The man moved his fork around, the tines scraping against the bone China.
“It’s really fine,” Luis said.
Karim huffed, putting his fork down. “It’s not.” Karim opened his mouth, then shut it. He met Luis’s gaze. “I’m sorry about Wednesday,” he said, voice stiff. “I shouldn’t have put you in that position. I should have–have just told you I didn’t want you to get bitten by a stranger.”
Luis blinked at him. That was way more honesty than he’d expected. “Oh. Why… didn’t you want a stranger?”
Karim huffed, looking at Julien who nodded him on. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “I just–I mean you’ve said you’ve never given blood to a vampire before. I just didn’t want it to be a bad experience. Some of them aren’t careful with humans.” The words sounded like they were being pulled from him. “Thought it would be better if I did it.”
Julien said something in French, and then Karim countered, switching from English to French seamlessly. They went back and forth, Julien pressing and Karim growing more and more uncomfortable.
Luis looked between the two of them, hearing only his own name interspersed.
Was this good? Bad? Should he… leave them alone to discuss whatever it was?
A sweat broke out across the back of his neck.
Okay. He’d just… step out. Let them settle whatever this was that was starting to gain steam.
Luis managed a quick,excuse me,before getting up and fleeing in the direction of the bathroom.
In the bathroom, Luis leaned against the counter and pulled out his phone. There were more messages from his mother, angrier than before. He swiped them away, and opened social media to idly scroll through it.
It was fine. Julien had said so. Whatever they were discussing, it was… fine, right? Right.
The thoughts were pinging around in his head. Karim hadn’t wanted him to be bitten by a stranger. He had wanted Luis to have a good experience. And Julien had said they weren’texclusive.
He remembered Cassie’s lecture about non-monogamy.
But Luis was just Luis. A human. A boring one at that. There was no way that…
He stared at himself in the mirror. There was nothing remarkable about him. Dark curls, brown eyes, and an okay enough face. He wasn’t even that interesting. He had practically no hobbies, a lifetime of religious and medical trauma, and still struggled to even leave his house.
A catch he was not.
Luis sighed. It didn’t matter; he was just reading into this. Nothing was happening.
Finally, when Luis could no longer justify hiding in the bathroom, he forced himself to leave.
But the second he stepped out of the bathroom, Karim appeared as if out of nowhere. Luis jolted back in surprise.
“Jumpy,” Karim commented. Then, softer, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said. Was his face giving him away? He hoped not.
Karim stepped forward, and Luis stepped back without thinking about it, his back bumping the wall.
Karim scowled. “Are you afraid of me?”
“What? No. Don’t be stupid. You just surprised me,” Luis said.
“Okay.” Karim’s shoulders eased. Karim leaned one hand on the wall beside Luis, half boxing him in. “Then what’s with fleeing dinner? You didn’t even finish your food.”
Luis looked at him incredulously. “I just figured I’d give you two privacy to finish talking about me.” The words came out with a bite. Oh. He was angry.
Karim’s brows went up. “Okay, yeah that was rude. Fair enough.”
“I get you two… talk. Maybe just–don’t talk about me in front of me?” Luis said, waving his hand in frustration. He brushed the collar of Karim’s button-up because the man was so close.
