Page 75 of His Passerotta

Corey uses the opportunity to hit back and throw Anthony off before crawling for the gun.

“No!” I yell, jumping to it and swiping it up before Corey can. Without thinking, I point it at him, then at Anthony, going back at forth between the two hoping they’ll freeze. “Both of you, stop it, please.”

Corey whips his gaze to me. “Shoot him.”

“No,” I say, my voice stern. “No one is shooting anyone.”

“I already fucking told you, Bailey, he deserves to die.”

I point the gun at the wall and squeeze the trigger before he can say more, the bang blasting my ears. Corey’s eyes widen as he jumps away.

Josh appears in the back doorway, gun drawn.

“No!” I scream, shooting just to the right of him. He jerks his gun my way, and Corey shoves him into the frame.

“It’s my sister,” he yells at his best friend. He looks out the back door where two more of his friends are. “Go wait by the car, all of you.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Josh asks.

Corey shakes his head. “I have no idea.”

“I’m not leaving until?—”

“She’ll shoot you, you moron. Just fucking go.”

With one last lingering glare at Anthony, Josh turns and leaves. Corey slams the door shut behind him.

“I’d also really love to know what’s going on,” Anthony says with thinly-veiled rage.

My ears feel full and throb with my rapid heartbeat.

“You and your friends need to leave,” I say to Corey.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he scoffs. “I’m not leaving you alone with him.” He flings a hand in a gesture to Anthony.

“I’m here willingly,” I say with a little too much desperation. I’m having to choose my words carefully, and everything I want to say seems wrong. “Anthony and I are seeing each other.”

“Bullshit,” he sneers before spitting blood on the ground.

“It’s not bullshit. He…” I flick my gaze to Anthony. His face is like stone, and his eyes blaze. “He saved me, Corey. He’s not a bad person, and… And I like him.”

“Please.” I lower the gun and take a step toward Corey. “Please go.”

He stands with an expression matching Anthony’s, but he seems to be considering it.

“How did you know we were here?” Anthony asks him, his voice full of suspicion. Enough to scare the absolute shit out of me.

I can convince Corey to stand down. I know I can. He would kill Anthony Gruco, but he wouldn’t kill a man I said I loved. I’ll lie if that’s what it takes. I’m not sure how far from a lie it would be, anyway.

But Anthony… Can I convince him?

What lies will I have to tell him?

Corey glowers at Anthony. “My sister’s phone.”

The burner phone.

He tracked my fucking phone.

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