Someone still had an arm around him, moving him forward.
“You okay, man?” Eric asked.
Eric, right. The guy with the teeth.
Luis's head lolled. Another swoop of dizziness went through him. He wanted to lie down in a pool or in an ice bath. He was so hot.
“Imma—Idon—”His tongue couldn’t make the words.
“Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you should sit down,” Eric said. He was closer now, supporting all of Luis’s weight. Strong guy. Nice guy. His teeth were… so white.
“Here, my car is actually right here. I can unlock it and you can sit down, alright?”
Luis blinked his eyes open. He was being moved, but he could barely focus on where. Everything was spiky and muddled. The heat was swamping, stifling. His skin felt sunburned. He wanted water. To lie down. To get the buttons off, the shirt off–
“Here you go,” Eric said. Something beeped, and then he was being helped into the back seat of a car. Luis fell backwards, cheek hitting the cool leather seats. Above him the car lights spun like a kaleidoscope.
“That’s good, perfect,” Eric said. He nudged Luis further in so his legs would fit. A hand caressed his ankle. It felt good. Weird.
His head was cotton. There was a warbled sound from his own mouth. Fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Were they his? He couldn’t tell.
“I know,” the man said, low. There was another caress. “I’ll take you somewhere nice, don’t worry—”
“Excuse me.”
A new voice. It was cold like a blade edge. An animal snarled, low and dangerous. Luis felt the vibration in his fingertips.
He forced his eyes back open. He tried to pick up his head, but it was too heavy. Images blurred and bounced. Two figures were there. Familiar, they were familiar.
It took way, way too long to place the blond hair and dark scowl.
“I believe you have something of ours,” Julien said.
“Pegged you as an asshole, didn’t think you were a rapist,” said the other—Karim.
“Hey, I was just giving him a place to lie down, he wasn’t feeling good!”
There was a hard crack of sound. Someone grunted in pain. Luis tried to look, but the world was spinning. More voices happened, more scuffling. A man shouted.
Strong hands curled around his wrists suddenly. Luis slurred a sound as they hoisted him up. The skin-on-skin sensation made him tremble. Nothing had ever felt so intense.
“You’re okay,” Julien said, soft and soothing. An arm went under Luis’s knees, and he was being lifted out of the car. Luis’s head rolled itself into the man's neck. He smelled like violets. It was a good scent, sweet without being too much. He nuzzled at it.
“Karim,” Julien said. “Leave him.”
“The bastard deserves—”
“Now, Karim.” It was a tone that brooked no argument. Luis shivered. “Luis is unwell.”
“Fuckingpiece of shit,” Karim growled. There was another thump. A yelp. “Got his ID.”
“Mm, now if you would retrieve the car keys.”
Luis was jostled, and then a hand prodded his pockets. Were they going to take off his pants? That sounded wonderful, he was so, so hot.
But Karim only retrieved the keys there. Luis mumbled against Julien’s neck about the heat. He felt like he was melting.
A car chirped, a door opened.
