AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I chuckled as I flagged the bartender, and he grabbed another beer for Jump. “It does take some time to get used to, but you do.”
“Not everyone,” he commented. “I know a few guys who aren’t as fortunate as you are, and they don’t have half as many kills on their belt as you do.”
I shifted in my seat, not wanting to talk about the things I had to do overseas. “They just have to find a purpose. I found mine.”
“Yeah, things going well with the security company?”
“Yep, I finished all my local certifications about two weeks ago, so now I can officially start training. I am leading my first class next week, with Trevor.”
“Man, I wish I was still going to be around; I’d love to see you two in action.” He laughed as he straightened his shoulders and held his fingers out like it was a firearm. “This is a gun; this is the trigger; line it up and shoot, but don’t fucking shoot yourself.”
I laughed loudly. “There is a little more to it.”
“Yeah, but that’s how easy you make it seem. You are a natural, you know it. No one ever saw you coming, and you know you said that every time we ever went out on a mission, ‘don’t fucking shoot yourself,’ and everyone was saying it to themselves before you even could.”
I chuckled as I shrugged. “At least I am going to be able to use it for something.”
“True, man, look at me. I love to jump from planes, do crazy shit, but where is that going to take me in life?”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Jump.”
“I’m not, but when I think back on my options, I should have chosen a different rating, like communications or some shit like that. At least I could use that in real life.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter right now, because I have another six years to play commando before I have to grow up and figure out what I want to be.”
We toasted to growing up and then spent an hour talking about other things. Jump glanced at his phone. “Man, I hate to do this, but I gotta bounce. I have a date, and I’m already late.”
“How much longer are you going to be in town?”
“Until Sunday. I’ll hit you up later this week; maybe we can have dinner Friday night or something.”
We stood and clasped hands, bumping shoulders again. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll fit you in, just give me a shout.”
“Look at that shit, fit you in. Pft—” He laughed. “Catch you on the flip side, Shadow.”
I watched him leave and noticed a woman stepping through the door. She was short, and with one look into her face, I saw joy. That was something that had taken a while to get used to when I returned to civilian life. Back in the service, joy centered around a hot shower, a dry cot, maybe an extra snack in the field.
Here, people smiled more often; laughter was more abundant, and they weren’t suspicious of every person they saw on the street. Shit, even now, I had my eyes glued to every car I walked past, waiting for one of them to explode. Hazards of the job, but I was done with that now.
The woman walked toward me, and I turned in my seat, drawing my attention back to my beer so as not to encourage her. Even though she was attractive with her round face and light-brown hair, I wasn’t really interested.
“Are these two seats taken?” she asked me as she leaned forward.
“No, help yourself.” I gave her a polite smile, noticing her bright-hazel eyes and then focused on the television over the bar where the news ticker was talking about the price of gas going up again.
“Hey, Clare,” the bartender said as he dropped a napkin in front of her. “Lexi coming?”
My ears perked up instantly. Lexi? As in Alex Miller?
“Hi, Simon. Yeah, she’s running late, but get her drink ready. She’s going to need it when she arrives.”
The bartender nodded, a knowing smile on his face as he walked away to prepare whatever drinks they were having.
The woman removed her coat, bumping my arm, and then quickly apologizing. “I’m so sorry.”
“No problem. I guess you and your friend are regulars here.” She had a pretty smile, but her hazel eyes were not anywhere as captivating as Lexi’s big brown ones were.
