Alice's Book Club (BWWM)

Fear

Alice

I couldn't tear my eyes from the photos, it was one thing to have some random paparazzi take pictures of us out at dinner it was another to have them watch our intimate moments. What was truly terrifying was the detail in the photos, these pictures couldn't have been taken outside, and someone must have come in and bugged my home. "Good morning" I jumped at the sound of Jared's voice and let the pictures fall from my hands, "What's wrong?" He walked towards me but stopped mid-step when he saw the photos scattered on the ground, "Son of a bitch" He exclaimed his eyes flashed with anger as he took in the scene on each picture. I shuddered at the thought that someone had invaded my home just to catch me having sex, I raced into my bedroom and searched for whatever cameras were planted, I found two on my dresser behind my mirror and one on my ceiling fan. "I-I can not believe how low some people will go for a fucking story" I yelled wringing the wires in my hand. "I'm not sure this is about a story" Jared said, looking closer at the pictures "What do you mean? You think somebody did this for a fetish?" I asked irate at the whole situation "No, I think this was personal" He held up a photo of me getting changed into my lingerie, I couldn't believe I didn't see it earlier. The real shock was that this photo was clearly taken from outside, "Is this was for some story, they wouldn't have bothered sending photos of just you. This was clearly a threat" He replied with a freakishly calm demeanor "How the Hell are you so calm?" I asked still freaking out, "I've been here before, and people would always try to blackmail my parents into doing what they wanted. Looking back I should have known this was extortion all along" He took a seat on the couch. My body went cold I had hoped that he couldn't see how terrified I was "I'm so sorry you had to be dragged into this, this is the last thing I wanted for us" He pulled me next to him. "Alice, I completely understand if you want to end this" The sorrow in his voice touched my heart, there was no way I was letting some scum tear me away from him. "We'll get through this" I assured him, fighting my own fear that this may be fault.

Jared

I wish I could have stayed with Alice a bit longer, but I had to get to work on finding out who would want to hurt me by using her. I shot a text to my brother letting him know everything that had happened and sent him the cameras Alice had found I asked for him to follow up with any leads. I paced my apartment trying to think of anyone who may want to hurt me, but more importantly anyone who would know of Alice. I had written of my coworkers knowing none of them had the resources to pull off that stunt, I ran through a list of rival agency but was coming up with dead ends. RRRRIIIINNNNNGGGG. I answered my phone praying for good news, "What did you find?' I asked immediately "Hello to you too" my mother greeted in a sweet voice, I had forgotten about our daily calls to one another. "Im sorry, it's been a long day" I explained, and began with our meaningless conversation about the weather, and the health of elderly family members. My mother had always been the constant in my life, while my father and brother fought wars figurative and literal my mother kept us sane with how normal she was. "So, I heard you had a girlfriend?" She asked, stopping me in my tracks "Who told you that?" I asked hoping to find out my stalkers name "Oh please you know nothing stays secret in Philly, but if you must know I heard it from Betty" she replied, I was back at square one Betty was the biggest gossip in town there is no telling who her source could be, for all I know she saw me and Alice together and brought it up to my mother. "Of course" I sighed "She said you were dating an...African- American?" she continued, I smirked at how my mother tip toed around naming Alice's race. My mother was a sweet as pie and always tried to be politically correct, almost to a point of being more offensive. "Yes, Mom Alice is black" I confirmed "Oh, well you should bring her over for Brunch on Sunday" She said, and I cringed at the thought of Alice being put on the stand in front of a bunch of uptight Rich women. "Mom, I don't think were ready to have all of Philadelphia know about us. In fact we want to keep it quiet for a bit" I explained "What?, Oh of course sweetie it would only be Betty, Adriane, and Gayle. There practically family, and I know they just want to see what girl has caught your eye" She said downplaying the fact that those three were the most influential people in Philadelphia. I knew she wasn't going to let this go, so I had to think of a way to make this out to my advantage. When it hit me, who knew more about the city than Betty perhaps I can pick her mind for any clues on any new Maverick enemies. Being in this business I had made a few, and narrowing it down was hard on my own. However talking with Betty should help find what dickhead was bold enough to try anything. "Fine, what time?" I asked, she gave me all the details and all I could think was how the hell I was going to convince Alice to go along with this.

Alice

"I'm losing my mind" I said looking down at the cup of tea Charity made for me, it was comforting to sip the green tea from my yellow mug but it still didn't calm my nerves. "What sick fuck would do this?!?"Dee studied the pictures and scowled in disgust with each new photo. "I don't know but...I can't shake the feeling that David had something to do with it" I admitted my deepest fear, It had been years since I had thought about that man. "Alice, he is gone you know that" Charity took my hand sensing my fear for my ex's return, No one knew more than them how deeply he affected me. "Yeah they locked his ass up years ago and he is across the country" Dee took my other hand, although they tried to comfort me my mind drifted to Bruce playing quietly in his room, I couldn't ignore the fact that his father was an unstable man with too many resources, true he was locked up for trying to beat me to death and yes he was locked up all the way in California but I still have this gut feeling he is doing this. "Alice, don't do this. You know you don't have to be afraid anymore, we're here for you" Charity assured me, her eyes showed a fear I knew all too well. After the trial to get David locked up I heard, I went into a deep depression and receded from talking or interacting with anyone. Mostly because I didn't know how. The relationship I had with David was toxic for my self-esteem. Every day I was reminded about how weird I was and how I wasn't black enough for him. I had tried my hardest to be what he wanted I even up and left my family and friends (or what he called my enablers) to follow him to LA, I thought if I could get rid of all my stupid quirks and habits everything would be perfect. I learned all too quickly that nothing I did was going to be good enough, I was already  'whitewashed' and he couldn't stand it. "Alice come back to us" Dee snapped her fingers, I didn't know how long I was dazed. "You are safe, if that Son-of-a Bitch even thinks about coming here. We'll kill him" Charity squeezed my hand, I could hear the concern in her voice for years I had lost my best friends chasing that man I won't let him take me away from them again. I embraced them and crushed my fears. I was not going to let him hurt me anymore.