Her options were really freaking limited.
Of course she had been stupid enough, and drunk enough to wager every last cent she had to her damn name. Maddison had considered hitchhiking, but only briefly. By the time she'd shoved her clothing back into her bag she had decided against it. She'd heard too many stories - people expecting things from their passengers and all of that nasty shit. She didn't know how to fight, she didn't have a gun or anything that could even be remotely considered a weapon.
She didn't have any friends, she didn't want to call on Karoline or any of the other girls. They'd already leant her money; and it wasn't like she had a bank account they could transfer it too. No way would she ask any of them to come out to Charming to pick up her sad ass. She had family, technically speaking. Maddison hated the idea of going to the garage. She'd tried to make it abundantly clear that she hadn't come into town looking for hand outs. She didn't want, or expect, anything from Gemma. The idea of showing up and asking for money didn't sit well with Maddison at all.
There was no cash to extend her stay and the woman at the front desk looked way too pissy - Maddison wasn't about to ask if she could delay payment. She left the motel that day hungover and slightly defeated, but she had a plan. If there was one thing that she had picked up from her mother, Maddison had long since decided that it was her sheer stubbornness. It worked in her advantage too because by the end of the day she had secured a job and temporary lodgings.
—
there was nothing extraordinary about her routine. Maddison had tried to get onto as many shifts at the diner as she could, she had nowhere else to be and nothing else to do anyway. It was exhausting but it was making her money. Usually once her shift was over she made her way back to the shelter. Sometimes she made a beeline from door to door. Others, she would let herself wander.
Charming was quaint, quiet. It was eerily similar to the world she'd left behind. At first it had found weird but during her late night walks through the park or down main street the strange had started wearing off. Replaced by something more comforting, welcoming. Everyone was nice enough - warm enough. It had that small town charm still intact, something that she appreciated. She had never liked big cities much. She could live in one if she had to but there was just something about a small town.
Even the roar of the harley's gave her a warm and homey feeling. Even if she turned her head away whenever she heard one coming closer. The Sons of Anarchy had such a presence in the town, as if the foundation of Charming had been built around it. It kept them shielded, protected. She imagined the town grew with the club from their presence in the area. It just made sense. That was how it had worked in her last home.
Maddison had tried to avoid the club and it's members as best she could. Which, was proving to be difficult. Everywhere she went there was a bike or a tow truck somewhere within spitting distance. What she remembered of her night with the club hadn't been bad, aside from the going broke. The guys had all been nice. It wasn't them she was so much trying to avoid as it was Gemma. She knew that she had no real reason to worry about the woman finding out that she was still in town but Gemma was so ridiculously imposing. She was the president's Old Lady - the thought of news that she hadn't exactly skipped yet getting back to her…to Maddison it felt like it would send the opposite message. That she was hanging around for a reason, or worse that she'd been full of shit during any of their conversations. Something told her that Gemma was one of those women in the world that you didn't want to piss off.
She stayed clear of them as best she could. For about a week she had been successful, too. As far as she was concerned at least. It had been great up until she had traded a shift with a fellow server who had a family emergency that they needed to tend to. It had been going great.
He didn't remember a whole lot the next morning. What he did, it was a good night. He had a wad of bills stuffed in his pocket and the memory of how he'd won it still surprisingly fresh.
Tig hadn't expected to win, not with how that woman was playing him. She had been too stubborn to back out. He didn't know how long they'd been playing but at one point they had most of the conscious members of the club crowded around that table.
She'd stripped off her top claiming it was too constricting and way too hot in the clubhouse. That had distracted him for a solid minute or two. Maddison was something. He was only human, after all. She was pretty without trying to be. Her hair wasn't done up, she was wearing 'normal' clothing, her bra wasn't anything fancy…not much makeup if any at all from where he stood. Everyone stole a glance or two but she didn't seem to care, she was too focussed on the game.
If she had wanted to distracted him it paid off for that round. He had women clinging to his side and egging him on but he was concentrating on the one across the table from him. She was good at pool, she was a cocky drunk…she was also without a top giving everyone in the room a good look. First the tattoo on her shoulder had called his attention. It was what he had seen first. Before he got a chance to decipher it she turned around and he found something a hell of a lot more interesting than the latin inked onto her back.
She had nice tits, but it wasn't even that. It was the scars. Tig knew those from anywhere. It threw him off a little. Some of the other guys had noticed them, too. Maddison didn't look like the type of person to have scars like that. Not one, sure as shit not two.
The magic she held over his snapped at the end of the round as he became uniquely aware of how quickly his wallet was emptying.
—-
He had seen her the next morning helping Gemma in the kitchen. She looked a little skittish, but that was probably just because Gemma was watching her like a hawk. Clay's Old Lady had that effect on people. Maddison had spent most of her time in the kitchen. At first he'd thought it had been to get away from them. Some girls couldn't handle the parties. He'd seen more than his fair share walk out the next morning wondering what the fuck they'd done. It wasn't that, though. She didn't look out of place at all. The puking, the half naked bodies, the moaning and groaning. It didn't seem to bother it. It made her a hell of a lot more interesting, too. Tig was sure that he'd never seen her around before. A lotta women passed through those doors but he'd never seen Gemma stick to one like glue. He had no idea how old she was but she looked young. A little too young to be comfortable in a MC clubhouse, a little too young to be sporting scars from a couple of bullets.
The morning after the party had been the last time he had seen her. Gemma had given her a lift back to wherever she was staying. According to Gemma, Maddison wasn't sticking around. The girl would probably be out of town by the end of the day. He didn't think much of it.
—-
A week later
They had gotten a call from Al's from some woman on her lunch break. Her car wasn't starting or something like that. He'd grabbed the prospect and the truck and had headed on out there. The woman was waiting inside at the counter, staring down into her cup when they'd gotten here. Hearing the doorbell chime had drawn the attention from the back kitchen because a server had called out "Be right with you!" before he'd even made his way up to the counter.
Tig should have been focussed on the customer. He was usually pretty good with people. At leas the knew how to fake it. He'd fully intended to tend to her needs but that was until he saw a familiar face push past the old worn swinging doors.
"Oh uh..hi." Maddison fumbled with the pad in her hand, pulling a pen from behind her ear. "What can I get for you?"
The hell was she doing here? "Here to pick up a car." Sack was already giving the woman the spiel. "Heard you left town." Maddison frowned. Clearly she hadn't. Gemma had sounded so sure that she would split. Yet there she was, wearing a waitresses uniform and trying to take his order.
"Not yet." She didn't seem too thrilled about it either, he noted. "You want anything to go?" Even an idiot would have picked up on the fact that she didn't seem to eager to get into it either.
"Sure, doll. Two coffees would be great."
He couldn't help but wonder if Gemma knew - or cared that the woman was still hanging around.
—-
That night he'd mentioned it after church. Just off hand to Juice to get the guy going. Later that night he had seen her again. Not at the diner but on her way somewhere. He hadn't meant to follow her but it had quickly ended up that way. She wasn't heading towards the motel. In fact that direction she was going there wasn't much more than a convenience store, a church, and a women's shelter.
The route home took him that way and almost every night he caught her walking back to wherever she was staying. After the first few nights he decided it the was the women's shelter. Unless she had a piece of realty in a back alley - she sure as shit wasn't staying with Gemma.
He felt kind of bad. She hadn't meant to stay in Charming from the sounds of things, yet she was picking up crazy hours at a diner and sleeping in a shelter. What did she have to stick around for? Unless she had dreamed of picking up shitty hours at a small town diner. Unless she was working for a reason. Why would anyone sleep at a women's shelter unless they had to? He remembered the wad of cash she had handed over at the end of the night. Most of which was already gone, he had dues to pay and other shit to take care of.
—-
Instead of heading straight home that night he went to the diner. It had been at least a week since he had first seen her at the diner. By now he figured if she was still in town, she would be getting ready to head home for the night. It was stupid but he still felt bad. Tig Trager wasn't the sympaethic type by any means but he did have a soft spot for women. Right or wrong. Couldn't stand seeing them hurt, struggling. While Maddison didn't seem to be 'hurt' in any way that he could tell, he was pretty sure she was struggling. People didn't just bail on plans like that, she hadn't had much of a reason to stay in Charming from the sounds of things. She was sleeping at a shelter for christ's sake. Something about that was doing his head in.
Maddison was wiping down the counter when he had gotten there. The place was pretty much dead, another server was mopping the floors; which he attempted to be mindful of as he made his way through.
"I'll be with you in a sec-" She stopped dead in her tracks when she looked up from the faux granite. "Hi. Can I get you something?" To her credit, her recovery was quick.
Tig shrugged as he pushed himself down onto one of the cheap padded stools. "Nah I'm good." He'd eaten a shitload of greasy tacos earlier, adding anything else to that mix was just tempting fate. The menu hadn't been the reason why he'd made the detour anyway. The menu wasn't making him feel guilty. "Was wondering if you had a second? I wanted to talk to you about something."
If he didn't have her full attention before, he sure as shit had it now. Maddison's eyes flew from him, to the guy who was mopping the floor, then back to the service window. The guy handling the mop had also stopped. Tig rolled his eyes. Why did she look like she was expecting him to reach over the counter or something?
"I uh, yeah. I've got a minute." Maddison went back to wiping off the counter in what he assumed was a weak ass attempt to avoid any and all eye contact with him.
"Not gonna be long I just wanted to stop by to give you something." To accentuate his point, he reached down into the pocket of his jeans. That seemed to get her attention again.
The woman didn't look pleased when he produced the cash. In fact if anything she looked startled. He hadn't exactly been expecting her to throw herself at him and thank him for saving her from this dump, but he hadn't expected her to just stand there like he'd placed a severed head on the counter. "That should be most of it. Give or take a few bucks." Tig said with a shrug. It wasn't technically her money because he'd spent that but it was the roughly the same amount - which was all that mattered in the grand scheme of things.
Maddison placed the cloth on the counter top, crossing her arms defensively over top of her chest. "What's that for?" and when she asked him that Tig really did roll his eyes. He couldn't help it.
"Because I robbed you blind at the party."
Maddison scoffed at him. "You won it." He couldn't help but notice that she wasn't moving any closer to picking the cash up.
"Yeah and wouldn't have taken it if I'd known that you were gonna end up broke." There was something amazingly familiar with how quickly her moods flashed in her eyes. Something that very much reminded him of Gemma.
"I'm not broke." Maddison pressed on.
Tig let out a laugh. "Oh yeah? You sleeping at the shelter because you like the scenery?" Oh the look that got him. She looked like she wanted to say a lot of things to him. Instead she opted to stare him down. There was little doubt in his mind that she would get tired of that, but unfortunately he needed some fucking sleep. "Just take the money." Tig pushed the bills further across the counter top before pulling himself up. He didn't cast her so much as another glance before turning away. He already knew she was glaring daggers. A smile did grace his features as he heard someone, the guy with the mop, he assumed ask if Maddison was actually broke. To which she quickly let out a snappy sounding 'No!'
He left the diner feeling pretty damn pleased with himself. The money had been returned to it's rightful owner and if it went as he planned it, the guilt he was feeling over her living arrangements would subside and he could go back to his life. Business as usual.
Business as usual until he had arrived at the garage the next morning. Juice had wasted no time waving the envelope in his face. Someone had left it attached to the front gate with a hair tie. 'Tig' was scrawled out messily in blue ink. Somehow he knew what was in the envelope before he even had it in his hands. Tig pulled back the flap, face completely deadpan.
"Son of a bitch."
Juice on the other hand looked completely dismayed as he pulled the contents of the envelope out. "Shit man, I wish someone would leave me a few hundred bucks."
Tig grunted, shoving the bills back in. Never in his life had the sight of money with his name on it made him feel so shitty. Then again, there was a first time for everything.
