Painted Lines (28 page)

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 prescribed 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 challenge.  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.”

Thayne
blew out a breath.  “My team would have been scrambling, yet you all had it
planned out.”

We
heard a crash and cussing coming from the area Matt’s team used.  “Guess they
didn’t plan ahead,” I mused.

“Okay,
so let’s get to work,” Simon said clapping his hands.  “We need to make sure
everything we have fits together correctly before you paint the frame.”

With
that, we went to work setting parts we have together, making lists of what we
needed, and who would do what to keep everything running smoothly.

After
spending our time fitting everything together, planning a time schedule, we
cleaned up then headed back to the house.  I had expected Thayne and Nikki to
stay for dinner at least, but she ran out the door as soon as he pulled up and
then they were gone with no word.  I had no idea what was going on there. 
Thayne had avoided me most of the day finding busy work or just disappearing so
I was never able to find out.  Not that I really wanted to confront him there
with all the cameras trained on us, but still I wanted to know what was going
on with him.