Chapter Two
Luis pulled his old Honda into the driveway of a sprawling, immaculately landscaped Spanish-style house and felt, for the first time in months, nervous.
He parked beside the sleek, black Audi and got out, flicking through his keys for the one they’d given him.
The Audi unlocked and he slid into the cool, black leather seat.
The chair was always too far back, for someone much taller than him, and he adjusted it and then took a deep breath.
It was fine, it was only a shirt.
Then he sent a text to Julien that he was outside.
It was Julien’s partner, Karim, who strolled out first. Luis saw the scowl coming down the driveway, and braced himself. Karim wasn’t in a good mood on the best of days, but a scowl even before he got into the car couldn’t bode well.
“You smell like shit,” Karim said as he slid into the backseat.
“At least I don’t look it,” Luis shot back. He said it before even looking in the rear-view mirror.
And then felt bad, because damn, Karim actually did look rough tonight.
The man’s shoulder length dark hair was uncharacteristically greasy, hanging limp where it usually had the wavy, shiny volume of Indian hair.
His shirt was wrinkled too. Karim could’ve pulled off either normally, but today his air of bravado felt muted.
“You look–” Karim leaned forward, but then frowned. His eyes flickered from Luis’s shirt to his cheek, as if deciding which to tackle first. “What happened to your face?”
“Cat scratch,” Luis lied.
“You don’t own a cat,” Karim said.
Luis's eyes shifted away. “Maybe I do now.”
He could feel Karim’s gaze boring into him. “Do you?”
“No-pe,” Luis popped the second half of the word just to be irritating. He didn’t need to look to know that Karim would be glaring at him.
“Then what–?”
The interrogation was interrupted by his better half, Julien, pulling open the other car door.
Julien slid in smoothly, an easy smile on his lips.
Where Karim looked like he’d just rolled out of bed and gotten dressed in the dark, every inch of Julien was well-tailored.
His long white-blond hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail, and his crisp, white collared shirt was buttoned to the top button.
He was unadorned with the exception of two rings, one on each fourth finger.
Julien’s beauty caught him off guard every time.
Where Karim had the hot rock star thing going for him, Julien was good-looking like a supermodel.
Like his face was slightly too perfect, too far outside the Bell Curve, and you needed to stare at him just a little bit longer to figure out if he was truly real.
“Good evening, Luis,” Julien said in his French-accented English, the tones smooth and pleasant. “You look nice today.”
Luis was grateful for the dark car hiding his sudden, horrifying flush. He thought about that video, still open on his computer. The vampire had been the same white-blond. He’d meant to go back and close it. Wipe his browser history.
Sweat gathered at his nape. He should’ve never listened to Cassie. This was too much change.
“Thanks. Um. Bite Back tonight?” Somehow, his voice came out normal. He kept his eyes on the windshield, but could feel the sudden weight of Karim’s gaze. He hadn’t had the opportunity to quiz Luis about his wardrobe change, and Luis could practically hear the snarky comment he wanted to make.
Who’re you dressed up for? Trying to get Julien’s attention?
“Yes, please,” Julien said.
Karim didn’t take the shot at him because Julien was present and they did their best not to spar in front of him. Still, a light flashed from the backseat–Karim taking out his phone.
Luis put the car into reverse. He was allowed to make changes and not have it mean anything, he reasoned with himself.
Because he wasn’t trying to get them to like him more. He wasn’t trying, like Cassie suggested, to sleep with them.
He liked them, but they were, at best, acquaintances. At worst, Luis was just contract help. Any feelings were all on his end, of that he was certain. It was best to keep that in mind.
Half a minute later Luis felt a buzz in his pocket that had to be Karim.
Great.
##
Bite Back was an upscale vampire bar in downtown.
It was Julien’s bar of choice because it had the right mix of atmosphere, blood availability, and drivetime.
Luis pulled into the rear parking lot and turned off the car.
They all got out and Luis followed the two taller men past the bouncer, Vick, who nodded in recognition as they entered.
The bar was older, it had been one of the first in the area, but it had been redone sometime recently with stylish black furnishings and purple accent lighting.
The background music was modern, unobtrusive.
Karim and Julien had a standing reservation, so they headed back to a sturdy high top with a stack of Bite Back branded coasters waiting for them.
One of the bartenders, Poppy, swung by a minute after they’d been seated, dropping off a dragon fruit spritz for Luis before he could even order.
He thanked her and she flashed a smile at him as she returned to the bar.
It was still early in the evening, and there was only one other vampire party across the bar at a reserved table. Standing against the bar itself were pockets of humans that had poured in from the front street entrance.
Bite Back was a vampire bar first, but it served regular alcoholic drinks, and a lot of humans liked to come in for the risk, the vibes, or the opportunity to pick up or be picked up by a vampire. By midnight it would be packed.
Luis’s pocket buzzed again, and across the table Karim’s eyes flickered up to him as he pocketed his phone.
Before he could give Karim the satisfaction of pulling out his phone to check, Minnie popped up beside their table.
Minnie was a small thing, but her acid green hair and steel-toed boots meant people didn’t often try to fuck with her. Just a month ago he’d seen Minnie strongarm a drunk human out the backdoor when they’d gotten belligerent.
“If it ain’t my favorite regulars,” Minnie smiled at them, but her gaze stayed on Julien. Minnie’s interest had never been subtle, but to Luis’s knowledge, Julien had never reciprocated. Not from Minnie or Gabe or Olly or Alexander.
Probably because they’re monogamous. Luis was going to bring that up to Cassie the next time she tried to push it.
“So, who’s first, Jay?” Minnie asked. She had the scheduler in hand and was scrolling through it. “Your regular just came in, Fineus.”
Julien turned toward Karim. “Darling, I think you should go first, you've had a hard week.”
Karim nodded, already starting to slide out of the chair. He looked exhausted, Luis realized.
Minnie tapped something at the device. “Great, back in a bit,” she said, and then led Karim back to the privacy curtains at the rear of the bar.
“He okay?” Luis asked, when he was certain Karim was out of earshot.
For a moment Julien didn’t reply. He was still looking in the direction of the curtains. There was no discernible expression on his face, but that didn’t mean there was nothing going on. Julien kept everything locked up tight.
“It’s been a difficult week,” Julien said again with a sigh.
“There was… an anniversary this week, one that’s always hard for him.
And then there was a problem with the website.
Some kind of data loss, and apparently Gerald hadn’t backed up recently, so we lost a lot of inventory listings.
It took two days to get it running again, and Karim took on rewriting the listings himself and personally emailing the clients whose orders ended up lost. It was a good distraction, but he’s run himself a bit ragged. ”
An anniversary? Luis wanted to ask, but it likely wasn’t Luis’s business.
Julien continued to gaze at the curtain. Luis could just pick out the tensed muscle in his jaw.
“Gerald sounds bad at his job,” Luis settled on instead. “Isn’t this like the fourth thing he hasn’t been able to manage for you guys?”
“Yes,” Julien said. “But he’s a favor to a family friend, even if he really doesn’t have the experience we need.”
A favor?
Luis kept his mouth shut on the offer he wanted to make. Website management actually was Luis's day job. He’d discreetly taken a look at Julien and Karim’s antique business website a few times, unable to help himself, and mentally bookmarked at least a dozen things that needed to be fixed.
Luis had offered once before to do the fixes, but Julien had politely turned him down. At the time it had stung as a rejection. He’d only known them two months then, and had taken that to mean Julien didn’t want or trust him to do the work.
It soothed that old wound to learn now that Gerald was a favor. The rejection hadn’t been personal.
“That sounds… like a headache.”
“Quite.” Julien waved his hand, as though to dispel smoke. He turned away from the curtain. “But that’s behind us now. We are here to relax, right?”
He smiled at Luis. It was like an arrow to the heart every time, that smile. But it didn’t mean anything. Julien and Karim were married. They’d celebrated their fifty-second anniversary last year.
To crush on either of them was the definition of futile.
Or the definition of pathetic.
“Tell me, did you have a chance to watch La Belle et la Bête this week?” Julien asked.
“Yeah, I watched it,” Luis said, reaching for his drink for something to do with his hands. “Didn’t have the same… uh, charm as the Disney film.”
Julien smiled again, and Luis averted his eyes so he wouldn’t fumble his words like he’d done a handful of times before.
“Charm, yes. Disney does make very… charming monsters. But the actor in Cocteau’s film, Jean Marais, he has his own charms, I think,” Julien said.
“He and Cocteau made a very handsome couple in their time.”
That caught Luis’s attention. “Oh, he’s gay…? Wasn’t this like the 1940s?”