House Of Memories [CEO!Luke]

Chapter 12

The next time you saw Luke he was much less drunk and much more appropriate. Upon seeing you enter the restaurant, he stood up, immediately moving to pull out a chair for you by the table he'd secretly reserved the night before, once your meeting at brunch was confirmed.

"Good morning," you greeted Luke with as little emotion as you could, although the nerves shaking up your heart were quite hard to ignore.

Luke simply smiled, holding his breath momentarily to appear just as collected as you seemed to be. "Hi," he spoke nonchalantly, sitting down only when you settled into your seat on his right. "Would you like to order?" Luke's fingers gently motioned at the menu that was still safely placed in a plate in front of your seat.

"Oh, shall we wait for a lawyer first?" Your eyes could barely hold the darkening look in Luke's eyes at the mention of a lawyer, his entire face dropping in half a second.

"A– a lawyer?" From the way Luke's jaw clenched, you could tell he didn't exactly anticipate this, even though you were sure it was on the contrary.

"Yes. We'll be dealing with a lot of sensitive information, Luke, we need to make sure everything's done properly."

You were distracted by the approaching lawyer to notice Luke's face harden and his napkin drop to the floor, as he jumped to his feet. "You're really unbelievable," Luke gritted before storming away from the table.

For a half a second, you sat completely frozen, unsure as to how to react to Luke's sudden outburst.

The initial call of his name was left unheard, so you opted for quickly apologising to the lawyer before running after Luke with yet another shout of his name.

"Luke, for goodness sake, stop -" finally, you were sure you were near enough for him to hear you - and, thankfully, finally outside so you didn't feel like you were embarrassing yourself in front some of the very important Sydney personalities (even though you still kind of were, but shh) "- Luke!"

"Seriously? A lawyer?" Much to your surprise, Luke turned around to face you, striding forward the few steps it took for him to near you. "I thought this was it? I thought we were doing this?"

"Yes, Luke, yes, we are. What's so wrong with having a lawyer there to make all of this official?"

"Official? What's there to make official? I'm here, aren't I? I shook your hand, I made a promise. Aren't you a good enough lawyer to whip some simple agreement over a cup of coffee?" You could feel Luke's rage radiating almost directly onto your skin.

You blinked, making a point to pause and allow Luke to take a few breaths. "No, I can't. I'm biased," you kept your tone hard as if to warn Luke to keep it under control, but immediately softened it at seeing it had the exact opposite effect on Luke. "Plus, it's good to ensure both of our sides are safe."

"Safe from what?" With a shake of his head, Luke looked away, running a nervous hand through his locks before turning to face you again. "You still don't trust me. You can try and deny it -" he affirmed just as you opened your mouth to argue, "- but I can see it. And you know what's the worst thing? It's the fact that I've never done anything - anything - for you not to trust me."

You watched him, blinking softly and thinking over his words.

"You kept saying about how it's not you, it's my mother messing with us. You kept asking me to trust you, but how can I, when even after I'd put myself out there, even after I'd seen many things that had ruined our marriage, when I came through for you in front of my mother, you can't even trust me enough to not make me sign a fucking paper that serves as yet another gun in your ever growing ammunition against my family."