Bulletproof (#1) ✔

15: Franny

    "Then stay away from him," Ethan says.

    "I would," the man says, smiling and holding his arms out. "I really would. I don't give a shit about the kid. He's just another fighter. But the problem is that I can't stay away from him. He stole money and has now called the cops on us."

    "Called the cops?" Tyler steps towards the man, his face a mask of confusion. "I didn't steal any money and I didn't make any damn calls to the cops."

    "Well someone called," the other man beside the car hisses. "Because halfway through a fight the bartender upstairs comes running down saying that the cops are here."

    "And you immediately think I called them?" Tyler scoffs. "What crap logic is that?"

    "Because you're the only one who has beef with the boss, kid!" The man steps forward until he's standing beside his friend.

    The first man that spoke has spiky blond hair and the one who just spoke has a buzz cut with a darkened stubble growing out over his jaw.

    "It wasn't me!" Tyler yelled. "I've been here the whole night."

    "You've still got a phone on ya." The blond glares.

    "Did the cops catch anyone?" Tyler asks.

    "No, we all got out in time," Buzz-cut says. "Though the whole thing could have been missed if someone didn't rat us out."

    "Why the hell do you all think it was me?" Tyler growls. "It wasn't me. I didn't do shit! Why would I knowingly try and piss Carl off when I'm trying to get out?"

    "Who else would fuck off with his money and call the police on us?" Buzz-cut narrows his eyes on Tyler.

    Tyler sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose between two fingers. I look back and forth between the unknown men and Tyler until the blond one notices me. He cackles out a laugh.

    "Jesus, Bullet," he laughs. "You're getting a girl now? With all this shit going on? You want to drag a chick into your mess?"

    "Fuck off, Jason," Tyler says. "Did Carl send you here then? Or is this another little independent field trip?"

    "Given the state of your face I'm guessing someone came before us," Buzz-cut murmurs.

    "Three guys beat me up when the money went," Tyler says and the two men laugh.

    "Well then we can call this the encore," Jason says and rolls up his sleeves. "Don't worry, we'll spare the girls. High school age, yeah? They're always the best."

    His eyes are full of amusement and a part of me knows that he's just messing around and taunting Tyler, but I can't help the sick feeling I get when he says that. I feel disgust as I look at him, and my heart drops a little when there's no reaction from Tyler.

    That is, until his fist comes out of nowhere and punches Jason in the face.

    Jason stumbles back and falls— he hadn't expected the hit at all. I stumble back with Tally and even Ethan moves away a step.

    "Motherfucker," Jason curses, blood oozing out of his nose. He stands up and wipes the blood off with his arm, but it still comes running down his face.

    Buzz-cut just smirks at Tyler. "You always ran off instinct."

    Tyler breathes heavily, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "Leave me alone, Greg."

    "I don't want to mess with you," he says as Jason groans in pain behind him. "You're not a bad kid. But right now, everyone is siding against you."

    "Do you believe me?" Tyler asks. "Do you side with me?"

    Greg smirks again. "I side with the winning team." He takes a step forward and another and another until he is right in front of Tyler. He places his hands on Tyler's  shoulders tightly, fingers digging into flesh. "Remember. If it isn't you then someone else is taking money and calling the cops . . . and they're letting you take the blame without complaint. Which means you now have an enemy and they can claim complete deniability as long as you're around."

    Greg lets go of his shoulders and turns around, grabbing Jason's arm and dragging him forward. "See you around, Tyler," he calls over his shoulder as he walks away with Jason in tow.

    I let out a long breath when he's gone and Tyler curses while running his hand through his hair and kicking the front tire of his truck. Ethan put his hands behind his head and groans. "This is just perfect," he mutters.

    Tally slaps his shoulder. "Would you like to tell me what the hell all that was?"

Tyler looks over at her and sighs. "You're better off not knowing."

    "Oh, save me that bullshit, Superman," she says. "What the hell just happened? You just punched a guy."

    "I punched him or he punched me!".

    I just stand to the side and pull my sleeves over my hands. I feel stupid just standing there and waiting for someone else to do something. I want to have the courage to go up to them and demand to know what just happened. But that's not my role—it's Tally's. She's the one with the confidence and the guts to just speak her mind.

    She's got the confidence I want to have.

    Tyler turns to look at me. "It's fine. Really. We can just go, there's nothing to worry about."

    —The confidence I will have.

    I shake my head. "No."

    Tyler looks surprised and then his face falls. "Come on Franny, please. It's not that important."

    He walks closer to me until we're a foot apart.

    "No," I say again. "Tyler, you just punched a guy who threatened you and indirectly threatened us. You came walking into my house and asked me to help you. I accepted that you didn't want to tell me what was going on, but this is different, Tyler. Those men were right there, in front of us. And they could have easily hit us as well as you."

    Tyler closes his eyes and looks away. I place a hand on his cheek and the gesture feels so foreign and unknown that I almost lose confidence and move it away.

    "Tyler, if this is your world then I want to know everything about it before you even think about dragging me right into the middle," I say. "Call it returning the favor for patching you up the other night if that helps. But I need to know."

    He looks torn as he decides what to do. His skin is rough and warm under my hand.

    "Okay," he whispers. "Everything you need to know. Nothing more, nothing less."

    I nod and he pushes my hand away, walking past me without another look. I sigh.

    One step forward.

    Two steps back.

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