5
Panting, I pushed myself harder, trying to keep up with the beautiful brunette in front of me. Focused solely on her run, she pushed herself harder, moving that much further in front of me. If my legs weren't burning, and my chest didn't feel like it was on fire, I might have enjoyed the view a little more. Bella was a woman on a mission.
I couldn't really blame her. We'd been at UCLA for two weeks, and while the nightmares had started to back off, Maggie and Liam weren't. Every morning, they stared at us, mainly her, waiting for us, or her, to freak out and start knocking people off or something. Even though she pretended it didn't bother her, it did. Bella had worked so hard trying to move on with her life, and finally deal with her parents' betrayal. It hadn't been easy or fun for her but she'd been trying, but I guess that really didn't mean anything to them. Maybe she should just tell them why she needed time to adjust but, she shouldn't have to. She'd more than earned the right to keep her life private.
After running for another ten minutes, Bella finally slowed down to a stop, bending at the waist, placing her hands on her knees. I slid to a stop behind her, putting my hands behind my head, taking a deep breath. My body ached.
Looking over her shoulder, she smiled, "You gonna puke?"
"Maybe," I chuckled. She laughed, lunging her left leg forward, stretching out her muscles. I tried to stifle my moan as her red shorts stretched across her ass, but I couldn't.
Smirking, she laughed, "See something you like, baby?"
"You're so fucking hot," I growled, stalking up behind her, slipping my arms around her waist, pressing my obvious arousal into her. "Fuck, baby."
Bella giggled, wiggling her way out of my grasp, but not before rubbing her ass against my cock. Smirking, she turned, taking several steps backward, nibbling on her bottom lip. "You want me?"
"Yes," I hissed, cock twitching. She was so sexy.
"Then you gotta catch me."
Taunting me, she took off running, leaving me with my mouth wide open. Shuddering, I took off after her, knowing my cock wouldn't be happy until it was buried deep inside of her, where it belonged. Running into the dorms, she bypassed the elevator, taking the stairs two at a time. I followed.
She was on the fourth staircase when I caught her, pinning her to the wall, back against my front. Making sure she felt every inch of my arousal, I lowered my lips, sucking on her sweat covered skin. Pushing into me, she moaned, grabbing my hair. Pulling my lips off her neck, she slid away from me, panting.
"Come here," I ordered, holding my hand out to her.
Nibbling on that fucking lip, she shook her head. "Come on, lover."
Taking off up the stairs, my cock twitched, watching her legs climb away from me. She would be the death of me for sure.
I took off after her, tossing her over my shoulder as we reached the fifth floor landing. Bella squealed, slapping my ass. My cock twitched again. Kneading her thigh, I rushed down to my dorm room, playing like hell Liam was gone. I fumbled, trying to get my key out of my pocket, I unlocked the door, throwing it open. Bella giggled as I tossed her on my bed, slamming the door shut, flicking the lock.
Hastily, I climbed onto the bed, pulling her tank top off, tossing it onto the floor, before pushing her sports bra up, and leaning down, capturing one of her perky nipples. Moaning, she gripped my hair, pulling again, but I wouldn't release her. I needed to taste her skin, to feel her body moving with mine. Stripping off the last of our clothing, I settled myself between her legs, pushing into her in one quick thrust.
"Fuck," she grasped, yanking my head back.
Pausing, I took a moment to gain some control, but feeling her wrapped around me, hugging me, nearly pushed me over the edge. Gripping her thigh in my hand, I pulled her leg over my hip, setting a slow, but steady pace. Every time we were together like this, I felt at home, where I was supposed to be. Bella grabbed my hair, pulling my lips down into hers. Our lips moved together in time with our bodies, taking each moan and whimper.
Crying out against my lips, and pulling my head back, Bella clenched around me, pulling me over the edge with her. Shuddering, I found my release, stilling my hips against her. Kissing her once more, I collapsed on her, letting her feel the weight of my body on top of hers.
Bella and I startled when the doorknob rattled, indicating that Liam was on his way in. Scrambling off the bed, I managed to stop him from opening the door. Bella pulled on her clothes, ignoring the string of profanities being thrown at us from the other side. She tossed me my shorts and t-shirt, which I slipped on before opening the door.
Liam glared at the two of us, storming in. "This is my fucking room, too," he spat, grabbing his backpack off his desk.
"Yet, you've been in my room so much, I forgot," quipped Bella, walking past him, and out into the hall. He looked back at me, steaming at the ears.
"Don't," I warned, grabbing my shower stuff from my closet. "We'll do what we fucking want, when we fucking want to. If you don't like it, you can get the fuck out."
"We're trying, you know," he grumbled, as I walked to the door. I stopped and looked back at him. "But you're not making this easy for either of us."
"What's so hard about it?" I pressed. "Bella needed time, but she's fine now."
"We know, but..."
"There are no buts, dude," I scoffed. "She had a few nightmares. You don't need to know what they were about. We've tried to be your friends but you'd rather stare at the two of us, or whisper about us to the others. We left high school back in Washington, man. Did you?"
Letting the door close behind me, I headed down to the bathroom and took a shower. When I got back to the room, he was gone. Shaking my head, I knew he would be. Neither he nor Maggie wanted to face the fact that they overreacted in the first place. Tossing my dirty clothes in my basket, I got ready for the day, slipping on some shorts and a black t-shirt with a pair of fangs on them. It was lame, but Bella gave it to me.
Grabbing my backpack, I headed down to the elevator, knowing that she would be waiting for him. There she stood, leaning against the wall, feet crossed at the ankle, hands shoved into the pockets of her tight jeans. Bobbing her head slowly, I knew she was listening to her music, blocking the rest of the world out, at least for a few minutes. Walking over, I tugged one of her hands out of her pocket, pushing the button on the elevator.
Looking up at me from under her lashes, she smiled, "Hey."
"Hi," I murmured, leaning down, kissing her. She giggled, pulling back. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving."
"I could give you something to eat," she purred, tugging on my hand. I moaned as we stepped into the elevator. My little minx.
Bella and I were good and didn't get too carried away in the elevator. Or, we tried not to, anyway. Making our way across campus, we headed into the dining hall, grabbed our breakfast and headed up to our usual table. Benjamin and Tia were already there, snuggling close and kissing. Clearing her throat, Bella dropped her tray on the table, causing them to jump apart.
"Oh, sorry," she snarked, sitting down. They rolled their eyes, turning back to their food.
"It's not like we've never had to watch you two sucking face," quipped Benjamin.
I shook my head, Bella leaned forward, placing her elbow on the table. "It's not like we have to worry about arriving too early, though," she teased. He groaned, falling back in his seat while me, Bella, and Tia laughed.
"You're such a bitch," he grumbled, stabbing his eggs with his fork.
"Oh, I know," laughed Bella, but it came out dry, and humorless. Following her gaze, I noticed she was staring at Maggie, who had her eyes glued to the table in front of her. "Nothing I haven't been told before."
Slipping my arm around her shoulder, I pulled her closer to me, trying to assure her that everything was okay. Benjamin and Tia turned back to their food, as did me and Bella. Lifting my eyes back over, I saw Maggie and Liam watching us, frowns on both of their faces. Sighing, I turned back to my breakfast, and started eating. Nothing we did right now would make them see that we weren't the problem.
Once we were done, the four of us tossed our trash and headed off to class. Benjamin and Tia headed over to the science building, while Bella headed to her history class, and I headed to my math class. They were such a waste of time, but seeing as our scholarships relied on us to keep a certain grade point average, we'd muscle through it somehow.
For the rest of the morning, I sat in my seat, listening to one boring lecture after another. With only one class left, I headed into the classroom, searching for a free seat. Tia sat in the back row, leaning her head against the wall with her eyes closed. Smirking, I walked back, slamming my book on her desk. She snapped her eyes open, springing forward.
Hitting me in the arm, quite hard, she spat, "You fucking jerk."
I laughed, plopping into the seat next to her, "You should be paying better attention."
Tia rolled her eyes, leaning toward me. "Can I say something without you wigging out on me?"
"I don't know, can you?" I countered, raising an eyebrow at her. She didn't laugh. "What's on your mind, Tia?"
"You and Bella are the best boxers on our team. There's no point in denying it. You both need to stop pussyfooting around and lead us."
Sighing, I turned away. "You know," I started, "everyone wants us to lead, but how open are they really going to be to us pushing them to stop fucking around?"
"Probably more than you think," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Look, it's not going to be easy, but I can promise you that me and Benjamin are behind you both."
"Yeah?" I wondered. She nodded. "Thanks, but you're just two out of how many?"
"You'd be surprised of who's already behind you, Edward." She leaned back in her chair, turning her attention to the front as our professor came in.
Class went by painfully slow, all I could think about were Tia's words. She was right about this team needing leadership, I just didn't think it needed to be more or Bella. We were freshman, no way would anyone listen to anything we had to say. We were on the bottom of the totem pole as far as they were concerned.
Once we'd been dismissed, Tia headed down to meet Benjamin at the library, while I headed over to the gym to meet Bella. We met there every day after our last class of the day, working out for a few hours. It'd had become a habit in Forks, why change it now. Besides, I knew that she felt normal inside the gym.
When I walked in, she'd already changed, and was sitting on the mats, stretching. Her long legs, spread open, fingers touching her toes, and forehead resting on the blue mat. Feeling my eyes on her, she turned, looking right at me. A huge smile spread across her face, she was beautiful. Absolutely incredible.
"Are you just going to stand there?" she teased. "Are you scared I'll beat you?"
"Nope," I chuckled, winking. "Just admiring the view."
Turning away, she blushed. I headed into the dressing room, and changed quickly. When I walked back out, Bella was laying in the middle of the ring, headgear on, hands taped, and gloves laying next to her. I grabbed my stuff, and climbed into the ring next to her. Crawling across the ring, I straddled her waist, a breathtaking smile spread across her lips.
"I've got you now," I taunted. Her eyes fluttered open.
"What are you going to do with me?"
"Love you forever, once I kick your ass," I smirked. Bella laughed, pushing me off of her. I fell back, moaning.
"Oh, yeah, you're a real tough guy." She scrambled to her feet, picking up her gloves. "Show me how tough you are."
Shaking my head, I stood up, taped my hands, and pulled on my gloves, and headgear. I would regret this, I knew I would, but fighting Bella was worth it. She wouldn't hold back, she'd be offended if I held back. Finishing up my gloves, I turned, prepared to fight her.
With a smirk, Bella came at me, throwing a left hook, followed closely by a right uppercut. I blocked both, trying to counter with a left roundhouse, but being quicker than me, she blocked the punch. Moving to my right, Bella followed, mirroring me step for step. I attacked with a roundhouse/uppercut combination. She stumbled back two steps, but snapped her eyes up to mine. She was ready to really fight now.
Tightening her arms to her side, she stepped to the left, squaring her shoulders. Her fists flew up from her sides, an uppercut to my jaw, followed by a gut check to my right side. Stifling my moan, I hit her in her right side, just under her breasts, and threw an extra jab, but she blocked it. Pushing me further into the ropes, she assaulted my body, alternating gloves. I barely managed to shove her off of me, moving before she was able to recover. Damn, she had iron fists.
Shuffling my feet, I managed to move behind her. Spinning, she wasn't prepared for my left jab. Following quickly with my right hook, left roundhouse, I managed to get a few hits in before she attacked again. Striking the side of my head, my jaw, and my ribs. I winced.
Throwing my arms around her, I pulled her to my chest, spitting my mouth piece into my glove. "I give."
Behind us, came the sounds of several people clapping. Breaking apart, we looked back to see Phil, Missy, Heidi, Demetri, and Embry standing in the doorway, watching us. Bella tensed, ripping her gloves off and spitting her mouth piece out.
"Wow, you're both so fast," murmured Missy, running over and climbing into the ring.
"Shoes, Missy," hissed Phil.
Rolling her eyes, Missy kicked her flip flops off, throwing them at him. Turning back to us, she smiled wider. "Seriously, I've never seen fists moving so fast."
"Or hard," snorted Demetri, while he, Heidi, Embry, and Phil leaned against the ropes on the outside of the ring. "You two do a lot of strength training?"
"Yeah," I muttered, yanking my headgear off.
"Hmm," hummed Heidi, shifting her eyes between the two of us. "You were okay. Kind of weak if you ask me."
"Good thing, we didn't ask you," grumbled Bella, climbing out of the ring on the opposite side. "You wouldn't know how to throw a real punch if it came up and hit you in the face."
"Bitch," she spat.
Bella froze, before turning to glare at her. She'd just dug her own grave. Shifting my gaze to Phil, I expected him to step in before Bella said every thought that drifted through her mind, but he smirked, crossing his arms in front of him. Walking around to the other side of the ring, Bella stopped in front of Heidi, who turned to faced her. Reaching down, Bella grabbed her arm, yanking up, putting her hand around the joint connecting her arm to her shoulder. Heidi winced.
"You feel that?" sneered Bella, pressing down. Heidi nodded. "You're tearing your shoulder apart because you're lazy. Instead of using your body behind your punches, you're throwing weak shit. Adjust your body angle by five percent, and you'll be knocking them on their asses. Don't, and you'll need reconstructive surgery within a year. Your choice."
Bella dropped her arm, heading over to the weights, "Call me a bitch again, I'll be the one kicking your ass."
Snickering at the flabbergasted look on all of their faces, I followed Bella over and set her weight, spotting her while she lifted. Demetri, Heidi, Missy, and Embry came over and started lifting with us, but didn't say anything. Phil smirked before heading into his office. I knew exactly what the smug bastard was thinking; Bella had just proven that we should be leading this team. The problem would be, making everyone else see it, too.
—LO—
Dropping my pencil into my bag, I huffed out of frustration and stood up. Grabbing my bag off the floor, I clutched my test in my other hand, stalking to my professor's desk, and adding my test to the small pile. He nodded his head, but didn't look at me. His eyes were darting around the room, making sure nobody violated the honor code by cheating.
I headed over to the door, looking back at Bella. She was bent over her test, focused on finishing as fast as she could. Professor Johnson cleared his throat, gesturing to the door. Sighing, I left the classroom, letting the door shut behind me. Sliding against the wall, I settled on the floor outside of the door, dug my iPod out of my bag, setting it to my favorite playlist, Staind, and waited.
It's been just over a month since Bella and I arrived at school with the expectations to lead our boxing teams toward a championship, but, like we expected, they'd been less than enthusiastic.
Leaning back on my hands, I looked around the gym. The rest of the team and I were sitting around on the mat after a rather hard practice. Phil had us working on the speed bag, trying to increase our stamina, based on all the puffing and panting around us, they certainly needed more work. Bella straightened her legs out in front of her, reaching out to grab her toes. Being the perverted boyfriend that I am, I looked at her ass. I admit it.
Next to me, Benjamin snorted, dragging my attention off my girlfriend's very firm, round ass. Shaking my head, I tried to will my hard on to go down, but he didn't want to play nice today. Smirking, Bella looked over her shoulder, eyes dropping to my lap. Based on the knowing smile on her lips, she knew just how hard I was for her.
"Okay, listen up." Phil clapped his hands together once, gathering our attention. "Good work-out today, but we need to move past good and strive for excellence." Pausing, he shifted his eyes over, looking between me and Bella. "Which is why I've decided what our team needs is strong leadership."
"Holy fuck," gasped Bella, just loud enough for me to hear her, and sat up, a look of pure horror creeping over her face. "He wouldn't."
"Oh, he would," I muttered, grinding my teeth.
She glared at Phil, but he waved her off. "Our team is full of strong fighters, who have proven time and again what an asset they are to us." Shifting his eyes over to us again, he sighed. "However, it's not enough."
The only word to describe the look on everyone's face, could be shock. Bella lifted an eyebrow, giving me a look. I shrugged my shoulders, answering her silent question. Guess they did like mediocrity.
Phil cleared his throat. "Our team captain need to be someone who's gonna push us to do our best, even when that means telling us to fucking suck it up and quit bitching." Heidi shifted uncomfortably, looking back at Bella, who smiled at her. Stifling my urge to laugh, I slipped my arm around my girl's waist. She could such a bitch, but I fucking loved her. "Which is why, I've decided to make Bella and Edward our team captains."
With thirteen little words, everyone turned, staring at us with gaping mouths, and wide eyes.
To be honest, Bella and I both tried to warn Phil that the rest of the team wouldn't be accepting to our placement as team captains, but the man didn't want to listen. With the exception of Benjamin, Tia, and Missy, who fell back laughing, commenting on "how fucking awesome" we were, everyone else started yelling, cursing at him about how we were just freshmen and couldn't handle the job. I stopped listening, and stood up, pulling Bella up with me.
"Shut the fuck up," I snapped. Turning their glares onto us, they stopped talking. "You think we asked for this? We didn't, but until one of you chooses to stand up and lead, I guess it's our job, isn't it?" Looking at each of them, I chuckled. "That's what I thought. I suggest each of you think real hard about what you want out of this year, because we want to win. Do you?"
Bella and I grabbed our stuff from the locker rooms and headed back to the dorms, showering before settling in her room to study. It's been three days since then, and not one word has been uttered by any of our teammates, except for Benjamin, Tia, and Missy. They seemed to support this ludicrous idea that we could somehow lead a team that didn't want our leadership.
"Jesus fucking Christ, could that test be any harder?" groused Bella, stumbling out of the classroom. Laughing to myself, I pulled my iPod out of my ears, shoving it back into my bag, and stood up.
"You aced it, I know you did." Leaning over, I kissed the side of her head. "Bet you get the highest grade in the class."
"I don't know, number thirteen was a real son of a bitch," she fretted, pulling on her bottom lip. Slipping my hand into hers, I pulled.
"Come on, let's go grab some lunch," I suggested, knowing that she'd be freaking out about that one problem for the next few hours. It's just how Bella worked. I knew it, and accepted it.
"Okay," she sighed.
When we walked outside, we groaned, breathing in the warm, humid air around us. Even after a month, we hadn't gotten used to the weather here. While I never thought I'd say this, I missed the cool, misty climate in Forks. Bella and I headed over to the dining hall, stowing our bags, and grabbing some lunch. Since we had a long practice this afternoon, we grabbed a bigger lunch than we normally would, knowing that we needed to keep our strength up. Loading our trays with baked potatoes, salads, and salisbury steak, we added a roll, and headed up to our usual table, surprised when we found Liam and Maggie sitting next to Benjamin and Tia.
Feeling her tense up next to me, I balanced my tray on one hand, placing my free hand on her back, and led her over to the table. We set our lunch down, sliding into the two vacant seats across from Benjamin and Tia, both of whom were staring at their food. Several slow, awkward minutes passed while the six of us sat there, waiting for someone to say something, anything that would explain why Liam and Maggie suddenly decided make a move.
"Wow, this is..." Benjamin trailed off, spearing a grape on his fork and popping it into his mouth.
Leaning back in her chair, Bella shifted her eyes over to Maggie. "Why?"
"I don't know," she replied, shaking her head. "You scared me, Bella."
Looking away, Bella brought her hand up, covering her heart. Slipping my arm around her, I pulled her into my arms, holding her tight. "I had a nightmare. That's all."
"It wasn't just a nightmare," mumbled Maggie. "I have two little sisters, Bella. I've seen, and heard, more than my fair share of nightmares. You were screaming. Tears were pouring down your face, and you were fighting off someone, someone who wasn't even there."
Bella flinched, angling her body toward me. I tightened my arms around her. "I..." Taking a deep breath, she slid her hand into mine. "I shouldn't have to tell you everything, in order for you to like me."
"I do like you," insisted Maggie, "but seeing you like that...I don't know how to process what I saw."
"And you think if you know the dirty details, then you'd be able to handle it better?" I scoffed. "You have no idea the hell that some people can go through, only to come out fighting demons at every motherfucking turn."
"Better we know than we rely on what we get from the internet," muttered Liam. Bella snapped her head up, glaring at him.
"You fucking searched for us on the net?" she snarled.
"You two didn't give us much of a choice, Bella." He shook his head. "You were screaming for them not to kill Edward, for fuck sake."
Drawing the attention of those around us, I noticed the rest of our team watching us, waiting to hear just what Liam had found on us. With a heavy sigh, I realized they would never trust us to lead them if they thought they couldn't trust in us. As long as we kept everything to ourselves, the worse everything would get. Standing up, I pulled Bella to her feet, slipping my arm down around her waist.
"You want to know everything?" Looking around, I saw them all nod their head. "Meet us at the gym. We won't talk about this shit here. Just so you know, you're all a bunch of cunt bastards for doing this."
Tucking Bella closer against me, we left them all sitting there, mouths agape, and our food untouched. She was shaking, but I couldn't do anything to make it better. She knew, just like I did, that we had to do this. It would be the hardest moment for both of us, neither of us ever talked about that island, or what we had endured over those few days, but now, we had to in order to gain the trust of our team. Life sucked major ass sometimes.
Our walk across campus felt like it took hours, when it in reality, it only took a few minutes. Bella never said a word, but she never let go of me, either. I offered what I could, trying to be the support she needed, but sometimes, I wasn't enough. Knowing what, or who, she needed. I dug my cell phone out of my bag, finding Carlisle's number, and hitting talk. Holding the phone out to her, she smiled before taking it in her hand, pulling it up to her ear.
"It's me," she whispered, voice laced with fear. "Not too good right now...I don't know. Everyone wants to know about it all, and we've been telling them to fuck off, but they're not letting it go...That's what Edward said."
While Bella talked to Carlisle, I led us into the gym, pulled us down on the mats. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arm around them, trying to keep herself from falling apart. Leaning on one arm, I kept my other arm wrapped around her waist, leaning my forehead on her shoulder.
"I miss you, too," whimpered Bella, sliding her hand up to her face, wiping away the tears slipping down her cheeks. "I know, Car...Tell Em and Jas I love them, okay? Esme, too," she muttered, holding the phone out to me. "He wants to talk to you."
Nodding, I took my phone from her. "Carlisle."
"What the fuck is going on, boy?" he hissed.
"Wish I knew," I muttered, leaning away from Bella. Reaching out, she grabbed my hand, pulling me back to her. "I've got you, baby."
"Ugh, I didn't need to hear that shit," grumbled Carlisle.
"Too fucking bad, because she needed to hear it," I snapped.
"Shit, Edward, is it that bad?"
"Yeah, it's that bad," I muttered, when the door to the gym opened. The rest of our team filed in, looking uncomfortable, but eager to get the dirt, too. "Gotta go, Carlisle. Be close to the phone, just in case."
"I will. Take care of her," he groused.
"I always do," I mumbled, closing my phone.
Tossing it onto the mats next to me, I tightened my arm around Bella, while everyone settled down around us. Once again, we found ourselves pushing through several awkward moments, waiting for one of us to say something, anything that would validate their negative opinions of us, and, perhaps, have reason to get us out of here.
"I used to have a normal life," began Bella, tugging her knees closer to her chest. "Perfect, even. Well, as perfect as any family can be. But one day, everything changed."
Leaning toward me, she began telling everyone about the night her parents were nearly killed, and she was left behind. While she spoke, I held her, hoping and praying she'd be able to push through this, too. With each new, horrifying detail she shared, the looks on everyone's faces ranged from disgust to sorrow to fear and loathing. Benjamin held Tia in his arms, soothing her silent tears. Both of them knew there were parts of Bella and I that we didn't talk about, and unlike the rest of the people sitting around us, they respected us enough to let it be, to give us time to decide when, or if, we'd ever want to share the hell we went through.
Through heavy tears, Bella pushed through, detailing the events on the island, and how she learned that her parents had been alive while she lived through hell. By the time she finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Turning toward me, Bella buried her face in my chest, and letting me love her.
"Did you hear what you needed?" Spinning around, we found Phil leaning against the doorway to his office, a look of utter disgust etched on his face. "Does hearing the nitty, gritty details help?" Looking around at each of us, he stopped when he got to me and Bella. "Neither of you owed them, or me, an explanation. I'm sorry they put you in that position."
"We didn't mean to piss you off," muttered Embry, shifting his eyes off the floor, up to us. "But you have to see it from our point of view. You're loners, and kind of mean bitches."
"And you thought it would make us all warm and fussy if we shared the painful details of our lives with you?" I bit out with a shake of my head. "We've done nothing, but try to fit in here. We came from a school, fuck a town, that branded us social outcasts, because we refused to conform to what they thought was normal." Standing up, I pulled Bella up to her feet. "We hoped this place would be different, but it's not. Just the same old bullshit."
Heading over to the locker rooms, I pushed open the door to the ladies room for Bella. She looked up at me, eyes swimming with tears. Leaning down I kissed her. "Meet me in two, we'll go run, okay?" Nodding, she left me standing there. I shifted my eyes back over to everyone. "Not a goddamn one of you will ever understand what you asked her to do today, but then again, not a goddamn one of you gives a fuck, either."
Throwing open the door to the men's locker room, I rushed over to my locker, changing quickly. Stuffing everything into my locker, I slammed the door shut and headed back out. Bella stood next to the front doors, iPod already on, eyes trained on the floor. Slipping my arm around her, I looked back at Phil. "We won't be here for practice."
"Kind of figured as much," he mumbled.
Pulling her behind me, I lead her outside, sticking my earphones in my ear and picking my playlist, the best of Poison. Bella took off, running harder and faster than I had seen her since the morning we arrived here. I tucked my iPod into my pocket, and followed, hoping that somehow, I'd be able to keep her together. Every time she had to relive those moments, a piece of her soul died away.
I expected her to run to the edge of campus before turning back the other way, but she didn't. She kept running right through the front entrance, crossing traffic, and pushing herself to move faster. Following her, I dug deep, trying to keep up with her. My t-shirt was saturated with sweat, sticking to my torso and back. Trickles fell down my face, dropping onto my shirt. My hair flopped in my face, but I kept going. I'd always follow her.
We were in the middle of a park when Bella dropped to her knees, screaming, "Why! Why couldn't they just leave it alone!"
Dropping down next to her, I pulled her to me. "I don't know, baby. I wish I did."
"I've tried to just be...normal, or whatever," she cried, melting into my embrace. "Am I just doomed to always have people gawking at me?"
"Baby, you didn't do anything," I tried soothing her. "They were nosy, wanting to know shit that wasn't their business. We shouldn't have had to tell them."
"I'm starting to wonder why we came here," she muttered, shifting so that she sat between my legs, body facing mine. "Maybe we should have stayed in Forks. Just gone to UW or something."
"You mean hide," I replied, bringing my hand up to the back of her neck, pulling her lips to mine. "Baby, sooner or later, we were going to face the day when we had to move on from the past. Maybe this is our chance to put everything behind us."
"I don't like thinking about last year, or the three years before that," she whimpered, tugging her knees to her chest. "I just want to move on, and be happy, like I am with you."
"You will be, baby. Just gotta ignore those assholes, and fight. Never stop fighting," I urged, looking her right in the eye. "Besides, we have each other, right? That's all we need."
"You're never leaving me," she declared, straddling my lap. My hands went straight to her ass, cupping a cheek in each hand.
"Never," I promised.
Leaning in, she captured my lips, grinding her hips down on me. I wanted her. I wanted her bad, but in the middle of park was not the place for me to take her. I pulled myself away from her, ignoring her cries of protest. She pouted, but I held fast, slipping my arm around her waist, and leading us back toward campus.
Once were back on campus, we headed back to the gym, knowing by now that everyone would be long gone. Hours had passed since we left, not that they cared, anyway. All they wanted were the dirty details, something to gossip about, or leverage to validate their opinions about us. At the very least, make them feel better about their pathetic lives. It didn't matter, anyway. My girl was tucked into my arms, and, soon, she'd be tucked into my bed, as well.
When we walked in, Phil was pacing back and forth in the middle of the ring. Looking up when the door opened, he sighed. "You two okay?"
"Does it matter?" quipped Bella, heading for the locker rooms.
"Yes, it matters," he called out. "You matter."
She paused, one hand on the door, and looked over her shoulder at him. "Do I? You only brought us here to help your program, right?"
"That's not the only reason, even though it is a reason," he muttered, shifting his eyes to the floor. "I'd never seen someone fight like you do, Bella. The focus, the power, the need to win..." Letting his words hang in the air, he shook his head. "I can't teach them to love the feeling of the ropes around you. The spring in the mats. The thrill that comes from knowing that the person across from you has absolutely no chance in beating you."
"You think I can?" she snarled.
"Yes, I do," he admitted, looking up at her. "You don't see the look on your face when you are standing here." He gestured to the middle of the ring. "It's beautiful."
Letting her hand drop from the door, she crossed the room, climbing into the ring with him. Running her hands over to ropes, she closed her eyes. "My father, before everything happened, would tell us in order to be a good fighter, the ring had to feel like home. I used to think he was full of shit, but..." Letting go of the ropes, she wiped a stray tear off her cheek. "They will never trust us, Phil. None of them will be able to look past the horror, and listen to a goddamn thing we have to say."
"They will," he urged. "They just need time."
Shaking her head, Bella climbed out of the ring, looked up at him. "It's not our fight to make them like us, or accept us."
"So you're just going to give up?" he huffed.
"No," I replied, drawing attention onto myself, "we're gonna survive. Together, we've faced more than we should have to, but we lived through it. And like we did last time, we'll live through this, too. We're not gonna beg them to want us, but we're not quitters, either."
Without another word, Bella and I headed into the locker room, changing from our workout clothes and back into our regular stuff. When I walked out of the locker room, Phil was still standing in the rings, leaning against the ropes. With a look of sorrow and grief covering his face, he lifted his eyes up to mine.
"I didn't think everyone would react like this." He sighed.
"You couldn't have known," I lied, feeling like he should have at least had an idea of what would happen with Bella and I coming here.
Perhaps, he couldn't have known about the reaction from Liam and Maggie over one silly nightmare, but the reaction over his decision to declare us team captains. The door to the ladies locker room opened, Bella came rushing out. Pausing for just a moment to look over at Phil, she met me at the door, slipping her hand into mine. Letting the door close behind us with a heavy sigh, we left the gym, and headed back to the dorms, where we could just be us.
We stopped outside my room first, but could hear Liam and Maggie inside. Not ready to face them, we headed down to her room, locking the deadbolt behind us. With one look between us, we took the time to strip off the other's clothes, falling into bed with our arms and legs wrapped around each other. Gentle kisses, soft touches, we made love, letting our bodies speak for our hearts and souls. Snuggling her up to my chest, we drifted off to sleep.
The morning came all too soon when someone started banging on her bedroom door. Muttering a series of four letter words, Bella scrambled out of bed, pulling on my t-shirt and her panties. Rolling onto my stomach, I rubbed my eyes and watched her stumble over to the door, yanking it open.
"WHAT?" she roared, however my eyes locked on the two people standing in the door way. Carlisle and Esme.