38

Things felt different after the confrontation with Bella's brothers and sister. Though we both knew they didn't fully forgive us for eloping, we knew they weren't going to give us shit about it again. In a lot of ways, Bella had transformed into a new person, and I think they finally saw that she was happy now. She'd been able to put years of pain and torment behind her and finally begin to live a life worth living with me by her side.

Of course, our parents weren't happy when they heard about our marriage, but unlike Emmett, Jasper, and Renee, they didn't give us too much crap. I expected more. Especially from my mother, but Elizabeth simply asked if we were happy. And we were. That was enough. I knew she was disappointed that she wasn't there to see us get married, and a part of me felt guilty for taking that moment away from her, but I didn't regret our decision to elope one bit. For the first time in our lives, Bella and I were able to focus on us and not on the expectations everyone else had for us.

Well, almost.

Our team was still struggling to establish our dominance in the college boxing world, but our success was growing. In the last three tournaments, me, Benjamin, and Liam had finished in the top six, while Demetri, Embry, and Riley rounded out the top twenty. And Bella and Missy had come in first and second, with Maggie, Heidi, and Bree in the top twelve. Of course, that still hadn't guaranteed that we'd be able to keep our program alive another year. I had a feeling that only a national championship would do the trick, which was why our next tournament was so important. We were back in Las Vegas, and whichever teams placed in the top two got an automatic bid to the National Tournament in Arizona. Then, those individual fighters who placed in the top four would get an ticket to the big show, while the top six through twelfth place seat would be selected by a committee. And we all knew that our program hadn't established enough cred to be able to count on the committee vote to get as many of our fighters though. We needed the team win.

"Yo, Eddie," Liam hollered, and I groaned as I looked over my shoulder. I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for Bella and the rest of our team. "You ready for today?"

"Yep," I said, feeling more nervous than normal. "You?"

"I think so," he said, sitting on the sofa next to me. "Kind of funny how we're back in Vegas. Think we'll end up fighting each other again?"

"No," I replied with a smirk. "You're too fucking slow."

"Whatever, dude. You're an old marry guy now. I can beat you with one hand behind my back," Liam snickered.

"You wish," Bella teased, throwing her bag at him. He was able to block it and it fell to the floor. "Everyone's already outside, by the way."

"Oh, shit," I muttered as we scrambled to our feet and rushed out of the hotel. Sure enough, the rest of our team was already on the bus and were waiting for us. "Sorry," I muttered as we passed Phil, who didn't look too pleased. "Thought you were still inside."

"Because usually when I say be on the bus by nine, I mean meet inside the hotel," he snarled, but I ignored him as me and Bella found a seat at the back of the bus. We were all feeling the stress this weekend. With a glare thrown in my direction, Phil turned to the driver. "Let's go."

Ten minutes later, we were crowded together in a back corner of the gymnasium, trying to clear our minds and get ready for our first matches, while Phil checked us in and got our schedules. There was a feeling for unrest around us, and that made me nervous. Of course, it didn't help the way the other fighters were staring at us, trying to get an idea of how we'd measure up in the ring. And make no mistake, each and every one of them were ready to prove that we didn't belong here.

"All right, listen up," Phil said, squatting next to Missy. "We've got a long couple days ahead of us. They've, um . . ." Pausing, he shook his head and laughed a little, though it sounded off. "They've just announced that Stanford has won a place in the National Tournament. Which means there are only five more spots open, and more than two dozen teams fighting for them." He shifted onto his knees and dragged his hand through his hair as he looked at each and every one of us. "I know that I've already asked a lot of you this year. It wasn't fair of me to bring you in the way I did, and it's not fair for me to ask you to win today, but I am. I am begging you to leave everything you have inside those rings."

"We will, Phil," Missy said, nodding as she placed her hand on his arm and then turned her attention to the rest of us. "Right, team?"

Murmured affirmations came trickling out of each of us. As we made our ways to our rings, the pressure to win weighted heavily on my shoulders. Stanford had been a thorn in our side ever sense their star boxer, that fucking bitch Tanya, nearly killed Tia, ending her season before she'd gotten to make her mark. There wasn't a one of us who didn't want to take her down, but none as much as Bella. She'd stood up for Tia, put herself on the line and, by doing so, cost her a chance to face off with the bitch in the ring.

Since I still had more than an hour until my first match, I settled on the bench next to Bella's ring and popped my earbuds in, setting my "Eye of the Tiger" playlist and watching as Phil taped her hands and got her ready to face her first fighter. She nodded and assured Phil she had everything under control, but I could tell she was nervous. Once he'd finished with her and moved on to Heidi, Bella turned toward the ring and stared at her opponent. There was a look in her eyes, one that would have me quivering in fear if I'd been in the receiving end.

As Bella and her opponent stepped into the ring, those around us stopped talking and turned their attention to the fight. Jackie — a mousy looking girl who had about ten pounds and two inches on Bella — was fidgeting with the ropes, clearly unsure about the attention her match was getting. The clear focus was Bella.

The referee called them into the center of the ring, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. Bella tensed and shifted her attention to the small, bald man, who immediately removed his hand. I stifled my laugh, finding it amusing that the man was scared of her. But, then again, I'd been on the receiving end of her right hook, too.

He instructed them to fight clean, the same rules we were told before every match. Bella and Jackie bumped their gloves together before retreating back into their corners. Bella's eyes were immediately locked on mine and she smiled and winked before allowing Maggie to place her mouthpiece into her mouth. As the bell rang, Bella turned and faced Jackie, who froze for a solid three seconds before putting her arms up in front of her and taking a step out of her corner. Her hesitation, however, gave Bella all she needed, and my wife leapt out of her corner, hitting Jackie with a wicked left hook/right jab combination that sent her falling back against the ropes. Bella showed no mercy as she struck the girl. Jabs and hooks, combinations, uppercuts, roundhouses, gut shots—the sound of Bella's gloves making contact with the girl's body could be heard over the roar of the crowd.

Finally, after an eternity, the bell rang, ending the first round. Bella immediately turned and headed toward her corner, but she'd only managed a couple steps when Jackie jumped onto her back, knocking her to the ground.

"Hey!" I yelled, rushing to the side of the ring and slamming my hand on the mat to get the attention of the ref, who'd turned his back toward the judges. "Fucking get her off!"

The referee smirked as he looked at me and then to the mat, where his expression changed when he saw the bloody girl straddling Bella and punching her in the back of the head. Bella's arms were pinned to the mats by the girl's knees, and she was struggling to throw the bitch off her.

"That's enough," the ref snarled, wrapping his fingers around the top of the girl's arm and dragging her off Bella, who scrambled to her feet and faced them. Her face was red and sweaty, and there was an anger in her eyes that I'd only seen when she found out her parents had faked their death and left her to rot in Hell.

"You stupid, little bitch," Bella snapped. "Jumping me from behind? Where are we? In a fucking alley?"

"Get in your corner," the referee said to Bella, pointing in my direction. "Now!"

Bella shook her head and turned her back on them, but stopped when Jackie exclaimed, "If you didn't fucking cheat, I could beat your ass!"

The entire place was deathly silent as Bella turned and faced the misguided girl and the referee, who had inadvertently released her after her stupid declaration.

"Beat me?" Bela asked. "You think you could beat me?"

"Yes," Jackie said, though she sounded less than confident now that everyone's attention was focused on her.

"Oh, you poor, delusional girl," Bella laughed, shaking her head and placing her hands on her hips. "You might have a decent hit. I don't know, because instead of fighting me, you laid there against the ropes and let me beat you. You might have speed, but again I don't know, because you laid against the ropes and let me beat you. You think you can beat me? Honey, as long as you're too scared to fight me, you'll never stand a chance."

Then, Bella turned to the referee. "Let her go and start the next round."

"Bella," I snarled, and when she looked over at me, I said, "No."

But she didn't reply as she turned back to the ref. "Start it."

The man shifted his attention from her to Jackie, to the judges, who seemed unsure whether or not to allow the match to continue. "Um, okay."

Bella used the tip of her shoes to kick her mouthpiece toward me, but instead of letting me clean it and put it back into her mouth, she stood in the middle of the ring and waited for the bell to ring. Jackie looked terrified as the middle judge hit the bell with her metal mallet. The gym was utterly silent and all other matches had been halted as they stood by and watched Bella and Jackie standing there, staring at one another.

"Come on. Hit me," Bella said, gesturing for Jackie to come at her. The girl just stood there. "Get your ass over here!"

"Why are you doing this?" Jackie asked, and though she spoke softly, I didn't have any problems hearing her.

Bella scoffed. "Because someone has to teach you to fight. Now get your ass over here and hit me."

Jackie shifted her eyes back to her coach, who was staring dumbly at her, before shuffling over so that she was standing in front of Bella. I could see her arm shaking at she lifted it and lightly hit Bella on the arm. Hell, Esme hit harder than that.

"Hit me!" Bella groused, jabbing her in the shoulder with her left hand. The girl winced. "Short jabs for power."

Taking a deep breath, the girl hit her again, this time harder but it still didn't mean much. "Better?"

"No," Bella said. "Pull your elbows in and strike like a snake. Quick and pull back, quick and pull back," she explained, showing her a couple fast jabs. "Gotta make every hit count."

"Okay," Jackie murmured.

Bella placed her gloved hands on her shoulders. "You're gonna lose. It happens to all of us at one point or another. But we don't attack once the bells rung. We leave it here in the ring and move on to our next match. All right?"

Jackie sniffed and nodded.

Bella shifted her attention to the ref. "You gonna call it or make us stand here all day?"

The ref stumbled over his words as he nodded and blurted out, "Match over. Winner number 22."

I held the ropes apart for Bella and once she was standing in front of me, I began to undo her gloves. "Gonna tell me what that was about?" I asked.

"She needed to be taught." She made it sound so simple.

"Did she hurt you?" I asked. "When she jumped you from behind, did she hurt you?"

"No," Bella murmured. "Pissed me off, and it took a lot of control not to beat her ass. But it wouldn't have helped. Not her, or me."

I smiled and brought my hands up and unhooked her head gear. "You amaze me sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" she asked with a smirk, but before I could tell her just how many different times she'd amazed me, Phil came storming over to us with a disgusted look on his face. "Don't start."

"I'll start any goddamn time I want," he snarled, and I contemplated whether or not I needed to insert myself between them, but then I remembered how Bella could take his ass out of she wanted. "You do not—I repeat do not—get to pull that shit in the middle of a goddamn match!"

Bella crossed her arms in front of her chest and pressed her lips together, just staring at the jackass.

After almost a solid minute, he threw his hands in the air. "Fucking say something!"

"That girl had no business being in the ring with me in the first place." Bella paused. "She was terrified, and for good reason. She wasn't ready for this level competition, and her coach, threw her in with me, practically sending her to her death. I could have taken her ass out, beat her down so hard that she'd be drinking her dinner through a straw for the next three months, but I will not — ever — take someone out like that. My father taught me that to be a good fighter you had to have the right skills, to be strong, and fast, but to be a great fighter, you had to be able to look at the situation and decided how to proceed, and that's exactly what I did. If you want to bitch at someone, go file a complaint against that girl's coach for putting her life on the line."

Then, Bella placed her hand on Phil's chest, right over his heart. "You have the heart of a true fighter, Phil, but you're not thinking past this one match. We are going to win today. We are going to go to the national tournament, and we are going to fight until we can't fight any longer to bring home that trophy. Have some faith in the team you put together."

Phil closed his eyes and blew out a heavy breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just . . . I really want to win, Bella."

"So do I, but not like that. I won't do to that girl, what Tanya did to Tia," Bella murmured, and when Phil opened his eyes, she said, "We're better than that bullshit, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are," he admitted, looking sheepish.

"Okay. So let's quite bitching and get to work. We have a tournament to win."

Phil smiled and nodded before he turned and headed over to where the rest of our team was watching, waiting to see what would happen. It was time for all of us to man-up and stop playing games. Nationals would be our bitch.