Chapter 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 second time. “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.
“We decided not to go through with it.”
That wasn’t exactly how it went. Tiernan, the man who was supposed to be my husband by now, hadn’t discussed it with me. Instead, he’d sent my father.
One week ago today—the morning of our scheduled wedding—my dad had knocked on my bedroom door, asking if we could talk. When I told him to come in, he took my hand, pulled me to the bed, and we sat on the edge.
“I’m sorry, Eb. I know it’s hard to imagine now, but in the long run, it’s for the best,” he began.
What should’ve come as a shock when he told me Tiernan had changed his mind and the wedding was off, hadn’t. That in itself surprised me.
Sure, I was pissed, particularly since the man I was engaged to for over a year hadn’t had the decency to break things off in person or even call to tell me himself. Deep inside, though, I was relieved.
“Did he say why?” I’d asked.
“He had a change of heart.”
How many times had I felt the same way? Except, unlike him, I hadn’t been brave enough to call it off.
“Right. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.”
He let go of my hand, stood, and left the room.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I heard Brix say, tearing my thoughts from one of the most humiliating days of my life.
“Don’t be. It was for the best.”
After glancing over at the table where my father sat next to his latest paramour, currently talking his ear off, I decided to speak to the woman helping Alex with the auction, settle my bid, then leave.
“Excuse me,” I said to Brix. I hadn’t taken three steps when I was approached by the women who would’ve been my bridesmaids had there been a wedding.
“Oh my God, Eb. What was that about?” asked Isabel Van Orr.
Like me, her mother had passed away a few years ago, and she and I had bonded over our losses.
Admittedly, we hadn’t been close prior to that despite our fathers being best friends, and knowing each other for most of our lives.
There’d been several occasions when her concern for me felt unauthentic, as if under a facade, she took pleasure in my misfortune. Not just mine—everyone’s.
“Are you okay?” the other woman, Justine Norman, asked. Her family was hosting the event this year at their winery.
“I’m fine.”
Isabel folded her arms. “What is wrong with him anyway?”
My eyes met Justine’s, and she rolled hers like my father’s date had. Except I knew it wasn’t meant for Trevino. We’d commiserated more than once about how judgmental Isabel could be.
“I, uh, need to take care of the bid payment. I’ll talk to you later.”
As I walked away, I saw Isabel raise a brow. I was sure Justine was about to get an earful either about Trevino or me, or maybe both of us.
“Hey, Eberly,” said Saffron, the woman helping Alex with the event.
I watched as she shuffled through a pile of papers.
At one point, I’d thought about volunteering too, but the truth of the matter was Alexis Avila-Butler intimidated the hell out of me.
Not only her. That so many people did had been one of many issues between Tiernan and me.
I was too young, too naive, too innocent, too easily intimidated.
The irony was that no one made me feel less secure than he did.
Not to mention, he’d never once gone much beyond kissing me.
If my innocence bothered him so much, he’d had every opportunity to do something about my total lack of sexual experience.
It was one of hundreds of things I wished I could talk to my mom about.
I often wondered what she would’ve thought of Tiernan had they met.
Reflecting on our brief courtship, I knew she probably would’ve encouraged me to run far and fast in the opposite direction.
It was a yardstick I should use in the future.
What would my mom have thought? I knew how she felt about Trevino Avila.
“Out of all the brothers, he’s my favorite,” she’d said one day when we were at a wine industry event the family was hosting at Los Caballeros.
“Why?” I’d asked.
“I prefer the strong, silent type,” she’d responded, winking. “Like your dad.”
I shuddered, thinking about it. My father was a good man; I’d never doubted it. But even once I’d gotten to know Trevino better after I started working for him, I never would’ve said he was anything like my dad.
“Here it is,” said Saffron, pulling a sheet from the pile. “The wiring instructions are at the bottom. We’re asking donations be finalized within ten business days. If you need more time, let Alex or me know.”
“No problem,” I said, tucking the paper in my clutch.
“Hey, honey. I’m going to take Nancy home. See you at the house?” my dad approached and said.
“I might meet up with a friend.”
“Sounds good. See you later,” he said, waving behind him.
As I walked to my car in the parking lot, I felt as though I was being watched. There were plenty of people leaving like I was, and none seemed to be paying any attention to me. Still, the hair on my neck stood on end.
I gripped the car’s door handle, which unlocked the driver’s side, jumped in, and started the engine. After reversing out of the space, I drove to the closest exit and turned in the direction of Los Cab.
Given I’d just had one man end our engagement at the eleventh hour, part of me worried I’d gone too far, bidding for a date with Trevino, and that was at least one of the reasons he’d left without saying a word to me. Especially with the amount I paid.
Even if I hadn’t gone so far as to bid on a date with him, our family always made a sizable donation to the charity the event supported.
This was the first time I’d used my own money, though.
Part of the trust fund my mother had set up for me shortly after I was born became mine once I graduated from college, and so far, I hadn’t used much of it—apart from the wedding expenses I wasn’t able to get refunded.
“Argh,” I groaned out loud. Every time I thought about how Tiernan had treated me, I got angry. He was a misogynistic, condescending, controlling asshole who I was lucky to have out of my life.
The day I’d interviewed for the job at Los Caballeros, I felt an immediate, overwhelming attraction to Trevino. What kind of woman gets married when she has such strong feelings for someone else?
I wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d ever feel the same way about me. But that wasn’t the point. The attraction alone should’ve made me sit up and take stock of how I really felt about Tiernan. It wasn’t a mistake I’d make again. In fact, ever getting married held zero appeal.
Maybe what I should do instead was find a man I liked enough, trusted enough, to finally have sex with. Again, I knew that wouldn’t be Trevino, no matter how much money I paid to have the chance to spend time with him outside of work.
As I pulled through the gates of Los Caballeros, I made a decision. I’d let him off the hook by telling him my plan was to donate the money all along, and that I had no interest in actually going on the date.