Page 3 of Bit's Bliss

“Where did who go?” Brix asked, gripping my shoulder.

I jerked out of his grasp. “It was him. I know it was.”

“Who?”he repeated.

It had been nearly a year to the day, but his was a face I’d never forget. “Thesonuvabitchwho tried to kill me.”

2

EBERLY

“What in the world was that about?” my father’s date muttered under her breath. Her arms were folded, and she added an eye roll, seemingly for effect. I didn’t respond. Unlike her, it wasn’t that I was being rude. I wondered the same thing.

Like most everyone in the room, my eyes were riveted on the side door Trevino had rushed out of. When neither he nor his brother, who’d followed him, returned inside, the crowd eventually lost interest and resumed their chatter.

“Okay, everyone, bear with me. We have one more date to auction,” Alex said from the stage. “You won’t want to miss this,” she added, tapping the microphone. She kept talking, but I couldn’t focus on what she was saying, especially when Brix walked in alone.

I stood and intercepted him before he reached his table.

“Where’s Trevino?” I asked.

“Hey, Eberly. Uh, I think he went home.”

“What happened?”

Brix sighed and looked beyond me to his wife. He held up his index finger, and when she nodded, he led me away from the tables.

“You know about the incident in the caves, right?” he asked.

“Not exactly. Rumor was someone attacked him.”

“Bit, err, Trevino, sometimes has flashbacks. Not that he did tonight.” He hung his head. “Sorry. I’m not making sense. He thought he saw someone.”

“Do you mean the guy who came in, then turned around and left?”

Brix’s eyes opened wide. “You saw him too?”

“I didn’t notice him until he was on his way out, and couldn’t see his face. Like most everyone else, I saw Trevino’s reaction when he jumped off the stage.”

“Shit,” he muttered, looking in the direction of the door that remained closed. “I can’t leave Addison,” he said more to himself than me. “Let me see if Snapper or Kick are around.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, then tapped the screen a few times and brought it to his ear.

“Hey, where are you?” He paused. “Can you head to Los Cab and check on Bit?” He paused a secondtime. “Yeah, right away. And can you tell him I was mistaken and I’m sorry?”

“Are you sure that’s where he went?” I asked when he ended the call after thanking his brother. “Wait, never mind.” Before I started working as an event planner at Los Caballeros, my profile, which included fingerprint, palm, and eye scans, had been entered into their security system. No doubt Brix already knew Trevino was home before he’d placed the call.

“I feel like a shithead,” he muttered, more to himself than me for the second time. “I didn’t see the guy,” he added.

“I’m sure he understands.”

Trevino’s oldest brother studied me. “You bid a great deal of money for a date with him.”

“It’s a fundraiser,” I murmured, knowing the question Brix was about to ask and wishing he wouldn’t.

“Didn’t I hear you were engaged?—”

“No.”

He raised a brow when I cut him off.