Page 69 of Real Tree / Fake Boyfriend

Rossi glared at him. “That’s not good enough, pretty boy.”

Beside him, Brad let out a deep sigh. “Fine. Look, I have it in the car,” he said. “It was supposed to be for a down payment on a minivan, but I can give it to you.” As he spoke, his eyes were focused on Cece and his children. He spoke with such a cool, calm tone Tyler didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not.

All eyes turned to Brad, though the gun stayed on Julien.

“What?” Cece asked, her voice as shrill as their mother’s. “You said you would never get aminivan.”

Tyler shook his head at his sister and willed her with all his might toshut up!Of course, she would have to chime in.

Brad slowly stood up. “I know. It was a Christmas present. A surprise. Let me go get it, and this can stop, alright?” He leveled at Rossi seriously.

“Once I see that money, I’ll be out of your hair. Merry Christmas and all that,” Rossi assured him. He picked up a bun and took a bite while he waited for Brad to do what he said.

“Okay, I’m going to go to the garage and get it.” Brad kept his arms up and backed toward the garage.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Rossi’s attention moved from Brad to Julien once more. “I knew your new friends would be generous. I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me.”

“You’ll never get away with this,” Mom said. “You can’t just burst into someone’s house and demand money.”

Rossi laughed. “I kind of just did. Sorry, not sorry.”

Tyler looked at Julien beside him. His usually tanned skin was pale. His dark eyes were focused and dangerous, and amuscle twitched in his jaw. “I swear to God, Rossi, if you don’t get out of this house as soon as you get that money, I will kill you.”

Tyler dug his nails into Julien’s leg, silently begging him to be quiet. He didn’t want Julien to give the stranger any excuse to shoot. He couldn’t bear it and felt helpless. Tyler hoped Brad would hurry up and not do anything stupid.

Rossi’s amusement faded, and he leaned over. “You can’t talk to me that way, Jules. Weownyou. You can try to kill me all you want, but you’ll find yourself buried alive if you’re not careful.” He lifted the gun, his finger moving to the trigger.

Before he could say anything to stop Rossi from shooting, the garage door flew open.

“Let’s fuckin’ go!” Brad yelled, rushing on Rossi with a metal bat he must have found buried somewhere in the garage.

Rossi squeezed the trigger.

“Don’t!” Tyler pushed Julien out of the way as the shot rang out, and something shattered. Tyler landedon top of Jules on the floor, his legs tangled up with the chair and the tablecloth.

Several people screamed. Tyler was pretty sure he was one of them.

Brad swung the bat like he still played on a team. It looked right at home in his hands when it hit Rossi square in the shoulder hard as he shot the gun a second time. The weapon then clattered to the table as Rossi lost his grip. Wally lunged for it. It juggled in Wally’s grip before he wrapped his hands around the base and pointed it at Rossi.

“Get the Hell out of this house!” Wally yelled with an authority Tyler had never heard before. Next to Wally, Brad held the bat up with a sick gleam in his eyes.

“What thefuck,” Rossi wheezed. His eyes were wild and wide as he stumbled to his feet, holding his shoulder. “What the fuck? What the fuck?”

“Someone call the police!” Tyler’s mother screamed.

Brad hit Rossi with the bat again, this time in the ribs, knocking him backward in his chair, and then pointed to Cece. “Cee, babe, get the kids out of here.”

Cece didn’t hesitate and rushed out of the room with her children. Hailey followed her with the same amount of haste.

Julien struggled to his feet. Tyler felt sick as he saw blood drip from Julien’s hand. He scrambled to his knees but couldn’t see where it came from.

“Wait, wait, please. No one calls the cops. I’ll be fucked.” His voice broke and crackled.

Tyler’s mother stared at him. “You cannot be serious. This man shot a gun in my house. I am going to call the police.”

Rossi’s eyes were wide as he stared between Wally and Brad. His hand was outstretched as if that might help him block a blow from the bat or a bullet.

“Please, Mrs. Ashford, I know I’ve done nothing that would make you trust me, but please.”

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