When He Falls

by Michelle Jo Quinn

  As desserts, which I made out of a recipe I had created, were being passed, Zach added another bit to the conversation, "I was just telling Maggie that I'm going to show her the gym I first trained at when we go to Vegas."

  It was an innocent conversation, but not everyone received it well. Nica dropped her spoon, and it clattered against the plate. "When you what?" She stared at me. "You didn't tell me about this. When do you plan on going?"

  I hesitated. Right away, Zach knew what a mistake it was to say it out loud even though I'd warned him earlier. "I'd like to go with him in two days when he leaves San Francisco."

  Nica exploded, "You can't do that!"

  Levi reached across the table and touched her hand, but she didn't look away from me. "Nica..."

  She finally turned to him, but her tone didn't change. "No, Levi. What if something happens?"

  "What if something happens?" I repeated her words. "What do you mean by that, Nica?"

  "I'm just... You've only known Zach for how long...and..."

  I stood, shaky on my legs. "I've known Zach since we were little, Nica. And I've made my decision. When will you ever stop babying me?"

  She matched my tone, but stayed seated. "I'm not babying you. I just want you to be careful. I don't want you to get hurt."

  "I already got hurt, Nica, in case you forgot, my ex-boyfriend left me at the altar. He screwed my best friend and got her pregnant." I pushed the chair behind me, clearing the way for my escape. "I came here, to you, to stay away from all that. I needed your help, Nica, but I don't always want your opinions."

  And just like that, our nice dinner turned into a spat between us sisters. I walked away from the table with Nica asking me to come back. Zach followed after me, but he didn't say anything. I was fine with it. I'd had enough of people telling me what I didn't want to hear or what they thought I should do. Just the night before, I'd promised myself I would take the reins in my own life. It was time I showed everyone I could do it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Zach

  We parked atop a hill, surrounded by houses the size of football stadiums. It was an unusually clear night, and the bridge was visible in the horizon, under the canopy of stars in a black night sky. I could call it romantic, only that Maggie was visibly distraught beside me.

  Her shoulders shook as she sobbed into her palms. All I could do was sit there and feel like a total schmuck. Things were going so smoothly. She'd asked me to keep quiet about the trip until she had the chance to speak to her sister. And what had I done? I'd blabbed about it. I began rubbing her back to soothe her, and Maggie leaned over to cry on my shoulder.

  "It was my fault. I'm sorry," I said, kissing the top of her head.

  "No, it's not," she mumbled, "It's not your fault." She straightened and wiped tears from her cheeks.

  Maggie had worn a bit of makeup for dinner, and the mascara streaked down her face. I tilted her head up and gently rubbed the black lines off with a thumb. Her nose was red, her eyes were puffy, and her bottom lip jutted out into a pout, yet, she was still achingly beautiful beyond words.

  "I love my sister, but she's been a bitch lately. She still treats me like a kid who doesn't know how to tie my own shoelaces! We'd had the same talk last night, and I thought she finally got it. But now..." She sobbed in her hands again.

  I was useless. How could I console her? The moment brought me back to the dark shadows of my past. To the time when I helplessly witnessed a man causing harm, every which way he could, to the woman who hadn't wanted to do anything but love him. I was useless then to my own mother. And now to Maggie.

  The car filled with her hiccups and sobs, and all I did was grip the edges of my seat, hard enough that I could probably rip it to pieces. I would be surprised if I had any enamel left on my teeth after I'd ground them together.

  Say something, you idiot!

  My lungs filled with air as I inhaled as much in, hoping that courage came with it. I glanced quickly at her. Her curtain of hair hid her face from me. I raised a hand to reach over and soothe her again, when she brought her head up, strong and proud.

  And she spoke in a hoarse voice, "I better get this straightened out." Maggie continued to dry her cheeks with the pads of her thumbs. I should have done that. I could have, but instead, I froze.

  She faced me, her lips and eyes swollen and red. "I'm going back to talk to her. Can I drop you at home?"

  "You can drop me here," I squeaked out, wincing at the pathetic sound of my own voice.

  Maggie, after all the tears and hurt, smiled at me, and it damned near broke the walls of my heart from swelling to triple its size. "Zach, I'm not going to abandon you at the side of some random street like a sick puppy."

  And since I had no other brilliant things to say, I asked her jokingly, "You would abandon a sick puppy, Beanie?" Then offered her my version of a heartbreaking smile, although inwardly, I was hoping it didn't appear too pathetic.

  She laughed. Not a small trickle of sound, but a loll-your-head-back, slap-your-thigh kind of laughter. I covered her hand with mine, held it and brought it up to my lips, kissing the middle of her palm, and then continued down the inside of her forearm, while Maggie stroked the side of my face with her other hand. When her fingers reached my hair, she pulled me to her and licked the center of my slightly parted lips, causing me to open up to her.

  An all-consuming desire ripped through me, heightening all my senses as Maggie slipped her tongue into my mouth. I heard the click of a seatbelt, and Maggie maneuvered around the car, ready to sit on my lap, her dress bunching up over her hips and thighs. If I was any other kind of man, I would have taken advantage of the situation. But I chose to be someone Maggie would be proud of, so with a quiet curse, I asked her to wait.

  "Wait," I said again. Confusion, which was followed by dread filled her eyes. Her cheeks flushed. Maggie hovered over me. I kept explaining, "You have no idea how much I’m about to kick my own ass for saying that. But Maggie, you said you want to fix things with your sister." I watched her capture her bottom lip between her teeth. "If we continue, I don't know if I'll be able to stop. Maggie—" I pressed a thumb on her chin, urging her to release her lip. "I'd like our first time to be more special than a quickie in the car."

  Her shoulders slumped. I felt her defeat. "Yeah, you're right...but...Zach?"

  "Yup?"

  She peered at me with narrowed, but playful eyes. "A quickie?"

  And it was my turn to laugh. "Maggie, how many times have we started then stopped? I'll be honest I don't think I'd last a minute if we..." I let the words hang in the air, and we both laughed together.

  Maggie slid back to her seat, still giggling over what had happened. "Then I'll drop you off at your apartment," she said while starting the car.

  "If you don't mind, I think I'll head over to Rick's. He lives nearby." Maggie nodded. Before she backed the car, I added, "There's a party going on, but I'm not going for that. I want to make sure I'm close by if you need me later on. Call me whenever, okay? It doesn't matter what time. Just call."

  Maggie cupped my chin with one hand. She smiled, but it didn't show in her eyes. There was something sad about the way she tilted her head to one side, and I was terrified to think why.

  Rick dangled a cold bottle in front of me. I waved it away and continued to stare at the clear blue water, ignoring the handful of half-naked people in it.

  "Get you to relax a bit?" he said, sitting right beside me on the edge of the pool and dipping his toes in the warm water. He'd chosen a Hawaiian theme for his party, complete with hula girls and an artificial mini-volcano.

  "No. I'm training."

  Rick snorted. "No, you're something else. Your head is far from your fight." I didn't bother looking at him. He was right. Since I'd arrived at this party, Maggie had stayed in my mind. I checked my phone every minute, if not less. Friends and other guests of the party tried in their own ways to get me to join the festivities, but my heart was somewhere else.
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br />   "She hasn't called, Rick. What if something bad happened?" I bent forward, leaning my elbows on my thighs.

  He slapped a hand on my back twice. "She'll be fine. You said it yourself, she's a tough girl."

  "Yeah," I huffed. That was true, but Maggie wouldn't believe it. Among all the people seated at that dining table—apart from Maggie—I was the most surprised by her reaction.

  "Why don't you stay over tonight? If she calls, you can take one of my cars," Rick offered.

  I nodded and mumbled a "thanks."

  While the party continued outside one of the bedrooms in Rick's house, I stretched on the bed, and ran a thumb over the photo I had of Maggie and me when we were little. Part of its edges had peeled and worn. The color faded. But her smile remained true.

  I didn't believe in the notion of romance, and for a long, long time, I didn't believe true love existed. I'd been a witness to the pain and suffering my father had brought on to my mother. Maggie had been a glimpse of hope. A ray of love.

  When we moved to escape my vicious father, I'd held on to that hope. But life had been cruel, and every year that had passed, I'd convinced myself that Maggie--the symbol of a better life--had been nothing but a figment of my imagination. Every year, as I'd pounded my way through, the hold I had had to that small sign of love had dimmed.

  This was exactly why I couldn't lose her again. Never again.

  Two hours had passed since I'd last felt the burn in my muscles. It had turned into a constant ache and numbness in my extremities. My lungs threatened to collapse inside my chest. No matter how hard I tried to remain focused, I failed. My mind was filled with Maggie.

  "Watch your feet!" I heard someone yell outside the cage.

  "To the right!"

  "He's open. He's open."

  In a blink, I was flat on my back, and Rick's legs were on top of me. He raised his head up, showing ferocity in his eyes I had never seen before. He had me trapped in an ankle lock, my left leg squeezed between his upper arm and torso. It wasn't a hard move to counter, even with the building pressures on my knee and Achilles' tendon. If I had been paying attention, I wouldn't have been in this position.

  "Give it up, kid." His voice boomed.

  Rick wouldn't injure me this close to a fight, but he was trying to teach me a lesson. My head wasn't in the game. He had said it even before I jumped into the ring. He knew, and that was the whole reason he sparred with me. Rick was a legend in MMA. He'd retired before I even began. To have him in the cage with me was a privilege. But he didn't see it that way, and neither should I.

  I snapped back into the moment, and untangled myself from his hold. There was no time to rethink my movements, and in an instant, my freed legs made contact with his abdominals, forcing him away from me. I was back on my feet and waited for him to do the same. By this time, we had the entire gym's interest.

  "Come on, old man. Let's see what you're made of!" I goaded Rick.

  He rolled his head around, producing a crack and pop from his joints, and then followed it with a grin. "I was just warming up, kid." He raised his hands chest-high, and anchored his feet to the base of the cage.

  Before I could ready myself from his incoming attack, my name was called once again.

  "Zach! Zach!" Stephan, Rick's teen son, standing ten feet away from the cage, waved at me. And he wasn't alone. Maggie stood beside him.

  Even from this distance, I saw the worry in her eyes. I straightened and smiled, and didn't brace for the two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle that rammed me mid-torso.

  "What the hell, Rick? Maggie’s here," I yelled at him, while I blocked all his punches.

  He stopped and hopped back on his feet without losing a beat, and then turned to where Stephan and Maggie were watching. "I didn't know she's around."

  "Yeah, thanks for making me look like a turd." He offered a hand to me, and I held onto it, bringing myself back up to standing and left the cage.

  If anyone had said anything to me when I got out, I didn't hear it. I zoomed in on Maggie and her bright smile, laced with fright. My body was covered with sweat, and I stank to high heavens, and I couldn't stop trembling. In one swoop, I had Maggie in my arms and her lips tasting mine. Her legs hooked around my hips, and her arms were tight around my shoulders. I didn't give a rat's ass who was looking and what they were thinking. Of course, in a gym filled with men, hoots and hollers tend to be the norm. I ignored them all, and Maggie ignored them too.

  "I missed you," I rasped out between kisses. My hands firmly gripping her ass, holding her tight against me, I walked the two of us right into the hallway toward the locker rooms.

  Would Maggie stop me from going further? Would she let me take her here and now? My desire for her clouded my mind, especially when she was firmly wrapped around me, and all the blood in my brain surged down south.

  "Zach," she whispered against my lips. Then she licked the underside of my jaw. Maggie's fingernails dug into the skin of my back and shoulders when I pushed my hips forward, letting her feel me, all of me through her jeans. I returned the fervor with a nibble on her neck, with a hand cupping her right breast.

  There was nothing more I wanted to do than continue to savor Maggie with her back pressed on the wall and my erection strained beneath my shorts. Or I could take a few more steps and lock the two of us in Rick's office or down the hall to the locker rooms. But this was Maggie. And it would be our first time. I was serious about what I said to her last night.

  I stopped. Panted. Shuddered. I breathed her sweet scent in. Maggie studied my face, my eyes, and my lips.

  "Hi," I huffed out.

  "Hi," she said with a smile present in her eyes.

  My breathing slowed, then steadied. I could stare at her, at the purest joy in those eyes, for eternity and be content.

  She started to say something but changed her mind. She did this a couple of times, and when she finally voiced it out, she said, "No quickie?"

  Astounded by her question, I remained staring at her. Maggie bit her bottom lip, regarded me from underneath her lashes, and giggled. I leaned my forehead on hers, closed my eyes and listened to the thrill of her laughter. Her laughter quieted down, and I slowly let her stand on her own shaky feet.

  Pushing away the stray hairs off her face, I said, "You didn't call me, Maggie. I was so worried." I continued to stand. Our bodies flushed together.

  "I couldn't. Nica and I had a very long talk."

  "Why didn't you call this morning? I was ready to drive to their house and demand to see you."

  With the palm side of her right hand, she cupped the side of my face. "I'm sorry. It was a long night, and this morning I had to pack my bags..."

  My heart plummeted. Was she leaving? Maggie was going back home? I could stay here for another day in San Francisco, but I could not follow her to Fresno. I had a promise to keep.

  "You can't leave now. I..." I paced the hallway. "We still have time together. I can ask for more time here with you, but if you go back home, I can't..." I shook my head, desperate to come up with better solutions.

  "Zach, stop." Maggie held her hands up, halting me from pacing again. "I'm not going back home. Not yet. Have you forgotten? I told you that I want to go to Vegas with you." Maggie waited. She waited until her words made sense to me. Of course, how could I have forgotten? It was the cause of the argument the night before.

  "You are? You're really coming with me?"

  "Yeah. If you want me to."

  I picked her up again and kissed her, unfettered. "Yeah, yeah I do. We'll go to casinos, shows, party, eat at my favorite restaurants..."

  "See your mom?"

  "See Ma," I confirmed. With her feet back on the ground, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the main floor of the gym, where people had returned to their exercises and paid us no mind. But Maggie tugged back at my hand.

  "Wait, Zach, aren't you forgetting something?"

  "I am?"

  She nodded her head and looked me up
and down. "A shower and maybe more clothes?"

  "Oh yeah, you're right. Sorry I got too excited." We walked back to the hallway. "And I have to call Patton too. He can make arrangements for my flight to change, and I'll ask him to make sure you're on the same flight."

  "Or..."

  "Or?"

  "Well, Levi has a private plane he said we can use."

  "Levi has a... Your brother-in-law said we can use his jet?"

  Maggie nodded, and even when she kept her head low, I noticed the blush that crept up her face. "Or his helicopter. He said it's our choice."

  I reached out to her, got her to raise her chin up and look at me. I wanted her to know how serious I was about all of it. Of her. "Maggie, even if we have to ride donkeys the entire way, I would still go on it. I just want to be with you."

  "That's great, but...I don't know if Levi has access to donkeys."

  As clear as day, while the gold flecks in her eyes caught the light coming through the windows, I found my care-free Maggie, the one person who had owned my heart, since the age when I didn't think it would have been possible.

  Following a rushed, but thorough shower, Maggie and I went straight to my temporary apartment and gathered all my stuff. I was returning home. And Maggie was coming with me.

  After a quick call to Patton, I arranged for one of my friends to pick Maggie and me up at the airport. Another call went to the nursing facility where Ma was, letting them know I would be visiting later that day with a friend. Every morning, while I was away, I'd called Ma. The calls varied from a minute to fifteen, depending on her mood. She'd been resting when I called today, but Nurse Debbie assured me she was in a talkative mood that morning. However, I wouldn't let this bring my hopes up. Her mood could change in a matter of seconds.