Page 48 of Carter

He nodded. “Heading out now to meet some guys.”

“Settled on a name yet?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Rome’s suggestions are awful. If he didn’t know how to play drums, he’d be useless as tits on a bull. Once we get the guys together, we’ll figure it out in the end.”

“That’s good. You know, Rome may be bad with names, but he’s an excellent artist. He might be able to put together a design for the name for you guys once you figure one out. He’s good with computers, too, and he’s got a shit ton of knowledge on how to promote and pimp you guys out.”

“That shit’s not so important.”

“Of course it is! You need people to remember you. Visual things help. Well, actually, you’d be the visual part they’d remember, but all the other stuff might help too.”

He chuckled. “Right.”

He didn’t care, I knew. He was doing this because he wanted a roof over our heads. Carter wasn’t thinking of the big picture.

He continued holding my hand long after he’d squeezed it. Then he pulled me to him and gave me a warm hug that melted my insides. “Be confident,” he told me. “I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He pulled away and stared into my eyes, a soft smile on his face. “See ya, beautiful.”

He walked out with Rome after that, leaving me smiling to myself.

Until I saw Melanie’s face. She was giving me a thumbs up and a wink. I rolled my eyes and reluctantly laughed. It was so damn obvious.

I watched Harold turn the sign over and unlock the door. I held my breath, trying to get rid of the nerves that wracked my body.

After all that training, I would be on my own now.

I hoped I wouldn’t fuck it up.

*

Maybe Melanie wasn’t so bad after all.

She was helping me out loads without one single complaint. I would have kissed her feet if she’d let me.

I was flustered, running around, forgetting tables, getting orders wrong. Fuck, it was stressful, and had I been the owner, I would have fired my ass right there and then.

Fortunately, Marlena was extremely understanding, reassuring me that everyone starts off from the “very, very,verybottom.” I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or dismayed by her remark, so I just decided on being numb instead.

By the time we were done, I was exhausted and shaking. The adjustment from not working to working was damn hard. I hadto sit down to collect my thoughts and fight the anxiety swirling around my stomach.

Carter and Rome picked me up that evening. Melanie stayed back, to my surprise, telling me she was picking up a second shift. When I raised my brows in surprise, she shrugged and said, “Bills, babe. Fucking bills are a killer, and I have a sister to look after.”

Yeah, she wasn’t so bad at all.

“Well, thanks for everything,” I told her sincerely. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

She winked. “You’ll get better and then you’ll make it up to me. That’s what we do around here. We look after each other.”

Okay, so she was awesome.

I felt so grateful, it was a foreign feeling.

I waved goodbye to her and climbed into the backseat of the waiting jeep out front. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw Carter there, half-asleep.

“What’s going on?” I asked as Rome peeled out of the curb.

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