AFFLICTION- LRH

Trust Your Gut.

Luke's POV:

10am.

"Here are the rules for tonight!" Cody starts, waltzing back and forth in the kitchen as the rest of us lean against the counter, tired and unprepared for the day ahead, "Ashton, are you listening?"

I peer my eyes over to Ashton who laid his elbow against the counter, propping his head with his hand as his eyes sat shut, his mouth slightly opened.

"Ashton!"

"What!" Ashton jumps from his sleep, slamming his hand against the counter, while the rest of us laugh.

"Morning, sunshine." Maeve smirks.

"It's fucking early," Ashton groans, "excuse me for not sleeping properly last night."

"Not our fault you stayed up all night playing with your dick, Ash." I scoff.

"Enough," Cody slams his hand down, his eyes rolling with annoyance, "are we going to discuss this or not? We have a serious plan to get in state and I would like us all to live through it, got it?"

"What do I have to do with all of this?" Kouvr jumps in, raising her hand in the air as if she was a student in school, "I'm not even going to this thing."

"Actually, you are." Cody directs, "Kouvr, you are going to need to be at Calums side all night. The event we are attending tonight is a benefits ball. Many of the worlds rich and powerful men will be there, and they will all have a date on their arm. So yes, you will need to be there."

"Damn, so who is my date?" Michael joins in, wiggling his eyebrows at Cody.

"You and Ashton will not be going," Cody snaps, "I will have you both with me in the van, we will be watching cameras and voicing in on the others."

"Oh that fucking blows," Ashton huffs, "first, I don't get my beauty sleep, and next I don't even get a fucking date?"

"Cheer up, Ash." Maeve says, "You will have a date later tonight."

This catches Ashtons attention, "Oh? Who?"

"Your hand."

The kitchen uproars in laughter, and even Cody couldn't keep a straight face. Ashtons face turned a shade of red I hadn't seen before, huffing and puffing as he crosses his arms in front of his chest, too pissed to say anything more.

"On a more serious note," Maeve turns to Cody, "Do Kouvr and I need to go to town to get dresses? Or what is the plan with that? I didn't know this was going to be a ball."

Cody shakes his head, "No, I asked Hakeem to grab you guys something nice to wear. You both have makeup and hair things, so the dress and shoes was all you two will be needing."

"How the fuck do you know what size dress and shoe I wear?" Kouvr asks, her brow raising high as she stalks Cody.

"Your boyfriend, dear." Cody laughs, pointing to Calum, "Trust me, I am not that scary or weird."

"If he was, he would already be dead." Maeve adds.

"So you knew I was coming tonight and didn't tell me?" Kouvr glances to Calum, who immediately backs up and throws his hands in surrender.

"No, I did not." he shakes his head, "Cody just asked me and I told him, I didn't think anything of it."

"You are lucky you aren't that smart, Cal." She seethes, but gentles as he comes back to her side, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Luke," Cody says, causing me to turn to him, "You and Maeve are going to be at the poker tables tonight. I need you playing with a man named Corey Vaughn. He is the only one who knows anything about The Man, and that is apart of our mission tonight."