The MORE Trilogy by T.M. Franklin Read Free Book Online Page A

narrowed as he made his way back to the empty doorway, settling in for a long night.
    Ava appeared briefly in the window and he saw Katherine stiffen, pointedly looking toward her, then back at him, a brow arched in challenge. He glared at her, and she laughed, slipping deeper into the shadows. He knew she wasn’t gone, though. He could still feel her nearby.
    Watching him. Watching Ava. Waiting for the order they both knew was coming.
    Caleb sighed in frustration.
    Time was running short, and if he didn’t figure out what to do next, Ava was going to be in serious trouble.

    Ava yawned as she gathered up the trash at the end of the night before slipping out the side door and kicking a rock into the jamb to keep it from locking behind her. Dragging the garbage bags behind her, she spared a moment to mourn her sore feet and aching back. It had been a crazy night, with crowds dropping in on their way home from Halloween parties to gorge on greasy food and coffee before heading back out. She frowned, realizing that it would most likely be more of the same the following night.
    Lucy had texted a couple of reports from her big date with Philippe, and had apparently had a great time. The two would be going to the Halloween party together, and Lucy very unsubtly suggested Ava call in sick to work and call Caleb so they could double.
    Ava ignored the text.
    It was enough to put Caleb on the brain, apparently, because she could have sworn she saw him through the front window of the diner. It was only for a second, though, and then he was gone. So, most likely, she imagined it.
    Probably.
    Or Caleb was some kind of stalker.
    Immediately, she felt a wash of guilt at the thought. Caleb was a nice guy and had done nothing but try to help her. He’d never given her any reason to feel uncomfortable around him, and she wasn’t going to let her own paranoia destroy a blossoming friendship that was becoming important to her.
    A friendship. That was all, despite whatever Lucy said.
    Ava sighed as she heaved the bags into the dumpster then pressed her hands against her lower back, stretching out her spine with an exhausted moan.
    “This is why I’m going to college,” she muttered to herself. “So I don’t have to do this for the rest of my life.”
    After a moment, Ava turned to head back into the diner, only to freeze as an uneasy feeling wafted over her, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. She glanced out toward the street, daring to take a few steps so she could look one way, then the other, scanning the shadows for whatever was making her feel so jumpy.
    Why did she constantly feel as if someone was watching her? The mysterious dark-haired woman. The huge man with the frightening eyes. Even Caleb, who was obviously not threatening in any way but seemed to be everywhere lately.
    She took a deep breath, searching the shadows but seeing nothing.
    The feeling didn’t leave her, though, not even when she made her way back into the diner, pulling the door tightly closed behind her. And Ava was beginning to wonder just how long she could ignore the lingering suspicion that maybe she wasn’t being paranoid after all.

Chapter 4
    The sun shone the following afternoon, but Ava didn’t notice, absorbed instead in a constant parade of sandwiches, coffee, and slices of pie. The diner was busy again, with costumed diners either heading out trick-or-treating or to another round of parties, and it wasn’t until after the dinner rush that Ava had time to take her lunch break. She sat at the counter, mindlessly munching on the meatloaf special as she flipped through her physics notes.
    “Crap!” Callie, one of the other waitresses, glared at her phone in irritation, twirling a lock of curly blonde hair around a finger.
    “Everything okay?”
    Callie blinked at her, crossing to fill Ava’s coffee cup and leaning on the counter as she chewed on her lip. “Babysitter just called. My little one’s got a fever of a hundred and