Chapter Thirty One: Blood Sport

Despite the fact the bridge had always been their place, Maggie still felt comfortable standing here alone. When she needed to step away from the world this was where she would come, being here gave her a clarity that she couldn't seem to grasp anywhere else. Maybe it was the view or the sound of the tide washing up against the metal girders, either way it soothed her soul just a little standing here, breathing in the fresh chilly air. Maggie knew what she should be doing right now but she couldn't bring herself to actually pick up the phone. She felt so bitterly ashamed of the way that she had reacted to this situation. She should have known that Antonio would never do this to her, he had been her rock over the past couple of months, he had been strong and solid. However she couldn't deny that there was always a little piece of her that doubted them, she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop because she didn't think that she deserved to be this happy. It was a ridiculous emotion but it was one that was so heavily ingrained into her it was hard to fight against.

Maggie exhaled deeply as she heard footsteps coming towards her and that familiar sensation of dread settled in her gut. Apprehension was causing pinpricks up and down her spine, it made her mouth dry as she hunched over the railing looking out at the bright full moon as it shone down upon the ripples in the river. She had hoped he wouldn't come here tonight, that he would be working or out with the kids. She wasn't ready to face him quite yet, to explain how broken she really was inside.

"We gotta stop meeting like this." Antonio murmured as he stepped up along side Maggie. Their jackets rustled up against one another, his black leather on her grey wool as Antonio's elbows came to rest upon the metal railing. That olive green hat of his was pulled over his dark hair and ears warding off the cold night air. He rubbed his large hands together as he followed her gaze, his eyes lingering on the reflection of the full moon as it shimmered on the water.

"Yea.I guess we do." Maggie uttered, pursing her lips together and bowing her head. She couldn't stand to look him in the eyes, couldn't stand to see the hurt on his features because of her.

"I'm sorry." she blurted out suddenly causing Antonio to twist his head towards her, his dark eyes furrowed in confusion.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Antonio said as Maggie bowed her head. Those pert pink lips of hers were clamped together grimly, like she was struggling to hold back a well of words.

"I do." Maggie told him rubbing her gloved hands together against the temperature drop in the air. "I saw that text and I just shut down."

"Maggie." Her name rolled off Antonio's lips like a sonnet as he leaned a little closer so that the left side of his warm body was pressing against her right. "You had every right to question my commitment after seeing that text. If it was the other way around they would be still be cleaning up parts of the other guy off the floor."

Maggie tilted her face towards Antonio and for the first time in twenty four hours he could see those dazzling pretty blue eyes of hers staring right back at him. He could see the burden she carried, the guilt and that wasn't fair. They were victims of circumstance and she didn't need to carry all of that with her, none of this was her fault. It took all of his self control not to reach out and bridge the gap between the two of them. The past twenty four hours had been so isolated and lonely. It was a taste of what his life would be like without her and he hated it. He hated the distance between the two of them, it was like he couldn't breath knowing she was in so much pain.

"I needed space to work things out in my head." she confessed her expression crestfallen as she struggled to explain her mindset. "Getting that text last night put me in such a tailspin. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't see that they weren't your words."

"What about now?" Antonio asked cautiously, he felt like he was treading on dangerous ground and that a misstep could obliterate that fragile connection they had.

Maggie pulled a face and just seeing that edge of humor from her made his nerves setting just a little bit inside. He was terrified on some level that she was going to end things between the two off them but seeing that glimmer of mirth reassured that part of him.

"Since when have you ever used the word amazing?" she reminded him with a pointed look.

Despite everything Antonio found himself chuckling at that. She was right of course, just like everyone else. The word just wasn't in his vocabulary, especially not when it came to sex.

"Unbelievable, hot and a few other choice words that are too private to repeat in public but never amazing." Maggie persisted in that low throaty tone of hers that made him think of the nights they spent entwined together, hands caressing everywhere as they explored one another.

A bashful smile broke across Antonio's features as he dug both of his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

"I will not apologize for being vocal." he informed her as she fixed him with those sparkling blue eyes. He could see that the storm had broken, she'd needed to get those things off her chest and for him to understand that there was vulnerability there in her heart, even if she hid it well.

"I like it when your vocal." Maggie told him, closing the gap between the two of them, her dainty gloved hands smoothed over the creases of the leather jacket. Her mouth was so tantalizingly close to his, his dark gaze dropped to her lips as she spoke. "But it's not the best thing you do with your mouth."

Antonio's control snapped at those words. His lips sought out hers claiming them with a ferocious desire that ached and burned inside of him. Maggie's fingers laced around the back of his neck drawing him even closer as she pressed her athletic body along the length of his driving him absolutely crazy. He wanted her so much, he could feel their connection humming between the two of them vivid and powerful as he forced himself to break away, his sensuous lips brushing the edge of her mouth as he spoke.

"Let me take you home." He whispered in that husky voice of his. "Let me show you exactly how much you mean to me."