Painted Lines

by Brei Betzold

  “What were they fighting over?” he asked.

  I shrugged, “Dunno, wasn’t there for that.”

  “Where were you?” the girl snapped.

  I looked up at her. “I was having coffee across the street with Matt, not that it’s any of your business.”

  She plopped down and glared at me and after a few minutes, I snapped, “What is your problem?”

  “Why can’t you just let him be happy?”

  I looked over at Simon and he shrugged looking just as confused. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Why do you fight Cas over everything?”

  I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “Fight Cas? Are you serious?”

  “He came here to help you, to get you out of trouble, and you don’t even care. You just take and take, then when he gives you advice you fight him.”

  I stared at her blankly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh don’t you?” she scoffed. “He proposes, so what do you do? Make sure all the attention is on you, get yourself in trouble so he has to come and save you, and you never even say thank you.”

  I looked back at Simon, “What is she talking about?”

  “I have no idea,” he said looking back at me.

  “Oh I know girls like you. They think everyone should focus on you, that you’re so special. Well, guess what? You’re not.”

  “Huh?”

  “How do you think it makes me feel when everything is about how Scout will take it. How will it affect Scout, well what about me?” she screeched. “What about how it affects me?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.

  “You need to grow up already.”

  “Well we at least agree about that,” I muttered, “but the rest I have no idea what you are talking about. What about you, Simon, have any ideas?”

  “I think I might,” he said sounding befuddled, “and if I’m right then Cas is in trouble.”

  “Cas is already in trouble.”

  “Not with you this time, Scout, well maybe with both of you.”

  “Huh?”

  “Holly, what has Cas told you about Scout?”

  Oh yeah that’s her name, Holly. Huh, guess I should remember that since she’s apparently going to be my sister-in-law.

  “Nothing, he won’t tell me anything except that he has to take care of her, that he’s responsible for her. Then I get here and she throws temper tantrums, ignores him, and is mean to him, and I know how much he worries about her and she doesn’t even care.”

  “Say what?” I growled. “I don’t even know where to start with that statement.”

  “You were out all night last night, didn’t even bother calling him or answering his calls. You just took off. Who does that? He tries to take care of you and you throw it all back in his face. You ruined my proposal, did you know that? He asked me to marry him, then he was gone. He had to go and take care of you. So what? He told you he was getting married and then what, you start crying about some mean person who hurt your feelings?”

  I blinked then blinked again, yeah she was serious. “Okay first of all, I never knew you existed until last night. I’m sure that is nothing against you but my brother once again trying to protect me from myself and the world. Second, I never asked Cas to come here, I thought up until a week or so ago that his whole unit came back. I found out the truth after he showed up. Third, I did not throw a temper tantrum last night. You apparently missed his whole screaming at me, his hurting me, not the other way around. Fourth, I want nothing more than for Cas to be happy, if it’s with you then fine, great, go have a nice life, but do not expect me to give mine up, if that makes me selfish then so fucking be it.”

  She sat there staring at me looking a little shell shocked then burst into tears. I looked over at Simon, wondering what the hell to do now. He was no use. He looked just as panicked as I’m sure I did.

  “You…you didn’t know about me?” she finally got out.

  “Uhm no, but don’t take it personally I didn’t know my father wasn’t my father until last night.”

  “What?” she asked confused.

  “Cas and everyone else keep things from me, important things, because they want to shelter me. That’s why I left last night. That’s why I turned off my phone because I am done with it. So what if I fucking break?” I said looking at Simon. “It’s better than not living at all which is what I’ve been doing.”

  “Scout, I won’t say sorry for protecting you, but I am sorry it’s hurt you.”

  “I’m done,” I whispered. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live in this bubble, and you none of you are allowing me to live my life.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I don’t know,” I said looking at him, “but something has to give. I can’t keep doing this. I don’t have it in me to fight you every day. I am so tired of fighting every day. I just want to live. I want to know what that means. I want to be happy and all of you keep me from that when you try to keep me hidden away. It happened. I know it did. I will never forget it happened, but I can’t keep living it every fucking day, because I am still chained to that bed, Simon.” I looked up at him, “I know you meant well, but it has to stop, and it won’t as long as we’re all so close, so I’m going.”

  “Where will you go?” he whispered.

  “I don’t know, and it won’t be far because we all have too much to work out. I do not want to lose you, but I need to find myself and I can’t do that with the way things are now.”

  Chapter 36

  We sat around for a while staring at the boring blue grey walls that had notices pinned and taped on them. I sighed, I was going to kick both their asses when I saw them for pulling this shit. I looked around at the other occupants of the room, they all looked equally bored, though a few were crying quietly, and I felt bad for those girls. This wasn’t my first time in this predicament—Cas had a temper, Li was an idiot. I knew the drill, sit around and wait, sign the papers, sit around and wait, pay out money then sit around and wait.

  “So if Cas never mentioned me?” Holly began interrupting my people watching. “You didn’t know about him wanting to move?”

  “Nope.”

  “But he said you were going to move with us.”

  “I’m sure he did,” I mused.

  “He never asked you if you wanted to move?”

  “Nope.”

  “What was he thinking?” she muttered.

  “He was thinking Scout would do what he wanted, because she always does he wants, until now,” Simon answered.

  “Do you want to move?” she asked.

  I looked at her, “You know, you are the first person to ask me that.”

  That seemed to shock her. “Really?”

  I nodded, “And to answer your question, no, I do not want to move, and I am not leaving San Diego. Cas is more than welcome to go, it’s his choice. Mine is to stay.”

  She watched me for a minute. “He won’t go if you don’t.”

  I shrugged, “That’s not my problem, that’s his. It’s his choice to make for himself. I am not leaving behind my family, my dream so he can live his.”

  “And what’s this dream of yours?” she asked. “Since it seems to be so important.”

  “I want to open and run my own shop. I want to do what I love and I want to do it in my building with my tools and my family.”

  “You can do that anywhere.”

  “No I can’t. Simon, Liam, Kale, Saul, they are all in San Diego, so no, I can’t do it anywhere.”

  Simon cleared his throat. “Plus, we have a good deal going on in San Diego. We’re buying out the shop we work at now, and at a good price. The owner now will be a silent partner until we can pay him off then he bows out, and it’s ours. Winning this thing here is our down payment as well as getting the money for rehabbing the shop to meet our needs.”

  “You didn’t mention Cas in your plans,” Holly said.

&n
bsp; “No, he’s never wanted it. He’s talked about working with us, but we’ve always known it’s not what he wanted and if he did it, it would only be until he did figure out what he wanted.”

  Simon nodded, “Cas was never a part of our plan. He always had and has a place to work, but he’s never wanted this, never loved it the way we do.”

  “I know,” she murmured, “but he thinks that you made some plan including him, expecting him to just join, and he never wanted to but didn’t know how to tell you.”

  “I know,” I told her, “and I’ve told him that I could not care less if he’s involved or not, because it’s not his dream, it’s mine, it’s what I want to do with my life.”

  She laughed, “He doesn’t listen very well, does he?”

  “Nope,” Simon and I said at the same time. I looked over and smiled at him. I was still hurt and betrayed by what he had done, but he was still my friend.

  “Is this what the fight was over last night?” she asked.

  I looked over at her then Simon then her again. “Weren’t you there last night? We weren’t exactly quiet.”

  “Yeah, I just didn’t understand most of what you were talking about, and no one really talked after you left, except Cas ranting.”

  “Oh I am sure he did,” I mused.

  “I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just with what I’ve seen and the little I’ve heard, I jumped to conclusions, though I have a feeling I’m still missing a lot of information. Cas and I will discuss that later though as well as other things.”

  I smiled at her, “It’s okay, I do get it. Just be easy with him, he doesn’t mean to be an ass it’s just who he is.”

  She smiled and nodded, “I’ll see what I can do about being easy on him.”

  Just then my name was called and I looked up and saw them leading Thayne and Cas towards us. I took a deep breath, walked over to the officer in charge of the desk and signed all the release paperwork. The guys came out and signed their own paperwork. Cas glaring at Thayne the entire time.

  When they both turned towards me, I finally got a good look at the damage they had done to each other. Cas had a black eye and split lip, Thayne had what looked like at one point a bloody nose and a bruise on his cheek.

  “Feel better?” I asked them. Thayne looked embarrassed but Cas looked pissed and proud of himself.

  “Let’s go,” I muttered then turned and walked out the doors leaving everyone else to follow.

  “I need a ride home,” I said when we were out in the parking lot and I tossed Thayne his keys. He had given them to a cop to give to me when he was arrested. I let the guys take care of Stella then drove his car over.

  He nodded and went to the driver side of his GTO.

  “We can take you, Scout,” Cas growled.

  I looked at his truck then the three of them, “Uhm, no you’re at capacity, plus Thayne needs to pick up Nikki at the house, and I am pissed at you.”

  I pulled open the door and sat down shutting the door before he could reply.

  “Ready?” Thayne asked.

  “Yeah,” I muttered, “now spill.”

  He sighed and started the car up then looked over at me, “I’m sorry.”

  “For?”

  “Getting into a fight with your brother.”

  I shrugged, “He threw the first punch, you just protected yourself.”

  “Saw that, huh?”

  “Yep, only you two dumbasses could get into a fight in front of a police cruiser.”

  “Yeah, not the best luck, huh?”

  “So how did it start?”

  He bit his lip and glanced over at me before looking back at the road. “He told me to stay away from you. I told him no and he didn’t like that answer. He started yelling, I started yelling then well, you saw what came next.”

  I nodded, “Yeah, I saw that,” I said debating the most painful way to kill my brother.

  Once we pulled up to the house, I jumped out of the car and ran into the house. I made a beeline for my room and started grabbing the bags that Cas had packed the day before. I looked around and made sure I wasn’t forgetting anything vital. I carried my two bags into the kitchen dropped them on the ground and went about gathering my meds. I opened one of my bags, tossed them in, and looked around for anything I missed. When I was sure I had everything I needed out of the kitchen, I went to the living room and grabbed my Kindle shoving it in my bag then zipping it up. Cam, Nikki, Liam, and Kale were staring at me, I waved bye at them and went back to the door.

  I was out of the house before Thayne had made it in. I was shoving my bags into my saddlebags when Cas pulled up. He opened the door then slammed it shut, I ignored him and went to the other side shoving the last bag in. When I was done, I remembered I forgot my toiletries, I debated for a second and decided they weren’t worth going back for.

  “What are you doing, Scout?” Cas asked.

  “Packing.”

  “You’re leaving?” he asked astonished.

  I nodded, “Yep, Simon, I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He nodded on his way into the house. “See you then,” he called out.

  “Hold on, Scout, what’s going on?”

  “I’m leaving,” I stated buckling the bag and turned around to look at him, “Call me when you can act like an adult.”

  “Wait, what, do you honestly think I am going to let you just go and shack up with this guy?”

  “I never said anything about Thayne, you did. Now I am leaving, call my cell when you’re ready to talk until then stay away from me Cas. I will not be treated like this any longer, do you understand me?”

  He scoffed, “Treated like what?”

  “A child,” I told him calmly. “I will not be yelled at, I will not be told what to do, and I will not be kept from what I want in life by anyone. When you can accept this, we can talk, until then I love you. I do, I love you so much, but I cannot let this continue for my own sake.”

  I climbed on Stella, strapped on my helmet, turned her on hitting the throttle and leaving while he stood there gaping at me like a fish. Now to find a motel room and get some sleep before I have to be at the shop in the morning, and food would be a good idea. I ran by a drive thru window and went to the same motel we stayed at originally. After checking in I found my room instantly dropping my stuff by the door letting the door shut softly behind me.

  I plopped down on the bed, turned on the TV, and ate my food. After my stomach finally stopped complaining, I pulled out my phone. I went through my texts first; I had twenty-five missed texts, most were from Liam and Cas, one from Thayne. I ignored the others and pulled his up. It was simple, call me, I smiled and hit the button to call him.

  “Hey,” I said when he answered.

  “Hey,” he replied and I could hear the tension in his voice, “where are you?”

  “At a motel,” I told him. “I couldn’t stay there anymore.”

  He sighed, “I get that, Bella, but you could have stayed with me.”

  “No I need to do this on my own,” I said then quickly tacked on a “for now” to appease him.

  “Okay, I understand,” he murmured, “but next time, warn me before you royally piss of your brother, yeah?”

  I giggled, “Sorry, I knew I had to get out and fast or we would have spent the night fighting with him trying to lock me in the house.”

  “Yeah, I can see that,” he muttered. “Oh and call Saul, he’s about to murder your brother.”

  “All right, I’ll call him, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “K, call me if you need anything.”

  “Anything?” I purred.

  “Night, Bella,” he said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

  After hanging up with him, I called Saul, talking him out of strangling my brother, and reassured him I was fine. After promising to call him the next day, I was finally able to curl up and go to sleep.

  Chapter 37

  So I realized in the middle of my shower the nex
t morning that I didn’t have any shampoo, conditioner, or soap. I cursed myself for forgetting it. I used the crappy stuff they had on hand and promising myself to run by the store to pick up what I needed. I rifled through my bags until I found clothes for the day, quickly dressed and grabbed my pills. I groaned when I saw that I was running low on them again. Guess I would be delving into my savings very soon. I headed out of the motel room in search of coffee and called in my prescriptions to pick up later in the afternoon. After finally tracking down coffee and a muffin, I headed for the garage, ready to get the day started.

  When I pulled up, I found Thayne leaning against his car, arms across his chest and fedora on his head. I smiled at the image he made. I turned off the bike, pulled my helmet off, and grinned at him. He smiled back, pushed off the car, and walked towards me. I took in his long legs encased in worn denim, black T-shirt pulled tight across his chest and let out a small sigh.

  “Morning, Bella,” he said before leaning down and kissing me. I kissed him back and what started as a simple good morning welcome turned obscene quickly. He sucked my tongue into his mouth, and I parried with him, until we finally broke apart panting.

  “Morning Thayne,” I whispered when I could breathe again. “How was your night?”

  “Lonely,” he muttered. “How was yours?”

  “Quiet.”

  He smiled reaching for my hand lacing our fingers together, “Come on, let’s go get some coffee before everyone starts showing up.”

  I nodded following him into the garage and into the common area. He directed me towards the couch then went and fixed us two cups of coffee.

  “I could get used to this,” I murmured when he handed me my cup.

  “What?” he said looking confused.

  “Being spoiled by you.”

  “Mmm, I would love to spoil you like this every morning.”

  I shook my head. “I’ve made a few decisions.”

  “Okay,” he said looking a little apprehensive, “what would those be?”

  “I need to be independent for a while, I can’t fall back into the pattern of expecting someone else to take care of me, so for now we date.”