“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. Thatwas 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 SHOESand 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 notmystore. 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.
Ji-Su looked at the store associate’s name badge. It was white with multi-colored 64-bit art across the top andMylesprinted in bold black letters in the center. “Hello, Myles. I need to replace all of my gaming equipment.”
The clerk’s eyes went wide. “All of it?”
“Yep.”
“Even your computer?”
“Everything from my computer down to the cord control.”
“Are you looking to build or do you want a computer system from the box?”
“Definitely build.” He hadn’t had an out of the box computer since middle school.
The clerk grinned with clear excitement.
“Holy shit I get to help Ji-Su build his gaming set up.” He did a little hop. “Do you mind if I film some of this for our store’s social media?”
Ji-Su shook his head. He understood how important it could be for an electronics store having a well-known gamer come by. Plus, his followers always liked to see what he was up to.