Chapter 98

Seeing Julie’s embarrassment, Lucian gently and good-naturedly nudged the other man and said, “That’s quite enough, Les. Stop scaring her.”

Lester paused, but relented, smiling at Julie as he introduced himself: “Hello, my name is Lester Kurtz. I’m a friend of Lucian’s.”

He extended his hand toward her. Out of politeness, she reached out to shake his hand, then replied with a smile, “Hello, Mr. Kurtz.”

This was her usual polite address, but it was the first time someone had referred to Lester that way, and he clearly seemed uncomfortable.

Scratching his head, he smiled wryly and said, “Please don’t call me that. It makes me feel a little old.”

Julie stood there awkwardly, unsure how to respond.

Before she could say anything, Lester continued, “How about you just call me by my name? The others all call me Les.”

Julie smiled slightly, but still said nothing.

Just then, someone at the poker table yelled for Lucian to join them. Lucian glanced at Julie before rejecting the invitation without hesitation, indicating he wished to accompany her.

However, this move caused the other men to jeer, making Julie blush.

Lucian understood that she was easily embarrassed, so he said softly, “Go sit on the couch for a while. I’ll join Hal and the rest for a couple of games.”

Julie nodded and replied gently, “Alright. Go ahead.”

Lucian turned to Lester. “Help me look after her.”

Lester smiled, waving a dismissive hand. “Got it, got it. I’ll definitely take good care of your sweetheart, Luce, so hurry on over there.”

When Julie heard Lester’s words, an awkward smile appeared on her face. She silently walked over to the couch.

Seeing this, Lester hurried after her and asked curiously, “When did you get together with Luce, miss?”

Julie gestured frantically, knowing Lester had misunderstood. “We’re not. You’ve misunderstood! W-We’re not together.”

Lester was stunned for a moment before he muttered quietly, “It’s been so long, and he has yet to successfully court her. I didn’t think I’d see the day Luce ended up in such a situation.”

Julie heard him muttering, but couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“What did you say?” she asked curiously.

Lester chuckled nervously, “N-Nothing! Do you play any games, miss? How about we play a few?”

Julie shook her head. “Uh, how about you call me by my name?”

Lester agreed easily. “Alright. I’ll call you Jules then.”

Jules felt quite unused to Lester’s enthusiasm and found herself at a bit of a loss.

She subconsciously looked in Lucian’s direction. Lucian was seated at a poker table, holding his cards loosely in his right hand. A lazy expression was on his face.

He looked up when he noticed Julie’s gaze. Their eyes met. Feeling embarrassed, Julie forced a smile.

Lucian smiled back before yelling at Lester, “Get her something to eat, Les.”

“I know!” Lester shouted back immediately. “Don’t worry, Luce! I’ll take good care of your sweetheart!”

His words lightened the mood in the room.

Just then, Hal, seated at the poker table, couldn’t resist smiling and saying jokingly, “Tsk, tsk. Who would have thought that even you would end up in this situation one day, Luce!”

There was a surprised, teasing tone to his voice, as if he had never seen this side of Lucian before.

Lucian arched an eyebrow at him. “What? Don’t tell me you no longer care about Les?”

Hal choked on his spit. “That’s impossible!”

“Why would I need him to look after me?” Lester asked disdainfully. “It’s not like I’m a child.”

As he spoke, he took out his phone and scanned the QR code on the coffee table. Once the menu loaded, he held his phone out to Julie.

“Take a look and see what you’d like to eat, Jules,” he said. “Order whatever you like. These guys are loaded.”

As soon as he finished, someone called out, “Get your pal Hal here a serving of oysters, Les!”