124 Book(s) Related to aaron gates rivals

"I want to move to Rivers End. I feel like I already have friends there." Dani Collins, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Blue Spruce Lodge series The MacAllisters of Rivers End boxed set includes books #1–4If you love heartwarming, sweet and sexy contemporary small town romance, then come home to Rivers End and fall in love with the MacAllisters and the Murphys. They just want to settle down and lead normal lives in their small Vancouver Island town, but romance blossoms in the unlikeliest places. And trouble has a way of finding them...Silver Bells (Isaac MacAllister + Jenna Murphy, Beginnings)Big River Lodge owner Isaac MacAllister has no time for romance. He’s got enough on his plate with a spritely kindergartener to raise and a business to run. But he doesn’t bargain on the appearance of the irresistible Jenna Murphy. Jenna just wants to escape work and family for a while. In Silver Bells, will she let one sexy dad and his sweet daughter Sara derail her plans for her holiday… and her life?Tipsy (Shannon MacAllister + Lucas Heyes)Shannon MacAllister wants to ring in the new year with someone who is nothing like her ex. She gets her wish. Too bad Lucas Heyes, world-class kisser, is a family traitor who lost her trust five years ago. Lucas wants to mend fences with the MacAllisters and start afresh in Rivers End. In Tipsy, will this dark horse convince Shannon to open her heart and risk trying again?Reindeer Games (Eli Murphy + Ginger Lewis)If wandering homeless in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve isn’t rock bottom, it sure feels like it to Jenna’s estranged brother Eli Murphy. So when Ginger Lewis rescues him, he finds himself fantasizing about a future he doesn’t deserve. But the last thing Ginger needs is a mysterious bad boy with a criminal jawline. Before the Reindeer Games are over, loyalties will be tested and secrets will be spilled.Wedding Bells (Isaac MacAllister + Jenna Murphy, Happily Ever After)In Wedding Bells, Isaac MacAllister is this close to making Jenna Murphy his, forever. Then his ex—Sara’s mother—rolls into town, bringing unfinished business with her. Sidelined by the drama, Jenna knows she should strike out on her own. But how can she, when she already sees Isaac and Sara as family? While all the Rivers End stories can be read as standalones, you may want to read this series in order to preserve any plot surprises and get the full picture of how the characters lives weave together! The following is the suggested reading order:The MacAllisters of Rivers End#1 - Silver Bells (Isaac + Jenna, Beginnings)#2 - Tipsy (Shannon + Lucas)#3 - Reindeer Games (Ginger + Eli)#4 - Wedding Bells (Isaac + Jenna, Happily Ever After)#5 – Elfed (Lindsay + Noah)

In my past life, I signed a marriage agreement, served as a live-in son-in-law for five years, and died in a hospital. Meanwhile, my "wife," Grace, was on the moon, embracing her lover and watching the star rings.
Given a second chance, she threw the agreement in my face at the marriage summit: "Sign it. After the wedding, I'll go find Karl. You'd better act like the legal wife."
I didn't refuse; I just tossed the agreement to my emotional nemesis .
The whole city laughed at my madness.
Until Grace flaunted her "pure-blood heir" at the 100-day celebration, I publicly projected her sterilization report—
the bastard in her arms was the product of her lover and a downtown prostitute.
And her lover was being mutilated in the downtown area.
In this life, I'm not a live-in son-in-law; I'm her gravedigger.

“Morgan Rice's imagination is limitless. In another series that promises to be as entertaining as the previous ones, A THRONE OF SISTERS presents us with the tale of two sisters (Sophia and Kate), orphans, fighting to survive in a cruel and demanding world of an orphanage. An instant success. I can hardly wait to put my hands on the second and third books!”--Books and Movie Reviews (Roberto Mattos)From #1 Bestseller Morgan Rice comes an unforgettable new fantasy series. In A JEWEL FOR ROYALS (A Throne for Sisters—Book Five), Sophia, 17, gets word that Sebastian, her love, is imprisoned and set to be executed. Will she risk it all for love?Her sister Kate, 15, struggles to escape the witch’s power—but it may be too strong. Kate may be forced to pay the price for the deal she made—and to live a life she doesn’t want to.The Queen is furious at Lady D’Angelica for failing to woo her son, Sebastian. She is prepared to sentence her to the Lead Mask. But Lady D’Angelica has her own plans, and she won’t go down so easily.Cora and Emeline finally reach Stonehome—and what they find there shocks them.Most shocking of all, though, is Sophia and Kate’s brother, a man who will change their destinies forever. What secrets does he hold about their long-lost parents?A JEWEL FOR ROYALS (A Throne for Sisters—Book Five) is the fifth book in a dazzling new fantasy series rife with love, heartbreak, tragedy, action, adventure, magic, swords, sorcery, dragons, fate and heart-pounding suspense. A page turner, it is filled with characters that will make you fall in love, and a world you will never forget. Book #6 in the series will be released soon.“[A Throne for Sisters is a] powerful opener to a series [that] will produce a combination of feisty protagonists and challenging circumstances to thoroughly involve not just young adults, but adult fantasy fans who seek epic stories fueled by powerful friendships and adversaries.”--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan)

Jane a slave suffers once again when her fated mate, the Alpha Gillian pushes straight through the door and left her, he realizes their is more to look about in his life and leaves to find out his purpose, Gillian is crowned as a new alpha in an ancient moon community and he goes through a lot with his cousin and in search for his slave mate Jane. All the members of Jane's pack had been brutally slaughtered by their enemies eight years ago, and she had been taken to a hostile pack to be used as a slave, humiliated, and beaten through her lonely formative years.But it was at this time that she was brought back to his pack by her mate, Alpha Gillian of the moon Pack. Here she truly has friends and feels that the future is full of hope. With their encouragement, she tries hard to become stronger, but what comes with it is not a life full of happiness. Her mate is disgusted with her slave status and weakness and leaves her. They later come to meet each other and face a lot together. See how they struggle in their fight with different kinds of evil as they go by with their love story.

Let me tell you how I ended up fake-dating Formula 1’s most infamous bad boy—it wasn’t my idea.

One minute I’m Sloane Hart, a sharp PR specialist who turns shattered reputations around. The next, I’m signing a contract to play girlfriend to Sebastian Vale, the F1 champion branded reckless and cruel after a devastating on-track crash. My role seems simple: pose for paparazzi, stand beside him at events, and rewrite his toxic public image.

But nothing about Sebastian is simple. His intense blue eyes hold a hunger no fake relationship should spark. His quiet touches linger long after cameras fade. Every stolen moment blurs the line between the script we’re selling and something dangerously real.

I soon learn Sebastian didn’t choose me randomly. He orchestrated every detail—the crash, the media firestorm, the contract binding us together. I was never just his PR fix. I was the prize he’d been chasing all along.

Trapped in the glittering, cutthroat world of F1, where secrets hide behind million-dollar smiles and flashing cameras, I discover the truth: Sebastian doesn’t want a temporary girlfriend. He wants me—all of me.

Antonio Rodriguez reigns as the ice-cold mafia king—his heart buried beneath betrayal and ambition.
When Isabella Albero is auctioned to him by her own father, her world shatters overnight.
Desperate for freedom, she plots to buy herself back…
unaware that Antonio has already become obsessed with her.
But Isabella is no helpless pawn.
She's fierce. Resilient. And refuses to belong to anyone.
As desire clashes with control, the tension between them ignites—dangerous, addictive, and impossible to ignore.
Just as she begins to break through his icy walls,
her vengeful ex steps out of the shadows, ready to claim what he believes is his.
Will Isabella finally break free from her past—
or uncover a truth powerful enough to destroy them both?
"I own you, Isabella. Every little part of you has my name on it," Antonio taunted.
"If I ever see you with another man… I'll make you watch as I slit his throat."

In the mythical village of Lupinia, where historical prophecies echo through moonlit woodlands, Akira Stone realizes she is the foretold Luna, destined to unite five powerful alpha werewolves. As an unparalleled white wolf shifter raised in isolation, she must manage not just her newfound abilities, but also the intricate relationships between five dominating males, each of whom declares her as their fated mate. While a historical evil threatens to destroy the delicate balance between the packs, Akira must embody her future or watch as all she's come to love crumbles beneath the weight of prophesy and energy.

For two years, I lived as Mrs. Thorne, a title that felt more like a cage than a crown. I loved my husband, Caspian, with a desperate hope, clinging to the belief that our arranged marriage could become real. I thought the baby I was carrying would finally melt his frozen heart.
I was wrong. A leaked photo of him with another woman shattered my world. A cruel recording of his voice confirmed it: “Nothing about Elara is ever urgent. I am only with her for the child.”
Then came the accident that took the one thing he actually cared about, our unborn son.
Now, I stand before the man who destroyed me. The divorce papers are on the table between us. He thinks I am still the weak woman who begged for his love.
He is wrong. My eyes are dry, my heart is cold, and I have only one demand for the father of my dead child.
“Bring back my baby, or sign this divorce paper.”

Detective Sarah Kane thought she'd seen every kind of evil until a killer leaves her a bone-chilling message: "Thirteen innocents must die for one guilty soul." As bodies pile up around the city, Sarah races against time to solve the deadliest case of her career. Meanwhile, her best friend Maya works as a bodyguard protecting fierce feminist activist Dr. Elena Cross, whose speaking tour is causing riots and threats. When Sarah discovers the killer's next target, she sees these two dangerous situations are connected in the most shocking way possible. Some secrets are worth killing for, and some justice comes with a terrible price.

Elise’s
Every time Damien speaks, I feel myself shrinking, waiting for the edge in his voice to turn cruel. But it never does. He is blunt, yes, but not in the way I have come to fear. He pushes, but not too hard, as if he knows I might break. That unsettles me more than his sharp grin or the way every girl on campus watches him walk by.
I keep telling myself he is dangerous, that his type will ruin me, but my body betrays me. My pulse stumbles when his hand brushes mine. My stomach twists when his attention lingers too long. And deep down, I am terrified of what will happen if I stop running from him. Because for the first time in years, part of me wonders what it would feel like to trust a man again.


His hot breath makes me sigh. “And I would like your cock.”
“Already?”
“Yes.”
“Careful, Paulina…” Adrian warns. “You are so tight.” He slides one thick finger inside me, and I shut my eyes as he adds another. I clench around them, and he breathes a low laugh. “My cock is much, much bigger than this. Do you think you can handle it?”
My answer is a breathless gasp. “Yes…” The truth is, I might actually die if I do not feel him inside me. I am pulsating with need. “Fuck me, Adrian.”
A dark, low chuckle rumbles from his chest.
His fingers slide deeper, finding a perfect, sensitive spot. He works me there, his touch slow and expert. It is not long before my breaths are coming in short, ragged pants.
“Ungh…” I moan. “That feels so good…”

Detective Sam Rivera thought that leaving the LAPD would help her get away from the evil that followed her around. Tidewaters, California, is a quiet beach town, but it hides secrets deeper than the Pacific Ocean. When her second day as a private investigator comes around and she finds the body of a youth, she remembers the people who told her, "Don't trust anything here." As Sam digs deeper, she finds a web of corruption that includes lost children, old practices, and a town that feeds on its own children. But what was the scariest discovery? The young girl who died keeps showing up in her dreams, pleading for justice from beyond the grave. They won't let strangers leave some places if they know too much about them.

At the Morello family’s Christmas dinner, I stood beside Vincent, waiting for him to announce our engagement.
Instead, in the very next second, he walked in holding a little boy and claimed him as his son.
And the woman he said he was going to marry? Scarlett Morello. The one he had always introduced as his “sister.”
The whole room erupted in applause. I stood there frozen, like a nail hammered into the floor.
Later, in his study, he took my hand and said, “Scarlett is dying. Late-stage breast cancer. She only has six months left. After she’s gone, I’ll marry you.”
But there was no guilt in his eyes. No love, either.
Then he told me to go to his villa that afternoon, to take care of the woman who was supposedly “dying.”
I opened the photo he sent me. Scarlett was lying in a hospital bed, pale-faced, an IV in the back of her hand.
A professional tennis player who had been playing in an exhibition match three weeks ago, and who had dropped three grand at Louis Vuitton on Fifth Avenue just five days ago.
But sure. She was “dying.”
At three in the morning, I was curled up by the front door of my apartment, crying so long I lost track of time.
Then my phone lit up. A text from an unknown number:
[Elena, I’m downstairs. When we were kids, you told me that once I controlled the docks on the East Coast, you’d marry me. The docks are mine now. Does that promise still stand?]
I pulled back the curtain and there he was. Ethan Vitale, my first love, leaning against the door of a black Cadillac, lifting a hand in a lazy wave.
Three years ago, when he left New York, he was only a Capo.
Now, he was the Don of the Vitale family.
He didn’t rush me. Didn’t pressure me to come downstairs.
He came for one reason only, to let me know he was back.
I wiped away my tears and texted back:
[It still stands.]
Because I wanted to see for myself just how long that woman could keep up her act.

When the world fell to monsters, Avery was just a girl with nothing but a name.

Now she's hunted by ancient Titans—creatures from myth that should never have been real—and saved by three deadly brothers bound in blood, magic, and secrets. Damien is cold and cruel, convinced she’s hiding something. Ezra is her reluctant protector, willing to defy his own blood for her. And Rowan… wears a muzzle for a reason.

They say she’s marked. Chosen. That the Titans want her for what she is, or what she’s becoming.

She says she just wants to go home.

But love in the ruins is dangerous, and Avery is about to learn:
you don’t survive the end of the world without breaking—or being claimed.

She betrayed him. He destroyed her. And death may not be enough to separate them.

Eve Carter's testimony sent Sean Winters to prison for three years. When he emerged as Wall Street's most ruthless CEO, his vengeance was calculated and complete—seizing custody of the daughter she hid from him and watching her suffer with cold satisfaction.

What Sean doesn't know: Eve was forced to lie by her powerful mayor father. What Eve can't tell him: she's dying of terminal cancer with six months left to live.

Their daughter Grace, a bright-eyed six-year-old with a failing heart, builds fairy houses and whispers to her stuffed animals about the mommy and daddy who never smile together. Her innocent laughter masks the tragic legacy of two broken families.

When Eve takes a knife meant for Sean, his dismissive words cut deeper than the blade: "We're even now."

But nothing is even in a game rigged by fate.

After Eve chooses death over suffering, leaving behind a devastating confession, Sean's world shatters. A year later, still broken and raising their daughter alone, he glimpses honey-blonde hair in a crowd and hears that haunting laugh.

Is Eve defying death itself to reclaim what was stolen? Or will the truth destroy what remains of Sean's sanity when he discovers what really happened six years ago? Read now to find out!

Riley leans in, pressing his lips to hers in a soft, gentle kiss. Sofia responds, her lips parting as she deepens the kiss. Danny and Leo watch for a moment, then join in, their hands roaming over Sofia’s body as they kiss her neck and shoulder.

I watch, my own body reacting to the sight of my girl being kissed by my best friends. I would lie if I said I wouldn't rather take her all to myself, but I know they care for her and like her so damn much, just the way I do, and I can't help but feel warm at the thought of her getting this much love for once in her life.


To everyone else, Sofia looks like a quiet, shy girl who loves books more than people. Some even wonder if she lives in the library. But there’s a reason why she’s scared to go home; she overheard her parents planning to sell her to some rich mafia man so they could become rich themselves. Trying her best to avoid her house, she gets kidnapped by four men who planned to use her to hurt her husband-to-be. But the more time they spend with her, the more they fall in love, yes, all four of them.

Will they push their feelings aside to take down the mafia leader, or will they keep her to themselves?"

Mia Brooke saw a murder she was never supposed to survive.

Now the threats are coming, and her family has hired Callum Townes to keep her alive.

Cold, tattooed, and dangerously controlled, Callum thinks Mia is just another privileged girl who needs protection from a world she does not understand. Mia thinks he is arrogant, impossible, and the last thing she wants shadowing her every move.

But forced together by danger, the distance between them starts to disappear.

He notices every tremble she tries to hide. She sees the heat beneath his restraint. And when the threats close in, protection begins to feel like possession.

Callum was hired to guard her body.

He was never supposed to want it.

"He rejected her like she was nothing. He didn't know she was everything."

Seraphina Frost was the quiet girl. The weak one. The rejected mate. When Kaston Grey looked her in the eyes and said "I reject you as my mate and my Luna," he didn't flinch. He chose Violet Rosso instead — a socialite with a million followers and a ruthless agenda.

So Seraphina left. She hid her true Alpha scent under wolfsbane every morning, traded her family crest for a law degree, and built a quiet life in Port Sterling. Nobody knew she was the sole heiress to the Frostmoon Clan. Nobody knew about the fifty billion in assets, the private armies, or the seat on the Apex Directorate. Nobody knew she was the most powerful Alpha on the continent.

Nobody except Cassius Aetheris — the youngest Chairman in Directorate history — who had been checking into the Port Sterling penthouse every year without fail, watching over her from a distance, waiting. Now the Blood Moon Summit is three months away. Frostmoon Clan has no Alpha heir on record. Her father's message is short: come home or lose everything her mother built.

Seraphina goes back to Blackridge County. Not as the girl who faded into walls. As an attorney, a clan heir, and an Apex-level Alpha who is done being underestimated. Kaston's pack is already falling apart. His money is gone. Violet has shown her true face. And the man who rejected her without blinking now wants her back.

Too late.

But Kaston was never the real threat. Someone has been quietly dismantling the Aetheris Clan from within — long before Seraphina came home. Talon Voss. A name spoken only in whispers. Kidnappings. Assassinations. A secret bloodline powerful enough to shatter the entire Directorate.

Seraphina, armed with her law degree, her mother's wolf-bone talisman, and three years of buried rage, is the only one positioned to stop him. Cassius spent years protecting her from a distance. Now it's her turn.

There's still the matter of the Moon-Silver Cuff — forged in blood, engraved in rune, commissioned by Cassius years ago with both their initials fused in silver. He never stopped waiting. She never stopped running. The mate bond never stopped burning.

The most dangerous person in any room is the one everyone wrote off. Seraphina Frost is done being written off.

She's the housekeeper's daughter. He's Manhattan's coldest billionaire. One drugged drink changes everything.

Aria Taylor wakes up in Blake Morgan's bed, accused of seducing him. Her punishment? A five-year marriage contract—his wife on paper, his servant in reality. While Blake flaunts his true love Emma at Manhattan galas, Aria pays for her father's medical bills with her dignity.

Three years of humiliation. Three years of being called a murderer's daughter—because her father's car "accidentally" killed a powerful man, leaving him comatose and her family destroyed.

Now Aria's pregnant with Blake's child. The baby he swore he'd never want.

Someone wants her dead. They locked her in a freezer, sabotaged her every step. Is it because her father is waking up? Because someone's terrified of what he might remember?

Her own mother tries to pull his plug. Blake's perfect Emma isn't who she pretends to be. And those memories Aria has of saving Blake from a fire? Everyone says they're impossible.

But they're not.

As attacks escalate, Aria discovers the ultimate betrayal: The woman who raised her might not be her real mother. The accident that destroyed her life might have been murder. And Blake—the man who treats her like property—might be her only salvation.

When her father wakes up, what secrets will he reveal? Will Blake discover his wife carries his heir before someone kills her? And when he learns who really saved him, who really drugged him, and who's been hunting his wife—will his revenge become her redemption?

“Jaxon,” she moans, her fingers twisting in my hair.
I reach her center, my fingers tracing the inside of her thighs. She’s soaked, and I know it has nothing to do with her shower. I can feel her clit throbbing, begging for attention. And God I'm going to give into it.


Jaxon raised by the Black Vipers since he was three, to those who know him, he’s nothing but a weapon—cold, untouchable, soulless. Across the city, Paige Taylor is the prized “Silk Tongue” of the Crimson Circle. Though innocent at heart, she has been trained from childhood to be the perfect translator and negotiato. Their paths collide during a high-stakes meeting that goes horribly wrong.

“What are you doing in my room, Kade?” I demand, my analytical brain frantically calculating his proximity as I back against the locked door. “Our agreement is purely transactional. A fake relationship for the media.”

He steps into my space, his tall frame cutting off the light, eyes dark with a reckless heat that doesn't match his usual icy control. He grabs my wrist gently, pinning it to the wood, his lips brushing my ear as his voice drops into a gravelly whisper.

“The cameras aren’t watching us right now, Doc,” he rasps, his chest pressing against mine. “So stop lying to me. And stop pretending your heart isn't beating just as fast as mine.”

She’s the elite clinical psychologist, sharp, guarded, and hired to dissect the minds of the world's most dangerous drivers. But she’s harboring a dark past and secrets that could ruin her career if the paddock ever finds out.

He’s the ruthless F1 champion, arrogant, emotionally locked down, and drowning in a family crisis he refuses to let the world see. He doesn't trust anyone, least of all the brilliant woman hired to evaluate him.

To survive a relentless corporate nightmare and a media circus, they agree to a dangerous game: a fake relationship.

They are supposed to be playing a part.
They are supposed to keep their distance.

But as a shadowy predator begins closing in on her perimeter, and a midnight rooftop kiss shatters their clinical boundaries, their twisted arrangement ignites something far more volatile than a racetrack with pure desire.

In a world where trust is a liability and secrets are weaponized, falling for her driver might be her most catastrophic miscalculation.

I've played the broken girl for years, hiding behind a fake scar. They think they've crushed me. They're wrong. Revenge is mine.

"You can't run from me," Jack Sterling smirked, eyes blazing.

"I've destroyed worse." I snapped, "Underestimate me. Big mistake."

In his private suite, his touch claimed me. "You're mine to break," he growled, his kiss igniting a hunger I can't escape.

Tortured by my cruel sister, betrayed by my ex, nearly sold off—my life's hell. But I'll save my loved ones and burn them all.

Ella Blake, the forgotten heiress, hides her power behind a fake scar, her medical skills a deadly secret. Swapped at birth, she fights for her truth and her dying sister. Jack Sterling, a ruthless billionaire, battles pain only Ella can soothe. Their explosive bond, built on lies, fuels a dangerous game of lust and betrayal as Jack's control tightens.

Just when Ella's ready to crush her sister, a shocking truth drops: she was pregnant and had a child. As her world shatters, will this secret tear her and Jack apart—or bind them in unthinkable ways? Read now to uncover the truth!

Madeline Quinn was supposed to spend the summer tracking whales—not falling for the two rugged, infuriating brothers who run the research boat.

Jake is steady and silent. Reid is sharp and impossible. They’re both off-limits.

And yet… the deeper she goes, the harder it is to come up for air.


“You should’ve stayed on the boat,” Jake said, voice quiet but firm.

“I’m not made of glass,” she snapped.

Reid pushed off the wall with one boot. “No, you’re made of trouble.”

“Reid—” Jake warned without looking at him.

“What?” Reid said with a shrug, moving a step closer. “Look at her. She knows what she’s doing.”

Madeline lifted her chin. “And what exactly am I doing?”

“Turning this into something dangerous,” Reid said, almost too calmly. His eyes didn’t waver.

Jake finally looked at her. “It already is.”

She swallowed. Her pulse thudded in her throat.

“You think I don’t feel it too?”

Reid’s lips twitched like he almost smiled. “Oh, she feels it.”
He stepped closer—just enough to make her catch her breath.
“But I don’t think she knows what to do with it.”

Jake stood now, his movements slower, more deliberate. “That’s enough.”

“No,” Madeline said, softer now. “He’s right. I don’t know what this is. With either of you.”

Reid’s voice dropped. “Then let us show you.”

A long silence. The kind that doesn’t feel empty—just heavy.

Jake’s gaze didn’t waver. “Together.”

Her breath hitched. Rain hit the windows. Her towel slipped an inch lower on her shoulder.

“God help me,” she whispered.

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.

Boomer’s story is about a boy split into three lives — before, during, and after Penelope Vales. Before her, he was just a kid running from a broken past, enlisting in the army to prove himself and earning his nickname through failure, grit, and loyalty. During her, he fell quietly, painfully, for the girl he could never have, standing beside her boyfriend and forcing himself to swallow what he felt while still protecting her in every way he could. After her, and after things crumbled with Mila, he’s left adrift — no uniform, no love, no clear identity — and has to learn how to rebuild himself piece by piece, to stop defining his worth by battles or by people he couldn’t keep, and finally figure out who he is when all that’s left is him.