Page 77 of Insta-Family (Forbidden Descendants 3)

“Creepy, why?” her other brother Julian demanded suspiciously, joining the conversation. “Has this guy been harassing you, Chloe?”

“No,” she answered immediately before cringing and curling her shoulders guiltily. “I mean, he didn’t take it well when I told him it wasn’t going to work out. He’s stopped by a few times at my place and begged me to change my mind, his moods alternating between mad and apologetic. The other night, he hung around outside my door for nearly two hours before leaving, and he came to work once to reason with me.”

“He did what?” Julian growled in a dark voice.

“Jesus.” Luke whistled. “You sure do pick the winners, don’t you?”

“Shut up,” Chloe muttered and chucked a piece of uneaten crust at his head. But Luke only caught it and started eating that one too.

“That doesn’t sound healthy at all,” Chloe’s cousin Bella said as she came up to wrap a supportive arm around Chloe’s shoulders.

“I know!” Chloe agreed. “Why do you think I ended things with him in the first place?”

On the other side of the yard, Bentley sighed and leaned against Beau. “Oh man. I remember a certain someone camping outside my door for hours on end, just hoping I’d talk to him again.”

Beau kissed her hair, murmuring, “I still wonder why you ever gave me the time of day.”

Fox snickered. “Oh, we all wonder that.”

Which made his brother-in-law scowl and snap his fingers Trick’s way. “You got any more crust left?”

“On it,” Trick announced mischievously before zinging the crust of the last piece of pizza he was just finishing at Fox.

When it struck Fox in the shoulder, he lifted his arm, hollering, “Hey!”

Meanwhile, I glanced toward Vaughn, hoping my family’s byplay wasn’t upsetting him in any way. This had to be a big day for him. He was leaving the only home he’d known. I wasn’t sure how my family’s immature pizza fight would rub off.

Except, when I focused on his face, I was relieved to find him smiling and enjoying the show.

Julian appeared at my side, making me jump with his presence. But he wasn’t looking my way. Furrowing his brow at his little sister, he persistently picked up their conversation where it had left off. “What about calls and texts? He bugging you there too.”

Chloe winced. “I don’t know. I blocked him.”

“Do you have an Android?” Vaughn asked, shocking me when he joined the conversation.

Chloe glanced his way, frowning. “Yeah. Why?”

“Did you delete his number or just block him?” he wanted to know.

When she blinked at him, obviously confused by his line of questioning, I leaned forward to explain to her, “He works for a cell phone company.”

“Oh!” She nodded, then squinted in thought. “But, uh…” She thought about it for a moment. “You know, I think I only blocked him? Why? Is that bad? Do you think he tracked me here through my phone?”

“No.” Vaughn shook his head. “He shouldn’t be able to track you unless you shared your location with him. But it’s good that you didn’t delete him. You can still retrieve all the blocked messages he sent you if you want to see what he’s said.”

“I want to see,” Julian spoke up before snapping his fingers Chloe’s way. “Give him your phone. Let’s find out just how unhinged this motherfucker is.”

“Oh geez, fine.” Grumbling under her breath, Chloe tugged her phone from her pocket. As she handed it over to Vaughn, I offered to hold his plate for him.

He glanced at me in pleasant surprise before murmuring a quiet, “Thank you.”

Then he rubbed his hands off on his jeans and accepted the phone. After a couple of seconds of clicking around, he announced, “Yep. Here we go.” Then he lifted his eyebrows and pulled back, murmuring, “Whoa.”

“What?” Me, Julian, Chloe, and Bella surged forward together to get a look at the screen.

I didn’t get to see much, just angry, name-calling rants juxtaposed to meek, humble pleas before Julian ripped the phone from Vaughn’s hand to read it all for himself. But it was enough to make me shudder and rub my chilled arms.

“Holy shit,” Bella whispered. “That man is crazy, Chloe. You need to get a restraining order against him.”

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