Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,96

Mason out of my mind.

As if that were remotely possible.

Chapter 58

Mason

When I returned to the family room, Chase was sitting on the sofa where I'd left him. But his appearance had changed.

From the open doorway, I stopped to stare. Over his red sweater, he was wearing the ugliest necktie I'd ever seen. The thing was bright yellow with streaks of purple and gold.

I shook my head. No. It was purple with streaks of pink.

Shit. The damn thing was changing colors right in front of me. I felt my eyebrows furrow. And unless I was seeing things, it was glowing in the dark – except the room wasn't dark enough for me to be sure.

I reached over and flicked off the nearby light-switch. The lights went out, leaving only the light of the fire – and the flashy tie.

Oh, yeah. It was glowing, alright. Glowing and pulsing in random colors.

When I flicked on the lights, Chase grinned at my reaction. "I know, right?"

I had to laugh. "Where'd you get that thing?"

He pointed vaguely toward the Christmas tree. "I found it in a bag."

I stopped laughing. "What?"

Chase reached beside him on the sofa and picked up the familiar shopping bag. It was the small plastic one that Cami had thrust into my hand the last time I'd seen her.

I glared at my brother. The fucker. He was wearing my Christmas present.

Through clenched teeth, I told him, "That's mine."

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 mean you get 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 really was ugly, flamboyantly ugly, the kind of ugly you couldn’t ignore if you tried, especially in the dark.

Obviously, Cami had 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 wearing my Christmas 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." And then, 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 I had talked 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