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“I lost count.” And they were all exactly where he’d said he was aiming them. It’d gotten to the point a crowd was gathering and there wasn’t much he could do.
When he was done, someone asked how he got so good. Some twenty-something and the rest of the guys laughed.
“He was in the Army, you idiot,” someone had said. He hadn’t caught all the guys' names just yet.
“So?” the young kid said. Right out of college and green as could be. “Doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means he’s a sniper,” another said. “A Ranger. Right?”
He looked at the group. “Yeah,” he said and walked away at that point. That was when people would ask for details of things he’d done that he didn’t want to say.
It was a job he did and moved on like someone else would that punched keys on a keyboard.
Or so he said.
But he’d had a gun in his hand long before he went into the service. Not by choice and never used other than for practice.
His father had them in the house illegally, and Luke knew, where he lived and how he was raised, it was shoot or be shot. He made sure if he had to fire, he hit what he was aiming at.
No one knew those of things in his past though. Not even Zane. It’s not like he wanted to share what a piece of shit upbringing he had.
“I’m sure it was enough to stun everyone around you,” Zane said.
“Guess so,” he said. “I was just practicing like we are supposed to do.”
Which he hadn’t been able to do much and it wasn’t the end of the world right now, but he needed to get back into it.
He needed to lose himself in the world he lived in in the hopes of putting the old one behind him.
“If you need space to practice,” Zane said. “Come out here on the weekends. I’ve got a spot out back away from the greenhouses. It’s better in the warmer weather, but we know you need to practice in all conditions. There’s nothing behind me where I’ve got things set up.”
“I know where you’re talking about,” he said. Lily’s property was huge and he expected greenhouses would still continue to be built. “Thanks for the offer. I’m sure I’ll take you up on it at some point.”
“Anytime you want,” Zane said. “And since I know you’ve been all work and no play, how about we get some dinner this weekend? You, me, and Trace.”
Trace Mancini, a fellow vet that he’d run into weeks ago at the Blossoms’s Christmas party. “Is he still in town?”
“Yes,” Zane said. “He’s staying with Violet now. Things seem to be going strong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he relocated here. Anyway, your type of people.”
He laughed. He wasn’t sure he had any type of person. But since the three of them shared that bond, it was as close to a brotherhood as he’d ever had.
“I’ll let you know,” he said. “Sounds good, just need to get some shit done.”
“Nothing around the house,” Zane said. “That’s not on you.”
“I told you you don’t need to deal with the snow,” he argued.
Zane, as the landlord, made sure the snow was cleared and the lawn mowed. He didn’t need anyone to do that for him. He could get up and clear what he had to to leave in the morning. Twice now Zane had shown up before he would be leaving and plowed so he could get out.
“It’s my property,” Zane said. “I did it for the people before you too. I know you don’t like anyone doing anything for you, but any place you rented you’d have to deal with this. Get over it.”
He knew that tone. The commanding officer tone he’d listened to when Zane had taken him under his wing.
“Yes, sir,” he said, laughing.
“Cut the shit,” Zane said. “I’ll text you Saturday with a time and a place. No excuses.”
“I’ll be there,” he said.
