billionaire - cake

[26] Threats & Thanks

When Luke woke up the following afternoon, something felt wrong. As though a part of himself had somehow disappeared over night, and now there was a gaping hole that needed to be filled.

Looking around, he realised that he was alone in the room. Luke was disappointed, that no one had woken him up to tell him that they were going out, or wherever they were currently. Especially Calum, he thought that the previous day's events may have forced him to accept that secrets were poisonous to their relationship.

He quickly began to gather his stuff, intending to head home since there was nothing interesting worth staying for. He flung his bag over his shoulder and slipped his phone into his back pocket, heading towards the door.

To be honest, Luke was much more observant making his exit from the house than he had been when he entered it. It wasn't a massive house, still much bigger than Luke's but not as much so as he had originally expected. What did he expect from the best friend of a billionaire?

Obviously Michael wasn't that well off, and suddenly his heart sank. Luke knew how difficult that was anyway, but at least Ashton never boasted about how much more money he had. He couldn't, because he didn't have that much more.

Luke had no doubts that Michael did a lot of odd jobs for Calum, just for some cash. Maybe he shrugged it off and told people he wanted the money for a new phone or something, rather than opening up about needing it. Maybe Michael had to play it cool and not seem bothered when Calum spoke about something else his parents had recently brought him, when inside he really just wanted to yell at his best friend to shut up.

Or maybe Luke was looking too far into it, he couldn't be entirely sure.

His fingers brushed against the door handle, as a sudden thump from behind made him draw away and turn around in fright. Michael charged at him, tackling Luke to the ground and staying there.

Luke squirmed and wriggled beneath him, desperate to get free, but by the time Michael had climbed off of the blond and leaped to block the door, Luke decided that maybe the floor was more comfortable.

"Are you okay?" Michael suddenly gasped, looking down at Luke who was lying on his back, "please be okay! Oh my god I wasn't supposed to hurt you I'm sorry, please get up and be okay or Calum will kill me."

"Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing," Luke muttered, not quite loud enough for Michael to hear, but enough to confirm that he wasn't dead.

"Why did you just try to kill me?" Luke asked much louder this time.

"Well I didn't try to kill you, sorry if it seemed like that. But, um, you can't leave."

Luke laughed and it gradually grew into a cough, soon realising that lying on the floor wasn't so comfortable anymore. "Is that a threat?"

Michael looked puzzled for a moment, but then understood. He rolled his eyes. "Calum's certainly was."

"Calum? Where is he? What did he say? Where's Ashton? What's going on?"

"Too many questions," Michael shook his head slowly, "I'm not really sure where to start."

Luke sighed, now sitting cross legged in front of the bottom of the stairs. "So where's Calum?"

"I can't say."

For some reason, Luke wasn't surprised. He should have known from the start that something was going on again, that Calum would probably pay Michael to keep his mouth shut and keep Luke out of the loop. He groaned. "Can you tell me anything?"

Michael seemed to think about it for a moment, and it was painfully obvious he wasn't the best at keeping secrets. "I probably shouldn't, if Calum finds out that you found out it will all be ruined."

"What will be ruined? What's he planning?" Luke was straight on it.

Michael looked overwhelmed. "It's nothing bad I promise! He's not going behind your back like before, well he is, but in a different way. I've said too much already please just punch me in the face."

"So he is going behind my back?" Luke was catching on, and he decided to play it like a game. Michael was vulnerable and easy to get information out of, it couldn't be that hard. "Please you have to tell me! Michael I'm begging you it's gonna end up like before."

Michael watched with horror as Luke broke down in front of him, not even considering that it was all an act. He dropped to his knees and awkwardly held the shaking blond in his arms, and even if the whole thing been genuine, it was a pretty poor attempt at reassurance. "It wasn't supposed to be like this oh my god, why couldn't Calum have taken me instead of Ashton?"

Luke jumped to his feet, leaving Michael to stumble back in sheer terror and back into the corner, both confused and slightly frightened. "Ah hah! So Calum is with Ashton. They're at my house aren't they? Ashton has a spare key and my mum hasn't texted me to ask when I'm coming home like she always does when I go out, which means that she's in on it too."

Michael recovered pretty quickly, groaning into his hands with frustration. "I told them you'd figure it out. I told them. You're not dumb, I'll give you that Hemmings."

Luke grinned and hoisted Michael onto his feet by his arms, opening the front door. "Thank you! C'mon, let's go crash their little meeting."

"Luke I really don't think that you shou-"

But Michael's speech was cut off before he could finish his sentence as he was yanked down the street by his wrist. And by the looks of things, Luke was a man on a mission and determined not to let go, despite it being rather painful and uncomfortable for them both.

Luke still remembered how to get back to his house as a result of the previous day, which proved convenient as Michael was reluctant to cooperate despite having blown the whole thing anyway.

When they reached the house they ran up the driveway, or at least Luke did and Michael was dragged right behind. Luke burst through the door, desperate to learn what was going on. "Mum, Cal, Asht-"

His mouth dropped open.

~~~~~~~

A/n: is my writing getting worse or am I just worrying that my writing is getting worse?

What do you think Luke saaaaw?

Thank you for reading I hope this was alright xxo