Painted Lines

by Brei Betzold

  “Yeah, you glitched, and the nothing is when you passed out and took a header into the concrete floor. Your boy, Thayne, tried to grab you but he couldn’t catch you in time.”

  I remembered someone touching me and then fighting them off. “Was it him who touched me?”

  “Yeah, but you kept fighting him and he lost his grasp, then down you went.”

  “Did I hurt him?”

  He scoffed. “No, you didn’t hurt him,” he said like that was the stupidest question ever and I guess it was since he wasn’t exactly a small or fragile looking guy.

  “So what now?”

  “Now you rest, they want to keep you overnight for observation. You have a concussion and a good sized knot on the back of your head from where it was introduced to the cement floor.”

  “I don’t want to stay overnight,” I whined.

  “Yeah well, that’s life, Harper Lee,” Liam said walking through the curtain, “don’t always get what you want.”

  “Fuckers,” I scowled at them.

  I curled up and closed my eyes. I was done talking to them for now, my head hurt from both the knot and trying not to think of those words.

  “Going to pout now, Harper Lee,” Liam taunted.

  “My head hurts,” I murmured.

  “Okay, get some rest, we won’t go anywhere,” whispered Kale.

  “K,” I whispered then fell back asleep.

  The next time I woke up, I heard voices whispering just low enough so I couldn’t make out what they were saying, only that they didn’t sound happy.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “You have a guest,” Simon growled.

  “Who?”

  “That Thayne guy.”

  “Okay, and?”

  “And he could of done this, Scout,” Simon yelled and I winced quickly covering my ears. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be loud.”

  “He didn’t do this,” I muttered.

  “Oh and you know this how?”

  “Because he doesn’t know,” I replied quietly.

  “He’s friends with him, Scout, you don’t know that,” Kale said.

  “Trust me he doesn’t know,” I said again more adamantly.

  “How can you be so sure, Harper Lee?”

  “He asked me out to coffee.”

  “So?” asked Simon.

  “So he would have never asked me to go out for coffee if he knew. No one would ask to spend time with me if they knew what he did to me, and made me do to him. They would find me disgusting.”

  “Ah Scout, that’s not true,” said Kale.

  “Yes it is, and I don’t want to talk about it, he didn’t do it.”

  “Well I’m not as sure about that as you are, so he’s not getting in to see you,” demanded Simon.

  I rolled my eyes. “Let him in or I’ll have a nurse do it while you’re not around.”

  “I swear to God you are the biggest pain in the fucking ass, Scout,” Simon yelled then stomped off, more than likely to get Thayne and let him come back.

  “You can be so manipulative, Harper Lee, I like it,” Liam said laughing.

  “Don’t know about that, I just know what buttons to push.”

  “Which is being manipulative,” replied Kale.

  “So how’s the head?” asked a soft, deep voice.

  I sighed, “Hurts.”

  “Yeah, I bet. So, you doing okay?”

  “Yeah I’m fine. Thayne, what are you doing here?”

  “Well I wanted to make sure you were okay, you went down pretty hard.”

  “Uh huh and?”

  “And you never told me if we could have coffee sometime.”

  I giggled, “No, I never did, did I?”

  “So how about it?” he asked quietly.

  I rolled over and looked at him, and couldn’t breathe for a moment; he was so gorgeous. Why did he have to be friends with that, that monster? Why did he have to work for my father? Why did I have to be broken?

  “Thayne, I don’t date.”

  “Well, that’s okay with me, friends then?” he asked reaching out to shake my hand but seemed to think better of it and shoved the hand in his pocket.

  I looked up at him and couldn’t help nodding in agreement.

  “Friends,” I whispered and was rewarded with a beaming smile and my heart stuttered.

  Chapter 13

  Thayne and I sat talking about some of the more horrendous and interesting bikes we had seen. He had me laughing at one particular story when someone cleared their throat. I looked over and saw Dr. Carter standing there watching us, he smiled at me then walked into the curtained off area, pulling up a rolling stool and sat down. I wasn’t comfortable with how close he was sitting near me and scooted closer to the other side of the bed putting me closer to Thayne. It was strange that I didn’t seem to have a problem being near him. I typically wasn’t comfortable around people, but he seemed to be an exception for some reason.

  “Scout, it’s nice to see you again,” Dr. Carter said.

  “Uh huh,” I mumbled.

  “How have you been?”

  “Fine.”

  “And who’s this?”

  “This is my friend, Thayne,” I told him a little defensively.

  “Mmhmm,” he murmured. I looked over at Thayne hoping I looked apologetic for this.

  “Who are you?” Thayne asked.

  “Oh, I am Dr. Carter, I’m a psychiatrist here at the hospital.”

  “Uh huh,” replied Thayne, “and you’re here why?”

  He cocked his head to the side, “To talk to Scout, do you mind if I can speak to her alone?”

  “You okay with that?” Thayne asked and I shook my head no. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

  Dr. Carter stared at him for a minute then focused on me. “So would you like to tell me what happened?”

  “Uhm, no not really, if I have to speak to someone I would prefer it be Dr. Lawrence.”

  “Unfortunately she’s not on call right now.”

  “Why were you called in?” I asked curiously.

  “There were some concerns,” he said shooting a look at Thayne, “about what happened.”

  “I’m fine,” I said starting to get angry.

  “Mmhmm,” he murmured, “so want to tell me what happened?”

  “Someone wrote something on the wall to the stall I had been working in, it upset me.”

  “Why did it upset you?”

  “That is none of your business,” I said, I was not going to discuss this with him and especially not with Thayne sitting here.

  “I just want to help, Scout.”

  “I don’t need your help,” I bit out. “I have a doctor.”

  “Yes, you do, but she’s not here, I am.”

  I sighed and rubbed my head, it was hurting again, and I didn’t want to talk to this guy, I didn’t like him. I looked over at Thayne and he looked to be deep in thought, well that was a short friendship.

  “I am not talking to you,” I finally said.

  “Well we have two options here, you can tell me what’s going on, or I can put you on a forty-eight hour psych hold, where you will have no option about it.”

  “On what grounds?”

  “You’re being combative. It’s also my understanding that you assaulted a coworker.”

  “I didn’t attack anyone,” I yelled. I felt something on my hand and looked down Thayne was rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand. I took a deep breath and tried to relax.

  “That’s not what some of the reports stated,” he said watching Thayne and I.

  “Where’s Simon?” I asked. He had said he was going to make a few phone calls but hadn’t come back yet.

  “Why do you need Simon?” the doctor asked and I ignored him. “Why do you need Simon, Scout?”

  “Uhm, because he’s my friend.”

  “You seem to have a lot of friends,” he said making it sound like it was something it wasn’t.

  “Simon is married,” I g
rowled.

  “Mmhmm,” was his only response.

  “Just get out, I am not talking to you!” I yelled.

  “Fine, then I will go get that paperwork ready, you and I will be spending some time together.” And the fucker had the nerve to smile at me.

  I thought back to the other hospitals, the other stays, and no way was I going to let this prick keep me here against my will. “Because it’s what he called me!” I yelled.

  “Who called you that, Scout?”

  “Tristan,” I spit out his name.

  “And who is Tristan, Scout?”

  With that, I screamed at him, “Go the fuck away!”

  Thayne’s arms circled me and he began to softly whisper in my ear. I didn’t hear any of it through the sobs that were now wracking my body.

  “What the hell is going on here?” asked the doctor that had been treating me for my concussion.

  “Just talking with my patient,” replied Dr. Carter smoothly.

  “No, you were baiting her,” Thayne bit out, “talking about having her hospitalized, scaring her.”

  “I think it’s time for you to leave,” the other doctor said and I gripped Thayne harder, not wanting him to leave me.

  “She needs treatment,” Dr. Carter said. “Why can no one else see that?”

  “I said leave, now, and I will be contacting your superior.”

  Thayne held on to me while I cried then I heard Simon’s booming voice yelling at Thayne asking him what he did to me. Before I could say anything Thayne was ripped away and Simon had punched him.

  I sat there in stunned disbelief; I couldn’t believe that Simon had hit him. I quickly snapped out of it though when Simon went to hit him again. The entire time Thayne did nothing but watch him, but when Simon threw the next punch, he deftly moved out of the way. One moment he was in the path of Simon’s fist then he wasn’t, I quickly reached out and grabbed a hold of Simon by the back of his shirt.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I nearly yelled.

  “He hurt you,” he shouted spinning around to face me and nearly yanking me off the bed in the process. “What did he do?”

  “He didn’t do anything, Simon!” I screamed back.

  “Then why were you crying, Scout?”

  “B-because the doctor.”

  He glanced towards Thayne who had stayed quiet through the whole ordeal. He had a split lip and blood trailing down his chin. He reached up wiped it away with the back of his hand and nodded.

  “Sorry,” Simon said quietly, “I just thought…” he trailed off.

  “Yeah, I get it,” he replied he reached down and squeezed my hand. “See you later, Scout?”

  “Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

  He squeezed my hand once more and walked out the door. I looked up at Simon and frowned at him.

  “What was that?”

  “I could ask you the same thing,” he said coldly.

  “I was talking to my friend, Dr. Carter came in said some things then left. I cried and my friend held me, now want to tell me why you felt the need to hit him?”

  “I thought he had done something.”

  “Do I typically let people who have hurt me hold me, let alone touch me?”

  He looked at me like I had lost my mind, but we both knew the answer to that question “no”.

  “So then why would you think he hurt me?”

  “Because he works for them, Scout.”

  I nodded, “He does, did you know that he didn’t know Ace had a daughter until that meeting?”

  “So why does that matter?”

  “That I don’t think he knows anything about them really, and he’s not like them.”

  “Oh and how do you know that, you’re so naïve, Scout.”

  “Get out,” I told him, “if you are going to act like a jealous boyfriend then get out.”

  He spluttered, “Jealous boyfriend?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How would you know what a jealous boyfriend acted like Scout, you’ve never had a real boyfriend.”

  “GET OUT!” I screamed and he spun on his heel and stormed out through the curtain.

  I curled up in the fetal position and waited for sleep to take me again, but my body wasn’t cooperating this time. I felt a warm body curl around me and took a deep shuddering breath.

  “He was acting like a jealous boyfriend, Harper Lee,” Liam murmured into my hair, “and he didn’t need to say that.”

  I nodded.

  “You really like Thayne, huh?”

  “He’s my friend, Liam. He’s the only friend that I have that doesn’t know about what happened, and with him I can be mostly normal.”

  “Yeah, I can see how that would be appealing, just do me a favor and go slow with him, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  I nodded again and cuddled into his chest, sleep finally finding me.

  When I awoke, Liam was fast asleep drooling all over the pillow, I nudged him with my elbow but it did no good.

  “I’m sorry,” Simon whispered.

  I looked over and found him sitting on the same rolling chair Dr. Carter had used.

  “What for?”

  “The way I acted, I should have listened to you to begin with instead of going off halfcocked.”

  “Yeah, you should have.”

  “And he told me about what happened.”

  “You saw him again?”

  “Yeah, he wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Oh.”

  “He’s a nice guy, Scout, and the cops have already said he wasn’t involved in what happened today.”

  “Didn’t need the cops to tell me that,” I mumbled.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. So I talked to your doctor he’s going to call that psychologist’s boss, he won’t be allowed near you again.”

  “Good,” I muttered, “he gives me the creeps.”

  “Hmm, and they are going to let you go, your doctor is getting the paperwork ready.”

  “Really?” I asked excitedly. “Thought they were going to keep me overnight.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Oh okay.”

  “So let’s get sleeping beauty here up so you can get ready to leave.”

  We finally got Liam to wake up enough to stumble out of the curtained off area and I was left to get dressed. I was released thirty minutes later, happy to go home.

  Chapter 14

  “So what happened with the competition?” I asked while walking in the house.

  “Well you went down for the count,” replied Liam, “we ran over and saw what was there, and had them call the cops. They had to reschedule the judging, we have to be there in the morning to get it done.”

  “Okay, then I need to get some sleep.”

  “Ah, ah, ah, the doctor said you can’t be alone so that means you’re stuck with one of us, so choose.”

  “Kale,” I replied immediately.

  “I am wounded, Harper Lee, why Kale?”

  “He doesn’t drool,” I told him matter of factly and headed towards the bathroom so I could take a hot shower.

  When I walked in my room, I found Kale passed out in the middle of the bed. I climbed into the sliver of mattress he left me, wedged my feet into his side and pushed. I giggled as I watched him roll off the bed with an oomph. He sat up glaring daggers at me, and I laughed harder.

  “Not funny, Scout,” he growled.

  This only caused me to laugh so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks, snot coming out of my nose, and my side hurt. He kept grumbling like a pissed off bear woken up before spring and climbed back into bed, where he tackled me down and began tickling me. I squealed and tried to get away, but he was able to deflect and grab my wrists in one hand and tickle me with the other. My laughs quickly turned to sobs, and his arms circled me holding me close, and murmuring nonsense to me trying to calm me down. After a good cleansing cry, I pulled myself together and laid down, Kale spooning around me and we fell asleep.
>
  I was woken up by a noise and looked around, then it hit me—my cell phone. I jumped out of bed and grabbed it hitting the answer button.

  “Hello,” I mumbled sleepily.

  “Scout,” I heard Cas shout, “you there?”

  “Yeah,” I responded I could barely hear him.

  “Head on trans home…”

  “What?” I yelled.

  “See you hours…” then nothing but static.

  “Who was that?” asked a sleepy Kale, I looked over at him.

  “Cas.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “Yeah, he’s fine, but I think he’s on his way home,” I said stunned.

  “You think?”

  “I’m not sure I couldn’t hear him very well, I just got words like transport hours and home, so what else could it mean?”

  “Huh, well maybe he will call back and we’ll have a better idea.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I replied climbing back in bed confused. Kale fell back to sleep quickly, but I stayed awake staring at the ceiling till the sun came up. I kept going over and over the past twenty-four hours.

  When the sun began to peek behind the blinds in my room, I gave up the façade of sleep and went downstairs to make coffee and get ready for the judges table.

  I left earlier than anyone else to head for the garage and hung out listening to my MP3 player, trying to figure out this strange twist on circumstances between Thayne and me. I knew I shouldn’t trust him, at least that’s what I kept telling myself, but I didn’t believe he would hurt me. I didn’t get that vibe from him. I was comfortable around him, which never happened with new people. I didn’t know what to do. I had dated in the past, even had a, well for me, long-term relationship—we had been together for eight months. He broke it off after a botched attempt at sex. I had been putting him off until finally I had said yes, then freaked out. It hadn’t been my first glitch during the relationship that had just been the last.

  After that, I had decided to stop trying to have relationships, and I couldn’t blame them for leaving, I was broken. They had all told me I was broken, and no matter how hot they thought I was, I wasn’t worth the trouble. So I had decided to focus on work, and that’s what I had done for the past year, focused on the shop, and saving money to buy Saul out. I didn’t have the time or energy it would take to have a relationship with anyone, let alone someone who could be gone at a moment’s notice. Also there was no way I would be going anywhere near where Thayne lived. Too many demons and nightmares for me to ever return there. So I guess that made the decision easy, not that he had asked for anything like that. He had jumped on just friendship, so maybe that’s all it was, maybe I was making this all more difficult than it really was.