House Of Memories [CEO!Luke]

Chapter 4

"So your wifey's back home, huh?" Ben asked, bringing his drink glass up to his lips, when all three Hemmings brothers stood out on the lounge enjoying a nice Australian December sun. "How does that feel?"

Luke swirled his drink around in his glass, trying to find it in himself to admit out loud that you were leaving him. "Well, she's getting married to someone else," he murmured in the end, bringing the glass to his lips and lifting his eyes up to inspect his brothers' faces, who quickly shared a concerned look between themselves.

"So, I'm guessing not so good," Ben's comment was much quieter than before, his tone reflected empathy, as he patted Luke on the back. "You okay?"

Luke simply nodded, diverting his gaze away from his brothers' pitiful looks. He couldn't bare them feeling sorry for him.

"So where is she now?" Jack wondered, when Luke stayed silent for a while.

"At home. Probably. Who can ever know with her," Luke replied with a scoff, watching as his brothers shared yet another concerned look, making him furrow his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Somehow, the air between the two elders changed. "Are you telling me you left your wife at home? Alone?" Ben squeezed Luke's shoulder as if impelling him to answer quickly.

"Yeah. She's divorcing me, I wasn't going to bring her here," Luke gestured around, his face still scrunched in confusion.

"Your wife – your smart, young, rich, smoking hot wife – is home. Alone. On Christmas Day," Jack's tone had a tingle of excitement in it, but the point of it was still difficult for Luke to grasp. However, he did not miss Jack's emphasis on 'smoking hot'.

"Yeah, so? What are you guys saying?" The blonde felt so honestly confused, his brothers almost laughed at him.

Ben hugged the younger around his shoulders. "Brother, do you know anything about women?" He grinned, glancing over at Jack to explain it all to Luke.

"It's Christmas. You know, a family holiday, a day to spend with your loved ones. Yet she's home alone, probably bored to death, because there's no one for her to share this day with in this town. She's probably feeling quite nostalgic in her old home. Emotional, vulnerable..." Jack dragged the words out, as he spoke with frequent nods and a smile, trying to get Luke to understand the brothers' suddenly arisen excitement. But the youngster simply stared blankly at the both of them. "Dude, you have to go home! Give her some attention; show her that you care with some stupid present or something. Give her what she wants, sex her up!" Jack moved his hips with a massive grin plastered on his face, trying to indicate a sex act.

Luke scoffed. "She doesn't care about the holidays or the sex. Plus, I don't need to use a holiday excuse to get with her. She's my wife after all. I know her," Luke simply replied with a one-sided shrug, taking a sip of his drink, savouring it as he watched his brothers' jaws drop.

"You already –?"

"Yup."

"When did –?"

"Last night."

"And she says she's getting married?" Ben puffed. "Please! She just made that shit up to get you to sleep with her, that's clearly a tactic."

"No, man, she's getting married. She already sent me the divorce papers over a month ago," Luke mumbled, diverting his gaze to the ground as an uncomfortable feeling was settling back on his shoulders. It still pained him to acknowledge the glooming divorce out loud. "I just avoided signing them, because I thought we could still get back together and..." Luke took a sharp breath. "You know what, let's change the subject," he tried his best to fake a smile, downing the last of his drink in two large gulps.