Painted Lines

by Brei Betzold

  “How did I end up in PJs?” I asked Thayne then yawned again.

  “You don’t remember?”

  I shook my head no.

  “Huh,” he grunted looking at me a little strangely. “After we came back to your room I helped you change then we went to bed.”

  “Oh, sorry I forgot that. Do anything kinky to me while helping me change?”

  He chuckled, “Yeah, lots of things too bad you can’t remember them,” he said jokingly but still looked a little off.

  “You okay?”

  He looked over at me and looked at me, no stared at me then nodded his head slowly, “Yeah, just tired.”

  “Okay,” I said not believing that was it but too tired to really push it.

  I crawled into bed and he covered me up kissing my forehead. “Thought you were going to take a nap with me?” I mumbled.

  “I need to get Nik home.”

  I nodded my eyes closing, “K.”

  He kissed me softly on the lips, “Be back later.”

  “K,” I slurred then fell asleep.

  When I woke later that day and dragged myself out of my room in search of something to drink and a bathroom. Once those needs were met, I stumbled into living room where I found Matt sitting on the couch cooing at Zadok. I plopped down beside him and rested my head on his shoulder running my fingers through the soft hair that was on Zadok’s head.

  “How you feeling, Seraph?”

  “Better, I guess.”

  “How’s the arm?”

  “It hurts a little but not enough to justify pain medication.”

  He nodded, “Try some Tylenol.”

  “Already did.”

  “Good, but don’t start hurting and ignore it because you’re too stubborn to take the prescription stuff.”

  I rolled my eyes and fluffed Zadok’s hair some more, “I won’t.”

  “Yes you will, you always do.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Oh I have all the confidence in you. I just know you don’t like taking that stuff.”

  “It makes my head fuzzy.”

  He leaned down and kissed my head, “I know, and you hate that feeling.”

  “So where is everyone at?”

  “Well I am babysitting.”

  “Me or Zadok.”

  “Both actually, Cam and Simon went out to dinner on a date, and Liam and Kale went for a ride on a date.”

  I snorted, “You mean they all left you here to deal with me and then ran for the hills?”

  “Pretty much,” he nudged my head that was still lying on his shoulder. “I think Cam and Simon are having some problems.”

  “They are. They think they are fooling us, but we hear the fighting.”

  “So why are they fighting?”

  “Money, how they spend their time, how they don’t spend their time.”

  “Ah, they were young and didn’t know each other well. Now they don’t know how to deal with it all.”

  “Basically,” I murmured curling further into his side. “Heard from Thayne?”

  “Ah yet another star crossed lover, yes, he called to check on you. He said he would see you tomorrow.”

  “Mmkay,”

  “You like him, huh?”

  I smiled thinking about Thayne. “Yeah, I like him a lot.”

  “Have you told him?”

  “That I like him? I’m pretty sure he knows that.”

  “No, that you love him.”

  I scoffed, “I don’t love him.”

  “Really, Seraph?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No, it’s something, old man, what is it?”

  “It’s just that I’ve seen that look before. It’s the same look your mother had when she looked at Ace when she was younger. You look exactly like her sometimes, it’s uncanny.”

  “Did my mom love Ace?”

  “Yeah she did. She never meant to hurt him, but after a while he wasn’t there for her like she needed him to be, and then things just happened that we can’t take back. And in all honesty, I wouldn’t take it back even though we hurt a lot of people.”

  “Why wouldn’t you change what happened?”

  “Because then, Seraph, I wouldn’t have you, and I can never regret having you as my daughter. You are my angel. You were one of the two best things to ever happen in my life.”

  “Oh,” I whispered wiping away the tear that fell down my cheek.

  He sighed and looked down at a now sleeping Zadok and smiled, “The three best things to happen in my life,” he corrected.

  “He is special.”

  “Yes he is special, and I look forward to having many more grandbabies to hold.”

  I wiped my eyes once more then got up to search for something to make for dinner. After making sandwiches, I curled up on the couch with my sketch pad and pencils and spent the evening sketching and thinking about what Matt had said. There was a lot to think about, he didn’t regret me, the first parent in my life to ever say that to me. I would never know if my mom would have wanted me or not. I know Ace hadn’t, now I had another chance with a parent. I looked down at my sketch and realized I was drawing Thayne from memory. His eyes looked up at me and I traced them with my finger. I had a lot to think about regarding Thayne. Was I in love with him? I knew he said he was falling for me but was he really or was that just the illusion of love?

  I knew I loved spending time with him, that he was fun to talk to, that I would miss him if he were to leave, but was that love or something else? I just didn’t know. I hadn’t seen many examples of loving couples. I never really believed that Ace loved my stepmother, more that he tolerated her. Matt had never been in a relationship that I knew of after his wife had died, and Saul was still in love with my deceased grandmother. How did you know you were in love? What was it like? Was it this incessant need I had to be near Thayne all the time, or the desire to just lie beside him and hear him breathing? I didn’t know and I had no idea who I could talk to about this, while Matt was great, I didn’t feel comfortable with that. Simon, still didn’t trust him, Cam had her own problems, and Liam didn’t take anything seriously. Kale maybe, Kale would listen to me but I didn’t know if he would give me his opinion. I really wish Cas and I were in a better place, this is something I would have talked through with him.

  Finally I finished the sketch, placed it on the table, then headed to take a shower and get ready for bed. I had to be at the shop early in the morning to let the harpies do their thing before the final week began.

  Chapter 45

  I woke the next morning and dragged myself towards the kitchen where I could already smell coffee brewing. I didn’t bother looking around to see who was up; my only focus was the lifesaving elixir in front of me. I glared at the coffee pot that was barely halfway through, no matter how much I threatened its life though, it continued to slowly cipher heaven into the carafe. After about half a minute, I gave up on waiting, pulled out the largest cup I could find, exchanging the carafe with the cup and continued to glare at the machine that continued to slowly chug along. It didn’t seem to care how close it was coming to a violent death if it didn’t hurry.

  “Rough night?”

  I just grunted continuing to stare at the coffee maker. I hadn’t realized how used to having Thayne near me I had become. I spent most of the night tossing and turning the other half staring at the ceiling wishing he was there. Finally, my coffee cup was half way full and I couldn’t take it any longer so I quickly switched them back gulping down the steaming hot coffee burning my mouth in the process. I winced but didn’t slow down, I desperately needed the boost caffeine would give me. I reached over pulling my pill bottles to me counting out what I needed, and popped them into my mouth, followed by the last swallow of coffee.

  I glanced around for the ibuprofen that had been at one point sitting on the counter. I knew I couldn’t take the pres
cribed pain meds today, I needed as clear a head as possible. I found it sitting on the other side of the counter, counted out what I needed to help the burning in my arm I was beginning to notice, and swallowed them down dry. Once I had all that taken care of, I headed back to my room with a fresh cup of coffee to get dressed and calm myself for the final competition. I was so close to the prize now I could taste it.

  When we were heading out the door, Thayne pulled up dropping Nikki off for the day, I smiled widely and waved, only he kept his head forward not looking at me. I walked towards his car then leaned down looking in at him, he still didn’t turn to face me and my smile instantly died.

  “Hey, you okay?” I asked softly.

  “Fine,” he replied sharply, “see you in a few.”

  I stood up and watched him quickly yank the car out of the driveway never once looking at me. I took a deep breath and held it for a count of three before letting it whoosh out. Looking over at Nikki, I was about to ask what his problem was when I noticed the look of pity in her eyes. I took another deep breath, attempted a smile at her, and went to Stella and quickly left.

  When I pulled into the parking lot, Thayne was standing there leaning against his car waiting for me. I let out a breath and gave thanks to the universe. I slowly removed my helmet and climbed off Stella trying to stall what I could tell wouldn’t be a good conversation as long as possible. Finally I couldn’t delay any more and walked towards him with a fake smile plastered on my face.

  “Hi” I said feeling tension building in my shoulders, “how was your evening?”

  He stared at me with those incredible eyes not giving away what was spinning around in that mind of his, only that he seemed to be taking me in.

  “Lonely,” he finally answered. “I missed you.”

  I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth running my tongue along the studs, waiting for the ‘but’ in that thought to come. I knew it was coming, it always did only this time I didn’t know if I could handle the after, not with him. He reached out grabbing my belt loop and pulled me close nuzzling into my neck. I let a breath out and quickly inhaled his scent. Slowly relaxing into his warm hard body, maybe this time I wouldn’t be disappointed or hurt.

  “Come on let’s head in and get you some coffee,” he murmured against my neck, the feel of his lips pressed into my skin. I had to bite my lip hard to suggest just heading over to his empty apartment instead.

  He reached down gripping my hand, entwining our fingers. I bumped his hip with mine when he looked over at me the haunted look was back, “You okay?” I murmured.

  He looked away and nodded, “Just a lot on my mind.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  He gave me a fake smile, “No, let’s go hang out before we have to get to work.”

  I nodded beginning to feel unsure about things once again. I didn’t think pushing him though would be the best idea at this point. Hopefully he would tell me what was going on soon, or maybe I was too chicken shit to find out. We went inside quickly grabbing cups of coffee before heading towards the makeup area. I wanted to get it finished as quickly as possible.

  After pulling up the coveralls, zipping them to my hips, then tying the arms around my waist, I went in search of my team. I wanted to find out what exactly would be happening with this new twist of choosing a former competitor to join us in the last challenge. I looked down at the fresh gauze the onsite nurse had just applied and cursed my panic attacks once more. I really did not like the idea of not being in top form this close to reaching our goal, but there was nothing to be done about it at this point.

  I found Kale talking to one of the assistant producers. I leaned against the wall waiting for him to finish. I fiddled with the straps to the backpack I had brought with me today that held extra gauze, tape, and painkillers. Watching Kale gesture around, I snickered at how much the movements reminded me of Liam. Those two were made for one another there was no doubt about that. Liam with his high-energy personality and Kale’s slow easy going manner were ying and yang but they balanced each other out perfectly. This, of course, pulled me back into wondering what was going on with Thayne. Would we ever have the easy going relationship that my friends seemed to have? Was he my other part, my balance? Or was this just another wishful thought?

  I was brought out of my musing by someone bumping their shoulder against mine, I blinked and looked up at Kale.

  “You holding up okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay” I told him.

  “How’s the arm?”

  “Sore, but nothing I can’t handle. You know how this is supposed to work today?”

  He nodded “Yeah just talking about it, we’re having a mini challenge then choosing a person from one of the other teams to help.”

  “Okay, well this should be interesting.”

  “Yep,” he leaned down kissing the top of my head then left me alone with my thoughts and concerns.

  We once again stood on our marks waiting for them to begin. This would be the last time we would stand here waiting for them to tell us what to expect in the coming week. I wasn’t upset by this being the end of the filming but I would miss working around some of these guys every day. I focused on Eddie as he walked out to join us. He smiled kindly at us before going into his spiel.

  “So this is our final week of competition. After this, your final projects will be placed out for the people who are attending the bike rally to vote on, helping us choose who will be the winner of the $500,000 cash prize. Before I tell you what you will be doing to win that prize, it’s time for our last mini challenge. Today will be a team effort. We will be playing a game of relay, since the teams are not evenly numbered two people on team Misfit Cabal will go twice. You will run from here,” he told us pointing at a line marked on the concrete. “To there,” he pointed to a similar line marked on the other side of the shop. “Each person will have to quickly answer a question on motorcycle safety, after they’ve answered correctly, the next member will go. So on until all six questions are answered correctly. Split up equal numbers on each side and get ready,” he finished smirking.

  “So how are we doing this?” asked Kale.

  “Scout on one side, Liam on the other, they’re the fastest,” replied Simon.

  Kale nodded, “Okay, how about Scout and me here, you and Liam on the other side?”

  We all nodded and headed to our spots ready for the relay race begin. I looked over and found Matt staring intently towards the other side of the garage frowning.

  “You okay, old man?”

  “Yeah, just wondering if you’ll be able to keep up.”

  I snorted, “Uh huh.”

  He smirked at me just as Eddie walked out getting ready to signal us to go. I watched intently waiting for him to drop the shop rag he held giving us a green light. Once he dropped it, I took off sprinting across the shop skidding to a stop and ready for the first question.

  “When should you use hand signals?” asked Sterling.

  I rolled my eyes. “Always as long as it’s safe to remove your hands from the handlebars,” he nodded and I slapped Liam’s hand sending him off.

  I stepped behind Simon catching my breath watching the other team, Matt had just answered his question, and Liam was already on the other side of the shop. I smiled at the frowning Matt when he walked by me. He growled at me causing me to giggle.

  Kale quickly made his way over to our side answering his question before Simon took off running to the other side making it quickly. Then came Liam racing back towards me, answered his second question, and I took off making it to the other side, I looked at Paul Fineman for my question.

  “What is the main cause for motorcycle accidents?”

  “Uhm, swerving to miss being hit by another vehicle,” I guessed.

  He nodded and I smiled slapping Liam’s hand then watched Liam run off. I noticed that the other team had fallen way behind us, Liam quickly answered his question. Eddie blew a whistle loudly calling an end to the cha
llenge. I ran to where the rest of my team was and they grabbed me sandwiching me between them in a group hug. We finally broke apart and headed back to the lineup to find out what we were going to be doing on our last challenge.

  “For this last challenge you will be building a bike from the parts you made throughout this competition. That means the engine you rebuilt, the frame you made, the tanks you painted will be used on your bikes. You will be given six hours each day for the next four days to get the bikes finished and together, no other restrictions will be given. Now to help you out, we have a surprise. Since team Misfit Cabal won the mini challenge they will get first pick.” We watched as five former competitors, one from each team, walked into the room “you each get one additional helper this week, choose wisely.”

  We grouped together like we were discussing who to choose but we already knew Thayne would be joining us to help with painting. We broke apart and looked at where Eddie stood with his arms crossed.

  “We’ll take Thayne from Team Ace & Lace,” Simon said, Eddie nodded then Thayne walked over to join our group. We waited for Matt’s team to choose who they wanted, then we headed off to our stall. When we slid open the door, all the parts we had done previously sat there waiting for us to turn it into a complete motorcycle.

  “So what do you need to change to make all this fit?” asked Thayne.

  Kale shrugged, “Shouldn’t need to change anything.”

  Thayne looked around us confused, “Why not?”

  “We built everything to fit,” I told him. “It was Liam’s idea, you know just in case they did something like this.”

  He did a slow blink and looked at everything, “You’re serious?”

  “Yeah, we used Scout’s sketches from the first mini challenge and based all the dimensions on that so we already have a working model. With the amount of time, they give us I couldn’t see them having us build everything from scratch, so we built everything to spec for one bike. When they gave us the shovelhead motor, we made the adjustments we needed.” Liam took a breath, “Now we just have to assemble her, paint what’s left, and make sure she starts.”