She grabbed an easy dinner to go at the diner before heading out to find another hotel. She desperately needed to sleep. The Charming Inn was in the middle of town and pretty centralized to everything she needed. To her surprise the rates weren't outrageous. Her room was on the second floor and she quickly made her way to it.
The room was quaint but clean. Of course she didn't need anything super large, she didn't have many possessions. She quickly at her dinner before heading into the small bathroom. She desperately needed a shower and was looking forward to getting clean. After the much deserved shower, she fell into the Queen sized bed. Getting good sleep in a good bed made a world of difference! When she woke up she felt physically better.
She dressed for the day then left the Inn. She headed to the café for breakfast. Everything was quiet, she didn't feel as if she were being followed, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She had enough time before work to really sit and enjoy her breakfast. Juice, Chibs, and Tig wandered into the café to grab some breakfast as well. As soon as the waitress came over, Tig began asking questions.
"Hey what can you tell me about that girl over there?" Tig quietly asked
"Not much really. She comes here most mornings for breakfast and sometimes lunch. Stays to herself. Polite. Tips well. 'Bout all I know." The waitress, Carlene, replied as she filled up their coffee mugs
"How does she pay?" Juice asked
"Cash, always." Carlene stated before asking what they wanted for breakfast
"Thank ye, Darlin'." Chibs stated with a half-smile
The trio of bikers gave their orders and let Carlene walk away before talking amongst themselves.
"There are so many questions about her that need answering." Tig stated
"More importantly, what do those rival bikers want with her?" Juice asked, eyes wandering to where she sat by herself
"Hey, don't you have that scanner thing?" Tig suddenly asked the Intel Officer
"What scanner thing?" Juice asked, clearly confused
"You know, the one that tells you about everyone's cell?" Tig stated, giving Juice a look
"Oh that one, it's out in my saddlebag." Juice replied
Tig told him to go get it. Juice quickly went to fetch the device. They could get her cell phone info from it. Hopefully that would help in figuring out just who she was and why these rival bikers where so interested in her. Juice returned within minutes with the device hidden in his pocket. After sitting down, he slipped it out of his pocket and began scanning the diner. Several phones were detected so he began running the numbers on his tablet. Each phone was attached to someone there in the diner.
"Wha's wrong?" Chibs questioned
"It's weird. All the phones I detected are accounted for. She doesn't seem to have one." Juice stated
"Who the hell doesn't carry a cell phone these days?" Tig questioned, looking over his shoulder at the woman
"Aye." Chibs stated as their breakfast arrived
She paid for her meal, left her tip, and then headed off to work. As soon as she'd arrived, she explained that she had an appointment to meet with the owner of a house to see about renting. He smiled at her and said he'd call and cancel two of her classes so she had enough time to do whatever she needed to. She thanked him before heading to the reception desk to look over the appointment book.
Clay had Gemma go to the safe-house-turned-rental-house a little early to make sure everything was done and ready to go. Everything had dried, been fixed, cleaned, and looked picture-perfect. It wasn't really her taste but she hoped the young woman would like it. Gemma set a platter of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the island counter. All she had to do now was wait for the young lady to arrive. The Biker Queen didn't feel guilty at all about tricking the young lady into renting their house. If this was going to save her family and her club then she saw nothing wrong with it.
Gemma was expecting a car to pull up or even a motorcycle. Everything was quiet, which wasn't unusual on this so-called safe street, but she did expect to hear a vehicle pulling into the driveway. When there came a knock at the door she was surprised. Gemma opened the door with a smile. A young woman who couldn't be older than 18 stood before her wearing quite the outfit. There was something in her eyes that told her this woman was much older than her young face said.
"Good morning! I'm Gemma. You are the young lady who called yesterday?" Gemma said as sweetly as she could
"I'm Kalila, it's nice to meet you." Kalila stated
"That's an unusual name. Let me show you the house." Gemma stated
Kalila was quite shocked by the state of the house. It was unusual that was for sure! Gemma told her all the pertinent information: how old it was, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, large kitchen, decent sized living room, good sized back yard. It had been recently renovated. Kalila couldn't help but wonder how much this little gem was going for. Everything was all new, the appliances, the furniture, the paint, the carpeting, everything.
"Well, what do you think?" Gemma questioned, coming off a bit forcefully
"It's very nice." Kalila replied
"Do you want it?" Gemma asked, getting straight to the point
There was no point in dragging this conversation along.
"How much is the rent?" The younger woman questioned
"Do you want the utilities included?" Gemma stated, crossing her arms over her chest
"What's the price difference?" Kalila inquired
"Rent would be $500 without utilities and $1,000 with utilities." Gemma informed her
"Hmm." Kalila stated as she began looking around the living room once again
Gemma watched this young woman with a sense of curiosity. This woman had supposedly taken down three much big bikers just outside the Teller-Morrow parking lot with no help at all. She walked away from the fight basically unharmed. She was petite, maybe 5'3 or 5'4, and thin. The Matriarch could see some muscle definition but it wasn't like this girl really worked out to get that definition. There was no way this girl could've taken on those three guys all by herself. She had to have had help from somewhere.
"I'll take it. With utilities." Kalila simply stated, turning to look at Gemma
"Are you sure you can afford $1,000 a month in rent?" Gemma asked curiously
"The rent will be on time." Kalila simply retorted
Gemma motioned towards the kitchen. She took the rental agreement out of her oversized purse and set them on the island counter. They talked about how long Kalila wanted to rent for and Gemma was shocked to discover she only wanted the place for six months but wanted it where she could extend the agreement if she needed to. It sounded to Gemma like the girl really wasn't planning on staying in town very long.
Who only rented a house for only 6 months? It was very suspicious. The way the girl was acting it seemed like she was paranoid. But paranoid about what or who? Clay would just tell her 'As long as she paid her rent every month then that's all that really mattered'. There was definitely more to this girl than whatever the club might think. With everything squirreled away, Kalila scribbled her name and dated beside it. Gemma handed the house keys over to their new tenant.
Kalila felt better about having a decent place to stay in. She was tired of having to crash in sleazy pay-by-the-hour/week motels. The ladies bid an awkward goodbye before Gemma left the home. Kalila needed to get back to the studio for her next class so as soon as Gemma had driven down the street, she locked up the house and headed back to work. Jax had arrived a little early for his personal session. He was talking with Don when he got a call from Clay.
Gemma says she went for it. She's officially our renter." Clay told him
"Good. Do we have any new info?" Jax questioned
"Well Juice can't decipher a last name. Kalila seems like a unique enough name to stand out but he's still having no luck finding any information on her. She left right after Gemma." Clay stated as he took a puff of his cigar, "Gemma did say the girl seemed suspicious and paranoid about something. Only wanted the house for 6 months with an option to extend the lease."
"Huh. That is strange. She doesn't really open up to anyone here at the studio." Jax replied
"Gemma's worried. Thinks the girl might be running from someone." Clay stated
Don wasn't as subtle as he thought he was when he walked up behind Jax.
"Yeah well I'm waiting on my martial arts instructor to get here. Owner says she's running late. I'll see ya when I'm done." Jax stated, knowing his conversation was being eavesdropped upon
"Have fun, son." Clay chuckled before hanging up