Chapter Eighteen Shackin’ Up
Belle
Three days later…
Liberty and I had pulled it off. We’d arranged a wedding to cry over and a bash of a reception to celebrate.
The wedding turned out to be simple, elegant and beautiful. We had the ceremony out back in the lusciously green grass with a path of flowers leading up to the altar that we had made under a large oak tree. Prophet’s father was a licensed minister so he was able to make it official. It had been so peaceful and lovely.
And yes, I cried a little. Justice really loved my sister and I finally had no doubt about that. He had tears in his eyes when he lifted her veil and kissed her. My mother was weeping in the background. I never thought I would see Scarlet this happy. It made me feel hope for myself and my future.
They kissed and were announced as Mr. Mrs. Walker.
Cheers had filled the air.
The reception was loud and happy. The wedding dance with the couple made everyone there cry all over again. The Walker brothers were a hoot when they were all in one room. The jokes and laughter were epic. Then add their Texas cousins and the party rocked. Ma’s wedding cake was spectacular. Seven tiered, white with red roses, very elegant and the taste of it was out of this world.
The celebration went on for hours until I almost dropped from exhaustion. Even the bride and groom had already left. Liberty had scooped me up and took me to his room. There were hoots and hollers when we were on our way out which was terribly embarrassing for me. I hid my face in his chest as Liberty laughed. If some hadn’t known about us before they did now as it wasn”t a secret anymore.
Liberty and I were together and the wedding was done, so I suppose I didn’t care who knew now.
So today was the day. I was about to be free to go back to my life in Ramton, only I was bringing a man home with me and not just any man. Liberty wasn’t the kind that blended in and wasn’t noticed. My neighbors and friends would know about him right away. So, I braced myself for the response. No, I didn’t mean that I was ashamed of him. Hell no. It was just that he was sort of larger than life, not the quiet type and he was now fiercely protective of me.
I say fiercely because he was just that…Fierce about this whole protection thing. He told me that he would be in the vicinity of my office the entire time I was working. I didn’t know how to react to that. I wasn’t sure if it would all work, but Liberty seemed to have no doubts that it all would.
I hoped he would lay off after a while when we saw that it was safe and Deacon was nowhere to be found. I felt pretty confident that it would turn out that way. I felt like Deacon had lost interest in me when I was no longer important to his plans.
Fate came up with a duffle bag as he interrupted my musings. He tossed it into the car that the MC had provided to us and gave me a nod of his head. “I’m gonna be on my bike. I figured it would be better to trail you two.” He looked over at Liberty who stood at the steps talking to Talon. “He won’t need his ride I guess. He said he would be taking you to work and bringing you home.”
I shook my head. “How long do we have to do that? You know, the whole guarding me thing?”
Fate paused to stare at me. “Hell if I know? I mean this was the plan we came up with a week ago. You need to talk to those two.” He smiled at me as he motioned to Talon and Liberty. “I”m just a minion here.”
Heading across the driveway, I stopped at the steps where the two men stood.
“Report at least twice a day.” Talon was telling Liberty. “You all have trackers in your phones. I will also have men in strategic areas.”
“Strategic?” I asked.
He looked over at me. “Yeah, on your street. Inside the apartment building where you live. My men already rented an apartment last week. Your office parking area will be heavily watched. Then when you are on the move, say to the store or whatever, you will have men trailing you.”
I stared at him. “You are kidding, right?”
Talon stared back at me with a stone cold expression on his face. “Why would I kid about surveillance?”
Liberty shook his head. “Belle—”
Ignoring Liberty, I stepped close to Talon to say, “People are gonna notice all that!”
He shrugged. “More than likely they won”t. My men are ex-military and they are good at being ghosts. So no, your friends and neighbors won’t know.”
“But I’ll know!”
Talon glared at me. “I can’t care about that. We agreed to allow you to do this. When all it would take is one breach from you for Deacon to find us here. This is non-negotiable, Belle. These are the terms. You are to be watched at all times. Along with Fate and Liberty guarding you.” He turned and went back up the steps.
Liberty came down the last few steps and took my hand.
I growled.
Chuckling, Liberty led me over to the car. “Calm down, Ms. Vicious. We aren’t even gonna go there, Belle. You know I think Talon is an overbearing ass just like you do, but on this...him and I agree. I want all the protection we can get for your safety.” He stopped, gripped my shoulders and turned me toward him. “I won’t back down from keeping you safe, so please don’t waste our time trying to make me let up on it.”
I shook my head. “But for how long? How long do I have to live like that?”
He shrugged.
I tisked and rolled my eyes. “You mean you don’t know?”
“My best answer is when Deacon is dead,” he replied.
I didn’t like this answer, because they had been after him for months to no avail.
“Besides, you aren’t even gonna know about being trailed. Except for me and Fate,” he reasoned. “So, let this go, ok?” He went around the car and opened the passenger door for me to get in.
Wearing a pout, I sighed heavily and stomped my way over.
“I love it when you act immature,” Liberty teased me. “I can easily imagine you as a little brat at seven years old or something. I’m thinking a good spanking might be in order soon.”
I gasped as I slid into the seat. “Oh, hell no! You are not trying your kinky on me, buddy.”
Leaning his head back, Liberty laughed as he shut the door and went around the front of the car. “I swear woman, you are hilarious.” He opened the driver”s door and got in. Grinning at me, he asked, “So are you all ready to go, darlin?”
I nodded. “Been ready for a couple of weeks, sugah.”
Starting the car, he waved at his father, Justice and Redemption.
They gave us a wave as we passed by them.
“You gonna miss them?” I asked him.
“You gonna miss Scarlet and your mom?”
I nodded. I had already said goodbye to them earlier. I told them not to be out front because I didn”t want to cry and deal with the sadness of leaving them here. My mom kept crying and saying I shouldn”t go. “Yeah, I’m gonna miss them a lot. One of the many stipulations in allowing me to go and live my own life is that I can”t see them for a while.”
“Yes.” Liberty nodded his head as he drove out through the gates. “Probably for the same length of time…when Deacon is dead.”
This was the one thing that put a damper on my venture back to a normal life. I wouldn’t see any family for an undetermined amount of time.
Fate’s bike engine roared from behind us as we headed out of the gated property.
When we got onto the bridge road, I felt excited then by the time we were going over Connor Bridge, I was smiling.
“Well, it was all worth it just to see you smiling, babe,” Liberty said.
I looked over at him. “See, that’s why you still got me wrapped around your pinky.”
He watched the road then took a quick glance at me. “What?”
“You have these moments of absolute sweetness.” I winked at him.
“And here I thought it was because I can make you pass out when I use my mouth to—”
I smacked his arm. “Bad boy!”
He laughed. “Yes, yes…That is what you say now until I don’t give you your nightly meltdown.”
I laughed with him. “Ok, ok. You’re right. I count on my daily turn as an ice cream cone.”
“Cream being the catch word here.” He grinned at me. “I love my nightly cream.”
I felt my face heat up and I looked away.
Liberty laughed. “There is no one in this car but you and I and still, you blush.”
I shook my head. “That’s because you are truly shameless.”
He chuckled. “Yes, yes we established this a while back.” He gave me a wicked wink. “You love it and you know it.”
“Yeah, I do,” I admitted with a laugh.
We rode in silence for a few more miles and then I asked, “So we haven’t talked about it, but how long are you going to play bodyguard? I mean you did have a life before you came here.”
Liberty scoffed. “Same answer as before, Belle.”
“When Deacon is dead?” I took a not so wild guess.
Nodding, he changed lanes as we were now on the freeway. “All of us Texas Walkers know that we cannot go home until this war is over. Until the threat to the family is gone. As in Deacon being six feet under.
“Liberty, you need to live your life too.”
“And I will be… as in, I will always be your bodyguard.” He winked at me then looked back at the road.
“I”m serious here. You cannot just give up everything to follow me home. And there are no ring fights in Ramton, Liberty. Except for some underground ones.”
He shrugged. “So? I could try that. I don’t need the money but the thrill might make it worth my while.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I pouted. “Not safe. Those fights have all kinds of bad people hanging around. Drunken guests, people on drugs.”
“I would be fine, Belle. I’m a big boy if you hadn”t noticed.”
“Ha-ha. Yes, in more ways than one,” I teased.
He gasped in a mock dramatic way as he pressed one hand on his chest while he drove with the other. “Oh wow, was that like a flirty bit of dirty talk?”
We both laughed.
“Obviously, you are a bad influence,” I told him. “I mean, what are my co-workers gonna say when I start swearing like a biker and talking about sex?”
He laughed. “They will say, ‘wow the nun has finally loosened up.’ ”
I gasped in a mock dramatic way now. “Are you saying I was an uptight, snotty little bitch before I met you?” I pressed my hand onto my chest.
Liberty shook his head at me and replied, “Only if you’re saying that I was a big mouthed opinionated, dumbass oaf.”
We both laughed loudly.
This had become a running comic dialogue between us for the last several days. We made fun of our old fights and we shared what foul names we had silently called each other.
“Ok, take this exit,” I told him as I chuckled.
When we got into town, I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Fate behind us on his motorcycle. “And what are people going to think in my apartment building? Me living with two men?”
Liberty shook his head and shrugged. “That you have a big appetite?”
I gasped for real and reached over to pinch his upper arm.
“Owww!” he complained. “That hurt.”
“I’m serious. I went from a straight laced single woman who never brought a guy home to shacking up with two men? We need to discuss this before we get to my building. We need to pull over at the store anyway because there’s no food at my place after being gone for almost a month.” I pointed to my neighborhood grocery store on the left side of the road. “We need to talk to Fate and make some kind of a plan, so it doesn”t look like you are both moving in.”
“Why?” Liberty asked. “We are both moving in.”
“I just told you why. I can’t have two men moving in with me!”
“I’m your boyfriend and he’s my brother, Belle. What is the big deal?”
I felt so frustrated. “I just never believed I would look like the neighborhood slut.”
Liberty snickered as he drove into the store”s parking lot. “Look at it this way…you’ll cause a stir and old women will be jealous. Hell, your younger neighbors might even be jealous.”
That was when I suddenly remembered. “Oh. My. God.”
Parking, he looked over at me. “What is it?”
“Briget and Daisy. I forgot all about them!”