The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart…
Kate had been all over Charming. Stopping at every store and business looking for a job. She and her boyfriend moved there two days ago, and still she was having no luck. The last place she had on her list was Teller-Marrow, the town garage. "Teller-Marrow." she said aloud. That name sounds so familiar she thought, shaking her head she started her car and headed to the garage. She pulled up to the curb across the street. She took her sunglasses off and looked in her visor mirror, making sure she was presentable. She poked lightly at her right eye and hissed, the pain reminding her of why she needed this job so badly. She met her boyfriend Tyler when she was eighteen and he was twenty. She knew about his temper back then, and it just got worse with age. Now nine years later he used her to take his frustrations out on and she knew she deserved it. After all most his frustrations were from her not listening or acting in a manner he sees fit like last night…
"What do you mean, you didn't find anything?" Tyler shouted, throwing a dinner plate at her. She ducked and it crashed against the wall behind her.
"I'm sorry, I tried. No where's been hiring so far. There's still several places I haven't tried yet. I promise tomorrow I will find one." Kate pleaded, her whole body violently shaking. He walked over to her in two strides and backhanded her, knocking her down to the ground. She didn't cry out or tear up, she knew he was just frustrated, she should have tried harder.
"You had better." Was all he said walking into there bedroom, slamming the door.
Kate shook her head, trying to clear it of the memory. She applied some more make-up, knowing it wouldn't totally cover the black eye but may make it less noticeable. She put her car into gear and pulled into the garage.
She parked her car and took a deep breathe. This was it, she had to find a job here or… well she didn't want to think of that. She opened her door slinging her bag over her shoulder, and stepped into the compound. Pulling her white t-shirt down and smoothing her flannel shirt down.
One of the men, a mechanic she assumed walked towards her. "Can I help you darlin?" He questioned. He had longish blonde hair and a cigarette hanging from his lips. Kate involuntarily flinched. The man looked at her concerned. "You alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, I was just looking for the office?" She replied with a smile. The blonde just nodded.
"Right this way." He said leading me to a room with a big window and a metal door. He stuck his arm out, in an "after you" way.
Kate smiled at him "Thank You." she said opening the door and stepping in.
An older women sat behind the desk in the office. Her reading glasses sitting on the tip of her nose, she stared intently at the computer in front of her.
"How can I help you?" she asked not looking up. Kate took a breath and smiled, taking off her sunglasses.
"Hi. I was wondering if your garage was hiring by any chance." Kate said sounding hopeful. The women stood up and walked over to her, tossing her glasses on the desk. Then leaning herself back against the desk. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked Kate up and down.
"I haven't seen you around before, you just move here?" She asked. Looking at Kate. She just nodded and extended her hand out.
"I'm Kate. Kate McKinley, My boyfriend and I just moved here a couple days ago." She said smiling at the other woman.
The women just looked at her hand for a second then reached out and shook it. "I'm Gemma. Jesus, what happened to your eye?" She asked. Kate brought her hand up to her right eye.
"I wasn't watching were I was going, and ran into my front door, oak isn't very forgiving." Kate replied laughing lightly. Gemma looked suspiciously at the girl, but just nodded and decided to let it go.
"So your looking for a job huh?" Gemma asked, motioning for Kate to take a seat in front of her, she quickly obliged.
"Yeah, been looking since we got here. I have been to every business, and looked for odd jobs on every bulletin board. And I haven't had any luck thus far." Kate said trying not to sound discouraged.
"Well, do you have any experience working in an office like this?" The older women questioned. Kate dug into her bag and pulled out her résumé.
"Here's my résumé, As you can see I have done pretty much everything as far as jobs go. I have worked in a garage before both behind the desk and under cars." Kate replied. Gemma picked up her reading glasses and looked over the résumé. Kate sat in her chair, legs bouncing and hands wringing. She was beyond nervous, she started to sweat. She took off her flannel shirt leaving just here white t-shirt on.
"Huh. This is a very eclectic work history." Gemma stated still looking it over. After a few minutes she put the papers down and looked at Kate.
"Here's what I can do for you." She began "I'll give you a test run, Do you know where the Charming Diner is?" She questioned, Kate nodded quickly.
"Alright, well I need to get the boys lunch. I'll give you there orders and you run over and get their lunches for me, Can you do that?" Gemma asked looking at the young girl. Kate just nodded enthusiastically.
"I can do that, it'll be no problem." Kate said smiling so much it hurt. Gemma went around her desk and grabbed the paper with the orders on it, handing it to Kate. Kate extended her right arm out to get the paper, and Gemma saw the tattoo on her arm. Gemma just held on to the paper for a second, staring down at the girls arm. Finally letting go Gemma sat back down. Kate looked nervous, she threw her flannel back on and grabbed her bag. She headed back out to her car. She sat there for a second rubbing her arm subconsciously looking back at the garage. Then she noticed it, a sign hanging to the left of the office door. "Sons of Anarchy MC".
"Shit fuck damn." She said hitting her steering wheel. She took a deep breath steadying herself. Its okay, calm down, maybe they won't put two and two she told herself starting her car. She pulled out of the parking lot heading toward the diner.
Gemma just stood in the doorway of the office, watching the girl drive away. "Hey Juice." She shouted. A young Porte Rican boy came running over a few seconds later wiping grease from his hands.
"Yeah Gemma?" He questioned. Gemma handed him Kate's résumé.
"I want to know everything about her." She stated, still staring at the spot where Kate's car was just parked. With an understanding nod, Juice walked into the clubhouse to get to work.
Kate pulled into the parking lot of the diner. She headed inside and placed the order, unfortunately they were a little backed up so they told her it would be about an hour and a half. She walked back out to her car and lit up a cigarette. She pulled out her phone and decided to call Tyler and let him no how the job hunt was going.
"Hello." Tyler answered gruffly.
"Hey Honey. I was just calling to see how you were doing." Kate replied.
"You find a job yet." He asked with a tinge of malice in his voice.
"I think I might have." She said.
"What do you mean "THINK". Either you do or you don't." He said his voice slowly raising.
"Well I went in and talked to a woman at Teller-Marrow garage. She said she was going to talk it over with her husband and let me know." Kate said her voice shaking.
"Well I hope for your sake it works out." He replied calmly, hanging up. A shiver ripped through her body.
Back at the garage Juice was typing furiously on his keyboard. He was thankfully having a lot of luck finding information on this girl. There wasn't really anything that stood out to much, but he kept digging and digging. About ten minutes later he found something, something big. He searched a while longer, then he quickly sent all the information to the printer. He grabbed the papers and headed out to the office.
Gemma was sitting at her desk. She was still thinking about Kate. Something about her seemed familiar, but vaguely. She tried to concentrate on work but gave up. She stood up and walked outside to the picnic tables in front of the garage to have a smoke. As she stepped outside she saw Juice running out of the clubhouse, a stack of papers in his hand and a triumphant smile on his face.
"What'd you find out?" Gemma asked as Juice came to a stop in front of her.
"I found out a lot. Before I tell ya though I think you should get Clay and Jax over here, there gonna wanna here this." Juice said looking serious. Gemma just nodded
"Go get them, tell them to meet me in the office. Juice nodded and ran towards the bays.
Gemma took a few more puffs and walked back into the office, taking a seat and preparing herself for what Juice had to say. Clay, Jax and Juice walked in a few seconds later.
"What's this about?" Clay asked looking towards his queen. Jax looked over as well, he was just as curious.
"A girl came in today, couldn't have been more than twenty-five. She was looking for a job, I had Juice to a background check on her." Gemma stated.
Jax, Gemma, and Clay looked towards Juice waiting for him to speak.
"Her name is Katherine McKinley. She was born in Tacoma and lived there until she was eighteen, she move to Seattle and stayed there for a year. Since then she hasn't lived in the same city more than a couple months. No criminal record, but she has one hell of a medical record. She's been to more than thirty different hospitals in the last nine years. All for accidents, falling down the stairs, running into doors, things like that. Several nurses reported it as domestic violence, but she never pressed charges." Juice said.
"Jesus, sounds like one tough broad." Clay said, Jax nodded in agreement.
"She showed up here with a black eye, said she ran into a door." Gemma said shaking her head.
"There's more, She and her father were in an accident when she was eighteen, motorcycle vs. truck. Her Father was killed, she walked away with a concussion and a dislocated shoulder. There was a newspaper article linked to the police report about the accident." Juice said, pulling one of the print outs from his stack, and putting it on the desk for Clay, Jax, and Gemma to look at. They all looked at the article and their eyes went wide.
"You sure about this Juice." Jax asked, not believing what was in front of his face.
"I checked and double checked, the information is correct. Her father was Darren McKinley, her father was a SON ." Juice stated. There was a few moments of silence no one spoke.
"She has a tattoo on her right arm, a reaper. I saw it when I was giving her the lunch order, that's why I asked Juice to look her up." Gemma said quietly.
"Darren was a friend of mine and John's, we were in the service together. He was the original President of the Tacoma charter. I can't believe that's his little girl. After he died, she skipped town. No one heard from her, it was like she disappeared or some shit." Clay said with a sigh.
"What do we do now?" Jax asked Clay. Clay ran a hand over his face.
"Let us know when she gets back." Clay said looking at Gemma, she just nodded. "Juice, come with me and Jax, were gonna go talk to Happy." Clay said. Juice and Jax followed Clay out of the office and towards the garage.
It had been an hour and a half and finally the food was done. Kate loaded it in her car and headed back to the garage. When she got there she headed straight to the office with the bags. She walked in and Gemma looked up.
"Sorry it took so long, they were swamped." Kate said hoping she wasn't mad, and that this wouldn't hurt her chances at getting a job.
"Why don't you take a seat and I'll go get these to the guys, be right back." Gemma said taking the bags and leaving the office.
Kate took her bag off her shoulder and sat down, sighing with relief. At least she didn't look pissed off, Kate thought to herself. She sat there deep in thought. If they figured out who she was, there was no hope left. She knew what happened to her Father was her fault, that's why she hadn't stuck around Tacoma. She was brought out of her thoughts by the office door opening again. Gemma walked in, but she wasn't alone. SHIT! Kate thought to herself, they knew, they knew everything. Gemma walked in taking a seat behind her desk, following her was three men. One was tall and very large in stature, he had a leather kutte on with a patch that said President on it. The next one was the blonde that had shown her the office his kutte said Vice President on it. And lastly A tall and scary looking bald man walked in, Kate's breath caught, his kutte said Tacoma on it. Kate took a few breaths to calm herself. The bald man shut the door behind him and walked with the other two to stand behind Gemma. The one with the President kutte spoke up first.
"My name is Clay Marrow I'm Gemma's husband. And that is Jax, Gemma's son and Happy." Clay said pointing each one out. Kate waved nervously, not trusting her voice. Happy, the name rang a bell, so did the face.
"Gemma here says your lookin for employment at our fine establishment." Clay said totally void of emotion. Kate nodded her head.
"I was, yes." she said shakily.
"We did a background check on you, there something's we have questions about." Clay said walking closer to her. Kate just gulped.
At this point Kate was shaking violently, it was becoming hard for her to breathe. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pill bottle taking a few out she closed the lid and put them back. She tossed them into her mouth and swallowed them dry.
"What were those?" Jax asked.
"I have an anxiety disorder." She replied, he nodded. Gemma stood up and walked over to the young girl. She sat down next to her.
"We aren't going to hurt ya darlin' we just wanna ask some questions." She said laying a hand on Kate's shaking knee. Kate nodded in understanding.
"So Darren McKinley, your old man, he was a friend of mine." Clay began looking at Kate. "He was one of the original nine. A hell of a man, saved my ass quite a few times." Clay said looking into the shaking girls eyes. "I guess my question is, Why'd you leave Tacoma in the first place?" Clay asked.
"I was raised knowing that the club some first. It was selfish for me to stick around, the club had enough to deal with. I may have lost my father but the Tacoma Charter lost a President. The clubs problems took precedence and I didn't want to get in the way." Kate said honestly. Gemma half smiled down at the girl.
"Father taught you well." she said rubbing circles on Kate's back.
"You know the club would have taken care of you, no matter what shit is going on we always look after our own." Jax stated looking at the girl. Kate just sighed.
"I know, the day after the funeral I walked into the clubhouse to talk to the guys about staying there and I over heard them talking about how it was all her fault that he was dead, and how they would pay for hurting the club. In actuality they were talking about the drunk woman driving the truck, but in my stupid eighteen year old brain I thought they were talking about me. They night my Father was killed, I asked him to take me out for a ride. I was the idiot who broke her helmet the day before. I was the reason he died, and at that point I knew I had to leave. I couldn't look at those men in the eye knowing what I took from them." Kate said a single tear running down her cheek.
"No one in Tacoma blamed you, everyone was upset you left without so much as a goodbye. " Happy said, making Kate jump. She had forgotten he was even there.
"It killed me to leave my family behind, you don't know how many times I've thought about going back. Every time I heard the rumble of a motorcycle, every time I caught a wif of leather. Every city I moved to after Seattle had a charter near or in it, I was always so close the club yet so far. My Mother had no family to speak of neither did my Father. The only family I have ever known was the club and I left them. " Kate replied looking at the stoic man in the eye. There were a few minutes of silence, everyone trying to digest all this information.
"You're here now though. Maybe fate is giving you a second chance." Jax said breaking the silence. Kate just shrugged rubbing her right arm.
"Can I see it?" Gemma asked nodding toward the young girls arm. Kate tensed at first then nodded. She slid up her sleeve showing the older woman her tattoo. In gothic writing on the top it said Darren McKinley then under that there was the clubs reaper then under the reaper it said Loving Father, Loyal SON.
"As soon as I got settled in Seattle I got it. A daily reminder of what I was leaving behind." She said dropping her head.
"It's getting late, were gonna be closing up the shop soon." Gemma said addressing the men. They all nodded and left the room. Kate was mentally and emotionally exhausted. She grabbed her bag and stood up. Gemma stood up as well giving the smaller woman a hug.
"Be here tomorrow morning 7 sharp." Gemma said. Kate smiled and nodded. She left the office and quickly got into her car, and left the shop.
She pulled into her parking spot in front of the apartment complex she and Tyler lived at. She shut and locked her car and headed up the stairs to her home.
Tyler was sitting in front of the TV drinking a beer when she walked in. He said nothing. She walked into their kitchen and grabbed him another beer. She sat down next to him.
"I got the job, I start tomorrow at seven." She said. He didn't look up or even acknowledge her. She left the beer there and went into the kitchen to begin dinner. She decided fried chicken and mashed potatoes sounded good and she got to work. About an hour later dinner was ready.
"Dinners done Ty." she called into the living room. She heard the TV click off. Walked into the dining room and sat down, and began to eat.
"So what is this job anyway." Tyler asked. Taking a swig of beer.
"It's in the office of the garage in town." Kate replied taking a bite of her chicken. They ate in silence for a while longer.
"This is shit!" Tyler said throwing his chicken to his plate. "What are you trying to do, poison me." Kate looked shocked, he used to love her fried chicken.
"I thought fried chicken was your favorite." Kate said shakily. He scooted his chair out and walked to her end of the table. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to a standing position.
"Are you back talking me?" He asked with a snarl.
"No, I just thought…" Kate began. He backhanded her across the mouth, splitting her lip open.
"That was your first problem, you don't need to think." Tyler said with pure malice in his voice. "Get rid of this shit and order me a pizza, NOW!" He said raising his voice. She just nodded. He let her go and went back to the living room. Kate just stood up, grabbing all the dishes and taking them into the kitchen. She put all the food in Tupperware and found the number for a pizza place and placed an order. Once finished she leaned heavily onto her arms, her elbows resting on the countertop. She grabbed a dish towel and placed it to her split lip staunching the blood. She heaved a sigh. Jax words hanging heavy in her mind. Maybe this is her second chance.