The sun hung low in the sky as she stepped out on her porch in the early morning. She took in a deep breath of the cool morning air before taking a sip of her coffee. She looked to her left and the house next to hers. She smiled softly as she stared. The house had been there for about five years now but had stayed vacant, even though she knew it was furnished. It was her little secret. She heard the door open behind her as her friend and housemate Angela walked out with her own cup of coffee.
"What kind of day are we gonna have, oh psychic one?" she said, her voice thick with sarcasm but a smile on her face.
"You having ZeeZee make predictions again?" asked a third voice.
"She hasn't been wrong yet," laughed Angela.
ZeeZee turned and looked out at the sky again. SHe closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. Suddenly the wind shifted and started blowing forcefully towards the empty house. SHe heard the shudders banging around. Slowly she opened her eyes, but didn't look at her friends.
"It's gonna get interesting," she mumbled before turning back into the house.
"Is that bad?" asked the third voice.
"Don't know, Meg," said Angela. "She's never given an answer like that."
"You don't think she's really psychic, do you?" asked Meg.
"Nah," said Angela, waving it off. "She's a forceful personality that molds the day how she wants it."
"So, in other words, you're worried about how today is gonna unfold?" asked Meg.
"Terrified," chuckled Angela.
"Well, the day has gone well so far," said Angela.
"It's not over yet," said ZeeZee looking out the window.
The sun was starting to drop in the sky. She looked at her watch and saw that it was almost six o'clock.
"You're acting like the world is gonna end soon," said Angela.
"For all I know, it could be," said ZeeZee. "I'm going to run down to the store. I'll be back shortly."
"For what? We just got groceries yesterday," said Angela.
"Just in case," said ZeeZee, grabbing her purse and keys and walking out of the house.
She had no sooner stepped on the front porch when she heard it. She stood frozen, listening, straining to hear over the blowing wind. The wind whipped her hair around her face. The few pins she used to hold her hair back were no chance for the strong wind. Angela had stepped out on the porch and placed a hand on her friend's arm.
"ZeeZee?" she asked quietly.
"Listen. Don't you hear them?" she asked just as quietly.
"Hear what?" Angela asked, straining to hear anything but the wind.
"The sounds of home," she said with a small smile.
Before Angela could respond she heard the loud rumble of motorcycles. Quite a few of them from the sound of it. ZeeZee has turned to look past their neighboring house down the road. Both women stood there for what felt like a hour before the motorcycles started slowly appearing over the top of the hill. They stood and watched as they passed the turn that would take them back into town and continued down the road towards them. Angela counted around thirteen motorcycles as they got closer. She spared a glance at ZeeZee. Her friend was standing stock still as she watched the motorcycles get closer still. She was concerned her friend had stopped breathing.
The group was coming up on the vacant house now, only a few yards away from their driveway. Both women had noticed that they had started to slow as they neared the house. ZeeZee held her breath as she watched them bypass the driveway for the neighboring house and slowly turn into her own driveway. She was fighting her instincts to turn around and run back in the house. Angela squeezed her arm as a few of them climbed off their bikes. They both noticed then that there was a cargo van parked at the end of the driveway as well, and at least two women on the back of the motorcycles as well.
"Maybe you can help us," said a young man with shoulder length blonde hair.
Angela smiled as she made to step forward. ZeeZee flung her arm out in front of her friend and stopped her movement.
"Uh, what can we help you with?" Angela asked, giving her friend the side eye.
ZeeZee wasn't watching the two men in front of her. She was watching the two women standing next to the vacant bikes. The older of the two was holding her gaze with a smirk on her face. ZeeZee knew she would lose this battle, but she was going to hold out as long as she could. She wasn't the same girl anymore.
"We are looking for the owner of the house next door," said the young man. "We are wanting to rent the house for a few weeks," he said with another smile.
"Oh, sorry," Angela said with a small frown. "We don't know who owns it. It's been vacant since it was built."
The young man frowned and turned to look at the older man that was next to him. They shared a glance before turning back to the group and shaking their heads in unison.
"What about you?" shouted the older lady from next to the bike. "You're not doing a whole lot of talking."
"Gemma," said the young man. "Quiet."
Angela looked between the older woman and her friend. She could tell that ZeeZee was straining not to look away from her gaze, even as she walked toward them.
"Well? You look like you might know something," said Gemma as she came to a stop right behind the men.
"Like I said," started Angela.
"Not…you," said Gemma, still not looking away from ZeeZee.
"Gemma, stop," it was the older man this time.
"I want to know what she has to say," said Gemma.
Both men turned to look at ZeeZee and Angela. The older of the two took his sunglasses off before turning back to look at Gemma. He waved his hand towards the porch and stepped backwards out of the way. The younger man looked between all three people before he stepped backwards, away from the porch, as well.
Gemma turned her gaze back to ZeeZee and smirked, "Well?"
"She told you," muttered ZeeZee, "That it's been vacant."
"Yes, I know that," said Gemma. "But you haven't told us what you know about who owns it."
ZeeZee stared at the woman but didn't speak. Angela had raised her hand to ZeeZee's shoulder. "Uh…should I call someone?"
"No," said ZeeZee quickly, "Go inside."
"Zee…" said Angela quietly.
"Now," said ZeeZee, still not looking away from Gemma.
Angela nodded her head and all but ran back into the house, practically slamming the door behind her. ZeeZee was close enough to the door to hear the deadbolt click into place. Gemma smiled.
"Well?" asked Gemma.
"What is the point?" asked a voice from the group. "If she don't know then we are wasting our time."
"Trust me, she knows," said Gemma walking up the front steps to stand right in front of ZeeZee.
"Gemma," said the older man.
"What are you doing here?" asked ZeeZee.
"None of your business," said Gemma.
"Never was," said ZeeZee. "But that doesnt mean I didn't know anything."
Gemma squinted her eyes at ZeeZee. "You've got some balls on you, girl."
"Gemma, leave the girl alone," said the younger man.
Before anyone else could speak two more motorcycles came rushing down the road. They rode past the cargo van and pulled into the driveway. ZeeZee held her breath as she watched both men climb off the bikes and walked towards the house.
"Clay," said the darker man.
"Happy," Clay said in response.
Both men turned to look at Gemma and ZeeZee standing on the porch.
"And what, exactly, is she doing?" asked Happy.
"Gemma," Clay said exasperatedly, "Is trying to bully this lovely young lady into telling us who owns the house next door."
"And?" asked the other man.
"It's not working," said ZeeZee.
"Yes, we can see that," said the younger man.
"ZeeZee," said Gemma. "That's what she called you. Your friend?"
"My name," she responded.
"Unusual name," said Gemma. "It short for something?"
"Again, what are you doing here?" asked ZeeZee, ignoring the question.
"Looking for a place to stay for a while," said Gemma with a smile.
"And I don't buy it," said ZeeZee. "Of all the places in this town, you drove all the way out to the middle of nowhere. Why?"
"We liked the house," said Gemma.
"It's not posted," said ZeeZee.
"How do you know?" asked Gemma. "You know how many bedrooms it has?"
"Leave," said ZeeZee. "Now."
"That sounded like a threat," smirked Gemma. "You threatening me?"
ZeeZee opened her mouth, but didn't speak
"Cat got your tongue?" Gemma laughed.
"Gemma!" said the young man. "She's asked us to leave. I'm sure we can find someone else who knows the information we need."
"No, Jax," said Gemma. "She knows what we need. Don't you?"
"Uh…Gemma…" said one of them who had pulled up late.
"Kozik," said Gemma. "Shut up." Gemma didn't take her eyes off ZeeZee as she stepped closer. ZeeZee made a point not to step away from her. "Yeah, you know."
"Darlin'," said Clay. "We just want to rent the house. We are willing to pay double what it's worth."
ZeeZee finally turned her gaze away from Gemma and turned to look at Clay. "I'm going to tell you now, that the person who owns the house isn't willing to rent."
"Isn't willing to rent in general or to use?" asked Jax.
ZeeZee didn't turn to look at him, she kept her gaze on Clay.
"It's because it's us," said Gemma as she walked down the steps. "We will have to find something else just as big for the kids."
ZeeZee turned her head quickly towards Gemma. "Kids?" she whispered.
"Yes," Gemma said with a smirk. "Kozik, you okay? Looks like you've seen a ghost."
ZeeZee watched Gemma walk back towards the bike. She sighed and closed her eyes. "How many?" she asked quietly.
Gemma turned around and smiled, "There she is, the girl with the golden heart. We have four."
ZeeZee closed her eyes and sighed. "How long? Really?"
Clayed turned suddenly to look at ZeeZe.
"You said a few weeks," said ZeeZee, turning to look at Jax. "Is it really a few weeks? Or longer?"
"Does that really matter? We are willing to pay for the time in the house," said Jax suspiciously.
ZeeZee turned to look at Clay. "One grand a week. In cash. Every Monday."
"Why are you so willing to help now?" asked Clay.
"Don't you realize who ZeeZee is?" asked Gemma walking back over. "It's obvious, if you know where to look."
A/N: Here is the first chapter. I'm gonna try to keep this going! I've had this rolling around in my head for a few weeks!
