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Instead, Alex—Brix’s younger sister—had married someone else. In hindsight, thinking I had a shot with her had been naive at best. Stupid was more accurate. Alex and Maddox, her now-husband, had been together off and on since high school. Brix had warned me pursuing her wasn’t the best idea. However, I’d been “in love” with her before she met the man she’d married.
So much water had gone under that bridge; it was long since time I moved on. Finding someone I considered half as appealing as Alex, though, seemed unimaginable. She wasn’t only beautiful and sexy; she was also smart and funny.
My cell rang, yanking me out of yet another round of lamenting her loss.
“Hey, Brix,” I said after swiping the screen to accept his call.
“Ridge, I’ve got Vader here with me.”
“Listen, this new prosecutor is becoming a huge pain in the ass. She’s threatening to subpoena both Addy and her mom.” I decided to lead with that rather than her threat against Brix and Los Caballeros.
“Why? They’re in the clear. Why is she contacting you anyway? Zin is Addison’s attorney.”
I’d wondered that myself, but maybe I was the only one who’d answered my phone.
“I’ll get in touch with her,” offered Vader. “She should be working with me, not around me.”
“Her name is Seraphina—”
“Yeah, Ridge, I know.”
When Brix asked what progress was being made in tracking down the person we believed was responsible for the murder Addison had been charged with, it reminded me there were other things I needed to deal with this morning rather than check the progress on my house.
“When will you be back?” I asked after telling him the little I knew.
“About an hour. Maybe less. By the way, Alex called to say the ball is back on for next weekend.”
I’d forgotten all about the annual fundraiser benefiting the children’s hospital in San Luis Obispo. A couple of years back, Alex had taken over the event, whose biggest moneymaker was a bachelor auction. One that, in a moment of weakness, I’d agreed to participate in.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
Brix laughed. “I hear you, buddy.”
Easy for him to find it humorous since he already knew who would cast the winning bid for a date with him. Brix had convinced Alex he’d make a sizable donation on top of paying the bid amount himself as long as she agreed to let Addison win. While he hadn’t been infatuated with her for as long as I had been his sister, it had moved beyond that now. I had little doubt once they returned to the States, he would ask Addy to marry him if he hadn’t already.
As for me, I didn’t know exactly who would bid on a onetime date with me, but I predicted it would be a nameless, faceless daughter of one of the area’s winery owners. Someone I’d known most of my life, given I was the son of the same, and whom I already knew I had so little interest in. Getting through the evening I had to spend with her would be agony.
