Painted Lines

by Brei Betzold

  I smirked at him. “The first time you dropped your pants and showed me your cock and I couldn’t see anything.” I responded and quickly ran out of the bathroom before he found something to throw at me.

  “I was five, you bitch!” He yelled at me while I quickly slammed the door shut.

  I finally got everyone out of the motel room and to breakfast, or lunch rather. Hell I didn’t know what time it was at this point, only that I was in desperate need of coffee and food.

  “So we need to come up with the team name,” said Simon, always the responsible one.

  “How about—” Liam began but I quickly cut off any idea he had by kicking him under the table. “What?” He whined, rubbing his shin.

  “We’re in public,” I reminded him.

  He scowled at me but kept his mouth shut, for now at least.

  “How about the “They are going to kick your ass so might as well go home,” team,” responded Kale. I rolled my eyes at that and looked over at Simon, hoping he had an idea, but he just shook his head at me. Liam opened his mouth but I glared and he snapped it shut.

  “We’ve been trying to figure this out for weeks, and nothing, we have to give them a name today,” I whined.

  “Misfit Cabal.”

  I looked over at Simon and quirked my eyebrow at him, “Huh?”

  “Cam’s suggestion, The Misfit Cabal, cause well she knows us.” He replied with a shrug.

  I nodded and looked at our other two teammates and saw their smiling faces, “Okay then, Misfit Cabal it is.”

  My cell chose that moment to ring and when I looked at the caller id, I squealed quickly answering the call, “Cas.”

  “Hey there, just wanted to make sure you got in okay.”

  “Yep, eating breakfast.”

  “Good, so tell me about the competition?” With that, I told him about everyone and everything I had seen and heard as well as our current game plan. As it goes with all our phone calls though he had to go before I was ready to let him hang up.

  “Love you,” I told him.

  “Love you too, baby, just a little while longer.”

  “I know.” I scowled into the phone.

  “Stop pouting and go to work.” He replied but I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Sir, yes Sir, love you, Cas,” I said before we disconnected and the depression set in immediately.

  “He will be fine and home soon,” Simon murmured into my hair wrapping me in his arms. I nodded, wiping my eyes, and getting my team back on track on what all we needed to do today, including getting keys to our rental house.

  After running by the realtor’s office, we headed to our new temporary home to settle in before heading back to the garage. I stood shoved against the front door trying to get it unlocked as the three stooges behind me shoved to vie to get in the door first. I elbowed someone in the ribs trying to make room. I finally got the door open and quickly moved out of the way so I wouldn’t be trampled. I shook my head at the idiocy of how juvenile they were acting.

  “Cam and Simon get the master bedroom.” I said loudly causing everyone to look at me.

  “Why do they get the master?” Whined Liam.

  “Uhm, because they have Zadok and need the room,” I replied shaking my head, seriously it should be self-explanatory.

  “You and Kale get the second largest room,” I told him, “just make sure your bed is not on any walls that are connected to my room.”

  He snickered looking over at Kale. “Why not Scout? It’s the most action you’ve gotten in a while.”

  “I do not need to hear you being ass fucked, Li, hell, that’s part of the reason I moved out to begin with.”

  Simon coughed covering his laughter while Liam glared at me, and Kale looked down at the ground, blushing.

  “You moved out because Cas’s skag left him and he kicked her out of his place.” replied Liam.

  “Skag?” I asked curiously.

  He shrugged, “Part skank part hag, fitting for her.”

  I looked over at a now choking Simon and laughing Kale, shaking my head; this was going to be a long two months.

  I shook my head at him in wonder then nodded. “That too, anyway that’s the way rooms are going. Cam should be here in a few days with the rest of our stuff.”

  I headed off in exploration of the small three-bedroom house we had rented. I found the kitchen and was happy to find it was a decent size with plenty of counter space. There was a small four-person table in the dining area that would get a decent amount of early sunlight; I looked forward to having coffee and reading a book in the little nook in the morning. I headed through the hallway on the other side of the galley like kitchen.

  I found Simon unpacking in the master bedroom across the hall, his door was closed but I could hear voices behind it. There was no way I was going in there. Next to the master bedroom was the bathroom I would be sharing with Liam and Kale. Next to their room, I came across the room I would be using.

  I walked in dropped my bag to the floor and shut the door behind me. Curling up in the center of the bed, I hoped to get a nap before it was time to leave, and thankfully my eyes closed quickly.

  Chapter 3

  We stood around the garage waiting for the producer of the show and whoever else was joining him. They were supposed to tell us the layout of the show and who the judges were going to be. I glanced around looking at all the teams assembled and noticed that we were the smallest team of only four people, according to the rules you could have up to six team members. I noticed most of the teams had six people, a few had five, and we were the lonely team of four. Not only did all the other teams have more members, all but one was affiliated with a known bike building shop. I shrugged it off, we may not work with a custom bike builder, but we did work with a man who knew bikes inside and out. He was able to teach us things I am sure most of these people would never have the opportunity to learn.

  Finally, the producer showed up with his entourage, I couldn’t remember his name from yesterday. He walked through the group to the front and cleared his throat trying to get everyone’s attention. Looked around, I saw most people were ignoring him. I could have told him that would never worked with this crowd. He finally smartened up and called us all to be quiet, loudly, guess he didn’t like to be ignored.

  “So for those of you who don’t remember, my name is Marc and I am the producer of this show. I am in charge of everything, and what I say is law.” he started.

  I rolled my head towards Simon and found him looking at me, we both pulled snarky faces, I think the producer was going to be schooled on who was in charge with this group, and it wouldn’t be him.

  “The way this is going to work is we will have a new challenge each week, at the end of the week one of the teams will be asked to leave. You will be given a mini challenge as well to earn a prize of some sort, each week it will be something different.”

  I rolled my eyes, so far it sounded like any other show I had unfortunately seen—lovely.

  “You will be given your weekly challenge after the mini challenge, as well as a schedule for each team at the certain areas in the shop. You will have a key to your stall to lock up when you have ran out of your scheduled time. After you have locked up you will hand that key over to my staff for safekeeping until the following day. There will be no violence allowed, if there is, both parties will be asked to leave.”

  He glanced around the group as if to make sure we were listening. “We will be handing out the other rules and regulations shortly, memorize them and do not break them. If you have, any questions feel free to come and ask me. Let me repeat myself, if you have any questions or concerns once again, come and talk to me. Now to introduce our judges, the first is Charlie Sterling, owner and custom paint guru of Sterling Bikes. Next is Paul Fineman, chief designer and builder at SoCa Custom Motorcycles. The final judge is Ace Thacker, the owner, chief designer, and builder of Ace & Lace Cycles. I do realize that a team is competing from Ace &
Lace Cycles. They were kind enough to offer to take the spot of a team that was unable to be here, and since they are doing this on short notice will not be here until Monday morning. Therefore, to keep this fair we have decided that Ace will not be allowed in the garage until time of judging. This way he won’t know whose work is whose.”

  I looked over at Simon and found him staring slack jaw at the producer. His eyes wide as saucers, and I am sure my face looked exactly like his.

  We were so fucked it wasn’t even funny.

  “It’s now Saturday afternoon, we start on Monday morning at six a.m. Today and tomorrow you will each, by team, have scheduled appointments with a stylist. Then you will be sent over to film your teams vignette for the introduction. Meet over there where my assistant producer will have the rules and regulations, as well as your time to meet up with the stylist. Have a good afternoon. I look forward to working with all of you on Monday.”

  I rolled my head around my shoulders trying to break up the tension that had built there with that announcement. Looking back over at Simon, he opened his mouth and I shook my head slightly and looked around the room. Almost every pair of eyes were now focused on me and my reaction to what Marc the producer had just laid out for all of us. Without understanding what he had just done, I turned and walked over to the assistant producer getting all the info he had for us. Then quickly left the garage area and the eyes watching me. I was trying my best to act like nothing was wrong.

  While walking out of the building, I was too busy thinking of the last time I had seen Ace instead of watching where I was going. I ran blindly into a guy who had stopped by the door. I looked up, apologized, then walked around him, and headed out the doors and into the sunlight taking a deep breath. I decided to see what time and day we were meeting with the stylist, of course, it would be in an hour. I had no time to get away from here for a little while. The doors swung open and the man I had ran into walked out pulling out a pack of cigarettes. The rest of my team followed close behind.

  Simon saw me, opened his arms and I was wrapped up in a hug with two more pairs of arms wrapping around us.

  “It’ll be okay, Scout,” he whispered in my ear, “we will make sure he stays away.”

  I nodded acknowledging that I heard him but really wished Cas was here with me now.

  I took a deep breath and stepped out of their arms, there was no reason to worry about things before anything had even happened. I didn’t believe it, but maybe if I kept repeating it in my head I would eventually. I looked over at my team and gave them a shaky smile. I knew they could see through it, but I would not let him or his presence here shake my confidence.

  “Okay, so it seems we have to meet up with the stylist soon.” I told them, ignoring their concerned looks. Simon looked like he was about to say something, but I spoke up quickly, “Let’s not borrow problems, we have enough already, like making Liam pretty enough to stand beside me.” I joked.

  Liam put his arm over my shoulder. “Now princess, you cannot honestly think you are prettier than I am, can you?”

  I looked up at him and squinted my eyes taking his features in and shook my head “Li darling, I know I am prettier than you.”

  He pulled my ponytail so my head was tipped back slightly so he could look in my eyes, “You are a brat, Harper Lee,” he declared with all the authority he could muster while grinning.

  I nodded my head, “So you’ve told me,” I reminded him. “Okay, let’s go in and find out where we need to be.”

  Apparently, what we needed to do was be attacked by three women who had consumed so much sugar and caffeine they acted and talked like hummingbirds on crack. Liam fit in perfectly, the rest of us though were more than a little weary of getting into their chairs and letting them, as they put it, “work their magic on our grease monkey asses.” When they discussed coloring my hair a “normal” color and cutting it shorter, they were told in no uncertain terms that, that was fine as long as they never planned to sleep again. After that, they just layered on pounds of makeup, tittered on about smoky eyes, and just kissed lips. In turn, I tuned them out, I had to for my own sanity.

  After twenty minutes of them pulling, pinching, and plucking, along with enough hair products to kill what was left of the ozone, they finally let me out of their chair. I looked over at the other guys and couldn’t help the snicker that my guys were all wearing make-up, which wasn’t unusual for Liam, but the other two did not look happy about it. When all three looked up at me, their jaws dropped and they stared. I began to fidget when none of them said anything, just sat there looking at me.

  “Holy shit, Harper Lee,” Liam breathed out, “you’re a girl.”

  I scowled and flipped them all off and went to find the clothes they planned for us to wear to film the vignette. When I saw what they planned for me, my jaw dropped. I started shaking my head, trying to take in what hung up on the rack with my name attached to it.

  “Huh uh, nope, no way in fucking hell.” I muttered to myself spinning around in search of someone to yell at. Nope, not happening, no way was I wearing skin tight fucking jumpsuit.

  I sighed in annoyance because fifteen minutes later, I stood there while someone zipped up the jumpsuit. I had been reminded that I had signed a contract, so I didn’t have a lot of choices. Though they did concede to not having me wear this thing while competing since it was too tight to really move in, let alone work in. I should have expected this, being the only girl in the competition of course; they would try to capitalize on that. Though in all reality, none of the guys I was around on a daily basis looked at me like a girl, so I didn’t think about it.

  “Scout, you look fine.” Simon choked out when he saw me. I glared at him, “Okay I will admit I don’t like it either, but it will be alright, it’s just long enough to get this finished, yea?”

  I nodded my head just wanting this to be over with. We headed to what I guessed would be our stall and then spent the next two hours being turned this direction and that, posed, and of course more makeup slathered on to my face. By the time it was all finished, I really wanted a hot shower, hot food, and to be left the fuck alone. I didn’t like to be touched by anyone not in my immediate circle, let alone manhandled as I had been for the past three hours; I was finished with people for the day. Luckily for me, every one of my friends realized I was at my limit and acted as a shield as I got ready to get out of there.

  Once back in my regular clothes, I threw my hair up, and ran out the doors to where my bike sat. I pulled on my helmet climbed on and was out of the parking lot. I needed to be away from everyone, the feel of people’s hands on my skin made me want a bottle of bleach and boiling water. I knew that this wasn’t a normal reaction, most girls would relish the kind of treatment I had today, but I wasn’t most girls, and the thought of going through that again was causing me to panic. Before I knew it I was in front of our rental, not sure how I ended up there. I quickly pulled into the driveway turning off the bike and climbing off her. I instantly fell to the ground ripping my helmet off, not even feeling the bite of the cement on my hands or knees, and let the panic attack take me.

  Chapter 4

  I hadn’t realized anyone had followed me until someone picked me up. I immediately started to fight while my chest felt like it was being tightened in a vice. I couldn’t breathe, my heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest. I instinctively fought against the person holding me too tightly. No this could not be happening, not again, I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs to scream.

  “Shhh Scout, shhh, it’s Simon. I’m just taking you in the house.”

  I heard him talking to me but couldn’t fully understand all the words that followed. It was Simon, it wasn’t him, I was safe, but I couldn’t get my body to listen to that. I continued to fight and struggle from his hold. I felt hands running over my hair, I think trying to soothe me but it only made me fight harder.

  “Stop that,” A voice snapped, “no, not the BuSpar, get the Ativan.”


  When I was finally put down, and no one else was touching me, I stopped struggling, and curled into a ball as tight as I could make myself. No, I wouldn’t let this happen again. I would not survive a second time.

  “Scout, I need you to open your mouth.” A stern voice told me. I ignored the voice making myself an even smaller target.

  “Damn it, Scout, let’s not do this the hard way.” I whimpered and the tears began sliding down my face.

  A sigh from the other side of the room caused me to flinch. “Liam, Kale,” was all I heard before hands were on me pinning me down. I still couldn’t breathe. I began to shake as another hand clamped onto my jaw pulling it open. I began to fight again, struggling to get away from him. Something was shoved onto my tongue then my jaw was clamped shut so I could not spit it out. After a few seconds all the hands were gone. I curled back into an even tighter ball and held myself; I didn’t know what he would do to me this time.

  “Thank God they now have dissolving pills,” muttered a voice near me. I started rocking myself as best as I could while lying on my side. Soon my brain began to muddle and I could hear whispering until finally, it all stopped and my eyes drooped. I fought it knowing I wasn’t safe if I fell asleep, he would hurt me maybe even kill me this time, but I couldn’t fight for long and sleep took over.

  I woke up slowly, my brain was an addled mess. I couldn’t remember where I was or what had happened. I opened my eyes and realized I was in a living room, but couldn’t place it other than I had been there before. I started feeling my chest tighten and my breathing speed up and then I heard a familiar voice.

  “No, Cas, this one was mild.” Simon said, I looked around frantically trying to find him. He sat on the opposite side of the couch with my cell. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, it was starting to come back to me, the rental, I was in the rental’s living room, lying on the couch. I slowly stretched out my cramped muscles, with how I was feeling, I knew I had had another panic attack.