44

I groaned as I crawled across the bed, my body aching from a full day's worth of fighting and I wasn't done yet. This was merely a pause in our tournament, a chance to rest and regain our strength, they said. They were full of shit.

We had three hours before we had to be back to for our final matches. Three hours before I would face off against my teammate, my friend, and Bella would teach Tanya a lesson she wouldn't forget for a long, long time. Three fucking hours.

"We should shower," Bella muttered, but made no attempt to climb off the bed.

She'd been the first to lay down, the first to let her body relax. As much as she could at the moment, anyway. Everything was on the line: our program, our chance to save it, our chance to be National Champions as freshman, but mostly her chance to salvage her family name. Bella, though she'd never admit it to anyone, needed to prove that the name Cullen meant something to be respected.

I snorted, then winced. "I'm not getting in the shower with you, baby. You'll make me fuck you, and I can't move right now."

"Make you?" Bella laughed and rolled onto her side, reaching over to brush my hair out of my face. "Since when do I have to make you do anything?"

"Every time you smile at me," I told her, watching as the corners of her lips twisted upward. "Sometimes, I look at you and I'm just amazed that you're mine."

"You are?" she murmured.

I nodded. "The first time I saw you, I wanted to know you."

"Yeah, because I was such a friendly person in bio," she scoffed.

"I'm not talking about then." Groaning, I rolled onto my side and draped my arm across her waist. "The stepford bitches were annoying the fuck out of me, but I figured they were better than sitting alone, you know? And then you burst into the room. I felt this immediate pull toward you. I asked who you were and they started telling me how you'd killed your parents, how you were dealing drugs, but I knew they were full of shit."

"How'd you know?" she asked, quietly.

"There was too much pain in your movements. You seemed like a bitch, but you were really just protecting yourself, weren't you?"

Bella nodded and a tear slipped down her face.

"Don't cry, baby," I whispered, wiping it away.

"You always saw me," she whimpered, snuggling into my embrace. "The real me. Everyone else — all they saw was the anger, the hatred I felt for everything, but not you. No, you saw me."

"And you saw me."

"After my parents . . . after being locked away and told I was a psychopath," she cried, "Fighting was all I had, the only way I could breathe and then you came to the gym and I . . . Well, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't want you to train there."

"Why?"

Bella sighed and leaned up on her elbows. "Because letting you into my world was admitting that I felt something and feeling anything scared the shit out of me. I'd worked too hard not to, or at least that's what I told myself. But you made me want to feel again. A part of me wanted to hate you."

"Wow," was all I could think of saying.

"Don't take that the way it sounds," she insisted, shifting on the bed so that she was sitting with her knees folded in front of her. "Feeling anything was dangerous, or so I had told myself. My brothers were one meltdown away from sending me away and I thought if I could just get some control over my emotions, keep everything locked inside, I would be okay. But I couldn't control the nightmares, and it was getting harder and harder to keep from just losing my shit, you know?"

I nodded, though I'd never know the amount of trauma that she'd gone through.

"And then you were here and I felt this . . . I don't know . . . tingle in my gut. It's like I wanted you to want me, yet I wanted you to stay way."

"Well, I didn't give you much choice, did I? Kind of pushed myself on you."

"Yeah, you did and I'm so thankful that you're a stubborn, pig-headed asshole."

I laughed. "Gee, thanks, baby."

"It's the truth," she insisted.

"I wasn't planning on falling in love, either. I'd learned the hard way that getting close to anyone was dangerous. I just wanted to do my time in Forks and move on. I was angry at my parents for going to Italy, for not insisting that I go with them, but at the same time, I was glad to have Esme. She was my only friend. As pathetic as that sounds, she was the only person who never left me."

"Until now." Bella leaned over and kissed me, her hand resting over my heart. "I'm never leaving you, baby. Never."

"Promise?" I whispered, hating how vulnerable I sounded just then.

"You have my word."

And that was enough for me. Bella and I, no matter what happened with our program, where we ended up, we'd be there together. She and I were unstoppable.

—LO—

Three hours later, Bella, Liam, and I were standing across from the referee who'd be handling both our matches and the three judges, who would be deciding who the new National Champions would be. Oh, and Tanya was there, too, but none of us cared. Bella was going to own her ass.

"Okay, listen up," the referee said, clapping his hands together. "We're going to begin with the women's match first. Then, twenty minutes after the completion of that match, we will proceed with the men's finals. I expect clean matches. Nothing underhanded, is that clear?"

It might have been mine imagination, but it seemed to me, that his eyes shifted to Tanya and no one else. Inwardly, I was smirking, but outwardly, I was concerned. Tanya had proven that she'd do anything to win. While I knew Bella could handle herself, I worried that she'd lose control and if that happened, Tanya would be lucky to be alive.

"Yes, sir," Liam, Bella, and I said almost at once.

"Of course," Tanya purred. Was she seriously trying to seduce the referee? Was she that desperate?

Based on the look on the man's face, he wasn't any more impressed with her attempts and he shifted a step away from her. "Good, good."

"I know I speak for my fellow judges when I say that we're deeply impressed with each of you," one of the judges — a tall, thin blond with fake tits — said. "The women's final will begin in twenty minutes. Good luck."

Tanya smirked as she turned and joined the rest of her team on the far side of the Colosseum. Bella, Liam, and I joined the rest of our team, who was looking both pleased and regretful.

"Heard from Caius yet?" Bella asked, nibbling on her lip as she dug her tape out of her bag.

"No," Phil said with a heavy sigh. "I kind of expected to see him here, actually. But I guess he's back home, trying to calm the fires."

"Yeah." Bella blew out a heavy breath as she attempted to peel the tape back. Her fingers were trembling, so I reached out and took the tape from her, pulling a long strip off. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

As I began prepping her hands, the rest of our team spread out, trying to keep from putting pressure on her, me, or Liam to win. UCLA was guaranteed the Men's National Championship, but without Bella's win, it wouldn't be enough. We had to prove that both the men's and women's programs were worth keeping and the only way to do that was to bring home two championships, and even then, there were no sure things.

Twenty minutes later, Bella was ready. She'd stretched, spent five minutes focusing all her energy on defeating Tanya, and told Phil to fuck off three times. I followed her to the ring and held the ropes apart while she climbed between them. Turning back to me, she hooked her gloves on the rope and took another shaky breath.

"Tell me that you love me," she whimpered.

"I love you," I told her, knowing she already knew, just needed the reassurance. "You've got this, baby. You're going to own her ass and make her pay for every fighter she's taken out."

"You bet your ass I am."

I popped her mouthpiece in and nudged her toward the center of the ring, where the referee was waiting of her and Tanya. The tension was thick and everyone's attention was focused on the two women standing in the middle of the ring. As they stood across from each other, I couldn't help but notice the difference in their demeanor. Where Bella was calm yet confident, Tanya was stiff and jittery. She kept looking back at her coach, almost as if he had some magic strategy to get her the win. He didn't, of course. Bella was going to own this match as she had every match of her freshman season.

After the referee gave them the usual spiel about playing nicely and keeping the match clean, again, he instructed them to bump gloves and then retreat to their corners. Neither woman offered their gloves, making it clear that this match was personal. Bella turned and walked back over to me, giving me a wink before she faced her opponent.

A few seconds later, the bell rang and Bella slowly took a step to the left, watching Tanya with care. Tanya, however, seemed to think coming right at Bella was the best way to win. It wasn't. Bella dodged her, sending Tanya into the ropes. Bella threw a jab to her ribs and another to her jaw as she passed by. A collective groan echoed through the arena. That hurt.

Back and forth they battled, each scoring points along the way. I tried to keep track, but it was difficult. I hated to admit it, but once Tanya got her footing under her, she was a damn good boxer. She had good instincts and quick, hard jabs. Bella was sporting a busted lip, the start of a black, swollen eye, and I knew she'd barely be able to move in the morning.

Tanya, on the other hand, looked worse. There was blood dripping from her nose, her lip, and a cut above her left eye.

The bell rang, ending the first round and the referee was immediately between them, shoving them into their corners. Bella kept her body so that she was facing Tanya, not wanting to be jumped from behind. Once Tanya settled on her stool, Bella turned and faced me and Phil.

"No stool," she groused around her mouthpiece, spitting it into the bowl Phil was handling. "Not giving that bitch the satisfaction of watching me rest."

"Don't be a stubborn bitch, Bella," Phil snarled, but when I turned my glare on him, his eyes widened and he leaned away. "Sorry, I meant, don't be stubborn and take the sixty seconds to rest."

"No," she said, pushing the stool away once again.

"Dude, drop it," I told him and used a wet towel to sponge Bella's face. She winced when I brushed around her eye. "She's using her left and only her left. Every time she goes to hit you, she drops her right shoulder, putting all her weight in her left. Keep to her right, make her go weak side."

"I don't think that bitch has a weak side."

"She's counting on you to do all the work. Take control and finish her."

Bella nodded and blew out a breath. "Okay, I'm ready."

Phil placed her mouth piece back in just as the judges rang the bell. Bella turned and went back out to face Tanya, who was moving much slower than before. She'd realized that her tactic had failed and was trying something new. Bella, of course, wasn't about to let her off that easy. No, Bella wanted to end this once and for all.

Pulling her elbows in against her sides, Bella tucked her head and went straight at Tanya, hitting her with a right jab, left hook, right uppercut. Tanya tried to counter with a right hook, left jab combo, but Bella blocked them and hit her with a hard hit to the gut that had Tanya falling to her knees. Taking advantage of the moment, Bella unleashed a fury of combinations; so many that I lost count.

"She's fucking beautiful," I murmured, smiling as I watched her fight. Not only for the title, but for respect.

"Yeah, she is," Phil laughed. "But you're a little biased."

"True," I admitted, shifting my attention to him for just a second before I turned back to my wife. "But can you blame me?"

"No, no, I can't."

Bella had Tanya cowering against the ropes. With every hit Tanya blocked, Bella landed three. After another thirty seconds, the referee pushed himself between them, holding Bella off with one arm. He gave her a look before he knelt next to Tanya, who was still curled up in a ball. Bella's chest was heaving, and I could almost feel the adrenaline soaring through her.

Without a word to Bella, the referee stood and walked across the ring to the judges, kneeling and engaging them in conversation. I could tell she was nervous. They hadn't even gone two full rounds, and Tanya was a quivering mess. There's no way they could deny Bella the title . . . could they?

The referee ended his conversation with the judges and walked back to Bella and Tanya, who managed to find her way to her feet with the help of her coach. Alastair looked livid, clearly unhappy with the way his star fighter had performed in the ring. The referee stood between Bella and Tanya, taking one of their arms in each of his hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to health and safety risks, Tanya Sanders from Stanford University is unable to continue. Based on their amount of points accumulated during the first two rounds, we've awarded her twenty-five points," the judge announced over the loud speaker. "And with thirty-seven points, your new National Champion is . . . Isabella Cullen, from U.C.L.A.!"

The arena exploded in applause and cheers. Our team screamed and jumped to their feet, knowing that nobody deserved the win more than Bella. With a wide smile on her face, Bella turned and offered Tanya a gloved hand, who ignored the gesture as her coach nearly dragged her out of the ring. Bella thanked the referee before rushing to me. I barely had time to pull the ropes apart before she was in my arms. In that moment, everything was perfect.

"It's your turn, baby," she whimpered. "I know he's your friend, but kick his ass."

"I will."

And I hoped I wasn't lying. Liam wasn't going to be easy.