Chapter 10
Ji-Su’s eyes slowly drifted open. He knew immediately that he was alone in Raul’s king size bed.
The nightstand lamp was on, casting a comforting circle of warm light over the bed and the area around it.
It was quiet, so the morning’s storm must have passed.
After a deep, full-body stretch, Ji-Su slipped from beneath the covers and left the bed.
He smoothed the sheets and comforter into place and then returned to his own room.
As he showered and changed into clean clothes, he thought back to that morning with Raul.
Raul’s kisses and touches were amazing. Physical intimacy wasn’t automatically a part of being a blood pet.
He’d never been intimate with Cedric and hadn’t wanted to be.
But if Raul wanted them to become lovers, he was on board.
His attraction to the big, gorgeous vampire was so strong that he didn’t mind that they hadn’t known each other long.
He hadn’t had that many sexual partners in his life and none of them were as powerful and commanding as Raul.
He could only imagine the way Raul would take control of his body and pleasure when they were in bed together.
Gooseflesh chased over his skin as he wondered what it would be like to have the gorgeous vampire do more than kiss him and stroke him off.
With excited but nervous anticipation tumbling about in his stomach, Ji-Su went down to breakfast. Raul was already seated at the table in the breakfast room when he arrived. But he didn’t have a plate in front of him.
“There you are,” Raul said in his deep voice. “Good evening.” He rose and pulled out a chair for Ji-Su.
“Good evening.” Ji-Su slid into the chair Raul held out for him. “I hope I didn’t hold up breakfast for too long.”
“Not at all. Did you sleep well?” he asked as he returned to his seat.
Ji-Su ignored the blush that heated his cheeks and nodded. “Like a rock.”
“Good.”
They were quiet as the staff served them breakfast. Raul picked up the conversation again after they were left alone to eat.
“I want to apologize for this morning,” quietly Raul said.
Ji-Su looked at him in confusion. He didn’t remember Raul doing anything he needed to apologize for. “For what?”
“For pushing myself on you.”
Ji-Su was still confused. Raul had asked him if kissing and touching him was okay and he’d said yes. And he’d enjoyed it. So, he wasn’t sure why Raul felt the need to apologize. “You didn’t push yourself on me. I said yes and that I liked it, remember?”
Raul nodded. “You did. Regardless, it won’t happen again.”
Now Ji-Su wasn’t just confused, he was hurt as well.
Raul didn’t want to be his lover. His nervous excitement from earlier faded.
He was left feeling silly for thinking a few kisses and a hand job meant anything to someone as experienced as Raul.
He’d probably only gotten him off so he would calm down and Raul could get back to sleep.
Ji-Su was disappointed but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
“I understand,” he said softly.
“Good.”
Thinking the conversation was over, Ji-Su picked up his fork and took a bite of pancakes. But Raul wasn’t finished.
“I am happy to have you here as my blood pet. But I think it would be best if I didn’t drink from you for a while.”
Ji-Su was back to being confused again. He set his fork down. “What? Why not?”
Raul met his gaze with clear concern in his dark eyes.
“I want to give you time to recover from everything Cedric did to you.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. I feel fine.”
“And I want to make sure you stay that way. You’ve had a lot of upheaval—Cedric’s assault, being moved here to a vampire you don’t know and a place you didn’t expect to be, all of your belongings destroyed. That’s a lot to deal with in a short amount of time.”
“It’s true that was a lot. But I don’t need to hide under the covers because of it. I’m not weak.”
Raul reached across the table and put a hand a top Ji-Su’s. It was a warm, gentle touch but in contrast, Raul’s tone was almost brusque as he spoke.
“I don’t think you’re weak. I’m just watching out for you. Rest, recover and don’t worry about feeding me for a few weeks. I’m an old vampire. I’ll be all right.”
Ji-Su didn’t know what to say to that. Complaining about Raul essentially being kind and caring about him would be silly and ungrateful.
Still, he didn’t think waiting before he began his duties as Raul’s blood pet was necessary.
However, since he couldn’t make Raul drink from him and Raul seemed set in his decision, he didn’t have any choice but to agree.
“If you think that’s best.”
“I do,” Raul said with a firm nod.
“Fine.”
They ate in silence after that.
Ji-Su looked down at his plate. He appreciated that Raul wanted to look out for him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Raul simply didn’t want to drink his blood.
Raul’s demeanor was cool and distant, completely different from the light flirting and teasing humor he’d already come to expect from the vampire.
The postponement of his blood pet duty along with the shift in mood felt like a rejection.
That made him feel worse than any hypothetical breakdown he might have from feeding Raul soon after the events with Cedric.
Wanting to get away from the table so that he could be alone while he worked all this out in his head, Ji-Su ate as quickly as he could without looking like a starving caveman. His plate empty and ready to escape, Ji-Su raised his glass to take a last drink of his apple juice. But Raul spoke again.
“I cleared my schedule tonight so that I can take you to replace all of your gaming and streaming equipment. Let me know where you want to go and I’ll cover the cost of everything.”
At that announcement, Ji-Su nearly choked on his apple juice. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. You said you need to get back to practicing and streaming your games right away, didn’t you?”
“I did.” Ji-Su set his glass down. “But I was going to look at my finances and budget for my replacements. I wasn’t planning to replace everything all at once.”
“You don’t need to worry about budgeting while you’re here with me.”
For the third time that morning, Ji-Su sat there in confused silence, wondering why Raul would do such a thing when he was under no obligation to do so.
The conversations this morning were giving him a headache.
First, Raul made it plain he didn’t want to be his lover.
Then he let him know he was going to put off drinking from him for an undetermined amount of time.
Now he was offering to replace his entire gaming setup.
Then he realized that Raul was probably going to cover the cost as a loan and deduct it from his blood pet payments.
That was the only thing that made sense.
He might not appreciate being told he wasn’t strong enough to do his job but he did appreciate Raul’s generosity in replacing everything he’d lost. “Thank you,” he said gratefully now that he understood. “That will really help.”
“You’re welcome. We can go whenever you’re ready.”
Ji-Su pushed his chair back from the table. “I’m ready now.”
JI-SU PUT ON HIS SHOES and walked outside with Raul.
A glossy black pickup truck—a GMC Sierra Denali—waited for them in front of the ranch house.
Raul walked around to the passenger side and opened the door to help Ji-Su get in.
He looked around the interior as he snapped on the seat belt.
It was as nice as any luxury car, with leather seats and wood paneling on the dashboard and center console.
“We’re going to Whitman Electronics. It’s on Pace Avenue,” he said once Raul got in on the driver’s side.
Raul programmed the location into the in-dash GPS. They pulled out, a dark sedan following behind them.
Ji-Su had grown accustomed to guards accompanying Cedric whenever they left the town house.
Although, they’d never been with him when he went out on his own.
He wondered why Raul needed them. Maybe it had something to do with his job managing a casino.
He realized that Raul had never told him exactly what the Sanguis Syndicate was.
He’d considered checking it out for himself, but decided he’d rather wait for Raul to tell him.
Raul’s ranch was outside the Dear Lake city limits so they had to drive a ways before they arrived at the high-end electronics store. As they drove, Ji-Su looked at Raul’s hand gripping the steering wheel. He noticed cuts on his knuckles.
“What happened to your hand?”
Raul looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers. “I busted it taking care of something last night. But it’s no big deal. It’ll be healed up by the end of the night.”
“Vampire healing is amazing. I would have loved to have it recovering from the surgeries after my car accident.”
“It does come in handy.”
Raul changed the subject, asking him about his streaming. Since that was one of Ji-Su’s favorite topics, he was only too happy to explain what he did. Raul seemed interested, asking questions that kept the conversation going until they pulled into the parking lot for Whitman’s.
At the entrance, they walked through automatic sliding doors.
Ji-Su hadn’t been here before so he stopped to get his bearings before he started looking around.
A clerk dressed in a uniform of black pants and white Polo with a black collar came over to greet them.
He was tall and stocky with thick, curly blond hair.
He gave them a courteous smile, but before he started on his welcome spiel his mouth dropped open in surprise.
“You’re Ji-Su! I watch your streams all the time. It’s an honor to have you in my store. I mean, it’s not my store. My family owns it, I just work here. Although, I’m going to inherit it in the future.”
Behind Ji-Su, Raul cleared his throat. The clerk stopped rambling.
“Hello. Welcome to Whitman’s. How can I help you today?” he said, finally giving them the welcome spiel.