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The reason why Patrick doesn't kill Luis in this scene is the same reason why he doesn't kill Jean (his assistant) at his apartment with the nail gun. Only on the surface does it seem that Patrick is so disgusted by Luis's homosexuality that he doesn't go through with killing him, but that doesn't actually make sense if you think about it, why wouldn't his disgust actually prompt him to go through with it and murder Luis? He is overwhelmed by being perceived and desired as a specific, distinct human being. Luis breaks the rules of Patrick's predator-prey script by seeing him and liking him for who he is. The subtext of the murders patrick engages in (or simply fantasizes that he engages in) is that they serve to help Patrick cope with a cruel and cold society, remember how often people are misremembering eachothers names? eachothers faces? how much everyone tries to one up eachother? Luis isn't trying to one up Patrick, and Luis actually recognizes Patrick and remembers his name and likes him. When the others are showing off their business cards they are trying to one up each other, when Luis shows off his business card, he's just trying to fraternize and fit in with them. Patrick literally washes his hands repeatedly afterward to scrub off the "stain" of having been seen as a real person. Like wise, what causes him to not kill Jean in the apartment is the way she appears to genuinely care about Patrick's well being and like him, as well as Jean appearing to be an empathetic person in general. She's not the kind of person that compels Patrick to fantasize about murder just to cope with how harsh and feral his life style is. As well, because the story is ambiguous, its possible that Patrick doesn't restrain from killing Jean, instead, he could be restraining him self from having sex with jean He's standing behind Jean with a nail gun, he's about to "nail" her. Then he can't go through with it, inspite of Jean potentially being willing to go through with it even after hearing the voice message left by Evelyn, Patrick's fiance. "Jean, I think you should leave. I'm... I'm not sure I can control myself." When she asks if everything is okay, he adds: "I think if you stay, something bad will happen. I think I might hurt you. I don't want to hurt you." He's potentially saying no to hurting Jean and also corrupting her by convincing her to have an affair.