Chapter 1
Ben
Three male strippers walk out of a bank.
Sounds like the start of a hacky joke, but there’s no joke when it comes to the Trifecta. Yes, we’re well aware the Trifecta sounds a tad bit pretentious, but we play it off and we make it look good.
Damn good.
I know we’re eye catching. This is what we do for a living. Make an entrance, and keep the attention on us until we’ve left the room. And here we are, our attention level is off the charts and we’re loving every second of it.
We’ve been the Trifecta since the moment we were born. My mom had the bright idea to name us Benjamin, Axel, and Damien, B.A.D, and let me tell you... we are. We’re bad for your heart, bad for your senses, and bad for your wallet.
All three of us were born, little clones of each other, all of us ten minutes apart. We’re brothers. We were born scrawny, premature, tiny triplet boys. Babies who when we first came out of the womb had a small chance of having a normal life, boy were they right. A normal life is not what we’re living and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
My brothers not so much.
They want out.
They want more. I’m just following them because we stick together. If I could have it my way, I’d live this life forever and never tire of it.
We’ve always stuck together.
Through thick and thin.
Or I should say thin to thick, because we aren’t thin anymore.
The scene we’re creating right now is one of my favorites so far, and that’s saying a lot because we’ve had a lot of scenes. I smirk as the three of us walk out of the bank. All dressed in fitted matching suits, tailored to make every woman around us want to be closer, and every man wants to know our secret. We’re powerful when we’re together. We know it. We use it to our advantage.
The Trifecta is in full force. We walk out of the bank, in calculated movements, drawing every eye to us. We never have to practice. Simpering women ask us all the time if we do our movements on purpose, pawing at one of us with lust in their eyes. We tell them the same thing, no. The triplet instincts are strong with us.
The sunglasses come on in one motion covering our bright green eyes from the hot sun. Our arms bend at the elbow, one at a time, unbuttoning our crisp white cuffs before pulling down our suit sleeves, the emerald cufflinks capturing and releasing the sun in sparkling brilliance.
We strut toward Damien’s, the youngest triplet’s, black Range Rover. Climbing in we shut the doors in unison blocking our shine from the staring onlookers.
As soon as we pull away from the parking lot we all let out a collective breath. The radio is shut off allowing our sighs to ping around the interior. After a moment, Axel, the second in line lets out a light chuckle. Damien follows and soon I’m in on it. Our chuckles turn into a full out raucous laughter. We laugh so hard if any of our patrons saw us they’d dry up like the Sahara.
But here we are under the protection of the dark tint of the SUV, laughing like giddy school girls. But in a manly way, of course.
“We did it gentlemen,” I say, attempting to get myself together. As the oldest, by ten minutes, twenty for Damien, I’m the one who keeps the Trifecta together, upholding our status and all we’ve worked for.
“Fuck yeah, boys.” Damien takes his hand off the steering wheel and gives the two of us high fives.
Axel’s the most excited about what we just did. We’re one step closer to getting out of the business, something Axel’s been waiting a long time for. Axel hates what we do for a living. Damien, always the one wanting to prove himself, sees it as a means to an end. Me, well, I love it. I’m good at it.
We’re all good at it, but I thrive off it.
“Now comes the hard part.” We roll our eyes at Damien. He’s always the one looking at the next step.
“Come on, Damien. Let us at least be happy for a minute before we have to think about all the hard work we’re in for. We deserve this,” Axel says, glancing at Damien through the rearview mirror.
“I’m just saying.”
“We both know,” I say, stopping Damien’s rant we’ve all heard countless times before.
“All right. I’m proud of us, and we did work hard to get the loan today. Let’s celebrate tonight.”
I grin knowing Damien’s happy. Hell, we’re all fucking happy. Our dreams are finally coming true.
“I’m in,” I say as Axel nods.
“After work tonight we’ll celebrate our first step of getting out of this business.” Damien pounds the steering wheel in excitement as we turn onto our street where our childhood house sits.
“So, that means no extra guest tonight, Ben,” Axel says, punching me in the arm.
“I’ll just have to find someone willing to play with me at work.”
“Damn it, Ben. You’re going to get us in trouble again. You know Willie doesn’t want you playing on the job. If you get caught again.”
I cut Damien off, “If I get caught again we’ll have to endure another boring ass lecture about how we’re supposed to look attainable, but can’t be attainable. Blah, blah, blah.”
“Just don’t fuck it up tonight. I hate having to show your girl of the night out of the house,” Axel says as Damien parks the car in the driveway.
“Fine, Axel boy, I’ll give you a break for tonight. I’ll be all polished off before we clock out.”
Damien groans as we walk into the house.
“You know I wouldn’t complain if either of you decided to bring a woman home. Maybe if the two of you loosened up, and had some fun you wouldn’t be so upset having to usher out the wobbly-legged women I bring home. We’re the Trifecta, why don’t you use it?”
“Because we want something more meaningful,” Axel says for the hundredth time.
We walk into our house, the happiness pushing off us. None of us bothered by our conversation. “Work out in the garage in ten,” I say, heading to my room.
“I bring women home, Ben,” Damien says next to me. “Just not as many as you do. And stop teasing Axel. You know he hates the way women treat him. The way they treat us like they own us. He doesn’t want a one-night stand. He wants it all.”
“I know he wants the love of his life like good ol’ Mom and Dad, but can’t he have fun until he finds her? He was more fun when he played around, until he decided to wait for the one. Now he’s boring.”
“He got bored of the fake intimacy, and I am too, but you know he’s not boring, he’s scared. Just go get ready for our work out. You’re never going to change, and neither are we.”
I flip Damien off as I open my door. I enter my room with my head held high with pride. We did it. I’m so proud of my brothers. We’re following a dream we had when we first stepped into the business, and now it’s coming true.
We meet up in the garage, all of us changed into our work out clothes. When the Trifecta started coming into its fame we couldn’t go to gyms anymore. It turned into a shit show with men attempting to out-bench us, hurting themselves in the process, and women showing up in tight clothes, staring at us with lust pulsing off them in waves. We were asked to leave at least three gyms before we decided to build one at home.