Free Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) by Addison Kline Page A

just drop it…” pleaded Tristan firmly.
     
    Cole wasn’t having it.
     
    “Tristan,” he said more firmly than before. “You need to tell me!”
     
    “Please!” she barked at Cole.
     
    Tristan hated having to be so firm with Cole. The fact of the matter was that she couldn’t bring herself to repeat the words that came out of Jesse Trafford’s mouth just five minutes ago. All sympathy that Tristan once harbored for Jesse was gone and was now replaced with the sentiment that he was nothing more than a trouble-making chauvinistic pig.
     
     
     
    “I’m not leaving until you tell me what he said.”
     
    “Oh, fine!” said Tristan getting annoyed.
     
    She didn’t want Cole or her brothers getting into fights over something petty. Tristan did not understand that something that she conveyed as petty, was actually taken quite serious by Cole and her brothers. Tristan whispered into Cole’s ear and told him exactly what Trafford said. His impatient look turned into an expression of supreme fury. Though he had much that he wanted to say, Cole bit his tongue.
     
    “Look, I have to finish my shift… It’s just Trafford being a pig. No need to get yourself arrested, or my brothers, for that matter,” said Tristan as she rose from the bench.
     
    “When you’re done your shift, come for a walk with me…” Cole suggested. He didn’t like seeing her upset, but there was no use fighting with her. Tristan could handle herself, he knew, but he also felt like it was his job to protect her from idiots like Jesse Trafford.
     
    Tristan smiled as she agreed, “Okay, like a half hour… And thanks.”
     
    Cole pulled Tristan into a hug while the gears in his head spun. As he watched his girlfriend go back inside, Cole pulled a black cell phone from his jean pocket.
     
    “Yo Tommy…” Cole said into the phone with a dangerous tone to his voice.
     
    “What’s up?” blurted Tommy from the other end of the line.
     
    “Meet me behind Montes in ten minutes,” Cole demanded.
     
    “On my way.”
     
     
    ***
     
    Joe was in the kitchen when Tristan returned. Nonchalantly, he glanced at Tristan as if nothing had happened. He focused his attention on slicing a tomato on a cutting board, trying not to make her feel uncomfortable.
     
    “You good?” he asked.
     
    “Yeah, I’m good,” said Tristan reassuringly.
     
    “We have a few more tables to collect orders for, and then you can go for the day.”
     
    “You got it.”
     
    ***
     
    A group of women in their late ‘30s had converged in the dining room and were now seated in the same booth where Jesse Trafford had sat earlier. Their presence immediately lightened Tristan’s mood. The ladies were part of a group called the Corrigan Street Literary Collective, which was a book club comprised of five friends who all happened to grow up on Corrigan Street. The members of the group included Audrey Henning, April Dearing, Jackie Prince, Claudia Black and Shauna Peck. Only four of the ladies had arrived, so Tristan decided to give them a few minutes before she would take their order. The ladies showed up every Thursday night to gossip, catch up and discuss their book of the week.
     
    From behind Tristan, the front door of Monte’s swung open again as the final member of the book club arrived. A petite, dark haired woman with a pixie cut walked in and loudly greeted her companions as she traipsed across the restaurant without a care in the world.
     
    “Oh! Look who decided to join us!” said April Dearing, a fair skinned woman with a crew cut.
     
    As Audrey Henning took her seat at the table, she smiled at everyone and continued to chatter loudly, clearly ignoring April’s comment.
     
    “You will never guess who I just saw!” declared Audrey in an excited voice. Collectively, the women replied,
     
    “Who?!”
     
    Audrey paused for dramatic effect, and then blurted out,
    “Angie O’Mara!”
     
    “Get the hell outta here!” yelled Shauna, a