Page 46 of Insta-Family (Forbidden Descendants 3)

Realizing he made a valid point, I paused to collect myself before blowing out a breath and nodding. “You’re right. I’m sorry. And I do appreciate your willingness to sacrifice so much just for me, but it’s not necessary. I’ve got this. I’m handling everything alone just fine. I’m good.”

“But you don’t have to handle it alone. That’s my point.”

Oh geez. He wasn’t accepting my rejection like I needed him to. I inadvertently made eye contact with Vaughn, who shrugged. “This one’s being a lot more persistent than the last guy,” he agreed.

Luke spun to glare at him. “Who are you again?”

“Hey, relax,” I ordered. “This is just Vaughn. He’s Duke’s brother.”

Luke shook his head and lifted his hands, letting me know the name Duke meant nothing to him, so I sighed and repeated, “Duke…” before reminding him, “Ava Grace’s father.”

“Aah…that guy.” Luke glanced toward Vaughn. “So you’re the uncle, then. Why didn’t someone just say that? Damn.” He rolled his eyes and blew out a breath before tipping up his chin in greeting. “Nice to meet you. I’m Luke. Known Lucy her whole fucking life.” Then he motioned between me and himself as he lifted his eyebrows with meaning. “Now, could you give us a minute here?”

“No,” I argued. “He doesn’t have to give us a minute because our conversation is over. There’s nothing to discuss. I’m not marrying you. End of story. Your bachelorhood is safe.”

“Come on, Luce,” Luke argued, making a face. “Don’t make me feed you some sob story to get you to say yes.”

I furrowed my brow in absolute confusion. “Why in the world do you think a sob story would make me change my mind?”

Luke only snorted. “Really? Miss Bleeding Heart Queen of the Universe? You have no idea, huh?” He laughed outright then and jabbed his elbow in Vaughn’s direction as if to share an inside joke with him, except Vaughn looked as lost by the sentiment as I felt.

So I said, “No. Why don’t you just explain it to us?”

“Alright, fine.” He lifted his hands as if to free himself of all culpability. “If you want to go there, by all means, let’s go there. Should we start with the sympathy fuck you gave this dude’s brother?”

My mouth dropped open at his gall. But why in God’s name would he ever bring that up in front of Vaughn?

“Easy there,” Vaughn hissed in a warning tone as I felt all the color drain f

rom my face.

But Luke ignored him, smirking triumphantly and rubbing his hands together. “Or should we start back when you were in middle school?”

Shaking my head, I said, “I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”

“Brett Stimmy,” he taunted as if that name should mean something to me.

I lifted one eyebrow. “Who?”

Luke rolled his hand trying to coax my memory to work faster. “His grandma died, and you felt so bad for him, you gave him your first kiss.”

“Oh my God.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead vigorously. Then I dropped my hand to glare. “That was Braxton Stone, you idiot. And how did you even know about that?”

“Your brother’s got a big mouth,” he explained on a shrug. “And then there was Travis Ackerman.” With a smirk, he taunted, “I got that name right, didn’t I?”

“No,” I whimpered, fully aware of where he was going to go with this one. “Stop,” I pleaded. “Please.”

But there was no stopping Luke once he had a point to prove. “Now… As I recall, you actually wanted to break up with the Ackerman douche. But then he broke his leg—”

“Lucian,” I warned.

He pointed. “Nope. Only my momma or wife is allowed to call me that. So you better tell me yes before saying it again. Got it?”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. He was beyond reasoning with; I could already sense it. “You’re such an ass,” I whispered.

“And you gave some dip shit you wanted to dump your virginity just because he got hurt and couldn’t play football anymore.”

“He lost his scholarship to college,” I snapped. “It was his entire future. He was devastated.”

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