Chapter Thirteen
The unreturned phone calls from Mom were stacking up. She wanted to come over, she wanted to take him out for dinner, she wanted him to fix her TV remote that kept unpairing.
And Luis… couldn’t find the fucks to give about any of it. He silenced every call and replied to texts with excuses about being busy. Her response texts edged up from annoyance to anger, and her phone calls came one after another until Luis changed her ringtone to silent.
It was a ticking time bomb, but Luis was finding it hard to care. He was preoccupied, instead, with the coming Friday. With the swirling anticipation of what was to come.
Julien’s bite had lowered his levels, but one bite every other week wasn’t enough. Luis was thinking about… more.
On Tuesday, Karim played the word SWEAT in Words with Friends.
Luis gave it a day before returning with QUELL off his ‘E’, and getting bonus points on the ‘Q’.
That evening he finished work, watched the movie of the week–a 1933 film that featured a happily-ever-after romantic triad–and forced himself not to read into either thing any deeper.
Luis woke Thursday to Karim playing PIQUE off Luis's ‘Q’. He reminded himself that words played in an app game didn’t mean anything.
Thursday evening Luis opened up a browser on his phone and looked up ‘vampire bite haze’.
The first page was entirely porn.
He closed the browser and abandoned his phone for his guitar. He ran through some songs he knew by heart, playing until his hands began to ache.
When the thoughts were still looming that evening in bed, Luis texted the group chat asking if they could help with his treatment Friday.
Julien: Of course, come early for dinner
Karim: Do you like sushi?
There was a stupid, excited smile on his face as he replied that yes, he liked sushi.
On Friday, when Luis finished work, there was a wall of texts from his mother, two more missed calls and voicemail. He swiped all of it away, making his way through a shower and getting dressed with anticipation brimming in his veins.
Cassie called him right as he grabbed his keys to head out, and Luis silenced that one too. He’d been skirting around what was going on in their calls, and Cassie, who knew him better than anyone, knew something was up.
Tomorrow, he promised himself as he locked up and headed down to the car. Tomorrow, he’d call her back and finally tell her everything.
Because maybe tomorrow, he’d have a better sense of what it all meant.
Half an hour later, Luis stood on the doorstep for almost a minute before the door opened.
It was Karim.
“Don’t you have a key?” Karim asked, in lieu of a greeting.
“Uh. Yeah?” Luis did have their housekey on his keyring, but he’d only ever used it that one morning to lock up.
Karim stared at him. “So next time just let yourself in. It’s a big house; we don’t always hear the door. This ancient doorbell Julien had to have only works like half the time.”
“I thought vampire hearing was excellent,” Luis said.
Karim snorted. “Sure, but I insulated this place myself. Nobody’s hearing is good enough to hear the front door from the upstairs bedroom.”
“Doesn’t seem like the best idea to insulate your house so well you can’t hear the front door,” Luis said as he followed Karim in.
“Compromises had to be made,” Karim said. “When we were fixing it up, Julien was going through a huge opera phase. For my own sanity I needed to be able to go to the bedroom and not hear Madama Butterfly.”
Luis laughed. “I see.”
“We can still hear each other from a couple rooms away,” Karim explained as he led Luis to the dining room, “but from top to bottom or from one side to the other, blissful silence.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Luis said.
“Yeah so, you have a key, use it.”
In the dining room Julien was adjusting the table centerpiece, which today was a bouquet of white roses.
“Good evening,” Julien said as he finished fiddling with the flowers. “Ready for dinner?”
“Always,” Luis said, taking his normal seat, eyes sticking on the flowers. Karim headed through the doorway that led to the kitchen. “White roses,” Luis commented.
The table often had a flower centerpiece, but this was the first time it was white roses. Luis couldn’t help but think back to the story Julien had told him about how they’d gotten together.
“Yes,” Julien said with a secretive smile. “Karim thought it a good night for them.” His eyes met Luis’s.
Don’t read into that.
“Oh.” The question was on his tongue, but he kept it in.
“Do you like roses, Luis?” Julien asked.
“Uh, I guess?” Luis didn’t have any strong opinions on one flower over another. They were all nice, but he’d never needed to pick a favorite, nobody gave guys flowers.
Except Karim.
“I’m partial for obvious reasons,” Julien said, and the slow blink of his lashes made Luis want to squirm. “But my garden has a lot of different kinds of flowers. I should show you sometime. Maybe we could find you a favorite.”
The offer made the back of his neck hot. Luis didn’t need a favorite flower, but the way Julien was looking at him implied that he did. Implied something.
Don’t read into it.
“Oh, okay. Sure.”
Then Karim was reentering with long plates of sushi rolls, and Luis forced a breath in to try and calm down.
There was no reason for him to feel… worked up.
##
“Done?” Karim asked as he started collecting plates.
Julien gave him a look.
“What?” Karim said. “You both ate, I’m hungry.”
“Have you even asked Luis if he’s comfortable being bitten by you tonight?” Julien said. “Maybe he’d rather I do it.”
Karim made a disgruntled sound. “But it’s my turn,” it came out almost like a whine.
Luis laughed as Julien raised a judging brow. “Who decided that?”
Karim froze, gaze shooting guiltily to Luis. But Luis’s stomach was stuffed full of sushi and he was feeling fond.
“It’s his turn,” Luis said.
Karim’s shoulders dropped in relief, and then he quickly turned to take the dishes away. “Be right back!” He called as he left.
In his wake, he and Julien shared a knowing look. Our impatient, brash Karim.
And then Luis caught himself and quickly scrubbed that thought from his mind.
There was no ‘our’.
Ten minutes later in the living room, Julien offered to leave and give them privacy, but Luis turned it down. He and Karim did not need to be left alone in a room together.
“I’ll keep time,” Julien said. “Be good.” This last part was aimed at Karim.
Karim was on the couch with Luis, and shifted closer until his thigh was pressed into Luis’s. “I’m always good,” Karim said, “except when you want me not to be…”
Julien stared back at him, unmoved. “Maybe Luis would like to change his mind?” Julien offered.
“No, no!” Karim said as Luis laughed. “C’mon, just a joke to lighten the mood.” But his eyes flickered to Luis, checking in.
“Carry on,” Luis said magnanimously.
Karim nodded. “So, Jules said you were cool skipping the antiseptic?”
“Yeah,” Luis said.
“Great, it really ruins the taste,” Karim leaned in, eager. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Karim’s hand wrapped over Luis’s shoulder. The touch was gentle, guiding. Automatically Luis tipped his head, baring his throat.
The vampire leaned in.
This close, Karim pulled all of Luis’s attention like a magnet. Luis forgot his nerves, forgot that Julien was sitting across from them observing. His attention narrowed to the touch, to the hot breath against his neck.
“You usually remove a lot of blood,” Karim said against his throat, “for your treatment.”
“Yeah.” Luis’s throat clicked.
Lips grazed Luis’s skin. Goosebumps rose everywhere. He was hot and cold at the same time.
“Do you want to give it all to me?” Karim asked. “Or will you let Jules have you too tonight?”
The words hit with blistering heat.
“I–” Luis blinked, dizzy. Nothing had even happened yet.
He heard Julien say the first consonant of Karim’s name, and Karim laughed, a low, rumbling. “Think about it,” he whispered, and then his lips parted against Luis’s neck.
A second later the sharp point of fang grazed skin, and Luis trembled. The hand on him tightened. The following puncture came easy, sliding into skin in a way that had no right to feel as good as it did. Luis made an embarrassing sound that was half gasp, half moan.
Heat filled him as his blood poured from the wound, and Karim started to suck.
The bite haze had its claws in Luis immediately, and dragged him down quickly. He sank into the waves of pleasure, pushing into it. Karim’s arm wrapped around his back and held him close as Luis went boneless, weak and wanting.
Karim’s bite was sharper than Julien’s, but even that was its own kind of good. He liked that Karim was sharper, prickly even here. A roughness to Julien’s softness.
Blood rushed in his ears, and Luis could hear the pounding of his own heart. He began to get hard.
That should matter, but he couldn’t dredge up concern. It felt so good, wrapping him in a typhoon of shivery arousal.
Karim sucked again, a deep, hungry pull. Luis languished in the hot flood of pleasure. He wanted more, wanted closer. Wanted Karim’s hands sliding down his body, pulling him in. Wanted him to keep taking, wanted him to have more than just Luis’s blood.
“Time.”
Julien’s voice was loud, jarring. It rang like an alarm too close to his ears when he’d been cottoned in a pleasant dream.
Karim pulled back, teeth coming free. A hot tongue lapped over the bite wound, cleaning it. Luis shivered, wordless sounds spilling from his mouth.
“Good?” Karim asked into his ear. He sounded as though he already knew the answer, like he was enjoying the way Luis was putty in his arms. Luis could only sigh intelligibly.
“Karim,” a warning tone.
“I’m done,” Karim said. His warm breath tickled Luis’s skin. The strong arm was still wrapped around him, and that was perfect. Luis wanted him to keep holding him tight, to never let him go. He tilted his head toward Karim to try and close the distance, nuzzling under the man’s chin.
Julien cleared his throat. “Strong bite haze.”