24
"I am fixing to beat the shit out of you if you don't fucking calm down," laughed Bella. I rolled my eyes as I threw my gloved hand into the punching bag.
"Did you forget about my parents coming?" I asked, harshly. "What if they force me to go to Italy with them?"
"I don't know," muttered Bella, letting go of the bag.
She moved over and climbed into the ring. I sighed as I pulled off my gloves and went over and joined her. After Esme dropped the bomb that my parents were coming yesterday, Bella had been very subdued. Fuck, so was I. Esme assured us that their visit had nothing to do with the fight but I was nervous about what would happen when they found out. She said they were coming just to check on us but I couldn't help wonder about the what ifs. I sat down next to Bella and wrapped my arm around her waist. She sighed and leaned into my embrace.
"I'm going to do everything I can to stay here," I murmured.
"I know," whispered Bella, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Fuck, I feel like one of those fucking love struck teenagers in those sappy ass movies, but I don't want to lose you, Edward. Not when I…"
"Me either," I whispered.
Bella and I fell into a peaceful silence as we laid back on the mats. I was more than scared that my parents would try to force me to go to Italy with them. How would I be able to handle living a continent apart from the girl I loved? I don't think I would be able to. I'm not sure how long Bella and I had been laying on the mats when the front doors to the gym opened. I felt Bella tense up as we looked over. I think she was expecting my parents but instead, Garrett, Kate, Ben, and Angela were standing there.
All four of them looked uncomfortable, tense, and nervous. I looked over at Bella, who was staring at the floor. This had to be hard on her, knowing that they were wondering about the newspaper article. Just one more reason why I wanted to kick Lauren's ass, again. Carlisle came out of his office and looked from them to us.
"May I help you?" asked Carlisle, facing them.
"We, um, came to see, Bella, sir," mumbled Garrett, uncomfortably.
"You did, huh?" asked Carlisle. "Shouldn't you all be in school?"
"We were suspended for fighting," said Ben, slipping his arm around Angela, who was playing with the hem of her shirt.
"Oh, I see," said Carlisle, looking back at me. I nodded my head softly. "Ok, well, I guess I'll just be in my office. No fighting, children."
"Shut the fuck up, Car," grumbled Bella, speaking for the first time.
Carlisle laughed and went back into his office, shutting the door behind him. Garrett, Ben, Kate, and Angela stood there next to the front door awkwardly for a moment before they slowly made their way over to where Bella and I were sitting. They climbed into the ring and sat down in front of us.
"Take your shoes off," muttered Bella. "Carlisle will kick all four of your asses if he catches you with street shoes on his mats."
"Oh, ok," muttered Angela, slipping her boots off. Garrett, Kate, and Ben followed her lead. "So, um, Carlisle's the blond dude, right?"
"Yep," said Bella, looking up at them. "He's my oldest brother."
"Oh," said Angela, wrapping her arms around her knees. "How many brother's do you have?"
"Three," whispered Bella. "Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper. I have an older sister named Renee. Her husband, Charlie, is practically a brother, though."
"Wow, that must suck to have that many older siblings," chuckled Garrett.
"Yeah, your parents…" Ben trailed off, looking down at his feet. "Sorry I didn't mean to bring them up."
"It's fine," muttered Bella. "My parents were amazing people. They loved each other…so much. They loved kids, obviously."
"That's good," whispered Kate. For several minutes, nobody said anything. I slipped my hand into Bella's. She smiled softly at me.
"And this is where you guys train to fight or whatever it is you do?" asked Angela, looking around.
"Yeah, we box," said Bella. "My parents had a very successful gym in Arizona. They used to train all of us until…they died."
"Oh," muttered Angela.
"You can ask me what I know you are wanting to ask," sighed Bella. "I'm not going to like fucking freak out and kill you or anything. At least not right now."
"That's a relief," laughed Garrett. Ben, Kate, and Angela all laughed with him and suddenly, the tension was lifted from the air. "Your parents were murdered, right?"
"Yes," said Bella. "I, um, was there when it happened but my father told me to hide in the cubby space in the back of my closet. It…"
"It took the police two days to find her," I finished as I pulled Bella into my arms.
"Oh my god," whispered Angela. "The people who hurt them, were they caught?"
"No," cried Bella, wrapping her arms around me. "The police said it was a random act of violence. After they found me, I was fucking crazy. I, um, kind of attacked the police as they tried to help me. A judge ordered that I had to spend a month in a state hospital, where the doctors thought the best solution was to drug me up so much that I was practically catatonic. When I was finally released, my brothers moved me to Seattle, and then here to Forks."
"It sounds like your brothers are pretty cool," said Garrett. "You know, taking you in and everything."
"They can be," whispered Bella.
"So, um, did you two get into a lot of trouble because of the fight yesterday?" asked Angela.
"No," I smiled. "None actually. How about you guys?"
"I got grounded to my room for the next three days," said Angela, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yet, here you sit," smiled Bella, clearly relieved that they weren't going to push for more details.
"I was bored," smirked Angela.
"My parents yelled at me for like a fucking hour, telling me what a disappointment I was and how they wished I would be like my older sister," said Kate, rolling her eyes. "I told them I would rather die than be like Tanya."
"My Dad tried to take my car away," snorted Garrett. "At least he did until I reminded him that meant I would be blaring my music all day and night. Since he works from home, he grumbled and called me a little prick but gave me my keys back. He then told me to stay out of his way and to try not to get arrested."
"Good luck," teased Bella.
"I know, right?" asked Garrett, shaking his head. "What else am I supposed to do?"
"My mom and dad yelled at me about making better choices, blah, blah, blah," said Ben, leaning back on his arms. "Honestly, I didn't listen to a fucking word they said. I was too busy planning my revenge on the bitch."
"Guys, just let it go," sighed Bella, shaking her head. "Lauren and her skank army aren't worth all this shit."
"Maybe," shrugged Ben. "Or maybe, we should make sure they've learned their lessons."
"Ben, seriously, let it go," laughed Bella, standing up. "All it's going to do is get you into more trouble."
"You make it sound like trouble is a bad thing," scoffed Ben.
Bella shook her head as she climbed out of the ring. She went over to the supply closet and grabbed a box of gloves and head gear. She came back over and climbed into the ring. She tossed a pair of gloves and a head gear to Garrett, Angela, Ben, and Kate.
"Let's get you taped up," said Bella.
"Um, why?" asked Angela.
"Um, cause I'm going to teach you how to really throw a proper punch," snorted Bella, pulling Angela's hand to her and looking at the bruised knuckles. "Wouldn't want you to break anything."
"Ok," smiled Angela.
Bella taped Angela and Kate's hands while I taped Garrett and Ben's hands. We fitted their gloves on before we put on their headgear. All four of them were looking at us like we were crazy for even suggesting this. I taped Bella's hands and got her gloves on before pulling mine back on.
"Ok, Garrett and Ben face each other. Kate and Angela face each other," ordered Bella, turning and facing me.
"Wait, are you going to fight Edward?" asked Ben, harshly.
"Yeah," said Bella, confused. "It's not a big deal. Now-"
"It is a big deal," growled Ben, turning to me. "Dude, she's a girl."
"Ben, man, I know that," I laughed. "But she's tough. Besides, she can kick my ass so shut the fuck up about her being a girl, ok?"
"Ok," muttered Ben, still not comfortable with idea.
"Ok, now that we've settled that," said Bella, rolling her eyes. "We can move on. Now, the trick to throwing a good punch is to hit with the right part of your glove. You want to use the tip and hit quickly. Don't give them a chance to back off before you make contact."
Bella demonstrated slowly for them before having them throw a punch at each other. Garrett and Ben both threw a nice hard punch but Angela and Kate barely touched each other. I saw Carlisle watching from the door way of his office as Bella stood behind Kate and guided her arm to Angela's shoulder. Carlisle smiled and shook his head before he went back into his office. I knew what he thinking. The Bella he knew would never do this. This was a new Bella.
"Ok, that was better," smiled Bella, as Angela threw a good right jab. "Next, you need to learn to protect yourselves. You want to keep your arms up, elbows tucked in, and feet moving."
"Based on the bruises on you two, you didn't do a great job of that," snorted Garrett.
"I fought eight fighters in two days," I pointed out. "And Bella found like seven. You should see what they looked like."
"Eight? In two days?" asked Ben, eyes wide open. I nodded my head. "Fuck, Edward, did you at least win after getting the shit beat out of you?"
"First of all, I was the one beating the shit out people," I smirked. "And yes, I did win."
"What about you, Bella?" asked Kate. "Did you win?"
"Fuck yes," snorted Bella. "Like any of those bitches could take me."
"Man, I wish I could have seen that," sighed Garrett, shaking his head.
"Ok, back to work," laughed Bella.
Bella and I spent the rest of the afternoon showing Garrett, Ben, Angela, and Kate a few basic offensive and defensive moves. Just after three, they stripped off their gloves and headgear, claiming that they needed to get going. Personally, I think they were just tired. Bella and I packed everything up and headed to mine and Esme's apartment.
"What movie should we watch?" I asked, looking back at her.
"Something scary like When In Rome," laughed Bella, plopping down on the couch.
"That's not scary," I chuckled. "That's a chick flick."
"Sounds scary to me," smiled Bella. I shook my head and looked back at our movies.
"You are really weird sometimes, Baby," I snorted.
"I know," sighed Bella. "I don't care what we watch, anyway."
"Ok," I murmured, pulling out Empire Records. "In that case, we are going to watch a classic."
I put the movie on and went over and sat down next to Bella. She laughed and shook her head as the movie started but didn't say anything. She slid over next to me and laid her head on my shoulder. I slipped my hand around her waist, pulling her so close she was practically in my lap.
Bella seemed to feel like my lap was a good place to sit as she climbed over and straddled me. My hands automatically slipped around to her ass, grabbing a cheek in each hand. Bella gripped my hair in her hands and pulled my head back. She crushed her lips down onto mine. My eyes rolled back as she slipped her tongue into my mouth. The girl was trying to kill me.
I flipped us so that she was laying on her back and I was hovering over her. Running my hands up her leg, I pulled her leg up at the thigh and hooked it over my hip, grinding my rapidly growing erection into her. Bella moved her other leg around the back of my leg, pulling my hips into hers. I moved my lips to her neck as I slid my hand up further until it reached the bottom of her t-shirt. I sucked and nipped on her neck as I slipped my hand under her shirt and moved it up to her breast. I could feel her hard nipples through the bra she was wearing. Bella gasped and moaned as I pushed her shirt up and moved my lips to her lace covered nipples.
It wasn't until I heard someone clear their throat that I realized that Bella and I were no longer alone. Bella tensed up as she pushed me off of her and yanked her shirt down. Taking a deep breath, I looked over to the front door.
"Edward," said the dark haired man.
"Hey, Dad."
