Painted Lines (22 page)

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.

“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 next 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.”

“Date,”
he said looking at me.  “I can handle just dating you, for now, if that’s what
you want, but I do have a stipulation.”

“What’s
that?”

“As
soon as you want more, you tell me, because I am not the one in control here,
for now.”

“For
now, huh?”

“Oh
I will take control at some point Scout, believe me, and I will enjoy every
moment. I think would you too, but not until you say.”

“Hmm,
why do I think we are talking about two different things?”

“Uhm,
probably because we are,” he said with a smirk then leaned down and kissed me. 
“Take the time you need, Bella.”

“Thank
you,” I told him sincerely.

“You’re
worth the wait, Bella, plus I still get to date you,” he said with a wicked
grin.

“So
how’s the face?”

“Eh,
I’ve had worse.”

“Why
does that not surprise me?”

He
sighed, “I went a bit wild for a while, fights, tagging, drugs, alcohol, all of
that crap but then mom got sick.”  He shrugged, “I had to take care of my
family.”

“Yeah,
you’ve told me some.”

“Yeah
well, I was stupid back then and between my mom getting sick and some girl
popping up at my door saying she was pregnant with my kid, and I didn’t even
remember her, I figured it was time to stop being a screw up.”

“Oh,”
I breathed, “so you have a kid?”

He
shook his head, “No, she lost the baby shortly after that, but it was a real
wake up call.  I mean, I was some dumb eighteen-year-old screw up, what the
hell was I going to do with a kid?  So I went to work at the shop, took care of
mom and Nik, and got my life together.”

“Do
you want kids?” I asked biting my lip.

“Someday,
sure I guess, right now I want to get Nikki through high school.”

I
nodded but felt my heart break a little at that, I couldn’t give him that.

“Hey,
I know what you’re thinking, and it doesn’t matter.  I don’t care if we ever
have kids or not, if we decide we want them we can adopt, become foster
parents, it really doesn’t matter to me.”

“You
say that now,” I whispered, “until you get older and want a son of your own.”

He
reached up and grabbed my chin making me look at him, “It really does not
matter to me, Bella, passing on a name and all that crap doesn’t matter to me,
and being a dad has nothing to do with genetics.  I learned that at a young age
when my perfect family broke apart and the perfect dad split.”

I
bit my lip watching his eyes, and all I saw was the truth.  “Okay,” I
whispered.

“Okay,”
he whispered back before leaning down and kissing me gently.

Soon
after, people started showing up then it was time for work.  We all filed in
and waited on Eddie as had become our routine.  Finally, he showed up.

“Today
you will finish your tanks and prepare to paint tomorrow.  You have four
hours.”

I
looked over at the guys and smiled, “Ready?”

They
all nodded and we took off towards our stall.  Liam went to work finishing
things he needed to do before handing the tank over to me.

I
spent the rest of the time sanding, wet sanding, and cleaning the tank so that
I could paint the next day.  I looked forward to that, I was beginning to have
withdrawals.

I
was walking out the door with Thayne and he slung an arm over my shoulder, “So
what’s your plan for the rest of today?”

“Uhm,
pharmacy and grocery store.”

“Want
company?”

I
looked up and smiled, “Would love it.”

“Good,
because you still haven’t told me all you decided.”

“Huh?”

“This
morning you said you had made some decisions, you told me only one so I am
guessing there are more.”

I
nodded, “There are.”

“You
going to tell me?”

“Hmm,
I guess.”

“Come
on, we’ll take my car.”

I
nodded and followed him to his car.  He trapped me between the door and him and
kissed me for a moment then leaned away and opened the door for me.  I climbed
in and he shut the door after winking at me.  He was too cute sometimes.

Once
we were on the road, he looked over at me, “So?” he asked.

“So,
I decided to move out.”

“Uhm,
I think you did that already.”

“No,
well yeah, but I meant in San Diego.  I am going to move out of Cas’s and find
my own place.”

He
nodded, “You’re sure about this?”

“Yeah,
why don’t you think I can do it?”

“It’s
not what I think, it’s what you think, and is this what you want?”

“Yeah,
this is what I want.”

“Okay
then do it, what else?”

“Uhm,
I am going to start looking for a therapist when I get home.”

He
looked over at me, “Don’t you have a therapist?”

“Kinda,
yes I have a psychiatrist but it’s not the same.  I think I need a female
therapist that I choose, someone I can talk to.”

He
nodded, “Okay, I can understand that, anything else?”

“I
think I want to take some business classes.”

“Okay,”
he said slowly, “any reason why?”

“Because
I want to understand how my business is ran, and I don’t want to be dependent
on someone else to take care of it all.”

“I
can understand where you’re coming from, but Scout there is nothing wrong
depending on other people,” he said reaching for my hand and lacing our fingers
together.  “Sometimes you need someone to help you, and that’s fine.  If this
is something you want to do, then do it, but don’t forget that it’s okay to
lean sometimes.”

“I
know that in theory,” I murmured, “but in practice not so much, and I want to do
this for me.”

“Then
go for it, Bella.”

We
pulled up in front of the pharmacy, hopped out, and went to collect my
prescriptions.  Luckily, this time I didn’t have a problem getting them.  After
almost emptying my bank account we headed to the store to finish it off, I was
going to have to pull money from my savings, I really hated to do that since I
had been saving for the shop.  I kept out enough just to live on, the rest of
my paychecks were put into savings, oh well it couldn’t be helped.

“So
are you really moving to San Diego?” I asked while walking into the grocery
store.

“Yeah,
that’s the plan.”

“Any
job prospects?”

“Matt
offered me a job at his shop.”

“He
has a good shop,” I told him. “I sometimes work over there when they need
help.”

“Yeah,
he told me that.”

I
grabbed a cart and began going through, grabbing what I needed, “Want dinner?”

“Sure,
you cooking?”

“Well,
you sure as hell aren’t, I’ve heard about your cooking skills.”

He
laughed taking the buggy from me and pushed it before hopping up on the bar
riding it down the aisle.  I shook my head. What is it with boys and anything
with wheels?

Once
we had everything we needed, we headed to the checkout line, while Thayne was
putting everything on the conveyor belt, I watched the cashier checking him
out.  When he was finished and came to stand beside me she was still ogling
him.  He didn’t seem to notice which was amusing me to no end. 

“Anything
else?” she asked putting a suggestive note into her tone and looking straight
at Thayne ignoring my existence.

“No
thanks,” I answered and smirked at her as she looked me over.

After
we paid and headed out, I started to giggle, then turned into outright
laughing.

“What’s
so funny?” Thayne asked looking confused.

“The
cashier,” I got out between peals of laughter, “was totally checking you out.”

“Huh?”
he asked looking even more confused.

“I’m
starting to really notice how much that happens,” I told him when we reached
his car and I had stopped laughing, “and you never notice it.”

He
looked at me strangely, “And you find this funny, why?”

“I
don’t know.  The way she was just so blatant and you just stood there missing
it completely.”

“You’re
not jealous?”

“Well
no, if you would have noticed it, maybe.  If she would have done what she
wanted to do she would have come back with a stub for an arm.”

“Uh
huh and what did she want to do?”

I
looked at him, “She wanted to strip you naked, coat you in chocolate sauce and
whipped cream, and lick it off.”

“Well,
that’s an idea,” he muttered looking back at the store.

“I
swear, Thayne, I will remove your balls slowly with a rusty spoon, dull knife
and a fork then feed them to you.”

He
burst out laughing.  “I was just thinking about going and picking up chocolate
sauce and whipped cream for later, with you.”

“Now
that’s a plan I can get behind, just not tonight.”

“Why
not?”

“Because
I have other plans,” I told him with a wink and shut the trunk to his car.