So, how do we like FighterWard? Isn't he swoon-worthy? Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story … What's up next?
Up next will be … Bella's road to recovery, both physically and emotionally. How will she react to knowing that she used FighterWard as her own human body pillow? We're also going to start training with Charlie 'Bull Dog' Swan. You think I'm lying about the drool. It will be messy.
What I own: Too much Scentsy bars and noot enough time to warm them.
What I don't: Twilight
Chapter Twenty-One
Early the next morning, Bella woke up and was surrounded by a very cuddly and extremely warm Edward Masen. She shifted, looking at him. He was snoring slightly, and pillow lines marred his face. His bronze-colored hair was sticking up every which way. She reached up to smooth down his riotous hair. As she moved, her bladder made its presence known. She was also reminded about the pain in every part of her body. She let out a loud groan, which made Edward wake up.
"Bella?" he croaked. His voice was raspy from sleep. "Are you okay?"
"I need to pee, but everything hurts," she whimpered.
He yawned, slipping out of the bed, and gently picking her up. "You took a nasty tumble, Bella. You're going to be feeling every pain for quite some time." He carried her to the bathroom. "Holler when you're done. I'm going to use the guest bathroom."
"In the medicine cabinet, there are some spare toothbrushes," Bella said, leaning against the counter. "And, Edward, thank you for staying. I … I don't know how I can repay you." She ducked her head, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
Edward trailed his fingers down her cheek, gently tipping her face up to his. He saw so much vulnerability in her espresso gaze, along with a lot of pain. "No repayment needed, beautiful. Now, you take care of your human needs. Ideally, a warm bath would help with the knots."
"I'm stuck taking showers for the foreseeable future," Bella said, wrinkling her nose. "Ugh, I need to find my cast condom."
"You'll have to tell me about that," Edward snickered. "I've never heard of a cast condom."
"It's the best way to describe it," Bella chuckled. "But, seriously, I've got to pee and brush my teeth."
"I'm going," Edward smiled crookedly, closing the door. He went to the guest bathroom. He took care of his human needs, washing his face and brushing his teeth. He was about to head to the kitchen to make breakfast for both of them when he heard a startled yelp. He ran back to Bella's bedroom and hovered by the bathroom door. What if she was … indisposed? "Bella? Are you okay? Can I open the door?"
She moaned. "Yes, you can … Fuck!"
He inched the door open, finding Bella on the floor. She was holding a towel to her hairline. There was blood on it. Edward crouched down, pulling the towel away. She had a cut. It wasn't deep, but head wounds bled a lot. "What happened?"
"I was trying to hobble to the sink, and I slipped on my towel. I didn't want to make my break worse, so I barely caught myself before I clocked myself on the corner of the counter," Bella said. "I swear, I need to be wrapped in bubble wrap."
Edward carefully examined her wound. "I don't think you need stitches. Just steri-strips," he said.
"Do you have an MD?" Bella asked.
"No, but I've enough injuries to self-diagnose," he said. "Before I made it big, I couldn't exactly go to the doctor. So, I had to take care of myself with the help of my roommate."
"I have strips in the medicine cabinet," Bella said.
He nodded, helping her onto the edge of the bathtub. He found the first aid supplies in the medicine cabinet. He washed his hands before sitting down on the closed toilet. Carefully, he cleaned her injury and applied the strips along the length of the cut. "Leave these on for a couple of days," he said. "You can't wash your hair, unfortunately … Bella?" Blinking down, he saw that she was crying. He wiped her tears away. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry if I did."
"Despite how awful I was, you're still being so kind," she sobbed. "Why?"
"Because I feel something for you. Something more than friendship," he answered honestly. "Yes, you hurt me when you disappeared, but I get why you did it. You're worth the wait." He gave her a warm smile. "Will you give me a chance?"
She threw her arms around his neck, nodding fervently. "I'm sorry, Edward. I truly am."
He gently lifted her off the edge of the tub, carrying her back to her bedroom. He carefully arranged her leg on the pillows. "No more apologies. We're moving forward."
"I'm not normally such an emotional mess," she sniffled.
"Bella, you broke your leg, scraped yourself to high heaven and clocked yourself in the head. You're entitled to feel those emotions," he said, kissing her forehead, away from her wound. "I'm going to make breakfast. Then, you're going to ice and take another pain pill. Charlie said that Alice will be here to help you out. I'm staying until she gets here. After my first training session with your dad, I'm coming back. I don't want you to slip into a coma because you have a concussion or something."
"Okay," she said. "Edward … thank you."
"You're welcome, beautiful," he whispered. Getting up, he went to the kitchen to make some breakfast for both of them. He made an omelet with bacon and hashbrowns for Bella. Edward made himself three hard-boiled eggs along a protein shake. Wrinkling his nose, he got another icepack, some coffee, and a dose of pain killers for Bella. He also found some ibuprofen; in case she didn't want to be loopy.
Bella was snoozing when he came back into the bedroom. He put the icepack around her cast. He sat down brushing her curls away. He noticed that she'd probably had some bruising around head wound. "Beautiful … sweet girl, wake up," he cooed.
Her eyes fluttered open. "I didn't mean to fall asleep," she mumbled. She looked at the plates, wrinkling her nose. "Hard-boiled eggs?"
"Those are mine," he sighed. "You get the omelet, bacon and hashbrowns. Plus, coffee with a side of pain killers or ibuprofen."
"Ibuprofen. I probably have a concussion and sleeping is bad," Bella yawned. "Are you excited to start training?"
"I'm excited to get back into the ring. I'm the type of person where I need to be doing something all the time," he chuckled, biting into one of his eggs. His nose wrinkled. "I hate hard-boiled eggs."
"If you hate them, why do you eat them?" Bella asked.
"Low in calories, high in protein," he answered. "I've got to maintain my weight and I have to work out. More protein means that I stay fuller longer. Or, whatever. That's what a nutritionist said." The doorbell rang. Edward slid out of the bed. "That's probably Alice."
"You're going," Bella frowned.
"But, I'll be back. If you want," he added.
"I want," she said with a soft smile. The doorbell rang again. "You better go get that before she picks the lock."
"She doesn't have a key?" Edward asked.
"Alice can be … a bit much. With me confined to the bed, she'll probably try to give me a makeover or some shit," Bella snorted.
Edward laughed, walking to open the door. Alice stood on the doorstep, holding a large bag of stuff. "Hi, Alice," he said. "What's all that?"
"None of your concern," she replied. "What is your concern is your social media presence … you're starting to train again. We need to build up your publicity. Do you have an Instagram? TikTok? Facebook?" She breezed inside.
"I have a Facebook profile, but it's set to private," Edward replied. "Those other things? Not so much."
"Since I'm your publicist, do you trust me?" Alice asked. "We need to get your face out there … your big come back!"
"I barely know you, but I do need to build up some hype," Edward said. "Don't make anything live until you get my approval."
"How do you feel about endorsements? Advertisements?" Alice queried.
"As long as they align with my beliefs, I have no problem with that," Edward replied, following Alice to Bella's bedroom.
"Okay, I'll put out some feelers," Alice said. "I need to keep my mind occupied while I'm helping out gimpy here."
"Fuck you, Alice," Bella grumbled.
"I think this is a new record for you," Alice quipped. "Two injuries in one day."
"More like three," Bella sighed, pointing to her head wound.
"Damn it, Bella," Alice sighed.
"Do you need anything else before I go?" Edward asked.
"If possible, can you see if my dad can drive my car back to my place at some point?" Bella asked. "When I'm free from this monstrosity, I need my car."
"I'll let him know," Edward said, giving her a smile.
"Before you go, give me your phone number. I'll be periodically sending you information for approval," Alice said.
"Compile all of it and I'll take a look at it later. When I'm training, I'm singularly focused on training," Edward explained. "I'm not going to stop during my workout and flex in front of a mirror. That's not my style."
"I would never encourage that. That's absolutely narcissistic," Alice giggled. "Go, get buff … or rather, get buffer."
With a wave, he left Bella's beautiful home and drove to his apartment. He quickly showered, changing into a pair of gym shorts and a tight compression shirt. He double checked his bag for his supplies before getting back into his car, driving to Bull Dog. He parked next to Emmett's Jeep, walking into the gym. Rose was waiting for him, scowling. "You're late."
"I was at Bella's. She was a mess after falling," Edward explained. "I had to wait for Alice to show up before I could leave. She's wobbly on those crutches, especially on the pain killers."
Rose's scowl softened and she nodded. "I love that girl, but she's a hot mess. I've never met anybody so closed off."
"I'm certain she has her reasons," Edward suggested, following Rose to a treatment room.
"Alright, take off your shirt and let me do my examination," Rose commanded.
"It feels fine," Edward said, removing his shirt. "I've been able to lift …"
"I saw you carry Little Miss Gimps-A lot," Rose snickered, running her fingers along the length of his scar. "Raise your arm to the side, don't let me push it down." She pushed on his raised arm. "Good lateral strength. The same, in front." Again, she pushed on his arm. After some flexibility exercises, Rose cleared him. "Go, kick some ass. Though, Carlisle did ask me to remind you to wear the helmet for the first few training sessions to gauge how your head injury is doing."
"I've got one in my bag," Edward nodded, pulling his shirt back on. "Where's Charlie?"
"In his office. He said to go up after you saw me," Rose said. "Have fun!"
"Thanks, Rose," Edward grinned, jogging to Charlie's office. He knocked on the door, finding Charlie in his own workout gear. "Hey, Charlie."
"How's my Little Bell?" Charlie asked.
"She's bruised and a little embarrassed, but she's in good hands with Alice. I hope," Edward chuckled. "Bella did ask if you could bring her car to her house today or at some point."
"I drove it here today. After we train, we can drop it off and you can drive me back to my place after I …" Charlie trailed off. "She thinks I don't love her?"
"I can't even begin to interpret what Bella thinks, sir," Edward surmised. "She was really out of it because of the medications she received at the hospital and pain killers that Carlisle gave her."
"Well, I appreciate you helping her out," Charlie murmured. "I would have been there, but after you left, the boys got rowdy. Some of them were friends with Jacob and the rest of the Pack."
"The Pack?"
"They likened themselves to a wolf pack or whatever," Charlie said. "Come on. We do some strength training while we're gossiping like girls."
"You're the gossip. Not me," Edward quipped, going to the weight room.
While Charlie pushed Edward with his physical limits, Charlie shared what he'd learned about The Pack. Jacob, Sam, and the rest of them found representation with the Volturi. Jacob was now Aro's favorite fighter, taking the fights that Edward would have competed in, had he not had his brains scrambled. There were also more rumors that the Volturi were juicing their fighters. Nothing was substantiated, but it honestly didn't surprise Edward. Caius wanted him to take PEDs. Edward was adamant to never take that shit.
His body was a temple. He would not desecrate his body with that stuff.
After eating some lean chicken, brown rice and steamed broccoli, Edward ran for three miles and weighed in to see if he was still within his weight class. Charlie furrowed his brow. "You need to put on some pounds. You've lost weight."
"No, I lost muscle mass," Edward sighed. "I'll do more strength training. I couldn't lift as much because of the strain on my head or my recovery from my shoulder injury." He strapped his head protection before walking to Charlie, who began taping his hands. "What are we going to do this afternoon?"
"We're going to fight. I want to see what you have," Charlie smirked.
"I'm fighting you?"
"I still have it, son," Charlie laughed. "How am I supposed to make you be the best you can be if I don't know what you're capable of? I could have fight Emmett, but he outweighs you by thirty pounds. Speaking as your coach and manager, I would be shortsighted if I put against a stronger fighter. It would be a repeat of your fight with Demetri, minus the brass knuckles. I want you to be successful, Edward."
"Okay," Edward nodded as Charlie tugged on his gloves. While Charlie got ready, Edward jumped up and down, warming up his body and muscles.
"Emmett, act as the ref," Charlie commanded.
"Awesome," Emmett grinned, walking into the ring. "Tap gloves."
They did and Emmett announced the start to the match. Edward held up his hands, as did Charlie. They began to bounce on their toes and Charlie took the first hit. Edward dodged it, using the opportunity to hit Charlie's side. Then, the fists flew. Right hook, jab, left cross, block, jab, right uppercut, left hook, parry, block, right cross.
The bell rang, indicating the round was over.
"You did not lose your speed," Charlie smiled after he'd popped out his mouth guard. "Your right arm is not as strong as your left."
"I injured my left," Edward frowned.
"You might be compensating," Charlie said. "I think I got what I need to make you the best you can be. Do you trust me?" Edward nodded. "Then, let's build up the right arm."
A/N: Just to let you all know, I know nothing about fighting. My uncle used to go to the fights frequently, but I personally think fighting is … barbaric. At least it's more authentic than wrestling. Don't get me started on pro-wrestling.
Anyway, leave your thoughts. Up next will be Edward and Charlie checking on Bella and a long-overdue conversation between Charlie and his daughter. Thanks for reading!