Chapter Nine Your Fate
Fate
Yeah, I know she stared at me as I walked away. I could feel her eyes on me all the way to the hall. I didn’t care. In fact, I hope she did keep looking at me. I vowed to be right next to her every chance I got. After she left us and went inside earlier, I sat back down in my lawn chair and thought about what she said. I knew something she went through had caused her to have these opinions. Belle didn’t deny it either. If this was true then I would need to get her to face whatever it was and make her realize it had nothing to do with me.
So when Liberty asked if I thought she was worth it…that was when it snapped for me. I knew instantly that she was. Yes, most guys in my place would have blown it off and said fine, her loss . Nope, I had an inkling we could be great together and now that I kissed her, I felt sure of it.
“Hey, um Fate, right?”
Looking up, I stared at the man who’d spoken. “Yeah and you are Bones, Prez for the Rebel Saints.”
“Yeah,” he said as he stuck his hand out to me.
I reached over and shook it. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, it is actually what I can do for you. Talon sent me to let you know that I and two of my men will be your escorts when you leave. He told me it would be you, your brother Liberty, his girl, her friend and your little sister.”
“And me,” a voice chimed in.
We both looked over.
A tall man with that dazzling familiar smile stood there.
“Legend!” I greeted him with a handshake. He had been with our MC for about ten years. Our dad had helped to pay for his education and got him a scholarship as well. He became a physician and then he insisted on being Requiem MC’s doctor.
Smiling at me, he nodded. “So road trip it is. I even brought my Harley.”
I chuckled and motioned my head at the Rebel Saint President. “Do you know Bones?”
Legend nodded. “Yeah, we met. There’s no one better to guard us.”
Bones chuckled. “I got my men Smoke and Ink coming with us. So yeah, you will have the best.”
“When do we leave?” I asked him.
“In the morning,” Bones replied. “So, if you will inform your girl, I would appreciate it.”
“His girl?” Legend asked in surprise as he looked over at me. “I didn’t know you had one.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “She’s not mine yet.”
Both men stared at me.
Bones laughed. “Yet, huh?”
I nodded. “It will happen.” Once I said it aloud, it felt good, sort of empowering. I then looked over at my friend, Legend. “Some things are just meant to be, no matter how much a person might deny it.” I was well aware of Legend and Glory. He refused to admit to it, but sometimes you couldn’t completely hide how you feel about someone. Most of my brothers were aware of it. Glory had been more than obvious about how she felt. Now that I had found the woman I felt should be mine, I refused to hide from it, I guess. Life was too short to fuck around.
Staring at me, Legend shook his head.
Bones looked between us then shrugged. “So, we leave at 10 am. See you then.” He turned to walk away.
“Wait,” I called to him. “Where are we going?”
Turning back, he said, “Texas. Liberty knows all about it. I just talked to him.”
I felt surprised as this was news to me. I never figured on going home to hide out.
“Texas?” a female voice asked.
We all looked over at Briget.
“Yes,” Bones replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
She looked upset as she asked him, “Why would we leave the state?”
“You need to talk to Liberty,” Bones told her as he shook his head. “He’s the one who brought it up to Talon. I just got instructions on who and where. Not the why. Sorry.” Turning away, he headed down the hallway.
“Ok, so I need to talk to Liberty,” Briget grumbled.
“Let’s all go and talk to him,” I suggested.
She scowled at me.
Laughing, I said, “Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that.”
Legend nodded. “Seems like every female is pissed off today.”
I looked over at him. “Oh? So, who cussed you out?”
He shrugged and didn’t reply.
I already knew who. Had to be my sister. I glanced at Briget. “This is Legend by the way. Our MC doctor. He’ll be coming with us.”
Briget’s scowl dropped as she stared at him. “Ok, so I can see why she wants to cross that line.”
I chuckled. Apparently, Briget already knew about this. Then I paused. Did she think he was hot?
Legend stared at her in confusion and opened his mouth to ask what she meant.
Raising her hand at him, she cut him off, “It is nice to meet you, but don’t ask.” She then marched away.
Apparently, she wasn’t interested in him all that much as she strode away from us both. I didn’t pause to think about the pang of jealousy I felt for a few seconds. Because that was certainly a new feeling for me. I also shouldn’t have been surprised by her just up and leaving, but I was. “Wait a damn minute, where are you going?”
“To find your brother,” she called to me over her shoulder, “I’m not going to Texas!”
I took my cell out and swiped the screen. Tapping Liberty’s number, I followed Briget down the hall.
Legend followed me.
“Yeah?” Liberty answered the call. “This is not a good time, baby bro.”
“Where are you right now?” I asked him.
“In my room with my woman, so whatever it is? Laters.” He ended the call.
I shook my head. The dude was always so difficult to deal with. He didn’t even give me time to warn him that he was being tracked down.
All the while, Legend and I kept following Briget.
I swiped my phone shut then noticed we were actually heading to Liberty’s room, so I called out to her, “Um, Briget?”
Not responding, she halted at the door to pound on it.
Legend and I stopped in the hallway behind her.
Briget just kept on knocking.
I glanced over at Legend.
Leaning in close to me, he whispered, “Is this your girl?”
I nodded.
He chuckled. “Well, good luck with that, brother.”
The door finally opened to reveal a disgusted looking Liberty, dressed in sweatpants and no shirt. “The hell—”
“Why are we going to Texas?” Wasting no time, Briget cut him short.
Liberty stared at her and replied, “Wow. You could have called me instead of trying to break my door down, ya know?”
Briget didn’t back down or respond to that as she rephrased the same question, “Why do we have to leave Louisiana?”
Liberty sighed and replied, “There are at least two reasons. One, Deacon would have trouble finding us there and two, we will be safer at the Requiem compound.”
Briget stared at him. “So, you are making this into a trip home?”
Liberty paused at this then he laughed. “Yeah, I am. And that brings me to reason number three… Belle will get to see where I come from.”
Briget bit at her lip as she still looked upset.
“It will be okay, Briget,” I told her.
She looked over at me. “For you maybe. But I don’t want to go so far away.”
The door got yanked open wider as Belle appeared. With a sheet wrapped around her, she said, “It’s just four hours away, BB,” she told Briget.
Liberty stared at her in her sheet and looked concerned as he stepped over in front of her. “Babe, there’s guys here.” He stretched his arms out to hide her.
“Oh, stop it,” Belle said as she rolled her eyes at him. “One’s a doctor and the other is your brother, so get over it.” She looked at her best friend and told her, “We will be together, BB. So, it’ll be okay.”
Liberty turned and glared at me. “Ok, you disturbed me enough for today. Take this somewhere else, would ya?” He then slammed the door in our faces.
Briget shook her head.
“I will see you in the morning,” Legend said as he went around us and headed down the hallway.
Briget let out a heavy sigh and exclaimed, “Damnit!”
I tapped her arm. “Look, it will just be a trip. It doesn’t mean forever. I have to say I didn’t know about this either, but he is right. Our chances of being attacked are fairly slim. Also, they are in love and I really think Liberty wants to show her his home.”
Briget stared at me then looked away. “Yeah, that’s kinda sweet actually. I should have considered that. I was just surprised, that's all. I didn’t know we would be going to Texas.” She raised her hands and rubbed her arms like she was nervous about the trip.
“Look, I will not allow anything to happen to you,” I tried to reassure her.
She turned her head to look at me and opened her mouth to speak.
“I know what you said.” I raised my hands up. “And I happen to think you’re wrong.” I chuckled. “But I’m going to be beside you through all of this, whether you like it or not.”
Looking exasperated, she kept shaking her head. “I’m not your responsibility.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I responded. “I care about you and besides, I will be there anyway.”
Silently, Briget stared at me then she shook her head. “Look, I understand how guys are. Especially the good looking ones. You love a challenge.” She stepped closer and went on, “But I’m not playing a game here, Fate. I meant it when I said we would be a disaster or at least it would probably be a disaster for me.”
So, she believed I felt challenged because she had pushed me away. That my ego couldn’t take rejection, so I was coming after her just because she turned me down. I paused to think about if that were true or not. I mean she was right, guys did act like that…think like that. I also had never been turned down before, at least not since I was in high school. Then I remembered our kiss earlier. How fucking hot it was. I knew that I honestly wanted this girl, both physically and emotionally. If I told her that now though, she would never believe it. I decided to lay off for now and just bide my time. “I’m just focusing on the trip. Are you packed?”
She nodded. “I have what I need ready. Then you do realize I’m gonna bring our dog, right?”
I nodded. “Of course. Daisy’s part of the family. A great security dog too.” I gave her a grin.
Briget shrugged. “She’s never travelled, so we’ll see.”
“It’s a really short trip, Briget. I mean why are you upset? Is there something about Texas that you don’t like?”
She again looked away as she admitted, “No, I’ve just never left Louisiana before.”
I reached over and briefly rubbed her arm in an attempt to console her. “You left your life and apartment to be with your best friend. This is the same thing.”
Looking up at me, she seemed to consider this. Finally, she nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
I smiled at her. “You will see that I’m right about us too. I think we will be great together.”
Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, “Wow, you just do not give up, do you?”
“No, I’m not known to give up or back down. I really can’t help it though, it’s in my genes.” I shrugged. “After all, I am a Walker.” I reached over and took her hand. Raising it to my lips, I gently kissed her knuckles. “I will just wait until you see what I see.”
She pulled her hand from mine. “I see a charmer. A man who knows he’s sexy and good looking. Yeah, I see that. But what I cannot figure out is why me? I mean hey, just wait a day and you can look up an old girlfriend over in Texas. You know, maybe pick up one of your long legged blondes, Ms. Perfect Everything. Why waste your time chasing me?”
I chuckled. “You either have extremely low self-esteem or someone did a real number on you,” I told her boldly. “But either way, you are going to be mine.”
Looking a bit angry, she opened her mouth to reply.
I placed my finger over her lips. “And don’t yell at me. I will be yours too. So don’t get it twisted. You can fight your destiny all you want but you cannot fight fate.” I jiggled my eyebrows playfully.
She scoffed as she shook her head. “Wow, the ego.”
I laughed. “Come on, you have to admit that was clever. Besides, I think I’ve waited all my life to say that line. And now, I finally got to say it.” I raised my hands up defensively. “Yeah, you’re gonna argue that we aren't right for each other. But I know deep down that we are meant to be.”
Stepping back, Briget shook her head at me. “You are nuts.”
“No, I think this is the sanest I have ever been.”
Briget scoffed then walked away.