I'll Catch You

Chapter 17

"Can we come?" Ellie asked, sweet at first, but when Mae shook her head the child stomped her foot and scowled. "I want to see my dad!"

That morning would be the fourth day since the bombing, just a few hours shy of the exact ninety-six hour mark, and Mae was barely hanging on.

"I'm sorry," she said with tears burning her eyes. "Not today but I'll find out when. You'll see him soon he's just sleeping a lot and trying to get better, okay?"

Kenny nodded, keeping his emotions bottled despite Mae being able to see how badly he was hurting, he was too much like Opie in that way. "Come on, Ellie." He pointed to Gemma's SUV with very little enthusiasm.

"Thanks, Gem," Mae said with a sad little smile. "I'm not sure how long I'll be there. He's supposed to be up today. It's important, they did the surgery last night to stabilize his spine and fix the broken vertebrae."

Gemma painted a fake smile on her face and gave Mae a hug. "So they'll know about any nerve damage?"

"I think so," her chin quivered. "He'll be okay, right?"

"Darlin'" Gemma chuckled a little and led her out to her car in the drive. "Opie is," pausing she tilted her head to the side. "He'll pull himself out of this. He's got to."

"Yeah, he does," Mae smiled genuinely for the first time in days. "He's got his kids to take care of, you know sports and all."

"Well," she nodded, "And the club. He can't ride, he can't vote and he knows that."

It hit Mae hard, harder then Gemma realized as she left her in the driveway, and Mae leaned against her car as her knees began to wobble. The crass, harsh nature of Gemma's top concern was lost on Mae. The only thing she could think of was how crushed Opie would be if that was in fact the case.

—

"You still in town?" Mae sent the text as she took the steps up to Opie's floor rather than the elevator. She doubted Paulie would respond after what he'd done but by the time she'd reached the fifth floor her phone went off in her hand.

"Actually, I am. Flight was cancelled and now I'm having trouble getting the proper one home."

It was such a ridiculous lie Mae almost thought that maybe they already knew she had put the pieces together.

"Maybe we can grab lunch soon? I miss you; I'd like to catch up."

His next response was much quicker. "Name the time and place, Mae."

With an uneasy feeling in her stomach, she sighed and put her phone on silent as she moved toward Opie's room. The nurse heading her way, in a bit of a hurry, smiled sweetly at Mae as they passed each other.

"Doc is on rounds soon, he'll update you." She spoke quickly before disappearing into another patient's room.

Mae wasn't sure she wanted that update.

—

"According to his credit card he's got a room at that hourly motel by the highway." Juice explained. "But we went and they never saw him."

Clay's brows furrowed in frustration. "Can you track his phone?"

"Already did." His exasperated tone gave them all an idea as to how that went. "The past day or so he's been floating around SanWa, never near the motel and not staying anywhere real long."

"This is bullshit!" Clay roared.

Jax agreed although he was much more capable of keeping himself in check. "How is he ghosting us?"