Rubble: Devil's Rose #12

Chapter 10: Nicholas Frasier

I hear the door of the armory open and shut, and I turn to Reaper standing there, a flicker of surprise on his face before it disappears just as quickly as it came.

"Weird to see you in here," he says matter of factly, "who are you hiding from?"

"Scout actually," I answer, knowing that Reaper will know if I lie.

"You and Alice have a thing going."

He says it like a statement, reading me instantly. How the fuck does he do that?

"Yeah, sort of. Anyway, Alice and I haven't talked about what we're telling her brother, but it's hard for me to lie to him," I admit although I'm unsure if Reaper even wants to know or talk about this.

Probably neither.

"You'll do right by Alice."

I'm glad he's confident in me for that.

"I think Scout will appreciate you standing by his sister even if you did have to be secretive in the beginning."

I think Reaper's right about that. I never thought about it in that way. Major would want me to protect his sister.

And yeah, maybe our relationship isn't exactly what he would have in mind when it came to him hiding something for his sister, but he would understand nonetheless.

Alice might even be okay with Major knowing about our relationship, or whatever label that we are putting on what we're doing with each other, but we just haven't had the conversation yet.

I don't want to say something to Major that Alice doesn't want him to know about. It's not my place. It would also not be Major's place to determine what Alice can or cannot do. So really, he just needs to be told about it.

"Alpha wants another inventory," Reaper speaks up, "because he's a control freak."

"Scout and Bear did one two days ago after the last Grove Heights gang raid."

There's been quite a few of those.

Cleaning up Grove Heights and making it a safer place for everybody, has been a huge task. The police department of Sandstone County, where Westmoor and Grove Heights reside, has needed our help in implementing changes throughout the county.

We agree with about eighty percent of them and have been able to make changes to the other twenty percent, so we can back them. But these changes for the better of the community does mean having to do the dirty work.

The families that needed whatever money that they got from the gang in the community are getting help to be able to provide for themselves and future generations, we've made sure of that.

No one, at least we are trying to minimize, the amount of people that get left behind as the changes in the city occur.

In taking over gangs and having some of their members become prospects, we've had many additions in weaponry to the Devil's Rose arsenal.

It's good in some ways like we don't have to continually buy dangerous weapons, but it also means that Alpha is losing his mind every time more shit comes in.

Reaper wasn't lying about the whole control freak thing. He was worse when Persephone wasn't around, since she help calms him down a little, but he has gotten worse over the past few months that we've really had a big presence in Grove Heights.

It's partly because he knows that some people are mad about the changes and if given the opportunity will take us down. That opportunity will not come around. But a very large part of it is that he has a lot on his plate - I never want his job - and he needs to know all the information he can twice over.

That does mean Reaper and I will be going through the weaponry that we have, once again, because we are going to support Alpha. Why wouldn't we?

I think Tank should step in as Vice President and force Alpha to let go of some control. It would be better for all of us. Maybe I should bring that up in today's meeting if someone else doesn't.

Reaper and I get to work on the inventory check, and even though we don't really feel the need to, we do it thoroughly. Better to be safe than sorry, I guess. When we're finished, we've killed enough time where we can head to the conference room and not feel super early.

I'm sure Alpha, Tank, and Bear are already there, so it's not like we would be barging in on an empty room. I let Reaper lead us both back into a comfortable conversation, which is him talking about absolutely nothing and me going on about the new changes that Iris has made to my bike to make it ride nicer.

I don't mind that he just likes to listen. I want to talk to someone about this besides Major who's already heard all about it because he was the first person I told.

The door to the conference room is already open, and we are only missing Slasher (which makes sense with his new baby and all) and Carbon (because of Slasher's new baby) by the time three rolls around.

Of course, we wait for the two of them and any Old Ladies who want to join us. By the time Slasher and Carbon take a seat ten minutes past ten, no one shows up, determining that everyone who needs to be here is here, we can start.

It doesn't surprise anyone that the Old Ladies haven't shown up to any meetings yet. We don't expect them to.

They can, it's not like they are banned from the room, but it gives them an opportunity to meet up and talk about things they want to discuss. The official members tell them the most important information from the meeting anyway, so it doesn't make sense as to why they would need to be in the room. And if they ever wanted to be, or needed to address something, there is always space.

"Tank and I," Alpha begins, "have been discussing ways that we can divide the amount of workload that I've been trying to deal with alone."

Okay, so I don't need to bring anything up to anyone.

"I think we all know that I've been trying to handle everything alone, per usual, and that hasn't been the best for anyone," Alpha continues, "because of that, the two of us have been talking about new divisions of labor. We want to propose it to you all and make revisions based on what you think, so we can decide what's good for everyone. Any questions?"

With no one speaking up, they talk about their plans, and it's literally nothing special. Whiskey and Vegas are the only two people who feel the need to change anything, and the changes are agreed on quickly, so the meeting only takes about an hour.

And it would take less time if Poison and Bullet could sit next to each other without making commentary every three of Alpha's sentences. They should probably be separated at this point.

When the meeting is done, we get up from our seats, chatting with one another about nothing in particular, but Major quickly pulls me to the side as if he knows that I'm slightly trying to get lost in the crowd.

The conference room is empty, so there is no way for me to get out of the conversation now.

"Did you ever talk to my sister?" he questions, clearly concerned.

"I did, yeah. She was feeling overwhelmed with something, and we figured it out."

None of that is a lie.

"And this something was a thing she couldn't talk to me about?"

I think about his question for a minute, trying to form the right response.

"You honestly don't want to know about this one," I advise, "and even if it was something that she could tell you, I don't think she would. She wants you to be proud of her. She doesn't want to disappoint you or burden you with her troubles. I think she's trying to work through things, see what she can handle without leaning on you all the time."

"But she can?"

"Well, yes, but she's trying to prove something to herself. That she can do this, that she can be strong."