Rubble: Devil's Rose #12

Chapter 1: Nicholas Frasier

The first time I ever met Major's sister, Alice, was four years ago. Major and I served together for the last two years of his service before he was honorably discharged because of Alice's car accident.

I was honorably discharged a year after him because my contract was up, and I didn't want to renew it. I went back home, to Phoenix, Arizona, but I soon discovered that I wasn't meant to be there.

Not knowing what to do, I called up Major, and he told me all about his life in Westmoor, where Alice had already been living for three years. I said "fuck it" and moved, and became a Devil's Rose MC prospect.

Now I'm Rubble. But, as much as I love Devil's Rose, meeting Alice will always be a more significant moment in my life than DR ever will be.

She was so fucking shy, not that she has grown out of that. She can barely look people in the eye. It's why she's much better at working with children than adults. She doesn't have to try so hard with kids, and she doesn't have anyone to impress.

I mean, there's a million reasons why I'm so addicted to her presence. She's gentle and sweet but when she gets comfortable, she's weird as fuck.

She gets super attached to people she cares about and feels incredibly deeply, but I know that there's a hidden side to her where she's tough enough to protect those she loves.

There's something comforting about her. I don't have to try so hard either.

Not that I could tell this to Major. I mean, yes, he wouldn't mind me dating his sister, but I think he would prefer it not happen. He would never stop it happening if that's what she wanted, but he knows that I know better than to start something.

With my reputation with the women around here, he wouldn't want someone like me dating his sister anyway. He loves me for who I am, but I would seriously have to get my shit together to even have a chance to be with Alice.

She works with Hazel, Tank's Old Lady, and also because she is Major's sister, I think Alice finds being around the Devil's Rose members to be comfortable.

She has other friends outside of DR, of course, but as far as I know, it's a different relationship than what she has with the official members, including myself. We never met her before her accident, so we have nothing to compare who she is now to who she was before.

With her other friends, she has to live up to who she used to be, even though she's not that person anymore.

From what I've been told, she was quite the party animal. She is not like that anymore or at least she hides that side of her. That's partly the reason she finds DR members easier to be around; there's no one she has to be or strive to be.

She can just absolutely and fully be herself.

I glance at the clock to see that it's 3:20. She'll be here in fifteen minutes, order a glass of iced water, and sit at the bar, debating what romance movie she wants to watch tonight.

It's not creepy to know that. Alice is extremely predictable. I wouldn't change a fucking thing.

I wipe down the bar, looking up at customers and the door every so often to make sure that no one needs anything.

The thumping in my chest picks up as I hear the bell above the door, a soft giggle releasing from her mouth, smiling over Hazel who bounds over to Tank and gives him a giant hug. The second Alice sits down at the bar, I hand her the water she doesn't even have to ask for anymore.

"Hello to you too," she taunts me, her deep brown eyes shimmering.

"How are you, sunshine?"

"Good, thank you for asking. How are you?"

"Better now that you're here."

"You always say that," she mumbles, rolling her eyes.

"And it's always true."

She scoffs, sipping at her water.

"What romance movie are you going to watch today?" I ask her, wanting to know what her vibes for today's conversation are going to be.

"None actually. Iris needs help with her newborn, so I'm going over to her house."

"Bummer. You could have come to mine again. Elementals is waiting for you."

"There might be romance in it, Rubble, but that doesn't mean it's a romance movie. It's still Disney."

"I have to disagree with you. If there's romance in it, it's a romance movie."

"There's romance in Rocky. Would you call it a romance movie?"

I scrunch my eyebrows, realizing that she absolutely got me there.

"No, I wouldn't. But the romance isn't the entire premise of the movie. The romance in Elementals is the reason everything else in the movie happens."

"We can argue about this all day, but I think it's best we talk about something else."

She knows that she's been beaten but doesn't want to admit it. So she's going to change the subject. I mean, that's one way to go about things for sure.

"How was your day with Hazel? Any kid stories?"

"Well, Fiona stopped by with Delilah because her kindergarten class went on a field trip to the lake, but Delilah didn't want to go because she was already sunburnt from going over the weekend. So, Delilah helped with the little kids while Fiona did the stuff she needed to do. Besides that, nothing fun."

I stare her down over the bar, waiting for something more. She normally has so much happening in her day. A tornado would have just been another day for her. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I know something is up.

She would most likely talk to Major about it and come back feeling better, but she hasn't yet.

Maybe she just hadn't had the chance, but in my experience, if she hasn't talked to him about it then it must really be weighing on her. Or something she can't talk to him about which isn't much.

"You usually come in with something else and way more to say. Are you okay?" I ask her, watching as her body curls in on itself.

"I think I'm going to go to Iris's now," she whispers, setting her glass down lightly on the bar and peeling herself out of her chair.

"I didn't mean to offend you, sunshine," I reassure as I try to understand.

"It's fine, Rubble. I'm okay. I just need some space."

I nod my head and watch in pure worry and curiosity as she practically sprints out of the bar and to her car in the parking lot.

It took a lot for her to get back into a car, let alone drive one, but I'm frustrated that she's now using it to run away from me. She doesn't have to hide from me. It's not like we've hidden much from each other over the past two years that I've been here.

Or through the time that I've known her. We've always been able to talk to each other about things when Major was handling his own shit and didn't us to further complicate his life.

He wouldn't mind us talking to him, but it was an internal thing that we didn't want our problems to turn into his burden because of everything else he was already going through.

That's why I'm hella confused. Because if she can't talk to him, she talks to me. I want her to be able to trust me, to be able to speak to me about what's bothering her. I don't think I've done anything to betray that trust. At least nothing that I know of.

I think about it for the next three hours of my shift at the bar. I like working at the bar, it gives me time to be by myself in an odd way. Everyone knows that I have a job to do, so they don't ask me questions that I don't want to answer.

I'm about to leave for the night since it's not my shift to do rounds after work when Hazel and Tank come up to the bar, the worry plain for the eye to see.