Chapter Fifteen Sickeningly Sweet
Liberty
I was about to kick Fate’s ass. I could clearly see that he planned to literally be a cock-block in this new relationship I had with Belle. I pulled my boxer briefs on and glanced over at him.
He grinned at me.
“Don’t you smirk at me, baby brother,” I snapped. “I don”t want you in the middle of this.”
Fate shrugged. “First off, I am the oldest. Two… I’m helping with the wedding. And three… I am going to town with the both of you, so you’d better just get used to it.”
“You are enjoying this just a little too much,” I sniped at him as I tugged my jeans on.
“Hell yeah, I am. You know how boring it is here, man. But now I have this chaperone gig to look forward to.” He beamed at me.
“Chaperone gig,” I mumbled with growl as I grabbed my boots and sat down.
Belle came out of the restroom and looked around. “Have you seen my sandals?”
I’d seen them earlier. Setting my boots down, I knelt and reached under the bed to grab her sandals. “Sit.” I motioned her to the chair I just vacated.
She moved over, sat down then reached for the shoes.
I pulled them back. “Let me.” I set the sandals down and grabbed her foot.
“Really?” She laughed. “Liberty, you don’t have to—”
“I don’t have to, no. But I want to,” I replied as I grasped her ankle and rubbed my fingers along the sole of her foot. Our eyes met as I gently massaged her heel.
“Are you kidding with this, Lib?” Fate interrupted my silent concentration.
I gave him no response as I eased the sandal on then took her other foot and massaged it for a minute. Finally, I put the other one on.
Reaching over, she used her fingers to gently push my hair back from my forehead as she gave me a huge smile. “No one has ever done that for me before.”
Catching her hand, I turned it over and kissed her palm. “Get used to it.” I couldn”t seem to take my eyes off of her or my hands either.
“Well, crap…You two are not going to fool anyone,” Fate interjected. “You went from almost coming to blows to Prince Charmingass and Cinderfuckingrella!”
Belle laughed. “Yeah, but no one is here right now, Fate.”
“That”s right, so knock it off, will ya?” I snapped at him. “Ruining my romantic moment like that.”
He shook his head. “From what I can see, this relationship is gonna be hard to hide. You two almost beat Justice and Scarlet when it comes to sickening sweetness.”
I looked from him to Belle as I felt excited about this statement. “Did you hear that, babe?” I asked her. “We are sickeningly sweet!” I honestly felt proud of this fact, considering we had so much trouble getting along before.
Belle nodded and beamed at me. “I sure did! Isn’t that wonderful? We might make it after all.”
“You two are insane,” Fate complained. “Get a shirt on Liberty and let’s get moving.”
I kept smiling as I went over to my dresser.
“You will both need to go back to bickering and disagreeing, or I’m gonna have trouble keeping my food down.” Fate advised as he looked disgusted. “So, no more of this weird romantic crap or whatever Liberty is calling it.”
“I just never thought he knew how to be romantic and sweet,” Belle said.
I grabbed a black Tshirt from the drawer then shut it. “Hey now. I know about romancing and stuff like that.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think you ever had to romance a woman before,” Fate reminded me.
I tugged the Tshirt over my head and slipped my arms through the sleeves. “I know, but—”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Belle raised her hands up. “You have never romanced a girl? What does that mean?”
“Well, don’t be thinking he was a virgin before you, Belle,” Fate quipped. “Cuz, that would be redick-U-Lus.” He chuckled. “Get it? Re-dick—”
I cut him off by tossing my boot at him.
“Hey!” Fate exclaimed as he caught it in his hand then explained to her, “He never had to do anything but show up somewhere, Belle.”
Looking confused, she looked from him to me.
I shrugged. “Not since I turned eighteen and started fighting pro. Remember what I said before? About women just being easy for me to get? I mean, I know you took it like I was being a jerk.”
“No surprise there,” Fate interjected. “Jerk is as jerk does.” He tossed my boot back at me.
“Oh, shut up.” I caught it and went on explaining to Belle, “Women would just show up at events and latch onto me. I never asked them to, or invite them in any way but they would inject themselves. Most would stick with me through a whole party and I wouldn’t even know their name until I thought to ask.”
Belle stared at me. “Seriously?”
Nodding, I strolled over to her. “I wasn”t bragging when I told you this before and I’m still not. But it’s been like that for several years.”
She shook her head. “You mean like roadies or something?”
“Or something.” I shrugged. “When I won my first UFC belt, it happened off and on. Then after the fifth trophy or so, it would happen at every public event I went to. These women would come out of nowhere and they just seemed like part of the scenery. Part of the champion scene, I guess.” I leaned close and told her, “So, I never had to date, or woo any girl. Until you. But that’s just the point. They didn’t want me. They wanted the limelight, the attention, the fame and probably the money. They never cared about who I really was or what I wanted. So, I admit, I acted like a dog and took what they offered. I figured they really didn”t personally care about me. They were using me.”
“Then there was Miss Nutcase,” Fate said.
I winced. “Man, did you have to bring her up?”
“Who is that?” Belle asked as she looked concerned.
“Some woman who became obsessed. It wasn’t healthy at all.”
“Yeah, it was like that movie Misery or something.” Fate nodded.
Belle stared at me. “You mean, she was dangerous?”
“Um yeah, she had to…” I let out a breath and shook my head.
“...be put into a mental institution,” Fate finished for me.
Nodding, I went on to explain, “I tried talking to her and that just made it worse…Nothing worked. Then I had to take out a restraining order.”
“Wow,” Belle exclaimed.
“She would show up everywhere he went,” Fate added. “Then she broke into our house at the Sugarland ranch. And one day, she was in the backseat of my car.”
Belle looked over at him. “Your car?”
“Yeah, I would drive this star everywhere.” Fate waved his hand at me. “So, she’d waited in my car for me to pick Liberty up I guess? Like it had to be four hours or so. This chick was beautiful too. Like way easy on the eyes. All legs and curves, flawless skin, the whole package really. If she wanted a guy, I know she could land him, but she had a flaw…She was batshit crazy. She said Liberty was meant to be hers.”
“I knew almost from the minute she came around that she wasn”t right in the head,” I told Belle. “So after all of that happened, I realized using them while they were using me wasn’t a good way to handle it. That lifestyle had worn out its welcome with me. So I was more careful and I would leave these women at the events. I refused to take any of them home with me. Live and learn.”
Belle nodded. “Sometimes you just can’t spot the crazies. I’ve seen this in some of the court cases our firm takes on. Mostly in busted up marriages, where one of the spouses, husband or wife would go insane, or was always that way. And as you both probably already know…Scarlet had a boyfriend that turned out to be like that. He seemed fine when they first got together but then one day…he wasn”t fine. He was a real menace and he hurt Scar really bad. Deacon got him out of prison to play a part in his scheme.” Belle looked away for a few seconds as she spoke, “He ended badly, just like he was meant to.”
The room went quiet with this subject.
“Ok kids, are we ready to leave now?” Fate asked while looking back and forth at us.
I shook my head at him. “Kids? Why are you talking like an old grandma?”
Belle giggled. “Grandma Fate.”
Fate laughed and went over to the door.
“Are you ready to go, Belle?” I smiled at her.
“Yeah, I am. But we will have to go to the kitchen first.”
“Why?” I asked.
“We need to apologize to Ma for missing breakfast,” Belle said.
I shook my head.
“Yep, so let’s go.” Fate opened the door.
We all went out to the hall. Fate made a point to get in between us as we made our way to the main room.
I stepped to the side and bumped him out of the way.
Nearly tripping, he complained, “Hey!”
Belle laughed and said, “Don’t be mean, Liberty.”
I huffed. “Damn nuisance if you ask me.”
“Yeah? Well, no one asked you,” Fate quipped.
We came out into one of the three living rooms. Now, we headed to the kitchen. Connor House was a super large place.
“Ma already knows so...” I shrugged.
“How does she know?” Fate asked.
“She figured it out at the fight,” I explained as I remembered what she had said after Belle ran off.
“Ok then, we’d better tell her we plan to hide it,” Belle said.
We entered the smaller kitchen where Ma could be found for most of the day. She cooked in the commercial kitchen, but this small cozy one was her favorite place to be it seemed.
She looked up as we came in. “Well, there you two are. Best sit down, so I can at least give ya some coffee.”
Fate sat down with us. “So, you aren’t mad at them?”
“Nah, I’m happy they finally got the idea.” She chuckled and looked over at me. “So, how’s your screen door?”
I paused and remembered her odd saying about Belle making a huge hole in my screen door. I laughed. “It’s hanging off the hinges.”
Ma leaned her head back and laughed. Then she kept chuckling as she went over to get some mugs from the cabinet.
The three of us looked at each other then back at her.
Coming back over with a tray, she sat it down. “You two were all riled up. Settin’ fireworks off and all.” She chuckled as she poured our coffee. “Well, get ready for it to get even better.”
Belle spoke up, “We are going to hide our um…new relationship until after the wedding.”
“Good girl,” Ma said as she poured the coffee into our mugs. “No use in stealin’ their thunder.”
Fate beamed at me.
I secretly flipped him off, when Ma was handing Belle her cup.
Fate chuckled.
“The next three days need to be all about them,” Ma stated.
Belle laughed and looked over at me. “See?”
I shrugged and grumbled, “I still don’t see the point.”
“In what?” Ma asked me as she sat down.
“In hiding it,” I replied as I raised my coffee mug up.
“Are ya crazy?” Ma said. “You gotta keep this quiet.”
“Keep what quiet?”
We all looked over to see Scarlet coming in.
Belle stood from her chair and said, “Surprises for the wedding. So, never you mind.”
Scarlet smiled at her. “Yeah, yeah…I noticed you missed breakfast.”
Belle looked a bit panicked.
“And Justice said you did too,” Scarlet said as she looked over at me.
I shook my head and said nothing. No lie would leave my lips.
“So, what’s really going on?” Scarlet asked.
“Right now, we are having coffee,” Belle stated the obvious as she avoided the real question. “Then we are going to decorate the ballroom.”
“That’s already done,” Fate stated.
Belle and I looked over at him. I raised my brows as I did feel surprised by this.
“Well, I still gotta get Belle’s approval on it, but we did it last night.” Fate shrugged.
“We?” I asked.
“Me, Dad and Redemption,” Fate said.
Scarlet smiled. “Well, thank you, Fate.”
“It’s fine,” he replied. “Didn”t take much time.”
“Well today,” Belle said. “We need to make sure we have the punch bowls and cups ready. Along with table centerpieces and tablecloths.”
“Then we need to talk to Logan about the music,” I added with a nod.
“Seems to me it is all shaping up well,” Scarlet said. “You two make a good team. I think Jarret was right. “
“About what?” I asked even though I knew she was right. He’d said take your chance while you have it and I did that with Belle. I knew I would never regret it. I looked forward to future arguments with her. Hell, to a future anything with her.
“A lot, apparently.” Scarlet looked at me then at Belle. “You two are getting along now for one thing.”
“It is shaping up great Sis and no worries for you.” Belle nodded. “I did want to ask what I should wear to the actual wedding? I mean I didn’t bring any of my clothes as you know.”
“Cinnamon and the girls have it all covered.” Scarlet smiled at her. Then she looked over at me. “What are you wearing, Liberty?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t bring a suit, but I’m sure Justice has one.”
“Yeah, he has a few I think?” Scarlet smiled at me. Then she rolled her eyes. “Ok, so, why are you all hiding the fact that you two are together?” She motioned at me and Belle.
I blinked at her. “What?”
“You heard me,” Scarlet said.
Ma laughed as she shook her head and handed Scarlet a cup of coffee.
“How did you know?” Belle asked Scarlet.
“Sis, you look like a million bucks.” Scarlet set her cup on the table. “Your eyes are actually sparkling! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. Happiness looks good on you.” She laughed then she looked over at me. “And I”ve never seen you this quiet since I met you. I mean you aren’t known for that Liberty Walker. Plus, you haven’t taken your eyes off of Belle since I came in here.” Planting her hands onto her hips, Scarlet asked, “So why the BS?”
She hadn’t been fooled at all. I had to admit that I probably looked pretty smug about this.
Fate looked stunned as he shook his head while staring at Scarlet. “Holy shit,” he muttered under his breath.