Page 121 of Himbo Hitman
The little nudge in my chest catches me by surprise, and I massage the pain away. This shouldn’t be a shock for me; it was only yesterday that I got hit with the realization that I’m not on anyone’s team. There’s them. And then there’s me.
This is St. Clare’sbrother, and I’m just the guy who’s always in the way and made him come a few times. There’s no competition there.
It really shouldn’t hurt to have them confirm everything I already know.
Once there’s a short break in their conversation, I push aside the hurt and shove open the door like I haven’t heard a thing.
“Forgot my stuff,” I explain, doing everything I can to sound as happy as ever.
I grab my bag, make sure my mask, gun, and wallet are all in there, and then I head for the door again.
Neither of them has moved, and before I walk out, I can’t stop from letting that pain sneak back in a touch. It has my mouth moving before I can stop it. “This whole being on the run thing sucks, but at least I have you two. It makes things a bit less lonely.”
And knowing that I don’t really have them makes me feel lonelier than I ever have in my life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
ST. CLARE
I’mterrified he heard everything we were talking about, and it’s not until I hear his car come alive with an admittedly dying sound that I dare talk again.
“We can’t do it.”
Lars groans and buries his face in his hands. “Do we have any other options? I’m worried about Colin. I’m worried about that damn disaster who just walked out the door. And I’m worried about you. None of us are equipped for any of this.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
He slowly looks back up at me. The whites of his eyes are streaked with red, and his curly hair is a hazardous mess. “This place has a bad feeling to it. It’s getting to me.”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we’re sitting in a murder cabin right now.”
“Do you think he’s right though? Could Perry’s phone have been tracked?”
“Have youseenhis phone? It’s basically a fossil.”
“Yeah, but …” He tucks his thumb between his teeth as he thinks. “If there’s any possibility, maybe we should move on again.”
Lars clearly can’t grasp the concept of having nowhere to go. “We’re not involving our parents in this.”
“No, but I was thinking Colin’s place might be an option. It’s got that drain that runs between his and his neighbor’s place. We could follow that, pop out one of the fence panels, and go in through the back.”
“And if there’s someoneinthere?”
“Then we’ll probably die. Same as if we stay here and are being tracked.”
My head is too full of worries to know what the right answer is. Colin and Perry take up a huge amount of them, but I have enough to spare for me and Lars as well. It’s very much a fucked if I do, fucked if I don’t situation, and I can’t lie and say that I’m not curious about what we could find at Colin’s. The first time I went there looking for him, I noticed his laptop on his office desk. It’s been weeks now, and the police obviously don’t give a shit.
“And if Perry comes back and finds us missing?”
Lars doesn’t have an answer for that. In an ideal world, Perry will get us our answers, find out who’s after me, and then we can turn them over to the police. In order for any of that to happen, he needs to be able to find us once he’s done. Because I refuse to believe he could die over this.
Perry is the kind of guy who feels too big for this world. There’s this permanent brightness to everything he does, and it draws me in. The idea that the brightness and life he has could suddenly be gone ruins me.
“We’ve been okay here so far,” I say. “Would another day make much difference?”
“Imagine if you asked that question this time yesterday.”
He has a good point. Yesterday made alotof difference, and so did the day before that. I’m almost scared of what else could be coming for us.
