I've Got This Friend

Chapter 11

"I'd offer you OJ but someone drank it all last night." Mae smiled timidly at Opie as she put on a fresh pot of coffee for the three of them.

Juice spread out his equipment along her breakfast bar while Opie tore into the bag of bagels he and Mae had picked up. She was disturbed by the entire situation but tried to project calm confidence even though Opie could see her hands trembling, he knew to look for that now.

"I got the layout from the county website," Juice showed her the printout. "So I figure we set you with cameras out front and out back, wire the doors and windows with sensors maybe, if you want, a camera in the upstairs hall."

Mae looked overwhelmed. She nodded along with Juice but really had no idea what was best or what she even wanted.

"You should get blinds," Opie suggested as he cleared his throat. "Or you know, close your curtains."

"I learned my lesson," she said as her cheeks flushed. "Can you guys excuse me?"

Before they answered Mae hurried off to the second floor. Juice looked at Opie for an explanation but he just shrugged. "What's the story with this girl?" Juice asked as he began fiddling with the equipment and putting a few things together.

"She was Sack's friend." He said ripping apart another bagel. "We get along."

Juice smiled and nodded, turning back to his work, before Opie asked for another favor. "I need you to look up a case for me. All I have is a name but I need the details on his last arrest. He did a few years, drugs I think."

"Club related?"

"Personal, actually. I'd appreciate you keeping it that way."

"Of course, brother." Always eager to please, Juice agreed instantly. "You know who's doing this?"

"I think." Opie's eyes rolled up toward the ceiling as he listened to Mae walking around her bedroom directly above them. "Someone from her past, it's that case I need you to pull actually. Jude Bardowitz, he was a dealer."

"Those drug dealer Jews are nothing but goddamn trouble." Juice said, shaking his head, and opening his laptop. "I can run it now, shouldn't take long. Where was it?"

"New York, it happened in college, she went to Syracuse."

Juice nodded as his fingers flew over the keys quickly. "I don't know how we do it," he joked. "Jax landed a doctor, I got my nurse and now you found this," he looked from the screen to Opie. "What does she do?"

"She's a therapist." He said. "She got her masters in clinical psychology." When he said it, Opie's chest puffed out with pride despite nothing official being between them. He liked her respectable career and her intelligence, he liked her but he couldn't get why she was so into him.

"Something tells me these career women might give us some trouble?"

"They all give us trouble."

"Here," Juice slid his computer over to Opie. "I can print it out later if you want but you can read it now."

"Thanks man." Opie got barely two lines in before Mae called to him from the stairs. He hurried over, slightly concerned, and met her on the landing. "You alright?"

"Yeah, this is just, a lot. I'm kind of freaking out. Is it okay if I jump in the shower to try calm down a little?"

"Yeah." His hand ran down her arm to hers and he gave her a quick squeeze. "Close your curtains." He kissed her cheek softly.

Mae forced a smile and nodded. "Will do."

"Ope," Juice called out. "The alerts can go anywhere. Her phone, where else? Cops?"

"Fuck the cops. Have them go to her phone and, I gotta ask her first, but mine too."

"I'll have the camera record everything and we can watch if there's ever an issue. She can pull up the feed on her computer if she ever wants to. I'm gonna start hooking it up and when she's done we can finish that shit."

--

Mae let the water run down her back, her forehead against the cold tile, and she cried. Whatever magic had appeared between her and Opie was wonderful but being in that house, knowing Jude had been in there touching her things made her sick.

"Opie will take care of it." She assured herself as the water began to run colder. "It'll be fine." She turned off the shower and stepped out to grab her towel.

Lightly patting herself dry, Mae combed out her hair and snuck into the hallway in her towel. "I'll be right down." She hollered to them. Part of Mae wanted to invite Opie up. She wanted to take back the violation, take back that moment Jude had stolen. She was actually contemplating letting Opie see her naked her own way but she wasn't ready to go further and it felt like too much of a tease.

Quickly she dressed, deciding on a pair of jeans and a tank top, before heading back into the kitchen. "Sorry. I felt dirty after all this shit."

Opie looked up from Juice's computer and smiled at her bare face and wet hair. He'd read the case file a few times over, there was no mention of Mae but there was a witness, an older dealer with too many priors to trust a jury with. He spilled everything he knew about Jude and his buddies so save himself from a similar fate.

With a goofy smile, Opie slipped off the stool and kissed her fiercely. He believed her but the proof, the validation that his trust in her was never misplaced brought him a kind of excitement he hadn't felt in years.

"Well, okay then." Juice said as he turned to see Opie almost completely enveloping Mae in his arms. "I'm ready whenever you're done uhh, eating her face or crushing her or whatever."

Opie glared at Juice from the corner of his eye as he and Mae separated. She was grinning, her hand over her mouth as Juice started explaining everything.

"All I have to do is the hall and the upstairs, shouldn't take long though. I need to know where you want the alerts to go, your phone or somewhere else."

"I don't mind playing bodyguard if you want em' to go to me."

"I do. Going to me will do nothing, I'd rather have a warning and know that you're on your way." She smiled a little and looked at her feet. "How much do I owe you, Juice? You didn't have to do any of this, I really appreciate it."

"Nothing." He shook his head and grabbed a bag to take up to the hall. "It's all good, don't worry about it."

Mae pursed her lips. "Is he serious?"

"Yeah," Opie assured her. "It's what he does."

"That kiss, what was that?"

"I looked into your little friend. There was a rat, a dealer who was threatened with jail time. Blind trust is one thing but proof you're not lying, that I can trust you, it's fucking awesome." He wrapped his hands around the back of her neck and kissed her again. "You'll be safe, I'll get this fucking guy, you don't have to worry anyone. You're with me, I'll protect you."