Husband With Benefits
Chapter 77: Boys Night

Chapter 77: Boys Night

Lucien sat at the table, his brows furrowed, and his poker face crumbling like a poorly constructed house of cards. In direct contrast to his sad face, Gabe, Ian and Seb wore cheeky grins as they eyed Lucien’s misfortune. It was their typical Thursday evening, poker night, and it seemed that fate had dealt Lucien a particularly lousy hand these days. Since their youngest brother was the topic of their teasing tonight, his mood was only spiraling from bad to worse.

Ian, leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his beer before teasing Lucien, "Hey, Lucy, you look like you just lost your best friend."

Gabe shook his head and pointed out to his brother," Hey! If Lucy had lost a best friend, he would not have looked like this. His life has just turned into a twisted soap opera. I mean, if Lucy had to go fight any guy for a girl’s attention, I would bet my money on Lucy. But not when it comes to Demon. Lucy, you were in a losing battle from the very beginning. Tsk tsk."

Feeling petty, Lucy snidely remarked," Of course, you’d know that competing with Demon is a losing battle. You’ve already been on the losing end a few times, haven’t you?" as he referred to Gabe’s constant attempts to win Arabelle’s affection

Gabe placed his bottle on the table with a thump and rolled up his sleeves," It seems you want some broken teeth to keep your broken heart a company."

As the two men stood up, glaring at each other, Seb, simply banged a gavel on the table. The gavel had always been handy. Lucy and Gabe turned their glares to their brother who simply gave them both a stare and spoke," We are trying to play here. You want to fight, get out of my house. I don’t care about your broken bones but no one breaks my furniture."

Ian only shook his head and said," Hey! Sit down you two and cool it off. Look at the bright side. Demon is now totally off the limits to Arabelle so you can continue to chase her without worrying that Demon will change his mind someday. And you, Lucy, you do not have to try and impress her anymore. That should reduce your stress considerably. Weren’t you suffering endlessly these past few weeks, trying to think of a way to impress Nora."

Gabe and Lucien both gave a glance to Ian, not saying the words but indirectly pointing out that he was not being very helpful. However, both the brothers had lost interest in having a fight and the game continued again.

Finally, when Lucien had lost almost all his salary from the month, he glared at the other three and accused," You all are terrible brothers, you know that?"

Ian shrugged his shoulders and pointed out," Hey, we only took your money. You want to voice complaints, go and voice them to Demon. He took the girl you liked."

"Aren’t you guys enjoying this too much? Why do I feel I am surrounded by a bunch of ladies, discussing gossip over their tea?"

"Well, even if we are ladies, you lost buddy. So you may leave the table." Seb teased.

Lucien continued to sulk and lament his newfound familial connection, much to the amusement of his brothers.

Ian, always one to stir the pot, asked, "So, Lucy, have you thought about how you’re going to handle family gatherings from now on? Awkward much?"

Lucien groaned. "Don’t remind me. I can’t believe I have to see Nora at family events. And she looks so smitten with Demon! It’s like a never-ending nightmare. Do you know that Demon even helped her with Math? I just connected the dots. She was so happy, she was over the moon!"

"Oohh. Did he teach her math? How do you know this? Tell us more." Seb quickly caught on.

Lucien sighed and explained how she had been happy one day and mentioned that she’d been taught Math by an expert. Ever since he discovered that Nora was married to his brother, Lucien had been replaying their few conversations repeatedly in his head and understood one thing. Even though she had never mentioned Demetri directly, she was star-struck by him.

"Well, I can’t help but wonder what Demon would have to say about you lusting after his wife... I mean the expression he has been wearing, Demon is not blind you know." Seb said with a straight face as he munched on some peanuts.

Lucien’s eyes widened in horror. "You think he’d transfer me to some random place if he found out? Demon seemed so protective of Nora..."

Gabe burst into laughter at this. "Lucien, you watch too many melodramatic movies. I doubt he’d do that. At most, he will have crush you like a bug but he will not throw you away..."

It was only as the night almost came to an end that Ian took aside Lucien and reasoned softly," We won’t tease you after tonight, Lucy. But you need to move on quickly or it will be you and Demon who will suffer the most. And our bond."

Lucien sighed. "I know, I know. It’s just hard, you know?"

Ian nodded with a sigh," Of course it is hard. And I hope you can come to us if you feel the need to talk. Or talk to Demon also. He has already realized what you have tried to hide. I’m sure talking to him will help you as well."

Just then, Seb joined in and added his two cents," Maybe you should find a new crush..."

Trying to lighten the atmosphere, Lucien chuckled with a hint of mischief in his eyes. "You know what? You’re right. I’m going to find a new crush, and this time, I won’t let her become my sister-in-law. So if you guys have any girlfriends or find any, you better show them to me right away!"

Finally, they were all relieved and the brothers continued to play poker and enjoy the night away.

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