What I Love Most

Chapter 22

Mae ended up sneaking upstairs early while the kids watched TV with Opie. She showered and crawled into bed to hopefully make sense of her thoughts before talking to him. The slapping of bare feet made her stomach drop but Opie didn't join her after saying goodnight to the kids. He chose the yard to clear his own mind and didn't decide on heading up himself until he got the text from Jax. It would be painful but it had to happen. Creeping up the steps quietly he sneaked into their bedroom to see her lying in bed, wide-awake.

"Hey," he stripped down to his boxers and undershirt before slipping in beside her. "I love you and the kids, that's why I do the shit I do, that's why you need to tell me everything, Mae." Blunt and starting right out of the gate Opie wasn't pulling punches but he wasn't dancing around anything either.

"Okay," she sighed. "You come home next time," she said hoping to sound angry but her voice carried the sadness instead.

"I'm sorry I didn't come home," Opie hated apologizing like this. He was sorry but he never liked admitting it. "I didn't fuck anybody I just… I was pissed and I know you hate when I don't come home."

"So you purposely hurt me?" She asked without making eye contact.

"I didn't think of it like that."

"It didn't translate to hurting me or reminding me of what you did with Lyla?"

"No," he groaned. He'd never leave it down and he knew it would never stop hurting her. "It didn't."

Mae finally looked at him and let out a strange sound, a mix between a laugh and a sob. "You are such an idiot." All he could offer her was a chuckle and a nod, he agreed. Opie always overthought situations but in the heat of their fight, he waited until after and that was a mistake. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Hale. I can't fix shit, this isn't really my world but I can help if you want me to or you need it."

That was the trouble, she wanted to help and tried to but Opie pushed Mae as far away as he possibly could. "Yeah, I'll let you know." That meant no and she wasn't okay with it but Mae had to be.

"The dealer," she wanted to move on. There was so much they needed to discuss Mae didn't wasn't to forget a thing.

"It was stupid," he admitted. Opie certainly received some morbid satisfaction from beating Lotto but now he could see how right she had been. It was a mistake. "But don't walk away from me or talk to me like that, Mae. I didn't know where you went, bad shit happens when you run off. I'm trying to keep this shit together."

She looked away and nodded, knowing hers was a harsh reaction. His dark tone made his feelings toward that interaction quite clear. Opie was a good man but he was a man nonetheless and one that had not only been born an Alpha in his blood but also raised as one. As the male in the relationship, he deserved respect, not to be scolded like some child. "I'm sorry," She mumbled embarrassedly and cuddled close to him. "I guess I didn't think of it like that. You're right." Opie never used that tone, only when it came to the very serious issue of her safety. "Stahl talked to me today; apparently it was an official meeting." Mae looked up at him with clear and trusting eyes. "I didn't say anything but she got to me baby. I looked at our life, the shit around us, and I just wanted to run." He was shattered; his eyes darted around the room refusing to look at her. His lips twitched awkwardly as he tried to hold on the massive wave of emotion.

"Why didn't you?" Feeling he was instinctively trying to pull away from her, Mae held on tighter. "She offered you a preppy new life away from all this fucking violence and shit? No more criminals just white picket fences and goddamn sunshine, so why are you here?"

"She did offer it, but I wanted to run away myself, I wasn't going to make a deal." She snapped, offended he'd ever say that. "Don't act like I would ever rat on you, especially after that shit with Weston, and I didn't run away because I love you." Even as earnestly as she spoke those last three words, in his eyes he was miles away so Mae continued. "I went to Hale because I'm tired of being the one that needs your help, I wanted to handle my shit and protect you."