Karim ran a hand over his face, blowing out a breath. “Until Julien decides or you say you’ve had enough.”
“Not when you’ve had enough?” Luis asked, curious.
Karim’s dark eyes met his. His hair was a mess, because at some point Luis had put his hands through it. “No. I’ve long ago left that in his hands.”
Luis swallowed hard. Right. Right. And Luis could do that too, if he wanted to. He could hand so many choices over to Julien if he wanted to, he just had to say so.
So how far did he want this to go?
Chapter Twenty Eight
“Is this your matchbook collection?” Karim asked.
Luis’s head snapped up to see Karim across his old apartment with the jar of matchbooks.
“Yeah.” Luis put down the cardboard box he was putting together and made his way over. The movers would arrive in a few hours to take his furniture and whatever boxes they’d filled by then. Luis didn’t officially have to be out of the apartment until the end of the month, so they had plenty of time.
Karim fished one out to look at the design. “They’re from shows you said.”
“Yeah. Cassie and I used to go to a lot of shows,” Luis said.
“Used to?” He asked.
Luis shrugged. “She moved four hours away last year for school, and it’s not as fun to go alone.”
Karim looked thoughtfully at the matchbooks, dropping the one back in. “We should go then, sometime. I didn’t mind the other place, I’d do it again.”
Luis blinked at him. “What?”
Karim shrugged. “It could be a date night. You have pretty okay taste so, I’m sure it wouldn’t suck,” now he was teasing Luis.
“Fuck you,” Luis said with a smile, taking the jar with the matchbooks from him.
Karim grinned, bending to drop a kiss on his mouth. “I love when you get all huffy. It’s cute.”
“Shut up,” Luis said, turning away as his face shot up with heat.
Karim chuckled. “So, pick the place and the time and let me know, I’ll get the tickets.” Karim turned to start packing a new box.
“Fine,” Luis said, trying not to smile like a lovesick fool as he grabbed the roll of bubble wrap to protect the jar. “But maybe after all this is done.”
“Yeah, sure. Just let me know,” Karim said.
By the time the movers arrived hours later, most of Luis’s things were packed. The movers were all vampires, a strong, silent lot that made quick work of moving even his heavy mattress down the stairs and to the truck.
Most of the night was gone by the time the movers finished bringing everything into the new place. Luis worked on setting up his bed and his desk and router for work. Julien and Karim helped themselves to unpacking his kitchen and bathroom even as Luis had tried to tell them they didn’t need to.
When his internet was working, his teeth were brushed, and the bed was made, Luis flopped onto the bed. He was exhausted.
After a few minutes, he heard footsteps come to his doorway and then beside his bed. He turned his head to see Julien.
“I’m going to change my work schedule,” Luis said. He’d been thinking about it all evening. “My hours have always been flexible and there’s a few vampires on staff, so changing to a night shift shouldn’t be an issue.”
Julien smiled. “Does this mean you’ll be spending some time during the week with us?”
Luis pushed himself to sit up. “If you’ll have me, if that’s… okay?”
Julien took a seat on the bed beside him. “More than okay. We were hoping something could be arranged, but we didn’t want to push you.”
