34
I was nervous and anxious. Today was the last day of the tournament and only three men stood between me and the title of champion, and one of those men was Benjamin. We'd both won all our matches the day before placing us in the final four. I was slated to go up against a senior from Northwestern University, while he was facing a junior from the University of Oklahoma. If we both won, and I had a strong feeling that we would, we'd face off against each other for the title.
Slipping out of bed, I left Bella sprawled out on her stomach, the sheet barely covering her curvature of her ass. She, too, had made it into the top four, but after the way she took down Maggie, I knew she wouldn't have any trouble with her matches today. Everyone, regardless if they were on our team or a competitive team, regarded her with respect and awe. Me included. I'd always been amazed when watching her fight, but as she stood in the ring with Maggie, teaching by example, I found myself yearning for her.
"Where are you going?" she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep as I slipped on a pair of cotton pants.
"I can't sleep," I told her, sitting on the side of the bed and leaning with my arm over her. "Thought I might go down to the gym, see if the treadmill works."
"You want some company?" she asked, opening her eyes and smiling as she looked over at me.
"If you want. But if you'd rather sleep, that's okay, too."
"I'll go," she whispered.
I nodded and stood up, grabbing my shirt while she climbed out of bed, dragging clothes from her suitcase. Within a few minutes, we were both dressed and armed with our iPods. The gym was located on the bottom floor of the hotel, right next to the pool and hot tub. When we walked inside, we found Benjamin running on one of three treadmills while Tia was laying on a mat in the corner, her knees bent up in front of her and her eyes closed. They both looked over at me and Bella, a smile spreading on Tia's face while Benjamin simply nodded.
"Morning," Tia chimed, before she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes.
"What are you doing on the floor? Did y'all just have sex? Is that why it stinks in here?" Bella asked, causing Tia to laugh.
"No, unlike you and Edward, we can go five minutes without fucking. I'm meditating," she replied. "While my body is healing, my mind isn't. I thought mediating might help clear my senses."
"Won't hurt," Bella said, walking over to one of the treadmills and stepping up onto the sides.
As she fumbled with the buttons and set her pace, I walked over to Tia, squatting down next to her, causing her to look over at me. "I've lived in a lot of places, and one of the things that I learned that the health of your mind is often more important than your physical wellbeing. Focus your mind on what you want for your future, your goals, and you'll be fine, Tia."
"Thanks," she whispered.
I nodded before I stood up and walked over to the treadmill next to Bella, who had already started her run and was listening to her iPod. Though she was smiling and I knew she had heard everything I said to Tia. Once I had my pace set, I turned on my iPod to my favorite playlist and focused all my attention on my upcoming matches.
Steven Arnold had barely won his last match the day before, which shifted him into the same bracket with me. He had heavy feet, but his arms were strong. His uppercut/jab combination would be hard to block, and even harder to counter. I'd have to strike fast, hit him hard and prevent him from being able to get the upper hand. If I did that, I'd be okay, I'd pull out the win.
Levi Garrison, Benjamin's first opponent, would be even harder. He was quick on his feet and smart. He was ranked in the top twenty-five boxers in the nation, at number seventeen, and had only lost three matches in his three year collegiate career. Benjamin would have to really work to beat him. He'd come so far during this tournament, and I knew he wanted a chance at the title almost as much as me. And nobody, except maybe my wife, wanted it more than me.
Bella would have an easier time. Not because she was a girl, but because every boxer here respected her. She refused to see it, though, and that's why I knew she would win. She wasn't overly confident. She was mentally preparing as well as loosening her muscles.
After about an hour of a light jogging, Bella, Tia, Benjamin, and I left the gym and headed back up to our rooms. The ride in the elevator was tense and awkward, but in an uncomfortable way. Benjamin and I both knew what we were going to have to do today, and while we didn't like that we were going to have to fight each other, we would put all of ourselves on the line and make the other earn the title of tournament champion.
The doors slid open and the four of stepped out, walking down the hallway together. Benjamin and Tia stopped at their room first, but before Bella and I could walk past them, he reached out and grabbed my arm, causing me to look back at him. He released me, but held his hand out for me to shake.
I smiled as I gripped his hand. "Good luck today."
"Good luck to you, too. You're going to need it," he replied.
"I hope so," I said.
Placing my hand on the small of Bella's back, I led her down the hallway to our room. Once the door was shut, she turned, grabbed the front of my shirt, and dragged me into the bathroom. In a frenzy, we stripped off each other's clothes and climbed into the shower. Our hands roamed over each other's bodies, the sounds of our moans and cries for more echoed, and together, we sealed our love once more, knowing that in the end, it didn't matter who won. We had everything we'd ever need already.
An hour later, Bella and I joined the rest of our team in the lobby. They were dressed casually, but there was a sense of anticipation about what was going to happen today. Phil had been ecstatic that three of his boxers had made it into the top four, and while I knew he wasn't putting pressure on use to win, he wanted to see his team take home the title. Our program needed to keep winning if we had any hope of keeping our program alive for at least another year.
When we arrived at the gymnasium, I wasn't surprised to see the stands filled to the brim. Between the other teams who had faded away one by one and the fans, families, professional scouts who had come to check out the latest batch of talent, everyone's eyes would be on us, waiting for us to give them a show. There was only one ring left, one ring for everyone to focus their attention on, and it was our job keep it, to make them see us.
Bella's match was first, though it was over before it began. Her opponent, a tall, thin girl with dark auburn hair, was nearly trembling in her corner. Whether it was fear or nerves, I didn't know. By the end of the first round, Bella had her cowering against the ropes, afraid to move her arms from around her head. The referee called the match, and Bella moved into the finals. It was now, just a matter of time to see who would be joining her.
My match against Steven Arnold wasn't much different. He managed to get a couple good hits on me — one on my shoulder and one to my ribs — but by the end of the second round, I had his number. He couldn't keep up with my jabs, and when the bell rang ending the match, I knew I had won.
While I peeled my gloves off and drank some water, Bella stood next to the ring and watched the last of the semi-final match between the women, studying each of them intensely. I watched as her eyes darted over them, watching their feet, their arms, trying to measure the power behind each hit. As a smile spread across her face, I knew she was ready. She had the information in her mind, and was already working on her game plan.
"Okay, Benjamin, you're up," Phil said, causing everyone to look over at him. He grabbed Benjamin's arms and pulled them over his head, trying to help stretch out his muscles. "You know what you need to do?"
He nodded. "Kick his ass."
We laughed.
"Yeah," Phil agreed with a chuckle. "Do you have a strategy?"
"Thought I might just hit him a bunch of times," he muttered.
"Solid thinking," he scoffed. "You got this. Just remember, keep —"
"My feet moving and my elbows in," Benjamin said, interrupting him. "I know."
Phil nodded before stepping out of the way. Benjamin brought his gloved hands up to Tia's face, staring her in the eyes for a long moment before he kissed her and climbed into the ring. Levi was studying him. Broad in the shoulders, he looked more like a wrestler than a boxer, but I knew that was where his strength lay, too. He had power and knew how to use it.
Benjamin and Levi moved to the middle of the ring, listening to the referee as he gave them the usual rundown. As they turned to each other and pressed the tips if their gloves together, a sense of anticipation in the air. Every boxer who had been stepped into the ring, only to fall short, was sitting in the stands, watching and waiting to see who would come out victorious.
Both men returned to their corners with determination and concentration surrounding them. A moment later, the bell chimed throughout the air and the tension in the gymnasium rose. Benjamin turned and leapt at Levi, striking him with a left jab, right uppercut, left roundhouse combination that sent the older, stronger fighter back against the ropes. However, Levi recovered quickly and was able to block Benjamin's next attack, a gut shot, and hit him with his own powerful combination consisting of a right hook, left jab. I heard Benjamin groan as he took the hits, but he didn't waver. His feet held him firm, and he struck next with a right, left, right. His arms were flying through the air, the sound of his gloves coming into contact with Levi echoing.
As he shifted his legs, pulling his right foot back and sliding his left forward, I smiled. He had the upper hand. He's forced Levi to conform to him, forced him to fight his way, and as long as he kept his feet under him and his elbows tucked against his ribs, he'd win.
"That's it," Bella muttered, bouncing on the balls of her feet next to me. "Left, right, left. Yes! That's fucking it!"
Around us, the rest of our team were yelling and screaming for him, cheering him on. But not me. While I wanted him to win, I knew I needed to study him, watch for any tells that would give me the edge when I faced him in the final match. But there weren't any. He knew that every match was different, each fighter was unique, and a smart boxer had to be prepared to throw everything out the window and listen to one's instincts.
The first round ended and Benjamin turned and walked into his corner. Tia elbowed Phil out of the way and stepped up to take care of him, causing the rest of us to laugh. She might not have been able to fight in the ring, but nobody was keeping her away from the man she loved.
Once he had drank some water, Benjamin blew out a deep breath and allowed Tia to place his mouth guard back into his mouth. As he turned to face Levi, his eyes landed on mine and he tilted his head in my direction. I returned the gestured, letting him know that I respected him as much as he did me.
The second round went much like the first. Benjamin struck quickly, keeping Levi from being able to move around the ring. That made him have to use his arms more, and it was clear that he was tired, that the weight of his hits were less intense. With every new strike from Benjamin, the noise level increased, the energy heightened, and the tension grew. Benjamin, a freshman who'd barely been a blimp on anyone's radar before this tournament, was beating a fighter ranked seventeenth in the nation.
At the end of the second round, the referee walked over to Levi, placing his hand on his shoulder and holding him up as he accessed his condition. Levi nodded and shook his head while everyone waited for the announcement that we all knew was coming. Turning back to Benjamin, the referee walked over, wrapped his fingers around his wrist, and lifted his arm in the air, declaring him to be the winner.
Before Benjamin could climb out of the ring, Levi stumbled over to him and grabbed his shoulder, causing him to look back at him.
"Good fight, man," Levi mumbled, thick with emotion and pain.
"Thanks," Benjamin replied. "You were tough."
Levi snorted, then winced. "Clearly not tough enough. Next time, though? I will be."
"Hope so," he muttered.
Benjamin pulled the ropes apart and climbed between them, jumping off the platform. Tia was immediately in his arms, burying her face in the side of his neck, and the sounds of her muffle sobs heard by all of us close to him. And I understood: she loved him, needed him, and yearned for him.
"Come on," Bella said, wrapping her fingers around my forearm and dragging me to her ring. She grabbed her bag and set it on the bench, digging her tape out and shoving it into my hand. "Do my hands."
"Are you nervous?" I asked as I began prepping her hands.
"Nah," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Should I be?"
"I don't know, wife, should you?" I asked.
"Do you think I'm full of myself? That I'm cocky?" she wondered.
"No. Why would you ask that?"
Bella sighed. "I was raised to be the best, to step into every ring with the knowledge that the person standing across of me was weaker than me. But I wonder if my confidence makes me come off as being cocky."
I pressed my lips together and focused my attention on taping her hands. Once I had them done, I grabbed her gloves, placing one on her right hand. "It's not cockiness. You work harder than anyone else, train harder, and because of that, you know that you're going to win because you want it more than they do. So, no, not cockiness."
"You're a good husband," she giggled.
I smirked. "I try."
"Are you nervous?" she asked. "Benjamin's not going to be easy."
"No, he won't," I murmured, fitting her left glove onto her hand.
"He's going to come after you from the start," she said. "So what do you do?"
"I force him to move, make him earn every point while strategically hitting him where it counts. Keep my hits to his head and arms."
"And?" she asked, lifting her eyes up to mine.
"And what?"
Bella smiled. "Win. Just win."
I laughed and brought my hands up to her face. "That's a given, wife."
Kissing her first, I grabbed her headgear and placed it on her head, attaching the clasp before sliding her mouth piece into her mouth. Bella turned and climbed into her ring, standing across from her competitor, a sophomore from Texas Christian University. Holly Hollowell was a blond haired, blued woman with thick arms and a powerful left jab. She'd won her matches effortlessly over the last two days, but she was slow and other than her left jab, she didn't have much power, and Bella knew that.
After going through the usual routine, the bell rang and Bella shuffled across the ring, keeping her body to Holly's left, which would keep her from being about to put her full power behind her jab. Bella struck first with an uppercut/hook combination. She ducked when Holly attempted a roundhouse, sneaking in a series of right and left jabs to her rib cage.
"She's an artist," Phil said, stepping up next to me as Bella and Holly continued to fight. It was clear to everyone that Bella had this one in the bag, that unless she fucked up big time, she'd win the tournament.
"She is," I agreed. "I watch her as she puts on her show, giving them a taste and then pulling back, making them think they have a chance. Always teaching, always striving to make them better. Not just our team, either. She expects everyone to learn from each defeat, to show up next time with more knowledge. She's . . ."
"The love of your life," Phil whispered before he turned and walked over to Benjamin.
She was. My life was tied to hers, and not just by the wedding rings on our fingers, or the piece of paper that made me her husband and her my wife. No, it was because I needed her more than anything else in the world.
Bella showed Holly no mercy, slamming her gloves into her over and over, but the middle of the third round, Holly was unable to keep her feet beneath her. Bella threw a roundhouse, uppercut combination, sending Holly flying into the ropes with a loud cry. However, the referee seemed too stunned to move as he watched Bella with a look of awe, like he couldn't believe someone like her could fight so well. Bella turned and glared at him, causing him to shake himself out of his stupor and check on Holly.
"Winner," he announced, gesturing to Bella.
Instead of climbing out of the ring, though, Bella walked over to where Holly and her coach were crouched and squatted down next to her. "You have good power, but you need to learn to use it in every hit, not just one or two. You did good, and it was an honor to fight you today."
"You too," Holly mumbled, clearly unsure of how to respond. Bella nodded before she climbed out of the ring and allowed Phil to remove her gloves. She'd just won the tournament, and acted like she and Holly had just been sparing, like this hadn't been the biggest move of her career.
Bella grabbed her bottle of water and chugged it down before tossing the empty bottle in her bag. She walked over to me, taking my hands and massaging my fingers. It was then, as her fingers caressed mine, that I felt her trembling, saw the tears in her eyes, and I knew she was so overwhelmed with everything, that she wasn't sure how to respond. Tugging my hands from hers, I placed them on either side of her face and tilted her head up so she was looking at me.
"It's okay to be proud," I whispered.
"I know," she whimpered. "I love you, husband."
"I love you, too, wife." I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers. "Call them."
She smiled. "After your match."
I nodded, knowing that once we got back to the hotel, we'd call our family. She needed to share this with her brothers.
Bella taped and gloved my hands before helping to get my headgear on. Once I had my mouth piece in, I climbed into the ring and turned to face Benjamin. He had his gloves on the ropes, his eyes were closed, and I knew he was mentally preparing himself for our match. It wouldn't be easy to come after me, to try to beat me, or for me to try to beat him. He was my friend. Other than Bella, my closest friend, and I worried that our friendship would suffer if I beat him. But I also knew that if he didn't come at me with one-hundred percent effort, I'd never respect him again, and vice versa. We wouldn't make Maggie's mistake.
When the referee called us to the middle of the ring, his eyes snapped open and I knew he wouldn't stand back and take his beating. He would fight, and I was ready.
"Clean fight, gentlemen," the referee said, looking between us. "Are you ready?"
We nodded, and pressed the tips of our gloves together before we turned and went back to our corners. Unlike with the other five matches of the day, the gymnasium was completely silent. The fact that two freshman boxers from UCLA were in the final match, after another freshman from the same school had just won the women's division was unheard of, yet here we were.
The bell rang and, as I knew he would, Benjamin leapt toward me, trying to hit me quick and fast. However, I was ready and I moved out of the way, clipping him in the ribs. He groaned but turned to face me, throwing a left and right jab in quick moves. I blocked the first, but the second got me on the arm. I countered with a roundhouse, uppercut combination. Benjamin wasn't able to block my hits. And as he tried to get me again with a hook, I slipped past him, causing him to hit nothing but air. He growled and spun around, but I was ready for him and got him with a right hook of my own.
"Move your feet, Benji!" Tia screamed.
His jaw tightened and he shifted his body like he had with Levi, pulling his right foot back and sliding his left foot up. While it worked for Levi, all it did for me was give me a new access point when I punched him in the gut, then the shoulder, and the rib as he fell backward. He recovered quickly, though, and came at me with half a dozen jabs. I blocked most of them but the last two hit me squarely on the jaw. They hurt, I won't lie and say they didn't.
The bell rang ending the first round so we stumbled back into our corners. Bella had my water ready for me, and I guzzled it down.
"You're doing good, husband, just need to keep your elbows in a little more," she said, examine my jaw. "That's going to bruise."
I nodded, because I could already feel the throbbing.
"Look at me," she said, and I shifted my eyes to her. "You have this. Keep moving, make him come to you."
"Okay," I muttered and slid my mouth piece back in.
The bell rang and I turned back to Benjamin, who came rushing toward me again. I ducked out of the way, hitting on in the ribs again on the way by. He turned and came at me once more, but I kept my feet moving. His arms reached for me, scrambling to find purchase on my jaw, my shoulder, any part of me, but I staying out of reach for the most part, only sliding closer to him when I could place a hit of my own.
By the start of the third round, he was tired and moving slower. Unlike before, I attacked him this time, keeping him against the ropes as I hit him with left and right jab, roundhouse, uppercut, hook. He put his arms up, feebly trying to protect himself, but the match was mine and we both knew it.
The bell rang, ending the match and I hooked my arms under his and held up against me as we looked over at the judges. They muttered to each other before nodding their heads and turning to the referee, giving them the paper with their decision on it.
The building was silent, almost deafening, as he opened it at the fold and looked at me and Benjamin.
"The winner is . . ." He paused, trying to hold out the anticipation, ". . . Edward Masen!"
The sound of everyone cheering for me was ear-shattering, but I ignored it as I helped Benjamin out of the ring and slipped him into Tia's waiting arms. She had tears in her eyes, the grief she felt of his loss mirrored the joy Bella's held for my victory.
I turned away from them, but stopped when I felt Benjamin's hand on my shoulder. Looking back, I watched as he stood tall. "Good match. You earned it."
"Thank you," I said. "You didn't make it easy."
"It shouldn't be easy," he chuckled, wincing when his ribs began to ache. "Next time, though, I'm kicking your ass."
"We'll see," I laughed.
Later that night, as I held Bella in my arms and listened as she detailed the last three days to her brothers, watching as her eyes lit up with excitement, I felt content in with my life.
