Page 57 of The Guardian

“Are you going to share what happened?”

“What?” he asked me.

“With Carlos. Like how he saved you.”

“It was right here in this town. I did jobs for different crime family’s protection back then. Among other types of people. But they just paid so well that I saw it as a quick way to build my nest egg, so to speak. The only thing was it was a dangerous occupation. So, in this case I was helping to protect another cartel head. Carlos was ordered by his father to take this guy out. The shootout killed like a dozen men and the Castillo men just kept pushing closer until they were right at the suite I protected. In fact, there was me and another guard left. He did not make it as they busted in. Then I got shot in the head.”

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands.

“Of course, I made it through that, Maya!” Henry laughed and raised the hair from his temple to show me a scar. “It just grazed me.”

“So that’s how he saved you?”

“No.” He sighed. “One of the other Castillo men went to pop me in the head again as I was down. I was trying to stay still with my eyes closed. The man said this guy isn’t dead. Carlos stood closer to me than he did and he saw my eyes open for a few seconds. He checked my neck for a pulse then waved the man off, saying I was dead. He ordered the men to get the hell out before the cops arrived. After they ran off he looked down at me. He said, take this second chance and get out of the cartel business.”

“Órale!” I exclaimed.

“Later on, like a month later I spotted him as he sneaked into this coffee shop, alone. I instantly recognized him. I just had to thank him for saving my life. I sat down in the booth with him and he held a gun on me. Of course he did, he lived a dangerous life. I told him he saved me in that hotel shooting. He then lowered his weapon and laughed as he said, yeah, he recognized my green eyes.”

I nodded at him. “They are… memorable.” I smiled.

“I think they saved my life that time, because he told me something about the color made him pause or he might have just allowed his guy to pop me.” Henry laughed. “So we exchanged numbers. I told him if he ever needed anything to call me. When he got injured pretty badly months later, he was holed up in the mountains in Tennessee of all places. He called me and Rain, asking us to come. That’s how we all became friends. We spent a few months there. It was…” Henry looked up at me. “One of the best times in my life. See, I never had many friends. Like guy friends. My dad was an ass. He never allowed me any freedom. Then after he was caught, I led my own life. But by then I had no social links, so it was a solitary life.”

“I could tell that you three men are close. Even you and Rain. Like he knows you so well.”

I chuckled. “The man has an uncanny sense of things. That is why he is a tracker. That is his calling per say.”

“So why did you leave here?” I asked him. “Michael said you just up and left.”

“When I stepped away from doing security for the crime machines here, one of them was not happy. He was the kind who thought money could buy anything. That he owned people. I learned my lesson when I got that scar I showed you. It was also practically a promise I made to Carlos. He said he could not get out but that he did not save me so I would stay in the life.”

I felt afraid suddenly. “D-do you think this mobster might…”

Henry took my hand and assured me calmly, “He’s not here anymore. He went to Chicago.”

I sighed in relief. “So I have another question.”

Henry raised my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Ok, ask.”

I loved that he did this. It seemed to be a habit of his…a very sweet habit. Like he loved holding my hand and kissing it. I never knew a man before him who did this. “Michael and you mentioned this woman that… made you not trust females.” I smirked at him. “I have no real history to share about dating, but you do.”

He chuckled again. “I only had two steady women in my life. The first one was in college and she ended up…well, being very affectionate with too many guys at once. I was young and learned my lesson. Or so I thought.”

I squeezed his hand. “It happened with the second one too?”

“Not in the same way. She was my girlfriend for about six months. The mobster that I pissed off here in New Orleans then paid her a lot of money to set me up.”

“Set you up? For what?”

“Claiming rape and abuse. So that I would be thrown in jail then he would have me killed there. Only thing was she messed up and told her friend about it in a text. Then the man she paid to mess her up, shall we say. He turned evidence on her because he got caught with drugs or something. Michael helped to get me free. He gave the evidence to another cop since he was my brother and could not get involved. I saw her at the police station after she beat herself up and had paid to have violent bad sex with some stranger for nothing. I was not allowed to talk to her. But when she actually yelled at me to help her with the mobster, I did have the last laugh then. I made it a point to laugh as loudly as I could as I walked away while she was held in jail on several charges and screaming at me. Then I left town.”

“Santa Madre, Henry. I do not blame you for not trusting women after that.”

“Until I met you, Sweet Angel.”

I looked into his eyes and replied, “I am honored.”

He again kissed my hand. “The honor is all mine and I cannot wait to meet your family.”