Being With You (The Redemption Series) Read Online Free Page A

what they’re tipping you!” Tristan turned and looked at the rest of the employees working and pinned them all with a menacing face and extended to all of them, “None of you deserve that kind of shit. It ever happens again you let myself or Gabriel know…got it?”
    His voice was full of authority and sounded almost foreign to his own ears, but he was instantly pissed off and protective of the staff. To the point of wanting to go find this McKenley and pound his face. But he knew he needed to tone it down, otherwise he was going to look like a psychopath. It wasn’t unusual for drunken customers to get a little frisky with the staff members, but it felt like the right time to step up to his assumed role as manager at the supper club.
    Gabriel came out of his office wearing a huge grin across his scruffy face that was in complete contrast to his normal darkened look. Tristan couldn’t help but laugh at the foreign expression, and it only served to make Gabe smile even more.
    When he stopped next to the bar, Tristan sauntered over to him and had to know what had happened to make Gabriel so damn happy all of a sudden. “Proud of you, kid,” was all he said before turning around and heading for the front door. “I’m outta here, everybody! Check in with Tristan before you leave for the night. Great job!” His words were about as laced with pride as possible, and Tristan couldn’t help but feel a little odd being on the receiving end of Gabe’s praise.
    For the past few weeks, he’d been acting somewhat the part of leader at the club, but he’d never taken it upon himself to interact or correct the staff if things were amiss. He never thought it was his place and that Gabriel could handle all of it. Now he could see that his boss was waiting for him to step up and take control…something he never even realized he would be good at. But fuck, it felt good to not only have someone be proud of him, but also to know that he was trusted enough to take care of the business and the employees without someone watching over his shoulder.
    With the slight high of his new realization, Tristan felt like it was the right time to pull his head out of his ass and get moving on some other things in his life. He wanted things to get better for himself, yet he seemed to always be wallowing in self pity. Looking around at what he did have…the good things, not just the bad, something inside him snapped…for the better. The pieces of his puzzle finally started to make sense, and he felt like he could work on putting himself back together a little bit at a time.
    Starting with reaching out to someone else who needed a hand up…or a swift kick in the ass. Whichever came first…

Chapter Four

    “A ll done!” Susy shouted over the bar as Tristan worked on the last bit of clean up he had to do for the evening. They were the last two in the restaurant for the night, with Susy left to clean up the mess her party left behind. Fair is fair…if she wanted to split the work with her co-workers, then she had to split the tip. She usually didn’t, and no one faulted her for that because she was a hard worker anyway.
    Tristan was nursing a beer as he waited for her to finish and was ready for his second when she waved goodbye. He sat down the glass with a thud and told her, “Good. Now we can finish that talk.”
    Susy spun on her heel and gave him a puzzled look. “I thought we hashed that our already, Tristan. I told you earlier that we’re good.” Her words were punctuated with nervous laughter before she turned back around and picked up her pace toward the door.
    Nervous about something? Tristan pondered with a smirk.
    “No, we need to talk. Just you and I without extra ears listening in, Sus.” The new nickname was rolling off his tongue easily and he liked the way she crinkled her nose when he said it. Plus, it made her stop moving toward the door, meaning he got her attention.
    “I never say something I don’t mean, Tristan.