Chapter 51.
Official. We're official, Bella and I.
Her hand is in mine as we walk to practice. As if time didn't pass. As if the last couple years lasted only a couple minutes. As if she was never gone. As if she's always been mine.
Mine.
Just as much as I've been hers.
We walk into the gym, and I feel all eyes on me—on us—but I don't care.
No more wasting time. No more hiding.
If the last two years feel only like a couple minutes, the past twenty-four hours do not.
It was only yesterday that we were here for the first practice of the summer, and I had decided I could at least allow myself to stunt with her. Little did I know, I would not be able to stop there, to stop at all. It was probably naive on my part to think I'd be okay only stunting with her.
But now, with her hand in mine, I want it all.
We're back in the gym, for practice number two, and in a way to get a second chance at everything. Together.
We head to the back and start getting ready for training, ignoring the whispers and hushed comments around us. Bella seems to care as little as I do about what our teammates think because her eyes are pure excitement as they link with mine while she fixes her hair up in a high ponytail.
As she's looking, I get rid of my hoodie, which leaves me in my training top with the cut-off sleeves. She's always liked me in these, and by the way her eyes immediately trail down my arms, it seems like she still does.
I smile. Two can play at this game.
She knows she's caught as she looks up at me. But she doesn't seem to mind. Instead, she smiles deviously, turning around and dropping her light gray sweatpants, revealing what's underneath—what she plans to work out in.
Please, God, no.
Not the little black gym shorts.
It's going to be a long day.
~.~.~
Much to Jasper's pleasure, we're doing conditioning training today, which involves both free weights and weight machines.
Bella and I work out together, side by side, taking turns and showing each other what our bodies can do now, some of which we couldn't do before. We grew stronger—separately—and now, together, feel even stronger than ever before.
The playful touches and stolen glances continue. I keep it as respectful as I can manage. She did say last night that I don't have to walk on eggshells around her, but I do worry. I worry about what looking at her a certain way—at her body, in particular—might trigger.
I do well, for the most part, until we're in front of the mirror, going over our reps of bicep curls, her with 15s and me with 50s. When she's done with her first set, she dips down, right in front of me, to place her weights on the floor. She walks around, shaking her arms out a bit, before bending in front of me, again, to pick up the weights.
The first time she does it, I pretend to look at the ceiling. The second time, I just rub my eyes, walking away, thinking perhaps, she's not doing it on purpose, and it's just a happy, agonizing coincidence.
The third time, I might as well turn into a blind man, my eyes wandering everywhere but...praying to the gods to give me strength to resist this woman and make it through practice. The fourth time she does it, I curse through my teeth, and when she stares at me through the mirror, a guilty smile spreads on her face.
Coincidence, my ass.
"Stop it," I beg.
"What?" she feigns innocence, dropping the weights on the rack and turning to me.
"You know what." I try to breathe through my fucked-up nose. "You're torturing me."
She steps closer, slowly, and then her fingers trail down my biceps, while my hands still hold the dumbbells at my sides. "This is torture?"
"When we're out here, yes."
"This is so hot." She breathes out, fingers lingering over the veins on my forearms, seemingly caught in the moment.
"Swan…" My arms shake, while other parts of me awaken as well.
When Emmett clears his throat next to us, my eyes shoot up to see him disapprovingly looking at me through the mirror. "I'd tell you to get a room," he starts. "But we literally just started training!"
With a hand on my shoulder, he pushes me away from Bella. "C'mon, Swan," he adds jokingly. "Let my man work."
"Em…" I warn.
"Just be thankful it's me and not Jasper," he says, grabbing 75s from the rack. "Or he'd give you these instead." He sets up beside me, shaking his head, before he starts counting his reps.
Bella laughs softly, moving to my other side. I smile at her through the mirror and then eye the clock, wishing time would speed up so we can be alone again.
~.~.~
After conditioning training, we all have lunch in the hall, and then we're back for team practice. We tumble, go over pyramids, and stunt at the end. We're pretty much all running on fumes by the time Rosalie sends us to the showers.
I'm one of the first ones out, with jelly arms and shaky legs, but eager to be done with the day, only to find Rosalie still out on the mat, asking everyone to remain on the bleachers. Apparently we're not done with training yet.
I sit on the steps and impatiently wait for Bella as the rest of my teammates filter out of the bathrooms and crowd around me. I get that anxious feeling in my chest again, as I got last night after dropping her off at her apartment—a pressure that increased as I walked away from her, and only eased after we were reunited this morning. I'm much better at coping with my anxiety now, at breathing myself into a calmer state. But the edge is there. Until I see her coming out.
She's one of the last ones to exit the locker room, followed by Vicky and Jessica. Her hair is semi-dry, flowing down her shoulders. She's in a sports bra and shorts, because of fucking course.
Her eyes lock with mine as she heads straight to me, and I breathe out in relief.
She snakes through our teammates, trying to find a spot beside me, but before I can scoot over, she sits right on my lap instead. It takes me by surprise for a brief second, then I wrap my arms around her, securing her to me. When I hear her exhale in relief, I realize maybe she's been needing my touch just as much as I've needed hers.
Rosalie starts talking, but I don't really know what she's saying. I can't hear the words. Not with Bella sitting on me, her ass pressed on my crotch. Every little movement stirs things within me. I've tried to breathe. I've tried to distract myself. I've counted and memorized all of Bella's back and shoulder freckles.
It's all been in vain.
When Rosalie finishes her speech, and Bella attempts to move, I clasp my hands on her hips in warning. "You can't get up yet."
"Why?" she asks in a playful tone.
"You know why." I drop my forehead to the back of her neck, trying hopelessly to breathe as our teammates disperse around us. "Can't you feel it?"
She turns her head to look at me, eyes hooded, wanting clear on her face. "Can you feel me?" she asks softly, and then she leans in to whisper in my ear. "I'm so wet."
Jesus.
Fucking.
Christ.
"Um…hello?" Rosalie's eyes are on us when Bella inches away from me, and I lift my gaze. I don't know how long she has been watching, but her arms are crossed over her chest, while her boot taps on the floor. "I need to talk to Bella."
"Fuck," I mutter between clenched teeth, and Bella looks at me apologetically.
"Sorry," Bella whispers, painfully moving off me.
My hands grip my knees as I lean over, in hopes that no one can see the inopportune display inside my gym shorts.
"A chubby?" Emmett, of course. "At practice?" he whisper-yells as he sits down next to me.
"Shut up." I grunt, resuming my breathing. "I'm fighting for my life here."
He laughs…loudly. I even smile.
Fuck it, I'm happy.
"If there's anyone here who has zero right to judge me, it's you." I eye him briefly, taking a deeper breath.
"Judge you?" He pats a hand on my shoulder. "I'm not judging you, babe. I'm fucking happy for you."
~.~.~
Whatever Rose wanted to discuss with Bella ends quickly, so we walk hand in hand to the lake house along with the rest of our teammates.
"What did she want?"
"Just for us to be careful." Bella looks up at me and smiles before she continues. "I don't know if she's more worried about me…or you."
"What did you tell her?"
"I said we got this." She smiles, squeezing my fingers tightly and lifting our hands together between us.
We got this.
"Lake swim?" Emmett turns to face us as everyone heads to the water.
My feet freeze on the ground, my hand still linked with Bella's, making her halt as well. Bella looks up at me, half confused, half expectant.
"I don't want to swim," I say to her as I wave Emmett off behind her.
"No?"
"No." I pull her to me, relieved when Em continues to walk away from us with the rest of the group.
"Do you remember the first time we swam at this lake?" She inches closer.
I nod. I vaguely do.
"You were trying hard not to stare at my butt," she says through a chuckle.
"I thought you thought I was gay," I manage to say, without breaking into laughter.
"I didn't know." She laughs wholeheartedly, wrapping her hands around my neck. "And you could be gay and still be into booty."
I laugh without restrictions as well. "I was trying really hard not to stare at your butt." My hands roam down her back, ending at her ass.
"And now your hands are all over it."
"You've been teasing me all day, Swan." My fingers dig into her, over the fabric of her shorts. "There's only so much I can take."
"Yeah?" She wets her lips, pressing her body to mine. "What are you going to do about it?"
When I lean into her, her eyes close in response. I lift her to me, hoisting her on my waist, with her legs wrapped around me. "Why don't I show you instead?"