Page 47 of Rescued Faith

But Izan might be right. Bryce probably shouldn’t scowl as he studied the room. He relaxed his face, smiled at a woman off to the side who was looking his way. But it was too dark to see across the room or in the shadowed booths along one side. And was that—? The man in the opposite corner of the room stood, his back to Bryce. But he had the right build, dark hair. A bulkier guy in a suit moved behind the man and blocked the view.

No. Sosa was dead. There was no way?—

Izan’s phone flashed as he took a selfie with the girls. Good idea. Maybe Bryce could try taking some video, pretend he was FaceTiming or talking to someone. He took out his phone. A flash would be too obvious. He tried for video, using the settings on his phone to compensate for the low light conditions.

“Hey, wanna dance?” A woman…a very young woman with curly brown hair, a low-cut flowy tank, and jeans stepped in front of him, taking up the whole screen.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’m not much of a dancer.” At least, not this kind of dancing.

“That’s too bad. Maybe I could keep you company? Buy you another drink?”

He stopped the recording on his phone. He hadn’t even finished what was in his glass. But he was never one to turn down a lady brave enough to go after what she wanted.

Usually.

This time, it just didn’t sit the same. He wasn’t flattered. No rush of attraction or anything. And she was pretty.

But he didn’t care.

“I’m sorry. I appreciate the offer…I just…”

She smiled. “I’m not her.”

“Her who?”

“There’s someone else you want to be with.”

Okay, yeah. There was. Because it didn’t matter how pretty this girl was or how evocatively she swayed to the music. She wasn’t Penny.

He glanced down and then smiled sheepishly at her. “You’re right. No offense.”

“None taken.” She glanced behind her toward the door and then turned a seductive eye on him. “But if you ever want to try to forget her”—she ran a finger down the length of his chest—“you know where to find me.” This time she walked away, and he lost her in the crowd.

“Who was that?” Izan grinned as he grabbed his drink.

“No clue. I’m gonna walk around and see what I can see. Find anything out?”

“I don’t recognize anyone from that old crew.”

“You think Maria was telling the truth?”

“Why would she lie? She said it was only something she heard.”

“Maybe she wanted to rile us up. Lead us on a wild-goose chase or something.” The lights and music were getting to him. He tried to stretch his neck to the side and release the tension there. It didn’t help. “I’ll take a look around, and then I’ll be ready to leave.”

Bryce took the roundabout way, skirting around the dancing crowd and sticking to the edges of the room. He studied each person, but no one looked like the dead man, Sosa. By the time they left, he had a full-blown headache and not even a good time to show for it. He dropped Izan off and then went back to his own apartment.

He swallowed some painkillers and scarfed down a quick sandwich before he lay down. All he could see as he stared at the ceiling was Penny. Memories marched through his mind. Teaching her how to two-step. The way she’d throw her head back and laugh. Watching her show a little blonde girl on theteam how to swing a bat. It stirred so much longing inside he could hardly breathe.

Okay, so fine, everyone was right. He’d fallen hard and fast for Penny Mitchell, and she still had some kind of hold on him.

The question was, what could he do about it?

FIFTEEN

Penny rubbed her eyes and took another swig of coffee. She was going to need so much caffeine to stay awake today after her all-night surveillance op.

She walked into Jude’s office. He looked way too put together for this early in the morning in his pristine button-down shirt and impeccably knotted tie. She, on the other hand, plopped into the uncomfortable office chair in a wrinkled shirt and proceeded to scratch the pink bumps covering her arms.

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