“Mm-hm.”
He adjusts the collar of his blue shirt, then fixes the poor belt that is barely clinging to his beer-belly. “Why yes, I would love to!”
I chuckle and get to my feet. “Well, let’s go fucking dance, then, shall we?”
18. Cass
Fucking Bob. Nia is dancing withBob.
I saw them joining everyone on the “dance floor” a while ago. I saw the bastard acting all goofy around her; saw her laugh at his silly moves. And I sure as hell noticed how she purposefully avoided looking at me, even though we were standingright next to each other.
FuckingBob.
He runs his dad’s garage, is unmarried, has no kids, and has had his sights set on Nia since her and I were fifteen. You’d think the age difference would have affected the way he looked at her back then, but nope. He was a perv, through and through, and it’s pretty clear things haven’t changed for him, even now.
When Nia and I’s eyes had met for the first time in days a few minutes ago, she’d been standing behind the serving table. My stupid heart had done a fucking tumble after seeing her, because God, she’s absolutelybreathtaking. The color of her sweater is the exact same as the blush on her cheeks. Pair that with faded jeans and brown boots, and she’s the most beautiful person in the crowd. And her long hair, open and flowing with the wind like it always is, makes me wanna run my fingers through it.
I’d been the first to look away. She’d seemed shocked to see me, which’d led me to believe that maybe Gerald hadn’t told her that I’d be attending the party.
“So, Chase,” says Clary, pulling me out of my thoughts. Or is it Chloe? I have no damn idea. “You’ll come check out our racks tomorrow, won’t you? I promise you that our collection is the best in Adenbrooke.”
I flinch a little and face the twins. They don’t just say my name incorrectly –every damn time, despite me having corrected them more than once – but they also emphasize the word ‘rack’ whenever they use it in a sentence. I know that there’s a very high bar of ignorance, combined with stupidity out there in the world, but just how fucking dumb does one have to be to not remember a simplename, or even behave like they aren’t coming on to someone too hard?
Ireallywant to know.
“Chase?” the other twin says loudly when she thinks I haven’t heard her sister over the sound of the music.
I blink and flash her a smile. “Yeah?” This is exactly what I’ve been doing for almost an hour: smiling, being polite, and trying not to bang my head against a wall.
Clary/Chloe grins and steps closer to me. “You’ll come check out our clothingracks, right? I think some of our designs will lookperfecton you.”
Jesus, if you’re up there, please tie me to a fucking anchor and drown me into an endless ocean.
“Chase?”
I’m close to losing my shit.Completely.
“I’ll have to take this up with my designer, ladies,” I reply as politely as I can. “If he agrees to it, then I’ll have him come check out your collection for potential outfits.”
Clary and Chloe look blankly at me. “But can’t you just come and do that yourself?”
“I hardly shop fashion these days, what with my busy schedule. It’s difficult to balance everything out, hence I have a designer.”
“But–”
I put on my professional face. “Javier is excellent at what he does, I promise. He’s the perfect person to come look at your stuff.”
They open their mouths to say something, but I turn around, only to findBobwith his hands pressed to the sides of Nia’s waist.
Fucking dipshit.
He bends to say something in her ear, which makes her laugh.
I clench and unclench my fists, feeling annoyingly frustrated.
She should be dancing withme, but instead, she won’t evenglance my way.
Fucking fantastic.
