DO NOT OWN. Thanks to all the reviewers! The action really gets started in this chapter, love stories continue. I'm hoping to get the next chapter out really quickly. I know you guys don't like cliffhangers! BWAH HA HA HA!

"It feels like it beats you up/ it feels like it knocks you out/

It feels like a kiss on the mouth." –Our Lady Peace, Kiss on the Mouth

CHAPTER 12: Bridget LOCATION: Meegan's rented room

"Goddammit that motorcycle is loud," I complained as Meegan grabbed her gloves. Nick had called her cell when we were talking in my room. There was no way she was going to pass on a fight; she was broke. Hell, she wouldn't have missed it if they were paying her in grapes.

"Thank you so much for coming with me," she said so sincerely it didn't sound like her. She stopped her hurried movements to look at me through dark strands of hair.

"Sure, no problem. You know I love this shit." I watched her grab all of her boxing stuff; mouth guard, hair ribbons, cherry red gloves, the most recent championship belt and an 'ivory' cover up stick. That was the secret weapon. If your opponent can't see where you're hurt they can't exploit that. It even hides swelling since there's no color difference. She pulled jeans over the shorts she just put on and we were out the door again. All we had to do was wait out the last two hours before the fight.

"You feel bad for ditching the boys?" She asked as she locked the door behind her.

"What do you mean 'ditch' them? They'll find us tonight," I said, so sure they would. She laughed like a bird, light and small. She was so different today.

"Wait, why do you have to be there for the early matches?" I asked as we climbed back on the motorcycle.

"I'm referee for the first two, I get ready during the third and then I fight. They moved up the whole schedule cause it's getting dark earlier." The wind came in from the west chilling me to the bone, it rosed my cheeks and showed my breath. Damn it was cold, but the motorcycle was the only choice right now. When it snowed we would use my car or she would catch a taxi. Winter matches brought in a lot more money for reasons we couldn't grasp. More people got dry cleaning in the winter too. So around Christmas we were both rolling in dough.

"I can't wait for it to snow." I said and Meegan nodded. I was so ready for the holidays this year, last year was not the best but I was ready this year. Probably cause I was in love. At that thought I blanched white. 'Woah.' I put on my helmet as Meegan started the bike.

"Okay, hold on," she yelled, knowing I'd hear it like a whisper.

MEEGAN

The basement was flush with steam heat, coming off the radiators, coming off the crowd. It was hot and Mary McDonald was just knocked out. I declared Chelsea Kilpatrick the winner. I stood in the ring by myself as Chelsea slid out and celebrated her win by giving her boyfriend a bloody kiss. I winked at Bridget from the ring. It had been about three hours and the boys still hadn't found us. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

I slid out of the ring as Nick announced the next fighters. "Hey, you," I yelled over the crowd to Bridget, "Come with me." We walked back to the little store room used as the changing room. The light over head was just enough to see your outline in the small mirror fixed to the wall. It felt a lot more like a prison cell than was comfortable. She closed the door behind herself as I pulled off my jacket. The smell of my sweat hit my nose like a ton of bricks. I smelled nervous. I hadn't been training this week and I hadn't had a fight for six days.

"You okay?" Bridget asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You just stopped taking your jacket off."

"I did. I think I'm nervous."

"That's good you'll fight like an animal. Come on, now drink some Gatorade, you're losing fluids."

"Bridget… I haven't had a corner man since you started boxing too… be my corner tonight?"

She just looked at me for a second. I could only imagine all the suspicious thoughts going through her head. Her pale freckled face gave nothing away for long moments. "Yeah, we'll be unstoppable," she said finally smiling as much as she could. Those wires had to go. How long had it been?

"Who are you fighting tonight?"

"Some girl Miriam Wood. She's from New York."

"Huh… Why is Nick bringing in other talent?"

"Probably because I beat the shit out of Molly Kildare."

Bridget's eyes grew wide. "What the fuck? How come you didn't tell me you little shit?" She laughed. Molly had beat Bridget pretty badly before the fight between Bridget and I. In my fight with Molly I had gotten a little revenge for what she did to Bridget. I should have told her, but I had almost forgotten anything that happened that night other than…

"Sorry, it slipped my mind. That was the night I was given my cross." There was silence for a moment.

"Well, I'm proud of you," she said patting my head. I giggled at that. She was really cute sometimes and Liam never noticed that. He usually took her for granted. I was in a catch twenty-two about their relationship. I wanted them to be happy, but Bridget would only be happy with Liam and Liam would be happier with someone else. I didn't want to tell her that. I didn't even want to think it. They used to be a really good couple but she grew up and he didn't. He avoided college by joining the military. She begged him not to do it. She screamed and cried, falling to her knees when he told her. It was awful because Liam and I had watched our mother do things like that all the time. It was even worse for me cause I could tell he barely cared. It was history repeating and I was relieved he was going off to boot camp soon. None of that meant I didn't love him or miss him, but it was easier to love him from a distance. He was my rock through our childhood, but we were adults now and I did alright on my own.

"You talked to Liam, right?"

"Yeah, he told me he was in love… with another marine**. She knows what he's going through and all that stuff. I would guess they're a lot… better fit."

I couldn't believe it. She wasn't ready to kill someone. She was so… calm. "A better fit is a better fit, right? Did he break up with you?"

"No. Well, he didn't tell me it was over. I kind of just hung up on him." That sounded more like her. Make her angry and she won't talk to you… for a while.

"Well, I would guess if he's talking to you about another girl then he thinks it's over." I tried to explain. She sighed.

"I hope it's over," she mumbled.

"You do? Why?" I was flabbergasted.

MURPHY

We finally found out where the fight was and arrived just as the sun went down. The outside of the building look abandoned but it was literally shaking. The whole place was thumping like a heart and Joan Jett's song 'Bad Reputation' was ripping out from the basement windows and stairs. That was where the fight was.

Connor and I broke into the first floor and found an unguarded staircase to the basement. We weren't paying a cover to grab Bridget and Meegan and drag them out of there. Connor was overly angry, too angry. I didn't know why this got to him so much. To me it was kind of cool, just like Bridget thought it was. But Connor was fuming. I thought he might kill Meegan when he found her. He was yelling in the car about betrayal. He wasn't even worried about being recognized.

We got down to the basement and snuck into the crowd. It was electric. There were tons of people packed in tight, yelling and the music was blasting. The ring was smaller than I would have guessed but the woman in the ring was huge. She was six feet tall at least and weighed two hundred pounds easy. I felt bad for the girl that had to fight her.

"You see the girls?" Connor asked over the noise. I shook my head.

"Let's wait a second, alright? This is what the girls do for fun. We should watch."

CONNOR

Maybe Murphy was right. Now that I was here this didn't seem all that bad. It was like regular boxing, no one was exploited. The girl in the ring had a completely modest outfit on. Then again she was huge. She wasn't even in Meegan's weight class.

"Now for everyone's favorite fighter!" Said the announcer as the song 'Crazy Bitch' started playing, you know, 'you're a crazy bitch, but you fuck so good, etc.' "Gooood Friiiiidaaaaay!" Meegan bounded in from a side door wearing a small pink sports bra and really short red shorts. My blood boiled.

"Fuck! It's Meegan. Is she gonna fight that chick?" Murph yelled over the music as Meegan walked in with Bridget following her with a small bag, bucket and water bottle. Meegan had a good poker face, but she had no idea she was fighting that girl. Maybe this would teach her a lesson.

Her eyes kept flicking to the announcer. 'He must arrange the matches,' I thought. Serves her right for trusting scum like him. I crossed my arms and waited for the fight to start.

"You're just gonna let this happen?" Murphy nearly squeaked at me.

"You said we should watch. So we are."

He shook his head at me and started shoving his way to Meegan's corner. Bridget turned in the small space she had and they were face to face. Bridget flushed bright pink. There were signs they had been together and I missed them earlier.

Murphy was yelling over the music, Bridget was looking pretty fierce between looking worried. Eventually he walked back to where I was.

"You're right. Let them do what they want."

"And we will watch."

As soon as the bell rang the big girl took a swing at Meegan. It was slow but her reach was a lot longer than Meegan had guessed and the hit knocked her on her ass. The big girl laughed and gave Meegan time to get up. Her eyes were unfocused until she caught sight of me. Then her eyes focused and her face hardened. Now we were going to see a fight.

Once she was on her feet and moving the big girl took another swing. Meegan ducked it and gave her a hard punch in the stomach. The big girl saw it coming and tensed her hard muscles. It hurt her but the impact was a lot less. From there strategy kept evolving. Meegan was like a chameleon, seeing each hit coming and changing defense along with offense. It was incredible. Most boxers had a style. Meegan's style was every style.

"Impressive," shouted Murphy never taking his eyes off the fight.

I hated to admit it, but she was a really good boxer. I wondered why she wasn't on a legitimate circuit. This could have been her true profession. She would be making more money, have real fame, even keep her persona. Why did she do it? Why was she an underground boxer?

"I think this is almost over," Murph said over the sound. I checked my watch. Twenty minutes had gone by and both women looked pretty beaten. The only difference between underground boxing and regular boxing was showmanship. Professional boxers took their time and they had rounds. In underground boxing they said 'go' and what happened… happened.

Meegan staggered to her corner where Bridget had placed the bucket and spit blood into it. Then she puked into it. I grimaced and looked away. I usually had a cast iron stomach but watching people puke was always gross.

Another ten minutes went by and Bridget kept looking at Murphy and I with a pained expression on her face. Finally the big girl was face down in the ring and Meegan was on her knees, bleeding from her nose, mouth and eyebrow. She forcefully spit out her mouth guard. She looked up into the light above the ring and screamed. Everyone went quiet. "Yoooooou!" She screamed pointing a blood soaked glove at the announcer.

"You want to get paid, McLeod?"

"Fuck you!" She yelled, spitting blood. Bridget slid into the ring and helped Meegan up. She started to drag her away. "I will kill you, Nicky-boy. I'll kill you!"

Everyone was quiet as Murphy and I rushed to help Bridget get Meegan back out the door they came in from. We gathered the girl's coats and stole a robe from some other girl to wrap Meegan in. Eventually she found her feet and we all walked outside together. I sat next to her in the backseat as we rushed back to Bridget's apartment. This was apparently tradition.

She slumped as we went through a turn and fell on to my shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry," she whispered, trying to get up

"It's alright, darling," I said, putting my arm around her and my hand on her head.

"I'm so ugly right now," she moaned.

"No you're not. You're just beat up. You do look nice with your hair back." She was quiet after that.

I walked into the living room around 2 AM, guessing everyone would be asleep and I could have just a bit of alone time and some space to think. But Meegan was in there, sitting on the couch freshly showered, wrapped in a different robe with butterfly bandages on her eyebrow. I guess during the fight Bridget had been putting makeup on her to make her look less beaten. When they rinsed it off almost her whole face was purple. She had iced her face really well and now she only had a few splotches of purple. But now she looked so sad.

"What are you thinking?" I asked quietly.

"Just that I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For running away. It was another of my shining moments on the pedestal of stupidity." She sighed. I sat next to her on the couch.

"I thought it was enlightening, though scary and horrifying at moments."

"This from a man who's murdered a dozen people." She was giving me a judgmental look.

"I'm surprised by your judgment. I would think someone who had my wanted poster hangin' in their closet thought better of me."

She buried her face in her hands and made an embarrassed noise. That was wrong of me. "Hey," I said, pulling on her wrist just a bit, "I'm sorry, just look at me alrigh'?"

She looked up with her gorgeous blue eyes sparkling. I touched her face, lightly. I didn't want to hurt her anymore than she had been hurt. I traced her cheekbone and jaw, taking her chin in my hand I leaned forward. My heart was racing. I had only kissed a couple girls and they had kissed me first. We were so close I could feel her breath on my mouth. I didn't want to kiss her if she didn't feel like I did. I cautiously put my hand on her breast plate. Her heart was pounding too. She was nearly climbing into my lap. Meegan wanted to kiss me… badly.

"You're being patient," I smirked just an inch away from her mouth.

"You told me to be, so I am."

I ran my thumb over her bottom lip. Her mouth was so soft, though a bit swollen. I would have to be really, really careful. Our mouths touched softly and we kissed sweetly. Our mouths clung over and over again. She didn't seem to care she was hurt. As we kissed she licked the inside of my lips and I sighed burning breath into her mouth.

She maneuvered herself onto my lap. I resisted the strong urge to grab her hips and grind into her center. All sorts of involuntary things were happening just because she was straddling me. She looked like a goddess with all that hair and eyes so light they looked like they were glowing. With my hand still on her chest I could feel her heart quickening. She put her hand on mine, moving it lower into the robe.

"No," I breathed. "It's okay, you don't have to."

"I want you to. It feels good."

"You sure?" I asked. She nodded, biting her bottom lip like she did this morning when I woke up next to her.

I slid my hand down into her robe to find only soft flesh. She sighed and let her head fall back, hair falling over her shoulders. I couldn't believe this was happening. I hoped I wasn't dreaming. She moaned as I brushed her nipple. This was real. She started pulling at the shoulders of the robe, pulling them down. I leaned forward and kissed her collarbone.

"Bite," she whispered to me. I didn't hesitate. I took a nice bite into her shoulder. She gasped and grabbed the hair on the back of my head. It was oddly natural; biting and hair-pulling. Then she moved her hand between us and down.

"No. No stop. No."

"I'm sorry sorry sorry," she said as I started getting up from underneath her. She got off me and covered her face. I stood.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm the one acting strange. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" I asked touching her hands clutching her face. She moved her hands and gave me one last sweet kiss.

"Goodnight."

A/N: Hope you're reviewing! Also, that art is on the way. My sister promised. (Here's looking to you Haylee!)