Euphoria (The Kink Club #3)

Hugh

S omeone banged on the front door as quickly finished brushing his teeth. The pounding got louder as he made his way down the hallway to the front entryway. “Hold your horses,” he shouted, knowing that the person on the other side of the door wouldn’t be able to hear him. He pulled the front door open to find Luke standing on the other side.

“Fuck,” breathed.

“Well, that wasn’t the warm welcome that I was hoping for, but I guess it will do,” Luke teased. The last thing that he wanted to do was stand in the doorway and listen to Luke’s horrible jokes.

“What are you doing here?” asked.

Luke sighed and braced himself for all the lies that usually followed whenever he asked his ex a question. “I missed you and was hoping that you’d come home,” he said. barked out his laugh and Luke took a step back from him as though he had physically assaulted him. His ex was always a little dramatic, and this time, wasn’t falling for his antics.

“Bullshit,” spat, “you and I never had a home together. I moved into your place, and you didn’t even let me bring any of my stuff. You said that there wasn’t room and convinced me to let it all go. I did that because I thought that you were the person I was going to spend my life with, but I was wrong.”

“You didn’t even give us a chance, ,” Luke shouted. “You left and didn’t look back. I mean, you obviously moved on with the guy who just left. I’m assuming that you’re together.” There was no way that he planned on sharing any details about his and Colter’s relationship with Luke. He wouldn’t let his ex into his life now. And he was right— had moved on and giving Luke another chance wasn’t an option.

“Who I’m with and whether or not I’ve moved on isn’t your business,” insisted. “I’m not your business anymore, Luke.”

“You never were very good at making decisions, . I mean, you jumped into bed with me, and I was your boss. I’m assuming that you haven’t changed your ways since you’re both working at that bar downtown. He’s your boss, right?” he guessed. Luke was always mean when he wasn’t getting his way. He was like a giant toddler and didn’t have to deal with him anymore—not since their breakup.

“My decisions aren’t your business either,” spat. “You’re right about one thing. You were an awful decision, Luke, and I learned my lesson. I do have one question though,” said. “Why now? Why come here and ask me to come back to you now? It’s been months without a single word from you and you just decided that today is the day that you’d show up on my doorstep and ask me back?”

“I didn’t just decide today. I’ve been around town, watching you with your new boyfriend. I’ve seen how happy you two are together and I think that if we give our relationship another chance, we could be that happy.” was pretty sure that he was leaving out the part where they were never happy together. That’s why Luke moved on and started dating Jace while they were still together.

“What about Jace?” he asked. “I thought you said that he was the love of your life.” That’s what Luke had told him when he broke things off with him. He really had no choice but to tell since he had caught Luke and Jace in bed together—the same bed that he and Luke had shared. Seeing the two of them together nearly broke him, but he knew that staying with Luke would destroy him even more. Luke had no problem telling that Jace was the love of his life and that he had just been waiting for the right time to tell him—not that there would ever be the right time to have his heart broken.

“Jace wasn’t who I thought he was,” Luke almost whispered.

couldn’t help his laugh. He had a pretty good idea about who Jace was. “Let me guess—Jace cheated, and you found out.” Again, Luke dramatically sucked in his breath as though had offended him, and found himself enjoying all of this more than he thought he ever would. Honestly, he never thought that he’d see Luke again, so having this chance to vent felt almost freeing to him.

“You don’t have to be so mean, ,” Luke insisted. “Yes, I found out that he was cheating on me, and that’s when I realized that I had let the best thing to ever happen to me go. I was a fool, and I’m asking you to forgive me,” Luke begged.

“No,” breathed, “I won’t take you back because I’m finally happy, Luke. I found someone who I can see spending the rest of my life with and I’m not going to let you or anyone else ruin that for me.”

“You can’t honestly be happy with that guy,” Luke spat. “He doesn’t seem to be your type.”

“Yeah, it’s creepy that you’ve been watching the two of us, and I can see how it might not seem that he’s my type. You have no idea who my type is, but I know for a fact that it’s not you, Luke.” watched as Luke took a step toward him and he worried that he had gone too far. The guy already seemed to be on edge, and pushing him over might not be a great idea.

“I was asking nicely, but if you don’t want to do things the easy way, we can do them the hard way,” he said. Luke pulled a gun from his jacket pocket and pointed it at . “I’d like for you to come with me, ,” he said again, this time leaving no room for to say no.

“Why are you doing this?” asked. “Do you really want to have to force me to be with you? Wouldn’t you rather find someone who wants to be with you so that you won’t need to point a gun at them?” He was trying to buy himself some time talking, but Luke didn’t look like he wanted any part of having a conversation with him.

“Let’s go,” he ordered. He pushed out the open front door and down the front steps to the waiting SUV. Luke told him to get into the driver’s seat and he did as he was asked. had a feeling that the only way that he was going to get out of this mess was to do as he was told and wait for his window of opportunity. He had watched enough crime shows to know that staying alive was the goal and he’d do whatever he had to do to keep on breathing.

They drove in silence except for Luke barking out orders where to go. They had been on the same stretch of highway for hours and needed a break from driving. “I hate to sound like an eight-year-old kid on a family vacation, but are we almost there yet?”

“You never were very patient, were you ?” Luke asked. It was one of his weak points, but hearing Luke accuse him of having another shortcoming just pissed him off. He liked to point out all of ’s “issues” as he liked to call them. He ate his dinner too slowly, he never made the bed, he didn’t like to read books, he never took out the trash, and he never used his head before opening his mouth. The list was a long one, and by the end of their relationship, believed most of them. He felt as though he couldn’t do anything right, and that plain messed him up. His self-confidence was at an all-time low when he left Luke, and he had only started gaining it back. Colter was helping him with that—whether he knew it or not. His guy wasn’t anything like Luke, and for that, was grateful.

He needed to come up with an excuse to get Luke to agree to stop. Maybe then, he’d be able to get some kind of message to Colter. “I have to pee,” he said, going with a tried but true excuse. “We’ve been driving for hours, and a bathroom break would be great.” He chanced a look over at Luke and he knew that his ex might be feeling the same way. “I think it might do us both some good to stretch and use the bathroom.” felt as though he was holding his breath, waiting Luke out to answer.

“Fine,” Luke spat, “but if you try anything, I’ll kill you and then go back to do the same to your boyfriend, Colter.”

“Wait, how do you know his name?” asked. He had been extra careful not to give Luke any personal details about Colter—not even his name. Had Luke been doing more than just following the two of them around town? “Have you looked into him?” asked.

“Of course I did,” Luke admitted. “I had to know what I was going up against.”

“Let’s be honest, Luke,” said, “you didn’t come to town to ask me to get back together with you. You came to check out Colter.” If Luke had dug deep enough, he would have found out that Colter was loaded. His grandfather had left him enough money so that he’d never have to work another day again if that was what he wanted. If ’s hunch was correct—Colter’s money had everything to do with Luke showing up at his door.

“You’re after the money,” accused. Luke’s laugh was mean, and he knew that he had hit the nail on the head with his guess.

“Took you long enough to figure it out,” Luke spat. “You actually believed that I wanted you back, didn’t you? I showed up with a pathetic story about how Jace had cheated on me, because I knew that would tug at your heartstrings, and you bought the whole lie, didn’t you?”

“You and Jace are still together?” asked. It was the first question that popped into his jumbled-up mind. He didn’t give a fuck if Jace and Luke were together, but piecing the story together was getting harder to do.

“Try to keep up, ,” Luke taunted. “This whole plan was Jace’s idea. He was the one who came up with the story about me wanting you back and even the lie about him cheating on me. You are so gullible; it was easy to get you to believe everything that I was telling you.”

“So, what’s the plan then? You’re kidnapping me and then what? You’ll contact Colter and ask him for money. We’ve only been together for a few short months. Do you honestly believe that he’s going to give you anything in exchange for me?”

Luke shot him a look and for the first time since showing up at his door, he didn’t seem so sure of himself. liked the fact that he could still get under his ex’s skin. It might be what actually helps him out of this mess.

“You better hope that he pays,” Luke threatened. “If not, he’s going to have to figure out how to pick up the pieces—of you, because that’s how he’s going to get you back. Jace plans on sending him incentive if he needs it—starting with a finger and moving on from there.”

“Well, your new boyfriend sounds like a great guy, Luke. I’m so happy for you two kids.” couldn’t let Jace take a finger or anything else from him. Not now that he finally had a guy like Colter in his life. He was going to just have to keep getting a rise out of Luke if he wanted any chance of escaping.

“Keep on joking, asshole,” Luke spat. “Jace is meeting us in about an hour and I’m sure that he’s got plans for you.” was sure that his ex was right. Jace wouldn’t have him sitting comfortably in the driver’s seat. No, he’d probably put in the trunk, and then God only knew what he’d do to him. All he knew was that he had an hour to come up with a plan—a damn good one before they met up with Jace.

“Now let’s call the bar, and let your boyfriend know that you and I are taking a little trip together.” Luke shoved ’s cell phone into his hand and ordered him to call. He told him to say that he was going away with Luke for a few days, and to let Colter know. There was no way that he was going to do that, but when Luke shoved the gun into his side, he knew that he had very limited options. He just hoped like hell that Colter knew him well enough to know that he’d never go anywhere with Luke. Maybe then, he’d call for help because the minutes were ticking away, and really liked all his fingers where they were.