Michigan

by Vicktor Alexander

  “Do you know what you want to eat?” he asked Tatiana.

  “Blood!” Tatiana said excitedly. The gasp from an older woman behind them caused Michigan to wince and he leaned close to Tatiana to whisper in her ear.

  “Tati,” he hissed, “Remember we talked about this before we left the car.”

  Tatiana’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth. “Sorry, Michy. I meant blood pudding.”

  Michigan nodded and heard the soft chuckle from the same woman. “I’m so sorry,” the soft voice said. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

  Michigan turned to look at the older woman and smiled. “It’s okay. I would be alarmed if I was in your position as well.” Well, not really. I’d probably be amused, but you don’t need to know that.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, I can hear a bit of an accent, where are you from?” the woman asked as she leaned forward.

  “Mabel Ann,” the woman’s companion, another woman admonished her, smiling apologetically at him. Both women were wearing dark blue dresses, their graying hair pulled up into elegant hairstyles. As Michigan looked back and forth between the two of them he couldn’t see a family resemblance between them, but he did detect a sense of caring.

  “What? I’m not asking for his genealogy, Theresa, I’m just asking if he’s foreign,” Mabel Ann said in an exasperated tone.

  Michigan laughed. “It’s quite all right. It’s not many people who can hear the accent so I applaud you, especially since my siblings and I grew up here in the states. We are Romanian.”

  Mabel Ann tipped her head and sat back. She gave Theresa a smug look before looking back at Michigan. “Thank you. I pride myself on being able to pick up on accents and heritages just by talking and looking at people. I’m not always right, but sometimes I am.”

  Theresa rolled her eyes. “You’re rarely right, Mabel.”

  Mabel Ann huffed and Michigan chuckled. “That’s quite an impressive skill to have. Did you work in genetics?”

  Mabel Ann shook her head. “Oh no. I was a schoolteacher for years at an Assemblies of God school. At least until they found out about Theresa.” She reached out and took Theresa’s hand and the two women smiled affectionately at each other.

  Ah. I knew it was something. Michigan smiled at the two women and felt his heart clench at the emotion he saw in their gazes. What would it be like to have something like that with Lucas?

  “Michy! Look! It’s Lucas,” Tatiana said loudly, standing up on her seat and pointing towards the kitchen door.

  Michigan turned towards the door and felt his breath catch in his lungs as he watched his sufletul pereche step into the dining room dressed in his chef’s uniform. Lucas’s hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a white hat sat on his head and sweat rolled down his temple. Michigan’s eyes tracked the bead of sweat as it rolled its way down Lucas’s jaw to disappear beneath his collar and he felt his cock thicken in his pants. How he wished the restaurant was empty so he could lick the sweat from Lucas’s body.

  He swallowed the groan that threatened to spill out of his mouth and placed his hand on Tatiana’s shoulder trying to get her to sit down.

  “Lucas! Lucas!” Tatiana yelled excitedly, waving as Lucas stopped to talk to a table, a smile on his face. Michigan strained to hear what was being said and saw Lucas stiffen as he turned to survey the room to see who was calling his name.

  Michigan watched Lucas’s eyes widen when he saw Michigan, then he turned to see Tatiana and he smiled. He waved at the little girl and swung back around to finish talking with the people at the table.

  Tatiana sat back down at the table and lifted her hand to pat Michigan’s cheek. “I got his attention, Michy,” she told him proudly.

  “I know you did, Bug,” he responded with a grin. “Now let’s see if he comes over.”

  Tatiana rolled her eyes and Michigan groaned knowing that Tatiana had picked up the action from the two older lesbians at the other table but that he would be blamed for it. Great. I get to have another lecture from Mama.

  “Of course he will,” Tatiana told him as if he were silly, picking up her napkin and putting it in her lap like Mabel Ann.

  “Oh yeah? And how do you know?” Michigan asked her, poking her nose.

  Tatiana squeaked and swatted his hands away. “Because he’s your sufletul pereche. He has to come to you. Otherwise you’ll die without him.”

  Michigan smiled sadly at his sister and looked back at Lucas, hoping with everything within him that his sister was right.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lucas’s heart was pounding and his hands were sweating as he thanked the two couples at the table once again for their kind words about his cooking. What the fuck was Michigan doing at O8? And why did he have to bring the adorable little girl with him? The two of them looked an awful lot alike, and from the many, many conversations Lucas had been having with Nimo about Michigan, he knew the man didn’t have any children. So this must be one of his sisters. The baby sister. Of course. The most adorable one of the bunch. If the man had come alone, Lucas would have been able to ignore him—maybe—but he’d brought his youngest sister. There was no way Lucas could ignore the little girl. She was too happy to see him. Too cute.

  Too loud.

  She’d shouted Lucas’s name and the entire restaurant had looked at her before glancing Lucas’s way. He’d be the biggest asshole in the world if he just walked back into the kitchen without walking over to say hi. Damn Michigan. That sneaky, big, gorgeous, sexy-as-fuck man.

  Lucas groaned softly as he turned to head toward Michigan and Tatiana’s table. He plastered a smile on his face, hoping like hell that a kitchen emergency would happen before he got there and he would be spared from having to talk to the man he’d been fantasizing about for days.

  C’mon kitchen fire.

  Which of course made him a monster.

  He felt guilty that he wanted such a thing to happen, even more so because by the time he made it to the table no one from the kitchen had called him back into the hot, chaotic depths of the place where he made the magic happen and he felt… disappointed?

  Relieved?

  Unneeded?

  No. He was all of those things all at once, with a healthy dose of nervousness sprinkled on top. Deciding not to look at Michigan and to instead focus completely on Tatiana, Lucas squatted down next to her chair, putting his back to Michigan and grinned at the little girl.

  “Well, hello, Miss Sevion. To what do I owe the pleasure of having you in my establishment?” he asked her.

  Tatiana’s eyebrows lowered as she stared at him. “Huh?”

  Lucas snickered and took her hand to kiss the backs of her fingers. He had to remember that not every child was a fucking prodigy like Isaiah. “I am very happy you came here to eat, but why are you here?” he revised his question.

  Tatiana grinned and pointed at Michigan. “Michy and I are on a date!”

  Refusing to look over his shoulder at the broad-shouldered doctor, Lucas bobbed his head feigning excitement. “Well, that sounds like fun.” I’d be excited if I were on a date with your brother too. Unfortunately he makes me feel like I’m a nerd, a klutz and he thinks he’s a vampire. That’s a little too much for me, no matter how fucking gorgeous he is.

  Tatiana bobbed her head and leaned towards him to whisper in his ear. “But he really wanted to see you.”

  Tatiana may have thought she was whispering but her words were loud. Loud enough for Michigan and the tables around them to hear. Lucas grimaced, wanting to cover his ear with its ringing eardrum but he smiled at her instead.

  “Really?” He chanced a glance over his shoulder at Michigan, noticing the other man’s eyes were trained on him. He swallowed the lump that rose to his throat and swung his gaze back to Tatiana. “That’s really nice of him. I love having you guys come by.”

  Tatiana’s eyes rose and she stuck out her tongue in Michigan’s direction. “Told you, Michy.”

  Lucas snorted out a laugh.
Noticing the door to the kitchen opening, he turned and saw one of the prep cooks, Alberto, step out, wide eyes searching the dining room. Realizing the young man was probably looking for him, Lucas stood up and held up his hand. Alberto saw him and gestured inside the room and Lucas nodded. Looking down at Tatiana, Lucas bowed.

  “Well, Miss Sevion, I must get back to work. Enjoy your meal,” he told her.

  “Thank you,” Tatiana said.

  Squaring his shoulders and taking a deep, steadying breath, Lucas released Tatiana’s hand and turned to face Michigan. Michigan rose from his chair and stood in front him. Lucas looked up into his eyes and found himself suddenly at a loss for words.

  “D-Doctor Sevion. I hope you find your food satisfactory,” he stammered.

  Michigan grinned and took Lucas’s hand in his own. He leaned over it and kissed the backs of them. “I’m sure I will,” he stated, his voice deep and husky. “I find you exquisite, so anything you touch will be just as delicious.”

  Lucas swallowed nervously and attempted to pull his hand free from Michigan’s grip. When Michigan refused to let his hand go, Lucas glanced down at their hands and back up at Michigan’s face, a question in his eyes. He stopped when he saw the way Michigan’s eyes had darkened.

  “I would like to get to know you better, Lucas. Would you give me the opportunity to do so? My brother, Dakota, and your friend, Nimo, are dating and I think it would be good if you and I were to do the same. This way when I bind us together, it will be deeper than intended.”

  Lucas’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, his brain effectively turning to mush at Michigan’s words. What did Michigan mean by binding them together? Was he talking about that whole thing Nimo and Dakota had done? Was that some sort of weird Romanian commitment ceremony? How could he want to do that with Lucas already when they’d only just met?

  Realizing that Michigan was waiting for him to answer, and knowing that the man was moving way too fast for him, Lucas opened his mouth to tell him no. Unlike Nimo, whom Lucas respected and loved dearly, Lucas didn’t buy into the whole soulmates, vampire, one-person for everyone bullshit. He believed that you could fall in love with anyone if you worked at it.

  “Lucas? Will you give me the opportunity to get to know you better before we are bound together for eternity?” Michigan repeated the question and Lucas realized he’d taken too long to answer.

  “Yes,” he said instead of saying no. Why the hell had he said that?

  “Excellent. Tomorrow I shall take you out on a proper date,” Michigan said with a smile and after kissing the back of Lucas’s hand he sat down at his table, looking smug.

  Lucas shook his head, spinning on his heel to hurry away, dazed. He stopped at the sound of his name being called and turned to see Michigan striding towards him. Michigan wrapped his strong arms around Lucas’s body and squeezed him tightly, whispering in his ear, “By the way, your ass looks delicious in those pants. If they were on the menu, I’d order a double helping and sit down to eat it for the rest of the night.”

  With those words, Michigan released him and turned to walk away. Lucas watched him stroll, stunned into silence. When Alberto grabbed him and jerked him into the kitchen, talking rapidly in Spanish, Lucas merely bobbed his head, not paying any attention to the prep cook. What the fuck had he just gotten himself into?

  § § §

  After hanging up the phone with Nimo, who laughed at him for twenty minutes before finally giving him Lucas’s address, Michigan flipped through the TV channels trying to distract himself from watching the clock. It wasn’t his fault that he was so anxious about his date with his sufletul pereche that he’d forgotten to get the man’s information at the restaurant. He gritted his teeth and glanced down at his watch. He had thirty minutes before he needed to get in his car and drive over to pick up Lucas for their date. Why the fuck was time moving so slow?

  He sighed and tossed the remote onto the couch cushions rubbing the palms of his hands over his face. He was too keyed up. He needed to do something to get rid of all of the energy coursing through him.

  Walking down the hallway, Michigan opened the door to the basement, flipped the switch to turn on the light and walked down the stairs. At the bottom of the staircase, he looked around the room proudly. This room was his sanctuary. Filled with tools, leather, and odds and ends he needed for his different rental properties that he secretly owned, Michigan was never happier than when he was in his basement.

  Pulling off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt, Michigan walked over to his workbench and sat down on the stool in front of it. He picked up a pair of his tension shears and the piece of leather he’d been working on the day before and lost himself in the rhythm of creating the leather jewelry he’d imagined.

  He was pulled out of the flow of his creative juices by the jangling of his cell phone. Groaning in frustration, Michigan put the shears down and wiped his brow.

  “Guess I’m going to have to take another shower,” he muttered to himself as he stood to walk over to his jacket and pulled out his phone. Checking the time he saw he had just enough time to shower and leave to go and pick up Lucas for their date.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Michigan?” Lucas’s hesitant voice flowed through the phone line and Michigan tensed.

  “Lucas?” He looked around. “How did you get my number? Wait. You’re not calling to cancel are you?” he asked, his heart dropping, his disappointment over the possibility of their canceled date more important than how Lucas got access to his private number.

  “N-no. I was just calling to see if we could order in instead of going out somewhere.” Lucas sighed. “I’m just really tired from work and I really don’t want to go out.”

  Michigan grinned. Cementing his bond with Lucas might be easier than he thought. He’d thought he would have to wine and dine the man for a few dates before Lucas agreed to come back to his place, but this was so much better.

  “Sure, that’s fine,” he said. “Do you still want me to come and pick you up or—”

  “No. Dakota gave me your address when he gave me your number,” Lucas assured him. “So you’re fine with us just having a pizza at your place.”

  Michigan snorted. “You want to have a pizza?” He chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want something a little fancier? I can go out and pick something up for us.”

  Lucas groaned. “No. I have fancy at work all the time. A pizza is perfect. Besides,” he huffed, “I do eat normal food,” he pointed out.

  Michigan laughed as he walked up the basement stairs and headed up the second staircase towards his bathroom. “The fact that you call it normal makes you sound a bit like a food snob, just so you know.”

  Lucas gasped and then snickered as well. “Yeah, I guess it does. I’m really not though.”

  Michigan nodded even though Lucas couldn’t see him. “I believe you. So what do you want on your pizza?”

  Lucas moaned, the sound causing Michigan’s cock to harden in his slacks. He pressed the heel of his hand against his groin and closed his eyes as he pictured Lucas as he’d looked the last time Michigan had seen him. Michigan imagined pulling off that chef’s uniform, releasing Lucas’s hair from his ponytail as he plundered his mouth. He hissed as the fantasy played in his mind’s eye, the delicious sensations running through his body so real he expected to see Lucas in front of him when he opened his eyes. He was disappointed when he found himself standing alone in the middle of his bedroom and jerked with a start when he realized that Lucas was talking.

  “…don’t like those, but if they can make the pizza without them then that’s what I want.”

  Michigan blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. It wasn’t going to look good for him to have to admit that he had been so busy lusting over Lucas that he hadn’t heard a word the other man had said, but if there was something that Lucas didn’t want on his pizza then Michigan wanted to make sure that it wasn’t on there.

  “Um…
I’m sorry, Luc, my mind was wandering. I missed that. What kind of pizza do you want?” he asked again.

  “Your mind was wandering?” Lucas repeated in confusion.

  “Yeah.” Michigan sighed. “I was thinking about you in your chef’s uniform. You were extremely sexy, my little chef.”

  Lucas let out a choked noise and Michigan pulled his phone away from his ear to stare at the phone before lifting it back up. “Luc? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I’ve just never been called little by anyone,” Lucas admitted.

  Michigan snorted. “Well, compared to me, you are little.”