She had thought about keeping the money. It wouldn't have been used, getting a ticket out of town when you didn't really have any plans or a particular destination in mind felt ill advised. She could have just as easily kept it stashed in the bottom of her bag. It had surprised her that he'd been so adamant that she take the money back. Why would he care about some random chick he didn't really know? It wasn't like she walked around town with a big cardboard sign that had 'Tig took my money.' in big block letters.

Leaving it at the gate felt like a good thing to do. He had won it, and it had been her own damn fault for being dumb enough to lose it in the first place. The money was left at the garage for someone to find, and she went about her business.

When Maddison had arrived at work the next day the line cook wasted no time shoving a now grease stained envelope into her hands. Tig's name was scratched out but something else had been written underneath. 'Keep it.' She wasn't sure how to explain it, why someone was leaving a few hundred bucks for her at her work. It did seem a little suspect. That night she trekked out to the garage, again leaving the money at the gate.

Apparently he was as stubborn as she was because it didn't end that night. Much like the previous day, the money was waiting for her at work by the time she got there. This continued for three more days, back and forth. She got that he was trying to do something nice. Why he was doing it was still a mystery but every day the money came back to her hands, the more she got a little more ticked off about it. She didn't want help. Not from him or anyone else. She had gotten a job, she was making it work. On the fourth morning when she had gotten to the diner to find a envelope, now featuring a note, there waiting for her in her locker Maddison was done. If he was going to keep it up, she was going to make sure he didn't have any money to send back.

On her way back home from work she stopped by the little pizza joint on mainstreet. She couldn't eat diner food all the time, after all. It wasn't something Maddison had planned but when she was at the cash buying herself a slice it just hit her like lighting. At first the kid behind the cash looked at her in disbelief when she placed the order, but when she pulled out the money…those teenagers had a quick change of heart. Especially after she had set aside the tip for them, as well as the poor soul who would have to deliver the food.

—

He'd been enjoying the night. Having a smoke a nursing a beer, watching a crow eater attempt to rub up on Chibs. He'd been trying to make the hard choice about whether or not to head to the dorms or get his ass home when Juice walked through the door. Literally up to his eyes in pizza boxes.

They'd been talking club business not ten minutes before and no one had called for food. They were too broke for that shit. "The hell is that?" He cocked his head to the side while Juice placed the boxes down on the counter. The other guys, and the odd chick practically pounced on them like they hadn't seen food for days.

"Special delivery. It's already paid for, from a friend of the club or something." Juice had barely gotten his sentence out before shoving a piece of pizza into his mouth.

Clay looked at the boxes skeptical. "We piss anyone off lately?" and Juice choked on his slice.

"When do we not?" Tig was still trying to figure out why the fuck anyone would send them this much pizza. Juice wasn't dead yet and no one else was gagging. The grease was alluring but something was rubbing him the wrong way. Then it hit him when one of the crow eaters shifted one of the boxes off the pile. It had a recipe stuck to it. "You've gotta be shitting me…"

No one got an explanation as he stood up. Abandoning the food, his brothers, and the beer. Not before stopping to knock the pizza out of Juice's hands as he walked by. "Oh come on, man!" The other complained but Tig wasn't listening, he had more important things to do.

—

He was lucky. He'd caught her just before she made the turn to the shelter. The pizza place was on her way back, she probably passed it every day. If she'd already been back at the shelter there wasn't anything he could have done. Showing up at a women's shelter pissed off demanding to see one of them? Yeah, that wasn't going to go very well for him.

The harley crawled along the side walk, keeping pace with her. Maddison didn't so much as look his way. It wasn't until he spoke that she so much as glanced at him. "What the fuck was that for?" Now that, that got her to stop.

The look on her face screamed oblivious but he knew that they were already on the same page. "What?" She adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder. "You don't like pepperoni?" A small smile tugged at her lips but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. No surprise there.

He didn't get it. Why couldn't she just take the money and be happy about it? She obviously needed it, so why all the back and forth shit? Wasn't like it was blood money or something.

"I was trying to help you out." Now the harley had pulled to the stop and he was throwing his leg over. "Why you being such a pain in the ass?" She had won, technically. It wasn't like he could return the pizza - which was probably gone by now anyway. The money was gone and he couldn't do anything about it.

"I didn't want your help."

"Yeah," Tig rolled his eyes. "You made that pretty freakin' clear."

Maddison turned went to turn away from him, but he wasn't letting her off just yet. "Look I just wanted to help. There's no way you're staying at a shelter by choice." and if she wanted to leave, that had kept her in place. The woman looked a little less defensive now. Not much, but enough to make him feel that she wasn't about to go for his eyes.

"Why do you care so much?" She asked with a surprisingly less amount of snark than he had anticipated. That was a good question. Why did he care so much about it? He was coming up blank on that one. "Doesn't matter since the money's gone now. Goodnight, Tig." Now Maddison did turn away from him and if he hadn't been annoyed before he was now. He couldn't let her have the last word on this. He wasn't letting her win.

He hadn't planned it but every step she took he could feel himself panicking a bit internally. No fucking way was she wining. "You can stay at my place!" Tig blurted out. The words seemed to echo down the quiet street. Maddison froze in her tracks. He hadn't actually thought about it, there was no train of thought attached to it. It had just kind of happened.

"You want me to stay at your place?" Maddison repeated slowly, like she was trying to process what he'd said. That was a fair response - he was trying to process it himself.

"Just until you get back on your feet, or do whatever it is you're trying to. You wouldn't need to pay me." As soon as the words left his mouth he realized that he'd said the wrong thing. Tig quickly jumped on the defensive. "I didn't mean it like that," Christ, he hoped she hadn't taken it the way that he thought that it had sounded. "Look I've got an extra room and I'm hardly there anyway…If I am it's later at night and you work insane hours. You'd barely see me. if you wanna give back or some shit you could clean up a bit, cook, or whatever."

He would have preferred a snappy retort over the minute of silence that he was getting. She hadn't run away, nor was she flipping him off. In truth Tig wasn't sure who he was trying to convince with his speech. Maddison, or himself. He didn't know much about the girl if anything at all. She had tattoos, scars, and was kind of an irresponsible drunk. All in all she seemed alright. She seemed normal. He sure as shit had worse in that house in the past. He didn't remember the last time he had a fucking roommate though, last time he'd lived with the a girl it had to have been when he'd had his old lady around. That had gone over so well.

It felt like it was way too wait to take the offer back now. If she wanted to stand there all night he could, Tig didn't particularly want to but if needed he could power through it. "Will you at least think about it?" Since now he was, too. She was staying at a women's shelter. It wasn't a particularly large one as far as he knew and it probably catered to the other counties - other people would need the beds sooner or later. It wasn't the happiest place in the world either.

After a freaking eternity she finally decided that he was worthy of an answer. "I'll think about it." Maddison said with a small nod of her head. It wasn't entirely convincing, but she sounded just sincere enough that he didn't press the issue anymore. She could have just as easily told him to screw off instead of giving him an actual answer. This seemed promising from where he was standing.

Tig had no interest in tempting the fates. If he wanted things to go his way, he couldn't push anymore than he already had. This was one of those rare times when leaving something alone was not only the correct course of action - but the one that he was going to take. His work there was done, and it was probably for the best that he left before Maddison changed her mind. "You know where to find me, doll." He also knew where to find her - but saying that out loud was kind of creepy. Even for him.

"Yeah…have a good one." Quiet but still civil. He'd take it. This had gone so well. Tig flashed her a small smile as the bike came to life.

Maddison had almost smiled back. At least, it looked like she had tried. "You too, doll." The words were dripping with the signature Trager charm. It wasn't like it was going to hurt anymore than offering her a room at his place could have. It had been impulsive but he had never been much of a thinker anyway. Ting had to hand it to her; spending the money the way she had was pretty damn clever. Part of him was actually hoping she would take him up on the offer. Not only because in his own way he would be winning their little pissing contest, but she seemed like a decent gal. He didn't want her being half a step away from being homeless on his account.