Project Alaric: Book One ✔️

Chapter Seven

Emery Gray

"I can't believe you talked Axton into letting you use his Jeep for this. I told you it was fine." I pouted as we put our backpacks on. "I thought we were on a ghost-hunting road trip. Where do waterfalls fall into that category?"

"They fall into that category because I say they do. Stop pouting and make sure you have enough sunscreen on. Move it, we have a precious schedule to follow. And if I leave Axton and Apollo alone for too long, they resort to petty bickering, and no one wants to deal with that."

"When is it appropriate to point out that you drove fifty miles out of the way to go hiking? It wasn't needed. I could have gone some other time."

"Coulda. Shoulda. Woulda. What did I say about pouting?" Alaric pointed at my lips. "Stop it."

I sneered at him and then gave him my favorite finger to his back. "What did I say about pouting?" I mocked. "That's what you sound like."

Alaric barked out a laugh as he faced me. Fucking damn it. He looked so good today. "I don't sound like that at all. Now, get your feet moving. Don't waste the perfectly good hiking boots I bought for you."

"Of course. We wouldn't want that. Considering I didn't pack for a hike. A two-mile hike at that. My feet will be cursing your name later. If worse comes to worst, you'll be carrying me on your back. How do you feel about that, big boy?"

He shrugged as he adjusted the straps on his backpack. "I'll carry you if I have to. Come on."

Sighing dramatically, I dragged my feet after him. I never thought he'd take my suggestion seriously about the waterfall. And I didn't want to tell him that I was excited about it. Because I was. Excited, I mean. Seeing waterfalls is another one of my favorite things. Sometimes I felt lucky that most of my interests had visuals. Though, I wasn't sure I could make that case for ghosts.

And what did it say about Alaric that he'd done this? Knowing I enjoyed waterfalls? I was trying my hardest not to allow him to crawl inside my brain and make a home there. But every second of the following...several days, he'd been slowly crawling inside, and invading. I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to.

Alaric told me he'd be honest if something changed. He hadn't said anything, so I had to wonder if this was just a friendly little activity. I mean, you'd do nice things like this for your friends. When I thought about it, if Aurora, Lyric, or Jason wanted to do something like see a damn waterfall, I'd take them in a heartbeat. It didn't mean anything. Not a damn thing.

I kept my pace just behind Alaric as we walked along the trail. He had the map out, following the directions we were given. I glanced around our surroundings, taking my phone out to snap photos every so often. I trusted Alaric to get us to the waterfall with little to no issue.

The peace we created through our walk was a comfortable silence, yet I still wanted to break it somehow. Alaric was eager to ask me questions yesterday, and I failed to return the sentiment. Sure, the whole point was for us to get to know each other. But getting to know him was far more dangerous than him getting to know me.

I might do something stupid like...get feelings for him.

Shivering, I decided to shove away the negative train of thought. I still wanted to know him despite the protests of my heart. "So, you mentioned a sister. Do you only have one? I don't have siblings. I'm a spoiled only child."

Alaric chuckled, glancing at me over his shoulder before he continued through the tree-covered path. The air was so moist right now. I could feel it sticking to my skin. "I have two sisters. Brielle and Harper. They're my half-sisters. Brielle is seventeen and Harper is fifteen."