I've Got This Friend

Chapter 22

Super shortie. Xoxo

--

When Mae stepped out of the bathroom, Opie was still standing there with shock on his face. "Ope? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly. "Yeah, I'm good." He started dressing quickly and grabbed his phone. "I'm gonna run outside for a minute for a smoke. Finish getting ready and we'll grab dinner, okay?"

She nodded and he hurried out but Mae knew something was off. First she checked her phone then glanced off the balcony to see Opie pacing with the phone to his ear. Grabbing her makeup bag, she walked back into the bathroom unable to shake the horrible feeling something was wrong.

--

Opie took a long drag of his cigarette as he listened to the ringing coming through his phone. "Come on, Jax."

"Yo, what's going on?" Jax seemed out of breath when he answered but Opie hardly noticed.

"That fucker called me. Said he knows she told me about the leverage." Taking another long drag of the cigarette before Opie flicked it into the street he glanced back at the bed and breakfast to be sure Mae wasn't coming out.

"Jesu Christ, what does he want?" Jax watched as Chibs trashed the motel room looking for anything of consequence.

"He wants to talk to Mae, one on one, but you know it's more than that."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Jax, that can't happen. He didn't say when but we don't have a lot of time."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I got you brother."

"You find anything?"

"Pictures, a shit ton of fucking pictures. Some of the club but mostly you and Mae."

"Yeah," Opie jumped when Mae popped up beside him. "I gotta go, brother."

"Ope, we'll figure it out."

"Yeah, thanks."

"You okay?" Mae gripped his arm with a little frown. "Was that Jax?"

"I'm good, babe." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "You ready to eat?"

She nodded. "Why are you lying to me?" They began walking down the street. "What happened?"

"Jude called me." Opie didn't want to lie again. "Said he knows you told me but Mae it's all good. Everything is going to be fine."

Seemingly unaffected by the news, Mae just nodded and held his hand tighter. "What did he say?"

"He knows you told me. Said he wants you to admit what you did but you're not going near him. We'll figure it out."

"I'm not hungry anymore." She looked up at him apologetically and shrugged. "He's not going to stop."

"He's going to stop when I put a goddamn bullet in his head."

"Then let me meet with him." She stopped and pushed him into a small alley between two beachside restaurants. "Tell him I'll meet him somewhere and you can just kill him."

"Mae," Opie shook his head adamantly. "I'm not putting you at risk."

"There's no other way. Look at what he's accomplished already. This will be the quickest way. I'm no more at risk doing this plan than I am walking in public alone. I'm tired of this."

"If anything happened to you, Maelynn, I couldn't handle that. I thought for a while I didn't love anything, I didn't feel shit but I feel it with you. I can't lose that."

"Harry," Mae held back tears. "We're hiding in an alley, I don't want to do this here."

"I love you, Mae. I'm not gonna let this fucking guy hurt you." Pushing her up against the brick wall, Opie kissed her as people passed obliviously up and down the street.

Mae couldn't help but smile even as they kissed. "I love you too. Let's just go home and end this, please."