22

The anticipation that filled the gymnasium when Bella climbed into the ring was palpable. It wasn't a secret that the Cullen family name still caused people to take pause and watch. As much as it bothered Bella, it was her birthright and I knew she'd do everything she could to wipe the dirt off her family's name.

Bella grabbed the ropes with her gloved hands and kicked her left leg back, trying to keep her muscles loose. Her calves were taut and firm, her thighs toned. It took all my control not to climb in behind her and touch her, to make her feel me once again. She shifted her eyes over to mine, a smirk spreading over her lips. Bella owned me and knew it.

"Focus, Cullen," Phil barked before moving over and standing next to me. "You're distracting her."

"No, I'm not," I disagreed. "Once the match starts, Bella will turn all of her attention onto her opponent and I will cease to exist."

Phil scoffed. "You don't seriously believe that, do you?"

"I do," I admitted, tearing my attention from Bella and looking over at Phil. "And that's how it should be."

"Maybe," Phil murmured.

Bella's opponent — Megan something-or-other — was a tall, boney looking girl, with red hair sticking out from under her headgear. The referee looked apprehensive as he stepped into the ring and shifted his attention between Bella and Megan. Calling them to the middle of the ring, he appeared to give them both the usual speech about playing nice, and not taking any cheap shots. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like his last comment had been directed toward Bella, and based on the hard nod she tossed in his direction, she thought so, too.

Shaking my head, I hoped that she wouldn't let his attitude get to her. Bella bumped Megan's gloves and walked back into her corner. Closing her eyes for just a moment, I watched her take a deep breath before turning around and facing the challenge right standing before her.

A moment later, the referee signaled the start of Bella's match. She stepped out of her corner, taking a huge step to the right, smirking around her mouth piece when Megan followed her. Usually Bella went into two directions when facing off against someone: she either went on the offensive or she'd lay back and wait for Megan to take the leap. This time, Bella seemed to go with the first.

Pulling her elbows in, Bella sprang at Megan, causing the girl to scream and take a huge step back. That was a huge mistake. First, it showed her weakness to Bella. Second, it made everyone standing around watching them, laugh. When you're in the middle of the lion's den, you don't show fear — not even an ounce.

Bella threw a right hook, followed by a left roundhouse. Without letting Megan take as much as a breath of air, she laid a left uppercut/right roundhouse combination. Megan fell back against the ropes, effortlessly trying to fend Bella off. However, Bella wasn't having it. She shrugged Megan's hands off of her, throwing her fists into the girl's torso over and over.

"Break it up!" The referee pushed Bella toward her corner, giving her a look that made it clear that she'd better listen.

Bella tightened her jaw before she turned and walked over to her corner; leaning against the ropes and watching the referee tend to Megan. After a few minutes, he stepped away from the girl and gestured to Bella, announcing that she'd won the match. The gymnasium erupted in cheers and Bella climbed out of the ring, spitting her mouthpiece into her bag and tearing off her gloves.

"Nice job, Cullen." Phil went to pat Bella on the shoulder, but one glare from her stopped him. "Um, sorry."

"Don't be," Bella muttered, shaking her head. "Just don't touch me, okay?"

Phil nodded. "I'll, um, just go check on someone else."

Scurrying off in Missy's direction, Phil moved faster than I'd ever seen him. Bella smiled and looked up at me. "Think he's scared of me?"

"As he should be." I smirked and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her into my arms. "You okay?"

"She didn't even touch me," Bella refuted.

"That's not what I'm talking about," I said. "The ref."

"He's harmless," she replied, though her eyes betrayed her. A darkness filled them; one that I often saw when someone made judgments against her because her last name was Cullen.

"Okay, if that's your story." I kissed her. "Time for me to go kick ass."

"Love you," she whispered.

"Love you, too."

Bella followed me over to my ring and helped me tape my hands, shoving my gloves afterward. Popping my mouthpiece in, I climbed into the ring, rolling my shoulders back and trying to loosen my muscles. I didn't have to look back at her to know that she was watching; I could feel her eyes on me. Not in a predator, stalker way, but in the sense that every breath we took, every move we made was done together. Just like I was drawn to her, she felt a pull to me.

The referee called me to the middle of the ring and I walked over, appraising my opponent. The man, whose name I'd already forgotten, reminded me of Mike Newton. He was tall, had a decent body build, but his eyes were small and beady. He had a smarmy, tight grin on his lips, and there was an aura of cockiness around him that made me want to slap the stupid out of him. Like I said, he reminded me of Mike Newton and that alone made me want to beat his ass into the mats.

Pushing my gloves against his, I agreed to play nice and turned back to my corner. Bella was standing between Benjamin and Demetri; all three of them with their arms folded in front of them and looks of serious concentration on their faces. It was almost enough to make me laugh — almost. If I didn't know that all three of them, along with the rest of our team, wouldn't be scrutinizing my every move, I would have found it amusing. But they all looked to me and Bella to teach them, to lead them. Now, it was time to prove that we knew what we were talking about, or die trying. In the figurative sense, at least.

Turning my attention to the Mike-wanna-be, I released a heavy breath and prepared to fight. The referee started the match and I took my customary step to the right, trying to draw him to me. It worked. It would appear that Mike's doppelganger wasn't any smarter than the real Mike was. He leapt toward me, throwing his right arm wide like a gorilla. I ducked, sliding under him. He fell back into the ropes, and I took advantage of the moment and clocked him in the side of his ribs with a right jab.

He groaned and I stepped back, giving him a chance to detangle himself out of the ropes. He turned to me, a hard glare on his face and I smirked. Yeah, I was enjoying this a little too much. Wildly throwing his arms around, my opponent kept swinging at me, trying to get at least one hit in. However, I was quicker than he was and every time he opened himself up, I'd clip him on the ribs, shoulder, or jawline.

Just before the first round ended, my opponent wrapped his arms around me, trying to pin me against the ropes. I widened my arm span and pushed him away, hitting him with several left and right jabs. He fell to the mats, cowering away with his arms over his head. Bringing my right arm back once more to hit him, the referee grabbed it before I could strike.

"Into your corner," he yelled, releasing my arm. I scrambled back, falling against the ropes and taking a deep breath. The referee knelt down next to the Mike-wannabe. "Can you continue?"

"No," the muffled response came trickling out of the boy's mouth.

The referee nodded and stood up, gesturing toward me. "Winner."

Without a word to either of them, I pulled the ropes apart and climbed out of the ring, jumped off the platform, and rolled onto the balls of my feet. Bella was in my arms immediately, pressing her lips against mine.

"You did good, baby," she cheered, bringing her hands up to my face and smiling.

"Does he remind you of anyone?" I asked, tilting my head toward my opponent.

"Like a leaner Mike Newton," Bella scoffed. "Did it feel good to kick his ass?"

"It did," I admitted. "Would have been better if it had been the real Mike, but eh, what can you do."

"Keep fighting," she murmured, dropping her hands to the front of my shirt. "One day, we'll teach those bitches a lesson."

"You bet your sexy ass we will," I laughed, nestling her against me. "How long until your next match?"

"Half an hour," she said, looking up at me. "But I need to go check on Heidi."

I nodded. "Love you."

Bella blushed and smiled. "Love you, too."

—LO—

By the time Bella and I shoved our bags onto our shoulders and met the rest of our team in our corner, we were both sporting the start of a black eye, had busted lips, and had both managed to win all of our matches. Though, they hadn't been easy.

Bella's second opponent looked like a female version of Emmett, down to the mustache creeping over the girl's upper lip. Bella fought smart and let the girl tire herself out before attacking at the start of the third round, but the other girl — Martina something — got a couple of hard hits to Bella's side. Though she tried to put on a brave face, I knew she was hurting. When she climbed out of the ring, she allowed me to check her ribs, but insisted that she was fine. I didn't think she'd broken anything, and even if I did, Bella would have insisted on fighting through the pain. It was just how she handled things, and I understood that.

From there, though, her opponents seemed to know just where to strike her. The other three women she defeated took every chance they could to clock her in the ribs, which really ended up being their downfall. They got cocky and Bella used that against them, destroying any chance they had at defeating her.

Mine weren't much better. It seemed like each one came out of their corner with the idea of taking me out early. Like I'd let that shit happen. But because of their aggressive natures, I had to keep my wits about me and take them out faster than I'd normally would. Each hit to the ribs, face, and head stung like a son-of-a-bitch, but I took them in stride and in the end, they were the one face down on the mats.

"Okay, we're gonna stop for a quick dinner before heading back to the hotel," Phil said, clapping his hands together. He was in a good mood. Every member on our team had won their matches today, earning us a spot on tomorrow's schedule. Based on some of the glares coming from the fighters that pushed their way around us, they didn't seem too happy about that fact, but we didn't give a fuck. We'd been working our asses off, and our training had paid off.

"Don't be so fucking chipper," Missy snarled, brushing her hair out of her face and showcasing the bruise forming on her jawline.

"Yeah, not sure I can actually eat anything tonight," Riley groaned, shaking his head. He had an inch long cut on his forehead and what looked like a busted nose. "Kind of just want to take shower and die."

"Too damn bad," Phil muttered. "You need to eat, regain your strength for tomorrow."

"Whatever," Missy groused, pushing past him and heading up the cement steps. She paused and looked back at him. "Are you coming?"

"Damn, you're a bitch when you roughed up," Phil laughed, ignoring her when she flipped him off.

I looked down at Bella, noticing the way she was staring at the ground. Placing my hand on her shoulder, I gave it a gentle squeeze, causing her to look up at me. She was tired and sore. The last thing she needed right now as to be in the middle of some burger joint, trying to keep her eyes open and having people watching us like vultures.

Sighing, I nodded my head and looked over at Phil. "Fuck eating," I said. Phil looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "We're tired—all of us. I don't know about them, but I'd rather go back to the hotel than eat right now. We've all got shit in our rooms we can snack on tonight if we get hungry enough."

"Yeah," Demetri said, agreeing with me. Riley, Benjamin, Embry, Bree, and Heidi nodded, causing Phil to huff.

"Fine," he jibed. "But I expect you all to drink a lot of water tonight. You need to keep hydrated."

"Yes, sir," Missy snarled. "Now, can we go? There's a hot shower with my name on it."

"Gees, you all win and turn into fucking babies," Phil bitched under his breath before pushing past his younger sister and leading the way up the stairs. Laughing, we followed. We may have won, but we took a beating for them, too.