Chapter Twenty Seven
“Evening,” Karim said as he opened the back door. Luis was seated on one of the patio chairs, finishing booking the vampire-friendly movers on his phone. He had to go back to work on Monday, and needed to get his new place settled.
The guitar was on the seat next to him, ready to be played when Luis finished. It was a sort of barter with himself so he wouldn’t put off booking the movers.
“Evening,” Luis said.
“Mind company?” Karim asked, with an eye toward the guitar. “Just wanted to cut some flowers before starting dinner.”
“Yeah, of course, go ahead,” Luis said.
Karim walked out into the garden. He was barefoot, dressed for the night but hair still wild from sleep. Luis finished on his phone and set it aside, picking up his guitar while Karim wandered the garden.
Could he play, unprompted, while Karim was here? Luis slid his fingers over the cords, daring himself to.
Instead of playing his usual warm up, Luis started with an AC/DC song.
He knew the moment Karim recognized it, because his head swiveled from the roses to Luis. Luis’s nerves shot up, but he ducked his head and kept playing.
Eventually Karim turned back to his task, and Luis lifted his head to watch.
With a small pair of shears, Karim went through the white rose bushes, before choosing one and clipping it free.
Then he moved to the yellow roses. They were more plentiful right now than the white, and before long Karim had a whole bouquet of them.
Luis wound down his playing as Karim made his way back to the deck.
“I’m making hachis parmentier for dinner,” Karim said, stepping back onto the stone. He hedged closer, watching Luis like he was uncertain of his welcome.
“Okay,” Luis said with a smile to show he wasn’t upset that Karim was there.
“It’ll be ready in about an hour.” Then Karim was close enough that he bent and kissed Luis’s cheek.
“Oh, okay,” Luis sputtered, blushing at the unexpected affection.
Karim’s lips quirked, then he turned and disappeared back inside with his bouquet of roses.
After he was gone, Luis’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to last night.
He’d never seen Julien like that before, the sharp, cool confidence rolling off him as he took the situation literally in hand. For all of Karim’s challenging snipes, he’d listened when commanded, stayed in the chair even when it was obvious he would’ve much rather been on the bed with them.
And the way Luis had felt through it…
He’d never experienced anything like it. There’d been a freedom in it, the way he’d yielded to Julien’s control. The anxiety and worry had faded away until he’d just felt good.
They were going to discuss it after dinner, Julien had been clear on that.
And Luis was both nervous and excited about the conversation.
He didn’t understand what spell Julien had woven, but he wanted more of it. Wanted more of both of them.
##
Hachis parmentier, as it turned out, was French.
“Oh, you made my favorite,” Julien said with a delighted smile when his small plate came out. He caught Karim’s hand and dropped a kiss on the back.
The bouquet of yellow roses had ended up in a vase on the table, an eye-catching centerpiece against the darker colors of the dining room.
They ate, Luis finishing his full plate while the two vampires picked at their smaller ones. There was idle conversation on soft topics, clearly a choice on Julien’s part. Julien got through his meal especially slowly tonight, as if savoring each bite.
When dinner was done, by unspoken agreement, they moved to the living room. Luis went with Julien while Karim cleaned up.
“I booked the movers,” Luis said when they sat down. They’d just been discussing work shipments, and it had reminded Luis.
“Oh, good,” Julien smiled. “From the place Karim recommended?”
“Yeah. For this weekend, Sunday,” Luis said.
Julien nodded. “Perfect. We’ll get you settled in your new place. You’re back to work Monday, right?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t speak the worries that had been slow creeping on him for the last week. How all of this might be temporary. How even if whatever they were doing continued, he’d see them less not staying in their home, having to work during the week.
Would they go back to just seeing each other on Fridays? Luis hated how much he now hated that idea.
Julien asked him a few particularities on how the move should go until Karim joined them, taking a seat beside Julien.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Karim said.
“Shall I start?” Julien asked.
Karim shrugged, “Probably best.”
“Luis,” Julien turned his attention, and Luis sat up a little straighter. “How familiar are you with BDSM practices and power exchange?”
“Vaguely,” Luis said. His thoughts went back to the video he’d stumbled across a few months ago. To the handful of other videos he’d ever taken a peek at. That he’d let play a little too long on his phone for the sake of curiosity, before the shameful guilt made him clear his browser history.
But he wasn’t about to confess to any of that right now.
Julien nodded. “Karim and I… a lot of what we do revolves around a power exchange, one of us dominates,” he gestured to himself, “the other submits to that,” he gestured at Karim.
“That was a little of what happened last night. You were both submitting to me in different ways. How did that feel for you?”
Luis had butterflies at hearing it laid out.
“Um. It was good?” He didn’t have much experience with having sex forward conversations, but he forced the words out.
Honesty felt important. “Different? I’ve never felt like that before.
But it was–it was really nice. Like I felt relaxed?
Like I wasn’t worried about anything anymore. ”
Julien was watching him intently. He nodded. “And how did you feel about Karim, watching?”
Luis gave this a thought. “I… didn’t mind. Um. It was,” he felt his cheeks blush hot, “good?”
He didn’t miss Karim’s smirk.
“Good,” Julien said encouragingly. “I should’ve talked to you about it beforehand, but sometimes a very light scene can inform better than words can. Is a power exchange something you’d like to continue with going forward? It doesn’t have to be, to be with us, just to be clear.”
Maybe this was a point for Luis to pump the brakes, to do some of his own research before jumping in, but he’d spent a lifetime of over-cautious idling. He was trying to be different now, trying to make his life different.
And what was really being asked here was if he trusted them enough to try this.
He did.
“I would, I think?” Luis said, his face burning. “I don’t really know… about this. But you’d teach me?”
Julien’s lips curled up, but his smile was sharper now. “I will, if it’s what you want.”
Beside him Karim licked his lips. “He’s perfect,” Karim said.
“Hush,” Julien said, laying a hand on Karim’s thigh possessively. Then to Luis, “We’ll start slow, since I doubt you know your boundaries. I can lend you a book that will give you more information, and after that we can go over any limits you know you have.”
“Okay,” Luis said.
“I like to make decisions, and I like to push,” Julien said, “and if you’re enjoying those pushes, that’s good.
But what I need you to know, the most important part of this, is that if at any point before, during, or after, you stop enjoying it, you say so.
I’m not interested in anything that’s not fun for everyone involved. ”
Luis nodded. That sounded easy enough. “I can do that.”
“Good,” Julien said. “Do you have any questions right now? Otherwise, I can go retrieve the book for you. I hear the internet is also quite helpful on this topic as well.”
Yeah, Luis would definitely be doing some internet research after this. Julien’s question had his thoughts circling back to last night, to Karim in the chair.
“So, Karim… listens to you?” He wanted to say submits, but felt too awkward to.
“He does,” Julien said. “But I doubt your dynamic with Karim would be similar.”
“Not when he looks sweet enough to eat,” Karim said with a fanged smile.
Luis swallowed hard. Yeah. He couldn’t see himself bossing Karim around. Didn’t even have interest in it. When Luis had been on his back and Karim had been holding him down…
He shifted on the couch, trying to ignore the way his cock was getting hard.
Julien’s hand on Karim’s thigh squeezed warningly. “Tred carefully my love,” Julien said.
The back of his neck was sweating.
“Any other questions?” Julien asked.
“Not right now?” Luis said. When his head stopped spinning, he was sure there’d be things. “I’d like to… do some reading.”
Julien smiled. “Wonderful. Let me go get that book for you.” He gave Karim’s thigh another squeeze, and then got up.
The second he left the room, Karim leaned forward, glee sparking in his eyes.
“Last night was fun,” Karim said with a toothy smile.
Luis met his eyes. “You really like it, don’t you? Letting Julien take the reins.”
“I do,” Karim confessed, like it cost him nothing. “But we’ve never had a third, so this is new for us too.”
“I’m still kinda stuck on the ‘why me’,” Luis said, honestly.
“That’s funny,” Karim said, dark eyes drinking Luis in, “because the more time we spend together, the most I think, ‘of course he’s the one we make an exception for.’”
Luis blinked at him, speechless. What did someone even say to something like that?
But Karim was already chuckling and pulling out his phone. “Alright, you look like you need a break. Let’s lose you another game and it’ll take your mind off things.”
Luis gave him the finger, but pulled out his phone.
##
Luis spent the rest of Friday and into the small hours of Saturday reading. Before disappearing with the books, he’d asked if they wanted to go to the bar, but they both put him off. It was obvious they both had much more interest in Luis getting his homework done.