Page 110 of Himbo Hitman
“I mean, Arlie had to give me a few pointers initially, but yeah.”
“And you missed St. Clare?”
Perry shrugs. “And the two others before him.”
“And the guys who attacked you yesterday?”
“Accidentally got one of them in the foot.”
“But you didn’t hit the other?”
“Nope.”
Lars is thinking about something hard now. He paces over toward the fire, picks up a chunk of firewood, then throws it into the air. It goes high and arches over before starting to fall again. “Shoot it.”
Perry jumps to attention, his tongue poking out between his lips as he takes aim…
And hits the damn thing right before it reaches the ground.
Lars only stares at him.
“Sorry,” Perry says, shifting under Lars’s gaze. “I wasn’t ready.”
“You got it though.”
“Well, yeah. It was … I mean …”
“Have you ever shot a person?” Lars pushes, and I sigh.
“Don’t bring me back into this.”
Lars hurries to shake his head. “No, I mean have you everkilledsomeone?”
“No. Why would I do that?”
“Because it was your fucking job.”
Getting frustrated, Perry scrubs at his hair—still with his gun hand. “I wish people would stop pointing out what a failure I was.”
“You’re not following.” Lars steps closer. “You’re a perfect shot, and the only time you’ve missed is when it was a person you were aiming for. I don’t think you missed at all. I think you did it on purpose.”
I frown at Lars. “You think he shot my ear on purpose?”
“I didn’t,” Perry defends. At least, I assume he’s defending until he goes on. “I was aiming for his head.”
“That’s not actuallybetter,” I point out. “You know that’s not better, right?”
Lars doesn’t give him time to answer. “I think you thought you were aiming for his head, but subconsciously, you couldn’t do it.”
Great. If Lars is right, that means I have a security team of my best friend, who I don’t want in harm’s way, and a failed hitman who won’t hit anyone. This is looking better by the minute.
“You know, that might explain some things.”
Lars lets out a loud yawn that stretches his mouth wide. “Keep practicing. I didn’t get much sleep, so since you’re both awake, I’m going to have a quick nap. Wake me in an hour.”
He stalks back toward the cabin, still looking like he has the weight of all our plans pulling at him. Out of the three of us, he’s theonly one with actual training for what we’re going through, so I know he feels the responsibility more than anyone.
“I think Lars is right.”
