chapter 4

Mike had stayed with Stef throughout most of the night and left at around 3am to get some sleep before heading to work in the morning. They knew that their captain would find it suspicious if both of them called out of work the next morning, and the last thing either of the two wanted was to call for unwanted attention in the midst of all of this.

So when Stef accidentally fell asleep at roughly 9am at the windowsill, her eyes fluttered open and she was left staring at the motel room again.

Callie! She thought to herself. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! She continued as she grabbed her cellphone from her pocket to look at the time.

10.30.

She had slept for over an hour. "Shit!" She mumbled as she got up from the sofa chair and ran to open her motel room door. How stupid could I be? She blamed herself as she power-walked as fast as she could across the street. Immediately, she began to think the worst. The guy who abused Callie probably came back during the little bit of time in which she had been sleeping.

And even if he hadn't, Stef had had enough with the waiting. Her body literally couldn't take it anymore. As soon as she got to the door, she leaned her head against it, in an attempt to hear any sound of movement. But instead, she heard nothing which made her incredibly impatient. The cop knocked loudly on the wood three times and awaited as calmly as the situation would allow. However, that was only about 8 seconds before she knocked again, this time unafraid to open her mouth. "Callie, please open the door," she said in a more than just audible tone. Her eyes widened as she again heard no sound of movement, causing for her to bang harder on the door. "Callie, please. I know you're upset with me right now, but I need you to open the door for me."

Complete silence.

Stef breathed in deeply from her nose before backing away slowly from the door and making her way over toward the front office in a quick pace. What if Callie was lying unconscious on the other side or what if someone else was in there with her threatening her to keep her mouth shut. Both scenarios were running through her mind at that moment, along with over twenty more possibilities.

"I need the key to room 217," she ordered the man at the front desk as soon as he was made visible.

"Ma'am, I can't just give you the key to a tenant's room. I'm sorry, but you're going to need a warrant for that," the scruffy looking guy informed her.

Stef was really getting annoyed with the fact that someone or something always came in between her and Callie every time it was urgent. The parole officer, the correction officers at juvie, this guy, and the law. She was beginning to become infuriated and her nerves didn't help ease the situation either.

"The tenant is my daughter and she could be in danger right now! SO GIVE ME THE DAMN KEY!" she yelled even louder before holding her hand out as she waited.

The guy just looked at her with an awed expression on his face, as if he had just been slapped by a stranger and was too stunned to do anything about it. He glanced down at her hand and decided he should be smart about this, before reaching under his desk and pulling the key with the number 217 off of the hook. The man slowly placed it on top of her palm. "If anyone asks, you didn't get this from me."

"Thhankk yyou," Stef voiced angrily before whipping her body around, now rushing toward Callie's room again. As soon as she got in front of it, she placed the key in the doorknob and immediately twisted it, pushing it right open. For a moment there, she fumbled a bit as she remembered to remove her pistol from it's holster. She kept the gun pointed downward in her hands, from the thought of scaring Callie by actually pointing it at her. Her vision was suddenly filled with an empty room; and to her dismay, all of the lights were off.

No, she thought to herself as she reached to the right of the entrance for the light switch and moved it upward.

She remained quiet as she walked further inside, in order to get a better look. The room was so small so she reached the empty bathroom fairly quickly. "Damn it," she murmured as she glanced around the room one more time.

A comb, deodorant, shoes, and more clothes were all visible.

She is definitely coming back, the blonde forced herself to think. She had to...

2 Hours Later

Callie stared at the older couple, who walked into the diner she had been working at for only a little while. She tried to smile even though her mood was less than cheerful. "Hi, how many? Just 2?"

The older gentleman smiled back at her. "Yes," he answered as he held onto his wife's walker and the woman stared back at him.

"Right this way," Callie said as she grabbed two menus from the stand and took a few steps toward the closest empty booth she could find.

After a little time, she was finally able to place their menus in front of them. "Can I start you off with something to drink or do you need more time?" Her eyes darted toward the shadowy figure standing off to the right toward the front door, and she was forced to meet his gaze.

What was he doing here? Callie thought to herself before turning her attention back toward the elderly man. "Water for me and some lemonade for her. Thank you."

Callie smiled. "Okay, I'll be right back," she said before walking toward him with an obviously upset expression on her face.

"Tommy, what are you doing here? I'm working. I don't have time for this."

He squinted her eyes at her. "What? Now you don't have time for me?"

"I told you that the deal's off. I'm moving so you don't get to do this anymore," she said as she placed her hand on the bruise on her jaw, silently wondering if the bruise was actually showing through her makeup by now. It barely covered it up but the last thing she wanted was for Tommy to still see her as the vulnerable one. She moved her hand away.

"You're moving?" He chuckled. "Where are you going to go? Who else is going to rent to you?" He asked out of curiosity and Callie could tell that he didn't exactly believe her.

"I've already got a place," she lied. "I'm moving out tomorrow," she continued, and a feeling of regret suddenly overwhelmed her. "I'll give you the rest of what I owe you then."

He shook his head and smiled. "And you think getting rid of me is going to be that easy? Huh? Is that what you think? That you can just switch motels and that will change everything?"

The expression on Callie's face was definitely one of confusion. "That's all you have over me. That you own that stupid motel, so yeah."

"And what about this job?" He asked her. "How did you think you got it? On your own? Jerry would have never hired you if it weren't for me."

"I know," Callie replied. "And thank you for that," she said honestly. "But I'm done with this, Tommy. I can't do this anymore."

He stared at her with a look of disbelief. "...Let me ask you something... How do you think he'd take it if I told him the cleaning lady found a crack-pipe in your room?"

Callie's posture straightened.

"Huh? You think he'd still keep your around and wait for you to steal all his money?" Tommy continued.

"That's a lie," Callie raised her tone and followed it with a death glare.

"You think that matters?" Tommy asked her sarcastically. "All I have to do is say one word about you and you're back to living on the streets, where I found you. Is that what you really want?"

Callie breathed in heavily through her nose as she tried to find the right words to respond.

But she knew there weren't any.

"That's what I thought," he smiled again. "Look, The next time you feel like trying something like this again, do yourself a favor and think," he stopped to place his finger directly on her forehead and Callie instantly backed away. "Think," he repeated, "...before you act… And remember exactly why you have everything that you have. It's because of me. I gave you all of that."

The brunette swallowed hard and bit back all of the things she wanted to say, because he was right...

She was stuck there...