Page 69 of Liberty
I raised my brows at her. Pulling my wallet out, I shook my head. “I got plenty enough to pay for groceries.”
“Well, I don’t!” Belle exclaimed as she looked pink in the face. “I lost my purse at that quarry.”
“Babe, we can pay for what we need easily. No worries.”
She bit at her lip. “I don’t like it.”
I took the dog food from her grasp and set it on the conveyor belt. “I literally have more money than I can spend in a lifetime, Belle. That won’t be one of our worries.”
“I pay for my own stuff,” she grumbled.
I shook my head. “Yes, an independent woman and I respect that. But look at it this way, Fate and I will be eating at your apartment too, so I am paying for us as well.”
She looked a bit relieved by this and then rose up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek.
Fate nodded as he had a mouthful of oreos. “And…we can eat…a lot!”
“Oreos, Fate? In the store, man?” I smacked the side of his head. “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”
“Stopppwith the head slapping, Liberty,” Fate whined. “You need to chill and just use your words, like Justice keeps telling you. I mean it. You’d better not touch my head again!”
“You two are hilarious,” the clerk said with a laugh. “And your names are Liberty and Fate?” She looked over at Belle. “Where did you find these guys, Belle?”
Her head snapped up as she stared at the clerk. “Oh hey, Melanie.” Belle laughed a little nervously. “If I told you where and how, you would never believe me.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve heard a lot of wild gossip while working here.” Melanie winked at her.
Belle let out a long breath and muttered, “Yeah, and I don’t want to be part of the wild gossip.” She looked all around.
I handed the money to Melanie to pay for the groceries and took a look around too.
People were staring and whispering to each other.
I shook my head. Small towns were all the same. Ramton was no different from Sugarland. I pushed our basket out of the line and through the front doors.
“You see what I mean?” Belle complained when we got outside. “And my apartment building is an even bigger gossip mill, Liberty.”
When we got to the car, I opened the backseat door and started to shove the bags in. “It doesn’t matter Belle. Who cares?”
“Who cares?” she replied as she took some grocery bags and went around to the other side of the car. “This is where I live.”
I shrugged and shut the door. “So? I’m with you permanently, so they all can gossip about that if they want to.”
“Oh, they will, believe me. Then what about Fate?” She tossed her hands up in disgust.
“What about me?” he asked as he sat on his bike next to our car, listening to us.
“They are gonna wonder why you're moving in with me too,” Belle explained.
He stared at her then seemed to get it as he raised his brows. “Oh, wow. They will think…”
Belle nodded. “Yeah, they will! Then what am I gonna do?”
“Do?” I asked as I came around the car hood and opened the passenger side door for her. “Nothing. Why do you care so much? I mean I’ve been gossiped about for many years now.Sometimes I even get a little paparazzi too. I don’t give a fuck what they print.”
“Oh, no!” Belle sounded panicked now. “I forgot that you are semi-famous! Ooohh, what am I gonna do?”
“Semi famous?” Fate said as he laughed. “You hear that Lib? Semi.”
