Tristian
The Doherty Mafia #5
Kasey Krane Savannah Rylan
Copyright © 2021 by Kasey Krane & Savannah Rylan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
1. Elsie
2. Tristian
3. Elsie
4. Tristian
5. Elsie
6. Tristian
7. Elsie
8. Tristian
9. Elsie
10. Tristian
11. Elsie
12. Tristian
13. Elsie
14. Tristian
15. Elsie
16. Tristian
17. Elsie
18. Tristian
19. Elsie
20. Tristian
21. Elsie
22. Tristian
23. Elsie
24. Tristian
25. Elsie
26. Tristian
27. Elsie
28. Tristian
29. Elsie
30. Tristian
31. Elsie
Epilogue
Sneak Peak at Nolan
About Kasey Krane
More Books by Kasey Krane
About Savannah Rylan
More Books by Savannah Rylan
One
Elsie
Ten years ago
I sat with my legs hanging off the jetty, staring out at the calm waters of the lake in front of me. The sun was about to set and the sky was a deep purplish color I’d fallen in love with.
At first, when my parents told me we’re spending the whole summer out at this lake house, I was hesitant to go. I didn’t want to leave the city, I didn’t want to be away from my friends for that long. But once I got to the lake house and saw how pretty the sky looked in the late evening, I never wanted to leave.
I had a book in my hand which I hadn’t been reading. Still stuck on the first page of the first chapter. I just couldn’t focus on the text. There was so much on my mind. Which, as a twelve year old, usually meant crushes and boys.
It was exactly how cliched I was. Just another stereotype.
I had a crush on Jasper Conron ever since I remembered. Ever since I saw him at kindergarten. He had big blue eyes and a winning smile, but it was like he never noticed me.
Maybe it was my fault. I was too geeky and nerdy, too predictable. I was too interested in books and math. We had spent so long together, with our lives running parallel to each other’s. However, it never happened to coincide. Jasper probably didn’t even know I existed.
The older we got, the more handsome he became. He turned into the guy every girl in school and in the neighborhood had a crush on. And he knew it.
My best friend, Sonya, and I would spend hours daydreaming about marrying Jasper. What our dream wedding would look like. How many kids we’d have.
Just childish stupid stuff.
Neither of us ever expected it to come true. Neither of us expected him to notice us.
And then, just like that, out of the blue, he did.
But it wasn’t me Jasper noticed. It was Sonya.
I was shocked when he walked over to us one day at the cafeteria and asked Sonya if she would have lunch with him. She didn’t even give me a second glance as she breathlessly accepted his invitation and they trotted off together.
When I called her after school that day, because I hadn’t been able to get a hold of her after lunch, she refused to come to the phone. She didn’t speak to me at school the next day. I didn’t know what I did wrong, but it felt like I’d done something.
She was embarrassed of me.
Sonya did eventually come clean. A whole week later.
She didn’t even want to be seen talking to me, so she promised to stop by my house after school. She only stayed for fifteen minutes that day. She told me she was officially dating Jasper now. That she even planned to have sex with him, she’d make her dream come true and marry him. But, I couldn’t be a part of it.
Sonya didn’t want me to be around because Jasper was too cool for me.
I didn’t know what to be more heartbroken over—the fact my best friend now dated the boy who I thought was the love of my life. Or, the fact my best friend had now written me out of her life because I embarrassed her.
Either way, the plan of going to the lake house for the summer, couldn’t have come at a better time.
I sat alone on the jetty for a while before my father joined me. He settled in beside me with his legs dangling a few feet above the water too.
“It’s nice out here, right?” he said.
“How’d you notice? You’ve been working ever since we got here,” I grumbled.
According to him, the lake house belonged to a business associate of his who had kindly lent it to us for the summer. But it looked like—in exchange of the favor, they also expected my father to be available for business meetings whenever they wanted. He’d been gone for hours every day since we arrived.
He threw an arm around me now, drawing me close to him.
“I’m sorry for being busy, honey. I promise I’ll wrap things up quickly so we can spend more time together.”
I pushed his arm away and continued staring out at the sky. I preferred to be alone with my thoughts. And it seemed like my father understood. We just sat in silence there for a long while before he spoke again.
“Mom told me about what happened with Sonya.”
I turned to him with an angry jerk.
“Why can’t she keep a secret?” I snapped.
“I’ll tell you a secret, honey. The key to a good marriage is honesty and loyalty. Your mother and I tell each other everything,” he said, smiling softly.
I rolled my eyes at that. It wasn’t the moment to give me a lesson on marriage and relationships.
My father held his hands up in surrender.
“Okay, I’m sorry, I’m not going to pry. I just wanted you to know that I’m here if you want to talk, Elsie.”
The truth was; I did want to talk to him. Ever since I was a little girl, it was my father whom I felt was the one person who truly understood me. Except,
