Fight of Your Life

Please, Don't

It's been 3 weeks since I asked Lee to be mine and things are great. Ashley is doing well in school and has a new friend that she is really excited about. Lee and I are doing great and school and softball are good. My father hasn't been home since that night he beat and raped me. I haven't gotten a call for any more fights either, so Riley is happy about that. But things can't always be flowers and rainbows.

A week later I am home after school and my dad comes home. No one is there because we have a game today and don't have to be at the field until 4:30 and school got out at 2:30, Ashley is at our Aunts, and Lee has practice. I am laying on the couch with my headphone in when they are yanked out of my ears.

"What the hell are you doing? He says. Obviously drunk. Oh no.

"Nothing, I have a game today so I came home to relax before going to the field." I say in a small voice. I don't want to do anything to provoke him. I don't think he will do anything today. He knows people will talk and question him if I can't play ball. He may be an asshole but he still cares about what people think about our family. We are rich and have a high social standing so he has to be careful. He pulls me up by my shirt and slams me against the wall.

"I hear you are dating that friend of yours." He says narrowing his eyes. I nod.

"Why would anyone want you? You are worthless. Not even a good fuck. All you are good for is a damn punching bag." I feel the tears prickling my eyes but I blink them away. I will not let him see me cry. "She doesn't love you. No one can love a used up piece of trash like you." He slurs out before delivering a fist to my rib cage. I am almost sure I heard a crack. Fuck my life how am I going to play with a broken rib? "You better win that game today or I will have a present for you when you get home." With that he slams me into the wall again before walking away.

I take a deep breath and wince at the pain. I hate him so much but I freeze when he is near. Why can't I fight back? I can take him, I know I can.

I pull myself together and head to the field. Its only 3:45 so I go and watch Lee practice. She smiles when she sees me on the sideline of the field and runs over to me and grabs me in a hug. I whimper at the pain that shoots through my body and she pulls away and looks at me.

"What's wrong?" She asks, concern dripping in her voice.

"My dad came home." I say. Her face clouds over in anger. "Calm down babe you have a practice to finish." I say kissing her cheek.

"He hurt you again." She says looking down. I know she wants to cry.

"Hey hey princess look at me." She looks up and our eyes lock. "I'm ok baby girl. Don't worry about it." She sighs and kisses me before running back onto the field to finish practice. I watch them until I have to go to my field to get ready for our game.

I am the catcher so this is going to hurt like a bitch. I grab an ace bandage and go into the equipment room locking the door behind me. I take off my under armor and wrap the bandage tightly around my ribs. The pressure eases the pain and I can move a bit better. I go out and start our warmups. After warmups, Lee, Quinten, and Marcus come over to the dugout. I give Lee and quick kiss and hand her my phone. We take the field and I hear Lee and the guys cheering behind me. I wink at Lee and she blushes. During the 4th inning I am in preparing to call a pitch when I hear that familiar ringtone from behind me. I call time and look back at Lee who is looking down sadly at my phone. I tell her to answer it and she does.  Once we finish out half of defense I head to the dugout and tell Lee to come.

"What did he say?" I ask. She frowns.

"That guy Ajax wants to fight you. $5000 if you win. 1030 tonight."

"Ok." I say thinking about the guy they call Ajax. He is rough and a strong fighter. I hear a lot about him and how good he is.

"You are not thinking about it are you?" Lee asks me worriedly.

"I could use 5k." I say not looking at her.

"Lee you are hurt. You cant possibly be thinking about doing this. I know about this guy. He's hard to beat on a good day and today is not good for you." She says panicking.

"Calm down princess. We will talk about this after the game." I tell her kissing her before grabbing grabbing my helmet and bat.

The rest of the game goes by quickly. We won, thanks to my grand slam in the bottom of the 7th giving us a 7-4 win. We have our meeting and I grab my bag out of the dugout before walking over to Lee and the guys. Lee still looks worried while the guys congratulate me. I put my arm around her and she tenses slightly before relaxing into me. We say bye to the guys and head to my car. After a minute of complete silence Lee speaks.

"Are you going to fight tonight?" She asks looking out the window.

"I need to princess." I say not taking my eyes off the road. I hear her sniffle. "Aw baby don't cry please."

"You are hurt and you want to go fight a guy that we both know is rough and tough. Really tough. Why Bella? Why do you have to do this today. What if he hurts you? I see some of those people after bad fights and I couldn't bare to see you like that." She says as the tears roll down her face. I don't say anything for a moment.

"I won't go tonight." I finally say making her look at me.

"Really?"

"If you don't want me to I won't. I love you Lee I don't like it when you cry and you have never asked me not to before even if you wanted to. You hate it but you haven't because you know I need to. You are right though. I am pretty sure my rib is at least fractured and if I am going to fight Ajax I need to be at 100%." I say grabbing her hand kissing the top. "If you don't want me to I won't."

"I love you." She says leaning over kissing me on my cheek. That warm feeling explodes in my chest again. God, if doing things to make her happy gives me this feeling, I will do anything to make her happy.