Painted Lines

by Brei Betzold

  I shook my head and smiled slightly, “What can I say, I’m ruthless.”

  I headed back to get that cup of coffee I still hadn’t made.

  Once I deemed the frame dry, I sat back on the tool bench swinging my feet watching the guys putting the bike together, pouting. I wasn’t allowed to help. They didn’t want me picking up anything that could pull my stitches. I was tempted to grab the box cutter beside me and just get it over with. I could figure out how to cut and pull stitches out, it didn’t seem that difficult. I sighed when Kale reached over grabbing the box cutter I had been eyeing giving me a dirty look then shoved it in his back pocket—well, there went that idea.

  Finally time was up. I hopped off the bench and walked to Thayne before he could run off. I wasn’t going to let him disappear today without a trace.

  “You and Nikki are coming to dinner tonight,” I stated.

  He cocked an eyebrow at me, “Is that a request or a demand?”

  “Neither, it’s what will be happening.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I think Nik has some plans today.”

  I shook my head, “Nope, already texted her she has no plans.”

  He sighed, defeated, “Fine, I’ll see you soon,” then walked out the door.

  “Everything okay, Harper Lee?” Liam asked.

  I shrugged, “Don’t know.”

  He nodded, “Things will work out.”

  “I’m not betting on it,” I muttered to myself and headed out to Stella.

  Chapter 48

  By seven o’clock, I was pissed and Nikki was scared. I’d had enough, grabbed my keys off the counter, and walked out the front door slamming it behind me. I didn’t think anything had happened to him. He was avoiding me and scaring his sister in the process. We had tried calling him more than once and each time it went straight to voicemail, he’d turned his phone off. I heard the door open and close behind me but didn’t really care at this point who was following me out. I quickly tied my hair into a loose knot then snatched my helmet off the handlebars.

  “Scout,” I heard Simon say quietly, “calm down.”

  “I’ll call you once I find him,” I said climbing on to Stella. “I can’t promise he will be unharmed after that call, but I’ll call and let her know he’s still alive.”

  Simon opened his mouth again I’m sure to try to talk me out of looking for him but I started Stella drowning him out. I hit the throttle, kicked her in gear, and hauled ass to his apartment.

  I pulled into the parking lot of his apartment pulling in beside his GTO. I felt my anger flare, I quickly made my way up the stairs to his building and pounded on his front door. He opened the door his eyes widening, he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but I didn’t give him the chance. I quickly swept his feet from under him, he landed with an ‘oof’ on his back, and I glared down at him.

  “Stay,” I barked when he looked like he was about to get up. He laid down and looked at me bewildered. I quickly pulled out my cell phone hitting Simon’s number.

  “He’s alive, for now,” I growled.

  “Scout, calm down,” he said.

  “Have Nikki stay in my room tonight. I’ll just crash on the couch when I get there,” I told him then hit the end button.

  “Scout—” Thayne began but stopped when I growled at him.

  “No Thayne, do not fucking ‘Scout’ me. You do not do that to your sister, you do not ignore her calls when you’re late somewhere making her think you’re lying in some ditch dead. You do not fucking do that,” I yelled while standing over him. “You do not blow me off, if you don’t want to be with me then fine, fucking grow a pair of balls and tell me that, but do not ignore me for three days.”

  “Hey I do want to be with you,” he yelled back.

  “Really, then where the fuck have you been?”

  “I just,” he stopped and flicked his lip right, “I’ve been dealing with some stuff.”

  “And you couldn’t tell me that? Instead you ignore me as much as possible, slip out when you think I wouldn’t notice?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” he growled.

  “Oh it was exactly like that.”

  He sighed staring straight into my eyes, “Can I get up now?”

  I shrugged, “Sure, but I may just put you on your ass again.”

  He nodded, “Think I will stay here. Where did you learn that anyway?”

  “My brother is a Marine, do you think he left me unprotected?”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” he murmured. “Okay, so what do you remember about the night you came home from the hospital?”

  “Which time?”

  “Scout,” he groaned, “the last time.”

  “Not much, passing out and waking up.”

  He nodded, “Yeah, they gave you a lot of drugs.”

  “Uh huh,” I said making a hurry this up gesture with my hands.

  “Okay, well you kind of told me something, and then you didn’t remember in the morning and it hurt that you didn’t remember.”

  I stood there trying to think back to that night, but it was all foggy. “I don’t remember Thayne. I’m sorry I don’t remember but you should have talked to me about this.”

  He nodded and bit his lip, “I was embarrassed.”

  “You were embarrassed?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yeah,” he said quietly.

  “What did I say?”

  “Something I’ve wanted to hear you say and then when I found out it was the drugs that made you say it, it hurt and I didn’t know how to deal with that. I’ve never let anyone but my mom and sister really get in like this. I’ve never in my felt like this for a girl before.”

  I blinked confused, “Are we talking about what I said or are we talking about something else here?”

  He shook his head, “It doesn’t matter,” he mumbled.

  “No apparently it does and since I came here expecting you to break my heart. I’d kind of like to know what’s going on?”

  “You expected me to break your heart?”

  It was my turn to bite my lip and nod, “Yeah, with the way you’d been so standoffish, I was sure you wanted to end things.”

  “Ah Bella,” he whispered, he reached up grabbed my hand and yanked me down to the floor on top of him. “In no way do I want to end things.”

  I nodded, burying my face into his neck, breathing him in. “I love you, Thayne, and that scares me. You have too much power over me. You could so easily destroy me. I’m not strong enough yet to lose you but I don’t know if I am ready for where this is headed either.”

  I heard his sharp breath. “You’re not going to lose me, Scout and we go at your pace,” he murmured kissing my head. “I love you too, Mia Bella.”

  “So what did I say?” I asked a few minutes later after just lying with him, feeling him surrounding me, protecting me.

  “That you loved me,” he murmured.

  I snorted, “You hadn’t figure that out already?”

  I felt him shrug, “It’s different to hear the words.”

  “Yeah,” I said trailing my fingers down his chest, “it is. Thayne, what do we do from here?”

  “That’s up to you, Bella, but we don’t have to make any decisions tonight.”

  I snuggled more into him. “You know I’m still pissed at you, right?”

  I felt his hand travel under my shirt and begin a slow leisurely stroke up my spine, then the back of his hand brushed back down causing me to break out in goose bumps. I bit my lip against the moan that was building in my throat. No way was he going to distract me.

  “Why are you still pissed at me, Bella?” he whispered against my ear.

  I shivered with the way his breath puffed against me as he spoke, “You ignored me,” I said quietly.

  “I’m sorry, Bella,” he murmured. “How shall I make that up to you?”

  His hand continued to stroke slowly up and down my back while his other hand began to stroke my cheek. I k
new I wouldn’t be able to resist his double assault for long.

  “I don’t know, any ideas?”

  “I have a few,” he crooned, “interested in finding out what they are?”

  “Mmm,” I moaned when his fingers found my lips and brushed the pad of his thumb over my lower lip.

  “I think I will start my apology here,” he whispered, “I do love your lips.”

  He turned us to our side keeping one hand on my back while the other went into my hair. He tilted my head how he wanted it before delving in slowly licking across my lower lip. I parted my lips for him, only instead of doing as I wanted and kissing me hard, he traced my upper lip with his tongue. He followed the path back down and flicked my lip piercing with his tongue before settling his lips over mine giving my tongue the same treatment. Slowly tracing it with his tongue, then flicking it, I mewled into the kiss wanting more.

  “Such a greedy girl,” he murmured against my mouth then with more force began to kiss me the way I wanted him to. He kissed me harder, twining his tongue with mine and I melted into it, letting him lead.

  Finally he broke us apart, both of us gasping for breath. He trailed his lips and tongue down my neck. The feel of the cool piercing combined with his warm breath caused me to shiver in an erotic anticipation. His hand slid up under my shirt along my side before finally gently cupping my breast through my bra, rubbing his thumb across my nipple.

  “I want to try something, Bella, will you let me?”

  I nodded my consent, unable to actually form words with his hands on me.

  “If you get uncomfortable you tell me, all right?”

  “Mmm,” I agreed.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes, Mia Bella,” he murmured against my breast bone. I felt his hand slowly make its way back down from my breast then begin to pull my tank top up. I helped him pull it off my body. His hand traveled back down quickly popping the front clasp of my bra, his lips trailed across my shoulder as he removed the strap. I shrugged off the second he couldn’t easily reach. Then I felt his hands slowly slide down my body and then release the button on my jeans.

  He sat up quickly removing my boots, socks and helped me shimmy out of my jeans. Then he stopped and stared, I immediately began to squirm and look for something to cover my scars. He stopped me with a hand on my arm and shook his head.

  “You are beautiful, Scout,” he said gruffly.

  “No, I’m covered in scars.”

  “No Scout, you are beautiful,” he said quietly before leaning down and gently kissing me on the lips, “don’t hide from me.”

  He held his body weight off me as he slowly trailed down my body with his mouth, tongue, and teeth, spending extra attention at my nipples. Sucking and nibbling on them until I was writhing underneath him. By the smug grin on his face, I knew he loved knowing he could do this to me. He continued to trail down my body kissing, licking his way until he was kneeling between my legs looking up at me.

  “This okay?” he asked quietly.

  “Yeah,” I whispered.

  He nodded “you’ll tell me?”

  “Yeah”

  He watched me another moment before leaning down dragging my panties down my leg. I helped him by lifting my hips up, then he was lying on his stomach his head between my parted legs. I didn’t know what to expect, but then his fingers parting the lips of my vagina, his warm breath bathing the sensitive area I stopped caring what he had planned just wanting him to do something. Then I felt it, his tongue sweep across me and I shuddered my hips arching off the floor.

  “I don’t want to hold you down,” I heard him murmur, “roll over on your hands and knees.”

  He went back into a kneeling position and helped me roll over then get on my hands and knees. Then pulled me back towards him, I felt him push a finger inside me. I moaned loudly, then his tongue was back, licking my clit slowly. He thrust his finger lazily in and out with his mouth doing wicked things to my pussy. I didn’t know how long I could last without coming. Only I didn’t want to yet, I was enjoying this too much. Just then his mouth latched on my clit and sucked. I couldn’t withstand it any longer and screamed his name.

  He stayed with me the entire time, slowly circling my clit with his tongue, thrusting his finger in and out of me gently. When the waves finally ended and I could see straight again he gently withdrew his finger. I hadn’t realized I had collapsed onto my elbows. I looked over my shoulder and found that smug grin back on his face.

  “Liked that, did you?” he asked cockily.

  “Uh huh,” was all I could say while trying to catch my breath.

  “How about we take this to a better place than beside the front door, huh?” he asked then stood and picked me up bridal style walking us into his bedroom.

  He dropped me on the bed smiled down at me and began to quickly strip out of his clothing. My mouth went dry watching all of those muscles flexing. I could feel myself becoming even wetter for him.

  “Sit up,” he ordered so I quickly sat up and watched him sit on the edge of the bed. “Come here.” I knee-walked to him and he pointed for me to stand in front of him. I climbed off the bed to do as he wanted. He spun me around so I was facing away from him. I was now facing a full-length mirror on the back of the closet I hadn’t noticed before. He pulled me back between his legs and gently moved my arm down, as I glanced over my shoulder. “Sit down, Bella,” he whispered.

  I slowly sat down on his lap. He reached down grabbing my calf muscle placing my leg over his, then did the same with the other. He grabbed my hips and pulled me up so that I was now raised over his cock. I finally began to understand what he wanted. I reached down wrapping my fingers around his hard cock. I didn’t know when he had put on a condom, but I noticed the thin latex against my fingers instead of his hot, velvety skin. I placed him at my entrance and he let go of my arms, so I began to slide down his dick, slowly, both of us moaning at the sensation.

  Once he was fully seated inside of me, he pulled his thighs apart wide, which opened me even wider. I glanced up at the mirror and became hypnotized by the sight. I could see where his body entered mine. With the mirror, I could see everything and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the sight.

  “Beautiful,” he whispered brushing my hair to my shoulder kissing my neck. “You are absolutely stunning, Bella.”

  He gripped my hips and began a slow sensual pace, and I couldn’t remove my eyes from the place where we were joined. I could see him slowly pull out then push back into my body. It was amazing to watch. I finally tore my eyes away looking up and found his eyes on me in the mirror. I leaned back into his body rolling my hips causing him to slip even deeper inside of me.

  “You like being able to watch us?” he asked.

  I moaned and nodded, my eyes unerringly going back to that place where he was a part of my body.

  “I love how your body takes my cock, Bella.”

  He increased the pace slightly, letting go of one hip. He reached down to where we were joined and began slow circles around my clit. I bit my lip hard at the added sensation, that along with the visual stimulation, I knew this would be an incredible finale.

  I rolled my hips again, and he began to thrust into me harder, losing his careful rhythm. I knew he was just as close as I was. I pulled one of my hands away from his arms where I had been holding on and brought it down to where his hand was. I put my fingers against my opening feeling him enter me over and over. He groaned against my neck, biting lightly. I lost it at that point, I screamed as my body clenched his cock, wanting to keep it deep inside of me. He groaned against my neck, pushing hard and deep into me then holding me still, I could feel him shuddering behind me.

  When we began to breathe again, he slowly rolled us back then to the side, staying inside of me. I could feel the days of sleeplessness begin to set in, and tried to fight it back. He stroked his hand over my back, kissing my neck again.

  “Sleep, Bella,” he murmured then gently pulled out of me. I groane
d at the feeling of loss I had.

  “Shh Bella, sleep.”

  I felt the bed shift then he pulled me up on the bed wrapping himself around my naked body. I pressed further into his body enjoying his heat at my back and drifted off to sleep.

  I was woken again in the middle of the night with my leg bent around Thayne’s hip facing him. He had a look of concentration on his face. I felt him surge up into my body and moaned loudly. This time he didn’t take it slowly but quickly, roughly brought us both to climax and quickly falling back to sleep. There were definite benefits to staying the night as his place, I mused as my eyelids fluttered closed.

  Chapter 49

  “Shh, you’re fine, Bella,” I heard whispered in my ear and bolted upright. I looked around disoriented for a minute before remembering I had stayed at Thayne’s. I heard his alarm clock and jerked around staring at it breathing hard.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered feeling embarrassed, I had a good idea what had happened.

  “Just a nightmare, Scout, no reason to apologize.”

  I nodded, getting out of bed heading for the bathroom, before going in search of my clothing.

  Thayne walked out of his bedroom in a pair of Levi’s and nothing else. I couldn’t help letting my eyes travel over the expanse of skin showing. Tearing my eyes away, I pulled on my own clothing, making sure not to look back towards him, and that top undone button.

  “You okay?”

  “Uhm, yeah, sorry alarm clocks and I aren’t on speaking terms.”

  “Okay, do I want to know why?”

  “Just a trigger of mine.”

  He nodded slowly then walked towards the kitchen, I heard mumbling then the sink turn on. “Coffee will be ready in a few,” he called out.

  I tugged my boots on then walked into the kitchen wrapping my arms around Thayne and burying my face into his back “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  He laced our fingers together across his stomach, “Nothing to be sorry for, Bella,” he whispered back.

  “I wish I could be normal, I wish simple things didn’t freak me out.”

  “It’s not your fault, Scout, and I was just worried about you, you started whimpering and struggling in your sleep, again.”