll help to have a record of what happened, and you can get a restraining order.”
He was saying things Luis knew needed to happen, but it was hard to feel like he wanted to. All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and pretend none of this was happening.
“I should’ve reported Eric after the bar,” Luis said. Fuck, would this have happened if he had? If he’d gone to the hospital they would’ve found the drug in his system. Maybe they would’ve investigated, discovered what that church was doing.
“Hey,” Julien said gently. “I understand why you didn’t. This isn’t your fault. How were you to know this was bigger than one incident in a bar?”
The guilt lingered. Hadn’t there been signs? Hadn’t Cassie even questioned his mom’s religious vigor a time or two?
Karim returned, much too quickly to have been moving at a walking pace. He had a first aid kit, another glass of water, and a plate.
“I don’t know if you’re hungry, but I brought some cookies too,” Karim said. He set it and the drink on the desk and offered the first aid kit to Julien.
Julien let go of his hand slowly. “Is it okay if I…?” He gestured from the kit to Luis’s hands.
Luis nodded.
Julien worked carefully then, using sterile wet wipes to clean the grime and blood off of Luis’s hands. He went slowly, being extra gentle around the cuts on the one hand. When that was done, he disinfected the cuts, which were now bleeding fresh.
It was followed by bandages.
When it was done, Karim offered him water.
“Do you want me to take care of calling the police?” Julien asked as he packed up the kit.
Luis finished half the water and then set it aside. “I don’t have my phone,” he said. He wondered where it had gone, if he’d ever see it again. It was at least password locked, so they wouldn’t be getting any more information off of it.
“Okay,” Julien said as he stood. “I’ll take care of it. Be right back.”
Julien left, and then Karim was pushing the cookies toward him. “I’m sure that hurts,” Karim said, nodding at his hands. “Eat and you can take some pain killers.”
Luis wasn’t hungry, but he picked up one of the cookies. Chocolate chip, freshly made.
“You didn’t know I was coming,” Luis said.
Karim shrugged. “It was a test batch; I was going to make some on Friday.”
Luis bit into it. It was sweet and rich. Delicious really, even as twisted up as his stomach was right now. Before he knew it, he’d finished the whole thing.
A desk drawer opened and ibuprofen appeared. “This okay?” Karim asked.
Luis nodded and took two pills and swallowed them down.
“I’d offer you some clean clothes, but if the police come, it’s best they see the condition you’re in,” Karim said apologetically.
