Page 40 of Carter's #Undoing

Except for Hennessy. That dude stayed in the mirror. We always teased him about putting too much stock into the way he looked.

“I’m Cap,” he said to Serenity, extending his hand. “And this is Scotch, Jackie-D, and Hennessy.”

“Is Cap short for Captain Morgan?”

Cap nodded. “Sure is.”

Serenity eyed me curiously. “Let me guess. You go by a liquor name, too?”

I laughed, not surprised she caught that.

“Nah,” Scotch said before I could. “This muthafucka was going on and on about how his girl had given him the name Golden Boy, so that’s what he goes by.”

“He always gotta be different,” Hennessey added, shaking his head. I was about to get on him about some of the shit he gave us a hard time about, but I left it alone. Serenity was smiling, her eyes lighting up as she looked at me. Any time she looked at me like that, I didn’t want to ruin the moment.

* * *

SERENITY

It only tookten minutes into meeting the men—and a little bit of eavesdropping—to realize they had to be the men in the letters. The ones that Carter never said by name, but had been there for them through everything.

“How did you all meet?” I asked, taking a chance. Although Scotch and Carter were standing, I was seated at the table with Cap, Jackie-D, and Hennessey.

Scotch looked to Carter who nodded at him before he said anything. “GB and I met in the military,” he stated. “He was best sniper in our division, so I knew we needed to be friends.”

“The rest of us met GB through Scotch,” Cap enlightened.

“I didn’t like him,” Hennessey furthered. “Couldn’t stand the guy in fact.”

“Why,” I asked, looking between Carter and Hennessey for an explanation. “What’s the story there?”

“Let’s save that one for another day, cupcake,” Jackie-D replied, his eyes telling me to drop the questions. He hadn’t said anything since I walked into the room, and by far, he was the one that made me the most uneasy.

“Just ignore him,” Scotch interjected. “If it ain’t about work, Jackie-D doesn’t give a shit.”

I looked toward Mr. Never-Crack-A-Smile. “But aren’t I work? Aren’t you here to help GB, which means helping to protect me, too?”

He didn’t say a thing.

“You know, the whole mean-mug thing you have going for you has to work great on women,” I teased.

Still nothing, but I made the others laugh.

“Don’t take it personal,” Cap said. “We may not be pretty to look at, but he takes the most to get used to out of all of us.”

I’m not so sure about that.Well, I was sure that he was the hardest to get to know, but the rest of the men were attractive in that dangerously rugged sort of way. Up until Carter had returned, you never could have told me that scars on a man was sexier than a freshly cut fade. They’d seemed to be talking quite a bit while I was upstairs, but around me, they acted like they didn’t know what to say.

“So,” I began, clasping my hands together, “want to tell me what kind of work you all do together or is it too soon for that?”

The men laughed again, Carter included. All except for Jackie-D. I thought I saw a hint of a smirk, but it was gone before I could decipher it.

“Let’s just say we’re in business together,” Scotch stated.

“Well, that’s vague. Like legal business or illegal business?

Once again, they all got quiet.I’m gonna go with illegal or a little of both for now.

“What about your real names?” I asked. “Or why you picked the liquor you chose as an alias? It is an alias, right? What you go by with whatever you’ll do?” I was a little nervous now that I knew these men were important to Carter, and when I was nervous, I tended to talk a little too much.

---