And the feeling when he’d bitten Luis–
The alarm on his phone chirped. Time to log off. Luis finished the email quickly, rattling off what he needed from the client to finish the job for Monday and signed out.
Later, in the shower watching the soap suds circling the drain, the anxiety reappeared.
Had there been a fight between Karim and Julien when they’d gone home? Luis didn’t want to be the cause of tension between them.
His stomach. Come to think of it, he hadn’t even thought about the implications of letting Karim bite him. That had been stupid. He’d consented, but what if Julien was upset for more than just Karim going behind his back? What if he was mad that Karim and Luis had… had shared that.
Was biting a friend… inappropriate? Luis could see how it could be. The way his body had reacted…
He finished rinsing and hurried out of the shower, rough toweling his hair. Okay. So maybe an apology was needed on his end. Karim had shown up unexpectedly, but that very much had been a two-person agreement. Luis had said yes.
Stupid. Thoughtless.
He grabbed his phone and froze at the two missed calls, handful of texts, and one long voicemail from his mother. All received while he’d been in the shower.
Her timing couldn’t have been worse. He stared at the phone; at the first sentence of an all-caps text he could see on his lock screen.
I WAS TALKING TO PASTOR JULIO ABOUT YOU AND HE SUGGESTED–
Luis knew he could swipe open that message, could call her back, but it would delay him. He needed to leave soon for dinner, but a phone call with his mom could take an hour. Rushing her off the phone when she didn’t want to be rushed never worked in his favor.
Later. He’d call her later.
Luis swiped to clear the notification and then went to get dressed.
One thing at a time. First, he needed to fix the situation with Julien and Karim.
Half an hour later as he went down to his car, he put his phone on silence as another call came in. Tomorrow, he’d call her back.
The kit was noticeably missing from the seat beside him as he turned the car on. It had felt too presumptuous to bring, but now the vacant space also felt presumptuous.
There was nothing Luis could do about it. He was damned if he brought it and damned if he didn’t.
By the time Luis got to their house, his heart was hammering. Part of him wanted to turn the car around and avoid it all.
But he was trying not to be that person anymore. Not a coward, not a person who avoided the thing that was uncomfortable. He’d done something thoughtless, maybe harmful, and he could take responsibility for that. He could apologize.
He parked and got out. Julien answered the door a minute later.
“Luis.” The vampire smiled at him warmly, as though nothing had happened. He looked well dressed, hair pulled back with wisps framing his face. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Hey,” Luis said, trying for casual. Then, before he could even cross the threshold, the words tumbled out. “Hey, uh. I’m sorry. About Wednesday. I know Karim wasn’t supposed to show up, but I consented and–and I didn’t think about how that might make you feel. I’m really sorry if I upset you…”
He trailed off at the confusion growing on Julien’s face. “Why are you apologizing?” Julien asked.
“For letting Karim bite me…?”
Julien was smiling gently. “Oh no, that’s–that itself is not an issue. We–ah, we’ve each had our own partners over theyears. We don’t always have…exclusivity,” Julien said carefully, like he was being deliberate with language. “Especially when it comes to sustenance.”
“Oh,” that was new information.Partners?
“I was angry because I told Karim not to put you in a corner by showing up at the bar,” Julien explained. “I was mad he may have compromised your consent, not that he bit you.”
“Oh,” Luis said again. Well, that was a relief. “I–he didn’t. I didn’t feel pressured. He doesn’t intimidate me like that.”
Julien looked relieved. “That’s good. Now, come in? Everything’s been settled, I promise.”
