Page 16 (1/2)

"Stay out of it, Ben I’ive a shit what they do"

The second part was a lie, but he also didn’t want Ben tied up in their problems

"No skin off my nose But you need to do the saot what you want You don’t need to worry about life here" Ben cleared his throat "I’ve got aup before Tristan could reply He set the cell on his lap, reached over and grabbed another frolove box One, two, three, four, five He counted, though not his pulse He still needed the nus for the slow, deep voice to answer the phone "Yeah"

"You didn’t tell me about the murders"

"You didn’t call You said not to call you"

Tristan sighed "Nothing’s changed?" he asked

"Nope Are we ready to move forward? Do you want me to take care of it?"

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE

"No, not yet Keep an ear out for anything else I’ll call soon"

Tristan hung up the phone and slid it back into his glove box He wouldn’t be afraid to do what needed to be done this tih Who protected as his And maybe then he’d be okay ho he was

CHAPTER NINE

Mateo