I've Got This Friend

Chapter 5

Hope to hear from you guys! Is everyone still into this? Xoxo

Mae's heels clicked on the cement steps but the sound was barely audible over the hushed conversations outside the funeral home. At first she felt anxious, the place was packed, inside and out, and she didn't see Opie or anyone she knew from work but that ended quickly.

"Ma'am." Aaron greeted her kindly in his dress blues. "I didn't think you were coming."

"Just late." She uttered as they hugged. She was thankful not to have to cry alone. "Did I miss the others?"

"No, they're across the room. We were here right after the bikers." He sneered as he glanced at the large gathering of Sons. "He should never have got involved with them."

Mae put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Let's not throw blame. The only one responsible for Kip's death is his murderer, no one else."

"I guess." He took Mae's hand and gave it a squeeze as she and Opie locked eyes over his shoulder. "Thank you for coming and for everything you've done for all of us but especially Kip."

She noted how sad he looked, for men so obsessed with proving themselves it was nice to see some heart. Mae and Aaron spoke for a moment longer before she settled in line, between two men from different charters, to pay her respects to Kip. Mae had only smiled at Opie, she was there for Kip and didn't want to speak to anyone else until she had her chance to say goodbye. There was such irony in it, he'd overcome so much and survived the war only to be shot dead in the blink of an eye.

--

Mae left the funeral home, her cheeks wet with tears, but her eagerness to get home was squashed when she saw her car was blocked in.

"Goddamn it. All I wanted was to drink in peace."

She'd spent nearly ten minutes on her knees at Kip's casket but saying a final goodbye seemed impossible. As she passed Opie on her way out she nodded but didn't initiate any conversation. Now she sat alone on the small brick wall lining the lawn chewing on her nail as she tried to keep from crying.

"Hey." Opie sat beside her and lit two cigarettes, handing her one while keeping the other tight between his lips. "I didn't think you were going to make it."

"I didn't want to, actually." She took a long drag and felt her shoulder slump as she relaxed. "Thanks for this."

"You're welcome. How are you?"

She shook her head. "It's hard but it's ten times harder when I have those kind of badass tough guys in my office crying." She nodded off toward the military group a few feet away. Mae purposely phrased the sentence that way as to not admit some of those men were her clients.

"Yeah, how about those guys crying?" He motioned up the steps to his club. "It's one thing I guess we have in common."

"You guys cry?"

"We do." He chuckled.

"I don't think I'm going tomorrow, the burial, I hate those things."

Opie nodded and flicked some ash toward the ground. "Yeah, it's fucking dark when they start lowering that shit down. Why are you just sitting here?"

"I got blocked in." She pointed to her car a ways up the street. "God's probably trying to tell me I shouldn't be skipping out early."

"Or you were naive enough to actually think no one would double park this close to the funeral home."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Let me spin you home, I can tow the car back to your place tomorrow."

Mae looked at him for a minute and nodded. "Yeah, that would be awesome."

"One second."

Tossing his cigarette to the ground, he bumbled off toward Clay to let him know he was leaving if only for a quick spin. Clay was fine with it, just as Opie suspected, and they hugged before he turned back to see Mae waiting for him. Opie smiled as her as he walked closer but it fell when he saw a grey panel van roll slowly down the street, the side door opening just as they made it to the funeral home. Opie began to run just as the firing began, he grabbed Mae and pushed her to the ground roughly for cover. As he and the others began shooting, the crowd broke out into a frenzy of bullets and terrified screams.