Chapter Fifty Seven: Duty Calls

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That had been four hours ago and he couldn't help but think of Maggie lying amongst his tussled sheets, her glossy chestnut hair mused up and her pert pink lips swollen from their greedy kisses. He hated leaving her like that, he wanted nothing more than to climb back under the quilt and kiss her until she was breathless again. However duty called and he had found himself in the shower with his forehead pressed to the cool tiles as he washed the evidence of their love making from his skin and now he was here sitting in this shitty run down booth across from Cooper as he recounted their exploits.

Trust came easy to the other man and Antonio had proved himself so many times before, at this point he was surprised Coop was still in the game, the other man had always talked about taking off to St Louis and working a roofing gig. He never could get his head screwed on straight and Antonio used that to his advantage. Despite all of that he found he liked Cooper, there was something about the other man that drew Antonio to him. He thought it had something to do with the fact he reminded him of an old buddy he had when he was slinging dime bags as a teenager. Sometimes stepping into this life was seeing the other side of the coin. He thought his identity, Mike Diaz was the kind of man he could have ended up being if he hadn't gotten involved with the boxing gym.

Antonio Dawson was a good cop, but Mike Diaz was a good criminal. Last time he'd used this cover he had lost his way for a while, gotten caught up in the motions and become that guy, the one with no responsibilities or ties. That life could be alluring sometimes and he admitted he had taken to it, he had been in a bad place at the time and his head wasn't screwed on tight. This time though it was different, he was focused firmly on the role he had to play and he couldn't afford to fall back in to Diaz's old habits.

"And what are you doing in here, Diaz?" Coop asked him, his elbows coming to rest on the wooden table as he leaned forward. His cerulean eyes were on Antonio, reviewing the other man's features with curiosity.

Antonio looked back at Cooper as if he had asked the most ridiculous question in the word before he spoke, his beer still clutched in his hand as he pointed it at the other man.

"I was looking for you." he responded.

Cooper tilted his head at Antonio knowingly, his eyes narrowing slightly. Diaz was always after something else and Cooper knew that allowing Antonio to play into that role in all entirety.

"I was looking for work." he corrected himself before leaning forward conspiring. The shift in body language interested Cooper, he could tell the other man thought he was about to be let in on a secret as the two of them leaned in closer.

"I got to get some cash pretty quick. I won't bore you with the details, but it's family stuff." Antonio explained, his body language open as he spoke.

The good thing about Coop was he always wanted to help out where he could and for his old friend Diaz he would do whatever he could, he thought the two of them had had each other's backs when they had run together. Antonio knew that was the right button to push and his instincts served him correctly as Cooper's body language began to mirror his own.

"I wish I could help, but I'm kind of in the middle of something right now, and the crew I'm rolling with I don't call the shots." Cooper informed the man apologetically.

The disappointment on Antonio's features was very real but the words that were coming out of Cooper's mouth made the cogs in Antonio's head begin to turn, he had a back up plan for this and all it would take was a text to put it into action. He had known that Diaz couldn't just walk back in here after a couple of years expecting everything to be all sunshine and roses. It would take months to win Coop over the way he had the first time and both he and the missing officer didn't have that time.

"But I got your number, and if something pops up down the road, I'll reach out." Cooper said, raising to his feet before he grinned and clasped a hand to Antonio's shoulder. "It made my day seeing you, brother."

There was a moment between them, where for a single second he wasn't Antonio Dawson anymore, he really was Mike Diaz and he was looking at a brother in arms.

"We went through it, didn't we?" Cooper said with genuine emotion before he reached out to shake Antonio's hand. Antonio clapped his hand against Cooper's, maintaining eye contact as he spoke.

"We sure did."