Steal My Breath (Elixir 1)

I love this side to Luke. Throughout the past year, he’s hidden away from us, and while I now understand why, I’m sad that he has. I can only imagine the darkness he’s been living his life in over the last two years. Keeping that smile on his face has moved up my list of priorities.

Following him out to his car, I admire his body and wonder where he fits in the time to work out. Because my guess is that with the muscles he has, it would take many hours a week to maintain.

He leads me to the passenger side and opens the door for me. I love his old-school manners. And when he slides into the driver seat and says, “What’s your favourite place to go for lunch?”, I wonder what I ever did to have this man in my life. I’ve dated a lot of men—a lot—and I could count on one hand the number of them who ever opened my car door, let alone offered to take me to my favourite place to eat.

“I love that little Thai restaurant near your bar.”

He smiles and nods before turning the car onto the road. The one thing I notice though is that his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Something is off with Luke today.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

Glancing at me for a moment before looking back at the road, he nods. “Yeah, just dealing with some family shit going on.”

“So, I know that your father passed away a year ago and that you have a wife, son, brother, and sister. What else is there to know about the Hardys?”

I expect him to hesitate with his reply because he’s kept his life private for so long, but he surprises me. “Well, that would depend if you were asking about the Hardys or the Ashcrofts. My parents divorced when I was six months old, so there are two sides to my fucked-up family.” His tone is tinged with bitterness, and I don’t fail to notice the way he grips the steering wheel a little tighter as he speaks.

“Tell me about your mum. Are you guys close?”

“We’re as close as I allow us to be. If she had her way, we’d be a lot closer. It’s a shame she didn’t think that way when I was growing up.”

“She wasn’t around much when you were younger?”

He grunts. “No, she was too busy socialising.” He glances at me. “Mum comes from a very wealthy family and has never had to work a day in her life. She makes the most of that freedom. Tyler and I were raised by nannies mostly while she flitted from man to man. We have different fathers. His has been around for him, but mine didn’t have a lot to do with me until I turned twenty-one. He figured I was a man then and needed a man’s guidance in life. He missed the memo that I needed to learn that shit when I was younger.”

I thought I had issues with my family. I’m silently rethinking that. “Did you guys become close then?”

“Kind of, yeah. He did try.” He blows out a breath. “Fuck, the older I get, the more I realise I don’t know much in life, but I do know that things aren’t always black and white. People aren’t perfect, and my old man was the poster boy for imperfect. But in his own way, he loved me. Your definition of close might be a little different to Max Hardy’s.”

I’m intrigued to know more about his dad, but even more so about his sister, so I leave the questions about his dad for later. “You mentioned that Tyler and you were raised by nannies, what about Paris? She said you guys weren’t close until her mum died. Did you spend much time with her growing up?”

“We hadn’t spent any time together before she moved in with Max.” I can’t even imagine what it would be like not knowing a parent or sibling while growing up. For all our faults, my family is your standard two-parents-two-kids family whose greatest dysfunction revolves around poor communication and unrealistic expectations.

“You two have a good relationship now?”

“We do.

Paris is the only reason I can do what I do with the bar and with my life. She looks after Sean most nights while I’m working. During the day she studies nursing, so we work around that and juggle his care.”

I stare through the rain-drenched window of Luke’s car and think about everything he’s just shared with me. There are so many facets to this man, each connected in some way by the intricacies of his journey through life. I have a feeling that when I delve into that journey and learn more, it might break my heart. I think that Luke Hardy is nothing like the man I imagined him to be based on what he’s shown me since I met him. First appearances are very seldom right, and people usually choose to present themselves the way they wish to be perceived rather than who they really are.

* * *

“You seriously want me to believe that?” Luke says with a disbelieving shake of his head.

“What?” I fake outrage. “You don’t think I can cook a roast?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you can cook a roast, Callie. I struggle to believe you pulled off a dinner party for eight people.”

Over lunch, we continued discussing family and friends and moved onto the topic of entertaining after I told him I figured his back deck was great for having friends over. When he said his friends pretty much stopped calling after Jolene was charged with murder, I wanted to change the subject, so I rambled on about my entertaining prowess. I don’t have any amazing skills in this area—I lied. But it made Luke smile again.

I pout. “Why would you think that?”

“It could have something to do with the fact I’ve heard the stories that Avery has told about your past attempts at having friends over for dinner.”

My breathing slows. “You listened to her when she was telling everyone that?” Luke has never really engaged in any of the conversations we have at the bar.

He doesn’t reply straight away, but rather leans forward in his seat and meets my gaze. When he speaks, his voice is low and deep. “Of course I listened.”