What I Love Most

Chapter 15

Opie hadn't tried to call Mae as soon as he was out, even after seeing she'd tried to get in touch with him during the search. She had tried to call right after receiving the text from Dave about Opie getting out, despite being so unsure of what to say, but again he didn't answer. It wasn't until she was already at Saint Thomas and he was out of the squad car that had shuttled him to the lot, settled with a beer, that he called her. Just like earlier for Opie when Mae called, she didn't know what to say or what to admit so she simply ignored the buzzing in her purse.

"Jax?" Mae did a double take as she noticed his blond hair at the end of the hall. As she swung the corner and saw him standing there with another member she added, "And Tig. Fancy meeting you two here."

"Hey Mae," they said together, both slightly distracted.

"How is she? Gemma called, I came as soon as I could." That actually wasn't a lie, as soon as she could leave the station, she did.

Yanking at his curly hair Tig groaned and shook his head. "Sleeping now, we're still waiting on the damn blood tests."

"She'll be okay," Mae said confidently. "I'll do whatever I can to help." With a less than assured look and nod, Tig stepped away leaving Mae and Jax. "Is Juice coming?"

"He doesn't know." She gave him a look, one that screamed she didn't want to know. "You talk to Ope?"

"No, not since this morning. Is everything okay?" It wasn't but Mae doubted Jax would tell her, brothers covered brothers and if he wouldn't talk to her it meant she wasn't to know. In Jax's head though, he hadn't spoken to Opie yet and he didn't want to be the one to upset Mae like that.

"Yeah, everything's good. You all right here with Tigger? He's harmless, I swear." Jax gave her a weak, quick hug, not waiting for an answer as he hurried out to the clubhouse. He wasn't sure why Opie and Mae hadn't talked but he needed to get to deal with the fallout of Stahl as soon as possible.

---

When he'd left the lot was still bustling despite the search, fruitless of course, being completed. Arriving back there was an eerie but appreciated stillness. Jax jogged up the pavement and joined Opie at the picnic table where he sat with a bottle of whisky and a cigarette.

"Hey bro, how'd it go?"

Opie nodded and shrugged. "It was shitty, didn't really ask anything. She's trying to cause a rift or something. She just wanted to fuck with me, said some shit about Mae."

That sounded right, Jax was sure she would probably just play some games with him. "Yeah, about that, I saw her at Saint Thomas. You didn't tell her?" Opie's clear refusal to answer pushed Jax to another line of questioning. "Where's Clay? You talk to him yet?"

"Your mom pulled him away. I talked to him though, he gave me the mutual trust speech. I don't even want to go near her; I can't stop thinking they're lying and she's in danger."

Jax pulled his baseball hat off and brushed his hair back from his face. "I get that, she's not though. Nothing will happen to Mae but you need to tell her, everything. You think Stahl won't go to her next?"

"She wouldn't rat!" Opie barked.

"I know!" Jax drew his head back, shocked by the sudden animalistic reaction. "I just mean you need to lock it up, total disclosure. Don't give Stahl anything to shock or scare her with."

"So I should tell her about you?" There was a twisted smile on his face. "Total disclosure, right?"

"If you have to, you have to." Jax hated having to say that. "The real problem is how we're going to deal with her. This is the second time she's stirring our shit, kind of got the feeling she won't stop till we're dead or starting a twenty year sentence."