I'll Catch You

Chapter 26

Gemma and Opie continued to talk although she felt she had made no headway with the stalwart and, lately at least, perpetually gloomy man. He wanted to let Mae in, he wanted her support but he was simply too stubborn, or maybe even too scared, to do it. No matter what Gemma thought about their talk though, her last words to him made a bigger impact than anything else she had said.

"I know you, know how you deal with this shit, and I'm telling you Ope, don't run away. It may not feel like it but that woman is the only one who's gonna help you get through this and if you don't let her, she's going to disappear."

Leaving him with nothing else, Gemma sped through the hall on her way back to Opie's where she'd left Kenny and Ellie with Piney. She didn't know it but both children were anxious, to say the least, over what they had witnessed between Mae and Jax. They were sure their grandfather knew all about it and he promised them, after an arduous phone call, that she was safe. He didn't believe her, not completely, and he was already planning on making a call to his son.

--

Just hours before, Mae had been hell-bent on skipping out, even if just for the twenty-four hours Gemma gave her, but once she was in her car again, she couldn't get to Opie fast enough. It was almost impossible to get Piney off the phone but she managed to just a few feet from Opie's room. She swore the small circular spot on her forehead when the barrel had been was burning her, she could feel it and she compulsively scratched at the skin.

"Piney, really I'm okay. It was just a talk." If she was telling anyone, it was going to be Opie, but she wasn't even sure he was in the right mindset to hear it. "It got heated, we both got angry, but it's fine, really, I'm fine."

He asked a few more questions, unsure of who she was protecting, before allowing her to end the call. Mae stopped, trying to shake the heightened anxiety from Piney's interrogation and, dropping her phone in her purse, took a deep calming breath before pushing open the door to Opie's room.

"Ope?" She stepped around the curtain slowly to see him sitting up, his legs dangling over the side of the bed. Just seeing his frame helped soothe her rampant fears over Clay and the others. It was only ever with him that she felt safe.

Startled, he looked over his shoulder to see her lingering anxiously. Opie was so surprised to see Mae there, especially after what Gemma had said, that he didn't even think to be embarrassed or worried about being unable to change position or her finding out the truth.

"I thought you split," he didn't take his eyes off her. That truth, despite it being from his own decisions to lie, only served to make him more anxious about telling her.

"I wanted to, I just needed a break, but I have to talk to you. I heard something," she glided across the room toward him. "Something I don't think you wanted me to know."

His lips turned down slightly as he shrugged even though there was only one secret he was keeping from her. "I don't know what you're talking about. Who said what?"

She was by the window, a few stray raindrops pinging against the glass, as she reached out. "Can you come here?" Gesturing to the five or so feet of linoleum between them, she looked at him imploringly and waved her outstretched hand. "Come here, Ope."

"I'm tired," he said coolly.

"You're tired or you can't?" When hand her dropped back to her side, Mae began to sniffle.

"I'm not playing games, Maelynn."

"Tell me the truth, please. Just say it."

Sitting there, tense and mortified, Opie refused to meet her gaze. Gemma's words repeated back to him, reminding him that whoever had opened their mouth pushed her to come back. This was, what he feared to be, his last chance.