Page 22 of Himbo Hitman
“I’ll get the first aid kit and try to …” He gestures at my ear. “I think you might need more scotch.”
“Noted.”
“And …” Lars studies my face again. “You’re going to do it? Hide out?”
“I don’t think I have a choice.”
“But you also don’t have the luxury of disappearing. Colin beat you to it.”
That makes me straighten, hit with an idea. “Wait. Do you think this guy got to Colin first?”
“You think he’s the reason Colin’s missing?”
My heart is beating a little faster. “It’s not exactly a stretch? He showed up to kill me and told me to disappear. If someone put a hit out on me, wouldn’t they have done the same to my brother? And if it was the same guy …”
“Colin could be dead, or he could have been issued the same ultimatum you were.”
He’s right. “Schrödinger’s Colin.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to joke about your missing brother after being shot.”
“How many people do you know with a missing brother who’ve been shot to fact-check that?”
He thinks for a moment. “Just you.”
“Cool. Then it’s allowed.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we need to find this fucking guy and hope he gave Colin the second option.”
Lars’s knees bounce beneath where his elbows are resting on them. “That doesn’t sound like you’re planning to disappear.”
“Nope.” Maybe I’m just asking for the guy to show up and kill me, but getting him alone again is sort of what I need. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to dance down the fucking street and advertise that I evaded a hitman, now am I? I can keep a low profile while I look out for this guy. It’s no issue.
“Fine,” Lars says. “But from now on, you don’t go anywhere without me. Got it?”
He really thinks he needs to threaten me? I point to my ear. “There is no fucking way I’m letting you leave my side.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
PERRY
Unlike the firsttwo times I’ve done this, something isn’t sitting right. Don’t ask me why—the super-secret pinky oath is sacred, so I shouldn’t have any worries there—but I’m not so sure thatSt. Clareknows that.
I dunno. There was something in his cunning eyes.
Something calling me stupid and a terrible shot.
If you ask me, being a terrible shot has worked in his favor, so I’m not sure the taunting was warranted.
Hurt my feelings a little bit, if I’m honest.
The truth is, though, I’m not cut out for this line of work. It’s a fact I probably should have cottoned onto after that first time out with Arlie, but sometimes I need the point hammered home with me.
And it has been hammered.
Multiple times.
