Chapter Eleven #2
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’t exclusive.
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.
“It’s not bad, what we were discussing,” Karim said. “About you, yeah, but Julien was just lecturing me on being direct, but not rushing things.” He said the last part with disdain.
Luis’s brows furrowed. “Rushing things?”
For some reason, Karim stepped even closer.
His fingers found the soft neck hem of Luis’s shirt and thumbed over it.
“Mm. I’d love to fill you in, but Julien’s sworn me to a timeline and a literal gag order.
Frankly, I’m not willing to suffer through the punishment, so we’ll both just have to wait a little bit longer. ”
Wide eyed, Luis blinked at him. “Punishment?”
Karim smiled, wide and wicked. “Chastity,” he whispered, like a secret, “It stops being fun quickly, believe me.”
Luis opened his mouth but no words came out. The conversation had jumped several rails and ended up somewhere entirely new.
Karim laughed at whatever his face was doing. “Yeah so, anyway, come back to dinner. We promise to speak in English.”
Luis found himself nodding even if he didn’t entirely grasp what had just been said. “Okay.”
“I haven’t finished watching you eat,” Karim said, eyes dipping to Luis’s mouth.
Luis’s stomach flipped. “Right,” he said. Was he… flirting?
No. Couldn’t be. Karim was just messing with him.
Luis forced himself to move left where Karim wasn’t blocking with his arm, slipping away.
He heard Karim blow out a breath as he went. Luis swallowed hard, avoided looking, and marched himself back to the table. Karim followed.
##
In the living room after dinner, Karim dropped down into his usual spot, Luis across from him. Julien was cleaning up the kitchen.
“What do you say?” Karim asked, wagging the phone in his hand. “It’s still your turn.”
“I think you’ve already won the round,” Luis said, even as he pulled out his phone. The last word played was still BITE.
“Probably,” Karim said with no small amount of glee, “But nobody likes a sore quitter.”
Luis rolled his eyes. “That’s not how the saying goes,” he said before locking in to the letters on his screen.
They got through two rounds before Julien showed up.
“There’s some leftovers Luis, so make sure we send you home with them.” Julien took his seat next to Karim.
“Oh, great,” Luis said with a smile. Julien had apologized when he’d come back to the table for their terrible manners. After that dinner had gone as usual.
Mostly. Karim’s staring had felt heavier than usual, but Luis couldn’t–wouldn’t–put a reason as to why.
“So… dessert?” Karim prompted.
Julien let out an audible breath. “Mon c?ur, give Luis a second? We interrupted his meal. And you didn’t even ask him if he would rather just do the bar tonight.”
Karim held up his hands in supplications. “I mean, the bite was good right? Want to do it again?” He aimed this at Luis with a fanged smile.
And oh boy was that doing havoc to Luis’s insides. Some part of him had come here for that, but now, with everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure. It felt reckless to jump right back in again.
He needed some time to think. He didn’t want to make any more mistakes.
So Luis gathered his courage. “Maybe the bar this week?”
Julien smiled as if he’d expected the answer, which made Luis feel better. “Perfect.”
If Karim had a reaction, he covered it, because his expression didn’t change. He only began to leverage himself up off the couch. “Cool, can we go then? I’m starved.”
Julien shook his head fondly, but looked to Luis for an answer.
“Yeah,” Luis said, “I’m good to go.”
So they went.