Page 109 of Himbo Hitman
“You said that the first time.”
“And I meant it that time too.”
“Should I try for third time lucky?”
“Or maybe,” I cut in, startling them both, “you could try for not scaring the shit out of me when I’ve just woken up.”
Perry covers his mouth, and of course it’s with the hand holding his gun, leaving me astounded that he hasn’t shot himself already. “Fuck. I didn’t even think about that.”
Him? Not thinking? I’m shocked.
Lars tilts his head. “I guess that explains the warnings about a miscommunication for you today.”
“Sure. Because the horoscope obviously knew I’d wake up to gunfire.”
Lars busies himself with checking his own gun’s barrel. “It also said to watch the snapping at people.”
“There’s no way it said that.”
“It definitely said that.” He pulls out his phone and shows me the screen.Curb your instinct to snap at people.
“Well, now it’s just trolling me.”
Lars laughs, and Perry creeps closer. “What does mine say?”
“Aries, right?”
So help me, Perry lights up. “You remembered.”
“Not a single thing you do lets me forget,” Lars mutters as he looks up, I’m assuming, Perry’s horoscope. “Okay. Aries. Everything seems like a mess right now”—Lars throws me a smug grin—“but that’s only because you can’t see the end result. You’re in the middle of a major life upheaval. Stop doubting yourself and tap into your natural inner confidence to see this through to the end.”
Perry’s jaw drops. “Wow.”
Lars whistles and looks back toward the tree they were shooting. “Looks to me like you have no issue with confidence.”
“That’s just shooting. It’s not hard.”
“It’s very hard.” Lars lifts his gun, takes aim, and then, amoment later, shoots. He clips the edge of the circle he drew. “See?”
Perry tilts his head. Other than Lars’s shot, the other two are right in the middle. “Maybe you’re not very good.”
Instead of getting annoyed with him, Lars looks like he can’t believe what he’s hearing. “I’m actually very good. You’re … perfect.”
“Huh.”
Lars studies him. “How long did you say you’ve been practicing?”
“Umm …” Perry shrugs. “Arlie took me out for a few practices like the week before I shot St. Clare.”
At first, I think Lars’s wide eyes are reacting to the casual mention of my aural casualty, but his words don’t match my assumption. “Only a fewweeks? Never before that?”
“Nope.”
“Wow.”
Oh, good. Looks like we’ve moved on from caring that Perry shot me and I’m nowmissing an ear. So great we can be casual about it.
“Wait.” Lars presses his hand to his head like it hurts to think. “Were you always this good?”
