Through clenched teeth, I told him, "That'smine."
He laughed. "Fine. It's all yours." And with that, he wadded up the plastic bag and tossed it in my direction.
It landed at my feet, but I made no move to retrieve it. "I don't mean the bag," I said. "I mean the tie."
"Oh, come on," he said. "You'd never wear this thing."
Normally, he'd have a point. But this wasn't a normal tie.It was a gift from Cami."That doesn't meanyouget to wear it."
"Aw come on," he laughed. "Why should it go to waste?"
My eyes narrowed.He was messing with me.
One thing about Chase, yeah, he was flashy, but he still had a good fashion sense – or at least that's what all the bloggers said.
I gave the tie a longer look. The thing reallywasugly, flamboyantly ugly, the kind of ugly you couldn’t ignore if you tried, especially in the dark.
Obviously,Camihad been messing with me too. And I could think of nobody on this Earth who'd have the guts to do such a thing, with the possible exception of the guy wearingmyChristmas gift.
I strode toward him and held out my hand, palm up. "Hand it over."
He grinned. "Make me."
"I mean it," I told him.
"Yeah? Well, so do I." Andthen, what does he do?
The fucker whistles.
That did it.
One way or another, I was getting that tie.
Chapter 59
Cami
I glanced around the crowded nightclub. This wasn't where I'd planned to spend New Year's Eve, but Livia had been incredibly persistent. Apparently, she had something to celebrate, and didn't want to celebrate alone.
In the end, I'd been unable to resist – and not only for curiosity's sake. Livia and I had been friends for most of our lives. And sure, we'd had our ups and downs, but we always made up in the end.
The truth was, I liked her, even in spite of her quirks.I mean, we all had them, right?
So here I was, back at her favorite local club, wearing my little black dress, and meeting her for drinks and dancing to welcome in the new year.
Like me, Livia was in Petoskey for the holidays. On the phone, she'd told me very little – only that it involved a big career change and that I'd never guess in a million years.
As for myself, I was struggling with my own career choices. Soon it would be January 2nd, and I'd be returning to Mason's place to resume nanny duties.
I missed Willow – and Mason, too, if I were being completely honest.
But this, too, was a problem. I still had feelings for him, and they weren't going away.
We hadn't talked – or even texted – since our midnight conversation on Christmas Eve. But Ihadtalked to Arden several times, including just this morning.
She'd had some news of her own. Apparently, using mall surveillance footage, Mason had identified the car-jackers, who turned out to be none other than Willow's former nanny, Veronica Wallace, along with her occasional boyfriend, a guy who went by the nickname of Buster.
According to Arden, Mason had gotten the full story of what had happened straight from Buster himself, who Mason had tracked down personally.