Project Alaric: Book One ✔️

Triple-A

Emery Gray

Do you know those books or even those movies where the bad boys run the show? Everyone gravitates toward them--wanting their piece of the action. Everyone wants their own little slice of bad boy. They fawn over them. Worship the ground they walk on. And even bow down to them in some cases.

Weird, right?

Well, in this story, no one worships the ground Triple-A walks on. No one wants a piece of their action. No one wants their own little slice of bad boy. And under no circumstance is anyone bowing down to Triple-A.

Real life doesn't work the same way people write in books. Triple-A will glare at anyone who decides to get too close, but that's few and far between. People only approach them because of connections, not because they want to approach them.

Axton Reynolds is the biggest mystery out of the three of them. He's angry for reasons I might never know. He doesn't want new friends. He will bark, but he doesn't actually have a bite to him. There is a dark cloud hanging over his head, and it is like he's waiting for the clouds to clear so he can have a moment to breathe. But I somehow get through the long dark tunnel when it comes to him. Enough for him to spill his secrets? No. Enough to befriend someone everyone swears is unobtainable? Yes. Axton takes a liking to me. He confides in school issues with me. Life issues. But never about his past. And I'd be stupid to ask about something he doesn't wish to speak about.

Apollo Diaz is like the guard dog for Triple-A. He scans every area they enter as if he's searching for a threat. He stays close to Axton--almost like he would willingly take whatever shot was meant for Axton. Which only furthered my curiosity. What made Apollo so protective? What is he protecting Axton from? His chocolate eyes will burn hotter than the fire in Hell if he senses even a whiff of a threat. They will sear into your very soul and steal your next breath. And yet, Apollo warms up to me quickly. I wasn't expecting it. But I would, in no way, deny it. Apollo is easier to talk to than he presents himself out to be.

Alaric Benson, the one with the goblin-like green eyes. The one who smiles. The one who jokes. The one who hides behind this jokester mask. Whatever pain he endured is still there, lingering. I see it every time I look at him. But I also noticed how some of that darkness started to deplete the more I got to know the elusive Alaric Benson. His green eyes like to stick to me a little longer than what is considered normal. But I didn't mind. Not one ounce. I wanted to know more about him. I want all of his secrets. I want all of his pain. I want everything he offers freely. And the more I stare into his eyes, the more I am around him, and the more time I spend with him, I start to realize it's getting harder to stay away. I want to wrap myself up in him--I want to hang off every word he speaks. He has this calming effect on me that I never thought was possible to have in real life. Books spoke of these occurrences, and I brushed them off. Yet, the longer I spend time around Alaric, the more I start to believe those books and movies about love were on to something.

Triple-A isn't wildly loved like you see in books and movies. They're not feared by their enemies. They're not villains. They're not heroes. They're boys with painful pasts. They're human beings with souls. They're people with more empathy than I was prepared for. And I will never give them up for the world.

No matter if I lose people in the process.

Because the books got one thing right when it came to "bad boys."

Triple-A is severely misunderstood.

And I will move oceans to make sure they know that I understand them.

Book One: Project Alaric
Book Two: Project Apollo
Book Three: Project Axton
Book Four: Axton's Second Book.
Book Five: Rescuing Damon Stryker