The time also helped him calm his nerves. The sun was starting to set, and he didn’t want to be a mess when he got home. He’d fallen apart enough on them.
When Luis finally parked at the house, he just sat there a while, staring out the windshield at nothing.
Was this too a part of his new life? Always looking over his shoulder, always fearing that he’d run into her. He supposed that depended on whether or not she was sentenced to jail time.
Luis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then he made himself get out of the car and go inside.
“Morning,” Karim said as he strolled into the kitchen fifteen minutes later. Luis had put his food away and was sitting on the bar stool idly scrolling on his phone.
“Morning,” Luis said.
His voice gave him away, too throaty and sticky. Karim paused on his way to the fridge.
“What happened?” He asked, full attention on Luis.
It made Luis’s eyes burn. How could Karim be so caring, so in tune with him, but his mother couldn’t manage it?
He cleared his throat. “It’s okay. I just ran into my mom at the grocery store.”
“What?” Karim’s voice dropped into deadly tones.
A second later Julien was there. “What happened?”
Luis told them.
As he did, Julien came to stand beside him, a steadying hand on his back.
“I can’t believe this country just lets criminals out of jail,” Karim growled when he finished.
“Well hopefully soon the restraining order will go through, and they’ll be actionable things we can do if she tries to harass you again,” Julien said.
“I’m worried she followed me from here,” Luis said, “that she knows where you live.”
Karim chuckled meanly. “If she does and she comes on property, she’ll be sorry.”
“The house is warded and we have cameras. If she comes near us, it’ll only help your case. Don’t worry,” Julien said. His hand rubbed up and down Luis’s back, soothing. “I’m proud of how you handled that though, it couldn’t have been easy.”
Luis’s breath hitched, and he squeezed his eyes tight shut. He didn’t want to cry. He was so sick of crying. “Thanks.”
“Same, proud of you,” Karim said, and bent to kiss Luis’s temple.
Luis took another shaky breath and nodded, unable to speak.
“Now,” Karim said as he pulled away, “let's make you something good for breakfast. Food will help.”
He wasn’t that hungry, but he’d never tell Karim not to cook for him. It was clear he enjoyed making it as much as Luis enjoyed eating it. “Okay.”
Julien took up the stool beside him, continuing to rub his back as Karim started to move about the kitchen.
As Karim cooked and Julien tapped away on his phone, Luis felt his body calm down. There was nothing he had to do but be present, be with the two of them.
He could do that.
##
“Are you busy?” Julien asked from Luis’s doorway. It was the middle of the night, and Julien and Karim had been working in the basement for hours while Luis started to pick away at the website issues.
But he wasn’t in the middle of anything major now. “Not really, what’s up?”
