Painted Lines

by Brei Betzold

  I watched the backdoor open and Cam come through with Zadok. “Oh you’re home,” she said giving me a smile.

  “Yep,” I said tossing the veggies in the sauté pan.

  “Ooo and making your spaghetti.”

  “Yep.”

  “And pissed,” she mused.

  “Yep.”

  She walked over to Nikki, “Hi, I’m Cam and this is Zadok.”

  Nikki smiled at the baby. “I’m Nikki, Thayne’s sister.”

  “Nikki’s going to stay with you from now on when we’re at the garage,” I told Cam.

  “Oh?” Cam said looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “He’s been around,” I told her.

  “Oh,” she said coldly. “Well Nikki, it’ll be nice having someone around to talk to while they are off playing.”

  “Yeah, it was boring staying at the apartment by myself all day.”

  “So what happened?” asked Cam as we all listened to them still arguing.

  “There was a dead rabbit at the campgrounds,” said Nikki.

  “A dead rabbit?” she asked confused.

  “Mmhmm,” I replied, “lying by my head after it had been gutted.”

  “Oh shit,” she breathed out, “are you okay?”

  “Yep.”

  Simon stomped into the kitchen, stopped and looked at Nikki then at me and shook his head. “We’re going home,” he snapped.

  “Okay,” I told him.

  “Huh?” he grunted. “That’s it, ‘okay’?”

  “Yeah, call me when you get there and let me know you made it safely.”

  He growled, “I meant you are going home.”

  “Nope.”

  “What do you mean ‘nope’?”

  “I mean, nope,” I told him stirring the veggies while getting the sauce started.

  “This isn’t up for debate, Scout.”

  “Oh I know it’s not, because I will not be joining you.”

  “What is wrong with you?” he yelled. “Don’t you care about what’s been going on? First the pedal car, then the engine, the bike frame, and now a dead rabbit.”

  “What bike frame?” I asked confused looking over at him.

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  “Ah another secret,” I surmised, “that’s fucking lovely.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he mumbled.

  I snorted, “Of course it does.”

  “We just didn’t want to worry you,” he said trying to justify it.

  “No, you wanted to keep me stupid about what was fucking happening in my own life,” I yelled slamming the spoon down splattering sauce everywhere, but I really didn’t care at that point.

  “Cas is coming up in the morning. We’re heading home, pack your shit,” he yelled back.

  “No,” I screamed, “not this fucking time.”

  “Is this over some guy?” he shouted back. “Because we both know Cas won’t allow it. He’ll just leave you like the others did as soon as he sees how fucked up you are, then what, huh, Scout?”

  I took a deep breath and looked at my best friend. “No, this isn’t about a guy, this about me and pursuing the one fucking thing I have in my life. I really don’t give a fuck what you or Cas will or won’t allow, it’s my goddamn life Simon, let me live it.”

  “Let you live it? Really Scout? We all bend over backwards to let you live your life,” he bellowed.

  “Then stop, Simon, leave me to my own fucked up life, as you put it and go live yours,” I told him quietly.

  “You know what, just fucking deal with Cas when he gets here tomorrow,” he yelled then stormed off.

  I turned back towards the stove and stirred the sauce dumping in the slightly charred veggies. I reached up, wiped the tears from my face and turned to grab the herbs I needed and found everyone’s eyes on me. They all stared at me like I had grown a second head except Cam and Thayne who were smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

  “About fucking time,” Cam muttered.

  “You okay?” Thayne asked.

  I nodded and focused on cooking dinner. Once I had the sauce seasoned, I turned the heat down to let it simmer for a while.

  I walked into the living room and as one everyone stopped talking and looked up at me. I walked over to where Thayne was sitting on the couch and sat down on his lap.

  “Don’t stop talking about me just because I came in, I’m used to it,” I said.

  “Oh this is going to be fun,” Cam said smiling.

  I didn’t agree with her sentiments but didn’t correct her. This was going to be hard, and I didn’t know how I was going to deal with Cas tomorrow.

  Chapter 30

  Dinner was a tense affair. Simon spent most of dinner giving dirty looks around the table, but seemed to single out Thayne and myself. I really didn’t care if he was mad at this point, since I was still pissed off at him and everyone else for hiding things from me that affect me.

  “Cas will be here in the morning,” Simon growled eventually.

  I shrugged, “We have to be at the shop in the morning,” I reminded him.

  “Why, were leaving the competition anyway?” he retorted.

  “You are free to go,” I told him, “all of you are, but I am not quitting.”

  “Why are you being so stupid?” he yelled.

  “Simon,” I said quietly, “when have I ever quit on anything in my life?”

  He sighed and looked away. “Never,” he mumbled.

  I nodded, “And I am not starting now.”

  Dinner ended soon after that and I walked Thayne, Nikki, and Matt to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I murmured, Nikki and Matt said bye leaving me with Thayne.

  Thayne leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips then another to my forehead. “Sweet dreams, Bella,” he whispered then left I shut and locked the door then leaned my forehead against it.

  “Looks like things are going well with the two of you.”

  I looked over at Cam holding a sleeping Zadok. “Yeah, they are.”

  She nodded, “Good, you deserve to be happy. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I followed her and went to my own room grabbing PJs and went to take a quick shower then curled up in bed.

  I woke up in a cold sweat and shaking, dead eyes, that’s all I remembered about my dream, dead grey blue eyes. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was a little after five am, no point in trying to go back to sleep, not that I thought I could. I rolled out of bed trying to forget the sight of those eyes looking at me sightless but I wasn’t able to shake it off.

  I made a beeline for the coffee pot getting it started quickly. I stood there staring at it slowly dripping into the carafe below, but instead of seeing what was in front of me I saw those familiar eyes staring back at me. I shook it off, grabbed the carafe, and pushed my cup under the flow waiting for it to fill. When it finally did, I once again switched it back. I took a slow drink of the hot liquid and went to the living room curling up on the couch and reached out, snagging my sketchpad.

  I drank my coffee and sketched getting lost in another world. Sometimes losing myself in drawing helped me forget my problems. Only this time it didn’t work, I knew that Cas and I would end up in another argument, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I knew that they all thought that I was being obstinate because of Thayne, only that wasn’t it. I had wanted this, my own shop, for as long as I could remember. Now that I was so close to obtaining the startup money I would need, I wouldn’t—couldn’t quit.

  I knew Cas didn’t understand. He had the always known that he would inherit Ace’s shop, but he bucked against the idea and joined the Marines instead. I though, had only had that dream. I had always liked getting dirty, figuring out problems and fixing them. On top of that, I absolutely loved designing projects and seeing them completed, especially the aesthetic side. Painting, sketching, it all came naturally to me, and I loved working out new ideas to create what I saw as works of art that had a functional purp
ose.

  I was so close to making my dreams come to fruition that I wouldn’t back down now regardless if it angered Cas in the process. He had talked about joining us at one point, but in reality, I didn’t care if he did or not. I knew he didn’t enjoy the work as much as I did. To him it was something to fall back on. I didn’t know what his dreams were since he never told me, regardless if I asked, he would say he was happy with the way things were. I always knew though that he gave things up for me and I hated that. I hated being the one to put that haunted look in his eyes.

  “You okay?”

  I looked up and found Kale looking down at me I smiled up at him. “Yeah, just thinking.”

  “Anything I can help with?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “He’s scared, Scout” Kale said, “there’s been a lot going on.”

  I nodded, “A lot no one will tell me about.”

  “Which I don’t agree with, but Cas and Simon are…” he stalled.

  “In charge?”

  He looked away. “In the past yes, now I’m not sure anymore. You’ve changed since we came here, hell, you were changing before we came here. It can’t be easy on them. I think it may be worse for you. And I don’t know what’s brought on the change in you but I think it was going to happen sooner or later no matter what.”

  I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Why does everyone think he’s out to hurt me? I trust him.”

  “I know you do, which only scares them more, because until now you didn’t trust anyone, not even them. Now there’s this guy who you talk to, really talk to,” he said looking over at me. “Do you understand? Cas comes home planning on being Prince Caspian again, and instead it’s Thayne—he’s the one you run to, open up to, trust.”

  “I’m hurting them,” I whispered.

  “Yeah you are, but it’s not intentional. You’ve found someone who isn’t out to fix you, because he sees nothing broken.” Kale sighed. “Just be gentle with them, well as gentle as they let you, because they’re both fighting to keep you, and you’re fighting to get away. Someone’s going to end up hurt.”

  “And Thayne? What do I do about him?”

  “That I can’t tell you, you need to figure that on your own.”

  “Thanks for the help,” I muttered.

  “If I told you then you wouldn’t appreciate it like you will when you finally do figure it out,” he told me and leaned down kissing my cheek.

  “Love you, Kale,” I told him.

  “I know you do, Scout, you love all of us, but it’s time for you to live your life now.”

  With that, he turned and headed towards the bathroom. I sighed and leaned back on the couch, I had a lot to think over and in a short time.

  When Thayne showed up to drop off Nikki I was pulling my helmet on. I gave them a wave and started Stella. I pulled out of the driveway and hit the throttle. I had left early to avoid another run in with Simon. I wasn’t up to it this morning, and I didn’t want to chance Cas showing up before I left either. I had already been told second hand that I was to stay at the house and wait for him to get there. Well, I had things I needed to do other than sit around with my thumb up my ass waiting for him. I had five hundred thousand dollars to win. He could wait until I was finished for the day with that goal before he started yelling at me and telling me what to do.

  I was one of the first into the building and waved at the new security guards. The TV show finally decided that it would be a good idea to increase their security staff, so they added two more last week. I wasn’t sure what good it would do, but it was nice having them around even if it was an illusion. I went to the rest area, grabbing a cup of coffee, and sat down at one of the couches. Finally, more people began to stream in, it was a little strange, when we first started this venture there were six teams, and we were now down to three. Ours, Matt’s, and Thayne’s were all that was left, and I didn’t want any of them to leave.

  “Seraph,” Matt said sitting down beside me, “you’re here early.”

  “Eh, didn’t feel like staying around the house.”

  “Rough morning?”

  “More confusing, I guess.”

  “Ready for this, last one left before the final.”

  “Yeah, it’s going to tough beating you.”

  “Oh you wish, Seraph, I have age and experience.”

  “Mmm and I am young and have new ideas.”

  “So are you going back to San Diego after you lose?” he asked. “Or staying around for here?”

  “Oh I’ll be staying around so I can see your face when we win the vote.”

  He laughed. “We’ll see. What about Thayne, he headed home if they lose?”

  I shrugged, “Haven’t talked about it.”

  “Might want to, seems you two have gotten close, and I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “Haven’t had time to talk about it.”

  “Make time, Scout.”

  I nodded and watched him get up and head over to his guys. I was starting to wonder if mine were going to show or not, but they chose to show up at the last minute, all three of them.

  “So today’s mini challenge is a show of physical strength, you will all choose one team member to kick start a bike,” Eddie began. “You will get three tries each, the one to get it started the quickest wins, if there’s a tie we will go again.”

  “So who’s doing this?” I asked.

  “You are,” said Liam and Kale nodded.

  “Simon?”

  He shrugged, “Doesn’t really matter, does it?”

  I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. Thayne’s team found it amusing and began to laugh, Matt’s team all groaned. I smiled over at Matt and he winked at me. Thayne watched me curiously, what his team didn’t seem to understand is that I had been doing this since I was little. Ace had once told me that the only way he would let me hang out in the shop was if I could kick start a bike. I was five years old, so they brought in this mini bike, and I kick started it. He had to let me hang out then, because all the guys had heard the deal, and he hated that I had won.

  I sat back and watched the guy from Ace & Lace come up and try, on his third kick the bike kicked back and he didn’t get out of the way. I winced, there was a nasty bruise in the making. Next up was one of Matt’s guys. I remembered him from working at Ace’s, and he had the engine roaring on the third kick. After it was shut off, it was my turn. I walked up to the old shovelhead and instead of straddling it like the others, I stood over at the side. I put one foot firmly on the kick-start and the other on the ground. I picked my foot up and slammed it down hard, nothing. I readjusted my hold on the handlebars and did it again, slamming down hard again, and it roared to life. I quickly gave it some gas and smiled at Eddie.

  I walked by Thayne’s team all of them staring at me as if they hadn’t seen me before, and Matt’s team shaking their heads. Kale and Liam greeted me with smiles and high fives while Simon barely gave me a nod.

  “So the next challenge you will all be given a stock seven gallon tank. You are to fabricate a tank of your design using the stock tank as a base. You will then give it a custom paint job, as was stated at the last mini challenge the winning team will not gain an advantage since we are towards the end. You have two hours to work out a plan for your tank, get to work.”

  With that, we were off to our stalls, I immediately went for my sketch pad and pencils “Ideas?”

  From that, we went to work. Simon started to finally get into it and threw out some ideas as well. At the end of the two hour time limit, we had a sketch ready, and a plan for how to tackle the challenge.

  Chapter 31

  I walked into the house and heard laughter. I went towards the living room and found Cam, Nikki, and some girl I didn’t know sitting around talking. I leaned against the doorjamb and watched them. They were all at ease with one another talking, laughing, and I wondered if I would ever be able to do that with women. It wasn’t that I disliked women, it was that I didn’t kn
ow how to relate. I was raised with men, my friends were men, and they were what I knew. I sighed and walked in waving at Cam and Nikki.

  “Hey Scout,” Nikki said waving back at me, “how was work?”

  “It was good, I showed up a bunch of men, that’s always fun.”

  She looked at me like I confused her, “Why do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Work on bikes and all that?”

  I shrugged, “It’s what I love.”

  “Huh,” she said still looking at me strangely, “I haven’t met any women who work with my brother.”

  “There aren’t many in the industry,” I told her, “but I don’t really care about that. I’m not in it to be the token female. I’m in it because I like to do it and I’m good at it.”

  “Well aren’t you full of yourself?” asked Thayne behind me, I looked over and smiled at him.

  “Yes I am, and if I am not mistaken I beat you today.”

  “You did,” he nodded, “and freaked out my team.”

  I shrugged, “Oh well.”

  “All right, we need to go. Come on, Nikki you have a book to read.”

  “But I don’t want to,” she whined, “it’s so boring.”

  “What are you reading?” I asked as she got up and gathered her stuff.

  “A book for school, we have to read a list of books before school starts.”

  “Ah,” I said, “well, have fun.”

  I walked Thayne and Nikki out. Thayne kissed my cheek and winked at me before walking out the door. I shut it and went back to the living room eyeing the person I didn’t know.

  “So,” I said looking back and forth between them.

  “Cas is here,” Cam told me.

  I nodded, “I saw his truck, do you know where he left Angel?”

  “He said he left her in San Diego, he wanted the truck to haul things home.”

  “Mmm I am sure he did, where is he?”

  “Packing,” she told me watching me wearily, “your room.”

  “Mmm,” I said again then spun on my heel and headed towards my bedroom.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him trying to remain calm, my bags were out and he was tossing my clothes in them.

  “Packing,” he barked.