Rubble (Riders of Apollo #7)

Chapter Two: Asa Michaels

I'm bored.

So freaking bored that I'm actually losing my mind. Riley has just left on her last mission, meaning she's gone for two weeks and I have no one to annoy. Now, I know I've made friends again and all that but she's my favourite person to irritate so when she's not here I get terribly bored.

Right now there's nothing to do. Literally nothing. I don't do the gun runs very often, I don't run the clubs or the bakery or anything. I do nothing. We're in peacetime again, after the Wraiths were demolished alongside the Miami Chapter of the Riders of Apollo.

Nothing at all to do.

"Rubble would you stop lounging around like a slug?" Bear is stood above me while I'm laid across an entire couch, my head hanging off the edge because why not? I just glare up at him in frustration. He's all happy now he's got a kid, he's no longer that boring, stroppy Prez who marched around like a nutcase.

Thank Apollo for that.

"What do you want me to do, Prez? Every job is being taken by your excessive amount of prospects." Even after swearing Rogue in, we have six prospects at the moment though they are still recruiting more. He is also expanding the clubhouse itself to fit more people in so he doesn't have to use the rooms of the mated men, sometimes everyone still stays inside - especially during a lockdown.

"True. Stay there then, nothing better to do." I give him a thumbs up and return to my position, quite happy to waste away. Life has been a little dull lately, I'm a fighter so when there's no one to fight I've got nothing to do. I'm thankful that I have my family back though, even if the change happened over a year ago. Riley's the only reason they started speaking to me again after the whole Cassidy debacle.

I felt a lot lighter when I explained to her the truth about my family. How I was left to fend not only for myself but for my sick baby sister, who needed more help than I was able to give at such a young age. Then she died and I was left alone in the big wide world again. Which was terrifying in itself, my parents hated me even more after she died, they blamed me even though cancer wasn't something I could've prevented no matter how much I wanted to.

I got kicked out so I had no other choice but to steal what I needed, that and I hated being out on the streets so figured juvie would be better. I was proved terribly wrong. When you were as tiny as I was, so skinny you could see my ribs, you were the target of every fight. I was in there for three years for armed robbery, which only happened because of my father since he still expected me to round up cash for his drug addiction despite having kicked me out months prior.

I suppose that was the only good thing about juvie, escape from them, even if my entire future was wiped out in one fell swoop. No more high school, very few job offers, and another lifetime of loneliness, but at least they couldn't get to me anymore. I was cleaning tables in a restaurant when Bear and Lexie found me kicking off at some rich guy who expected more than we could give.

I may have lost my job that night but I found a different life, one where I actually fit in. Obviously, that future was almost lost again when I was acting like a complete douchebag and interfering in someone else's relationship. It was saved though, by the grace of God it was saved, and now I am okay.

It could always be worse. I have a room to stay in, food to eat, water to drink, and family to talk to. More than I've ever had in my lifetime and I'm only twenty-four. I've got lots of room to grow. It is quite annoying though that the two patched members younger than me - Rogue and Romeo - have both found their Old Lady and whatever you call Runner - pain in the ass sounds good enough to me - and I'm stuck here, like a lemon staring at the ceiling of the lounge.

Speaking of which, "What are you doing?" Runner is here, taking the spot where Bear once was with that shit-eating grin on his face. You know that one person that somehow manages to get on your every last nerve, the ones you're certain do it on purpose, Runner is that person for me.

We spent a lot of the early years getting trashed together so now he knows everything about me, just as I know everything about him. Still, he is intent to torment me until my dying day and I'm not sure I can sustain the ability to refrain from punching him in the mouth.

The problem with that being, he is an incredible fighter. I can fight my way out of sticky situations sure, mainly using weapons because I'm inherently lazy, while he can take on a horde of well-trained soldiers and come out alive. Though he has been kidnapped twice so at least I'm beating him on that front. I couldn't beat him in hand to hand though, I would be on the mat as quickly as Breaker put me there.

"I am making a pizza, you want one?" I reply sarcastically, moving my hands in an elaborate circle to indicate that I am, in fact, making a pizza.

"Fuck off, you sarcastic little prick."

"You came to me, bro. Ask stupid questions, expect sarcastic answers." I flip him the bird as he glares down at me. I always love a good verbal tussle with him, it amuses me. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to check on you, you look like a snug."

"Do you mean slug?"

"Close enough." He shrugs. We've all spent the last few years trying to teach him the English language, I mean he has an almost perfect understanding of it but he does mess up there and then and it is normally hilarious. He comes out with the most random stuff. The funniest thing is when he says a Spanish saying in English and it makes no sense.

I should probably be offended by both Bear and Runner telling me I look like a slug but to be honest, I probably do. I hear the front door open but don't move to see who it is, I don't really care. "Hey Nova, come look at the slug." At least he got it right this time.

Nova, the pink-haired Princess, bounces over in her usual excitement, to peek over the back of the couch. "Are you okay, Rubble?" See, she's sweet enough to actually give a crap if I'm alright. Everyone loves the girl but she needs nobody's protection, despite her young age she is the strongest fighter in the building, rivalling even Riley.

"I am perfectly fine, Princess. Just bored." She frowns and digs around somewhere before reappearing with the tablet.

"Here, dad and Leo make me play on this when I'm bored. They don't like it when I leave conversations early, it doesn't have a password in case I forget it. Have fun." She smiles brightly, the oil on her face creasing before she dashes off to god knows where. She normally spends her days in the garage with Gears but sometimes she goes on the hunt for bounties with Saviour.

Even though her upbringing was dark, she is somehow the lightest person here. "Aww, how sweet of her." I smack Runner's leg at his mocking tone. He really gets under my skin and he knows it, enjoys it most likely. I flip him the bird again and finally, he takes his leave, wandering off somewhere, probably to Romeo's office to annoy him instead.

I click on the tablet and turn on Tetris. I used to play this for hours when I was a kid on a Nokia I stole from a stranger in the street, it had snake too. I don't think I'd ever be able to beat Nova's high score though, she has unending attention for it and with her fast reflexes, she's able to beat basically every level.

I just play it cos it's fun and I'm kinda stupid. I mean I dropped out of school at fifteen, well was forced to by the justice system but same thing, different haircut really. I haven't been in education for years and my high school diploma is a thing of fiction, added to my online profile by Romeo at the beginning of my life here.

It will always be a thing of fiction though, just like the perfect woman for me.