Painted Lines (5 page)

Chapter
8

After
breakfast for dinner I took my meds then kicked everyone out of the living room
also known as my temporary bedroom. After much bitching, they finally left.  I
curled up on the couch, running through my design ideas for the pedal car,
until sleep finally pulled me under.

This
constant tapping on my forehead woke me. When I opened my eyes a smiling Kale
was looking down at me.  I stretched out, then punched him hard in the arm, and
smiled when he yelled.  I didn’t know why they felt the need to wake me up by
annoying me, but I was getting tired of it.

I
climbed around him and headed to the bathroom so I could take a shower and get
dressed before we had to leave.  I was looking forward to getting to work
today, and I would be riding Stella.  I liked Angel, but Stella was my baby.  I
turned the shower on as hot as possible and waited for it to warm up.

After
my shower, I quickly got dressed, pulled my hair up, and went in search of
coffee.  I found Simon and Cam standing in the kitchen cooing over Zadok.  I
pressed a quick kiss to his head and went to the coffee pot, thankful to find
some coffee remaining.

“So
I am running low on some of my meds.” I said turning around nursing my coffee.

“K,
call them in and we will pick them up on the way back here.” Simon said.

I
nodded and went in search of my cell so I could find a pharmacy nearby.  After
checking all my meds, I found out that I was lower than I realized, this was
going to be costly.  I sighed, and made the call, cringing with every code I
entered into the automated refill service.

When
I was finished I went in search of the guys so we could get out the door. I was
ready to forget everything and get engrossed in work.  I knew I had everything
budgeted, and that I would be okay, but I was still concerned with my dwindling
bank account.  I was ready to win that $500k and not have to worry about
finances all the time.  I shook my hands out fighting the anxiety and walked
out the door leaving everyone else behind.

I
pulled into the parking lot and noticed the guy from the meeting standing
beside the building. I hadn’t noticed much about him the day before, other than
he worked for Ace & Lace.  Knowing that was enough for me though, I pulled
my helmet off and climbed off Stella.  I took a deep breath and shook my hands
out, I was hoping a ride alone would help, but I could still feel the anxiety
creeping in.  I was so busy trying to fight off the oncoming attack that I
hadn’t noticed he had walked up to me.

“Hey.”
He said. I jumped and spun around, biting off the need to scream from someone
sneaking up on me.

“Hey,
you alright? I didn’t mean to spook you.” He said reaching out towards me.

I
backed up, “Don’t touch me,” I whimpered.

“Okay,
okay, I won’t,” he said holding his hands up. “I’m Thayne Scott.”

“Don’t
really care.” I bit out trying to walk around him, but there wasn’t enough
space without having touch him.

“Come
on, I just want to find out if there is a way we can work this out, okay?  I’m
sure that whatever you think Tris did, isn’t that bad, and he’s sorry for it.”

I
just looked at him, like he was crazy.  “He’s sorry?” I asked.  “Sorry for what
exactly?”

“Uhm,
well he won’t tell me.” He said looking away then back at me. “But I mean come
on, whatever it was couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Not
that bad?”

“Come
on stop being such a bitch!” He yelled.  “There cannot be a good enough reason
to for you to do this.  I mean, don’t you get it, we need that money or we
might lose our shop.”

“You
think I care about that place?” I yelled getting angrier with every word he
spoke.  “Do you think I give a fuck about him or my father?”

“You
know what, fine just fine, go ahead and ruin our fucking lives so you can get
whatever payback you feel you need.” He said then spun away storming back
towards the building.

“Losing
their shop won’t be enough payback, nothing will,” I yelled at his back.  He
flipped me off, slamming the door open, and went in.

I
stood there staring at those doors not quite computing what he said. I was a
bitch because I didn’t want that monster around me.  I wasn’t looking for
retribution; I just wanted to live my life in peace.  I wanted to forget, and
nothing would ever let me do that.  I sunk to the ground taking deep breaths, I
wouldn’t let this set me off—I wouldn’t.  I saw boots walking towards me and
stopped breathing; I couldn’t deal with another round with him right now.

“Seraph,
honey, you okay?”

I
nodded my head then shook it no. “Don’t know just give me a few.”

“Okay,
Seraph, okay.”

He
sat down beside me taking care not to touch me and waited while I calmed myself
down, blanking my thoughts, ignoring the memories that threatened to come.  I
took a deep breath and shook out my hands, then looked up at Uncle Matt and
attempted a smile, not sure if I quite made it.

“You
okay, Seraph?”

“Yeah,
just a minor glitch.”

“Sure
that’s it?”

“Had
a run in with one of his people,” I said quietly, “but I kept it together.”

“Good
for you, Seraph, now tell me which one so I can gut him.”

I
laughed, “That’s okay, Uncle Matt, next time I won’t let him sneak up on me.” 
I gave him a real smile this time. “Want to come over for dinner tonight?  See
Zadok and hang out with the enemy camp?”

He
laughed, “Yeah sounds like a good plan to me, Seraph.”

“Okay,
let’s get inside before the guys show up and see us down here and freak.”

We
were walking into the building when my phone rang, I looked down expecting to
see a call from one of the guys, not the pharmacy I had ordered from earlier.

“Yes.”

“Ms.
Harper Lewis?” a female voice asked.

“That’s
me.”

“Well,
ma’am, I am calling you about the prescriptions you had called in earlier.”

“Uh
huh.”

“Well
ma’am, the pharmacist isn’t comfortable filling those prescriptions, since they
are out of state.”

“Hold
on, what?” I asked starting to panic.

“Ma’am,
the pharmacist isn’t willing to fill three of the four prescriptions
considering what they are, since it’s an out of state doctor.”

“You’re
saying I can’t get my meds?” I asked trying to make sense of what she was
telling me.

“Ma’am,
we will fill the birth control prescription.”

“You
mean the one I don’t need?” I snarked.

“I’m
sorry for any difficulty this causes you.”  Then she was gone, I leaned against
the wall and began banging my head against it.  What was I going to do; I had
to have my meds.

“Seraph,
you okay?” Uncle Matt asked carefully.  I shook my head no, no I was not
alright.  I was almost out of my BuSpar and Ativan, I only had one more vial of
Haldol, not that I took that one often.  I knew the horror stories of going
cold turkey from one of my meds, but both, no I had to have them.

“Seraph?”

“That
was the pharmacy, I can’t get my meds.” I whispered.

“Okay
Seraph, calm down, let’s call Simon, okay?”

I
nodded hoping Simon had some ideas on what to do.  Who I really needed was
Cas—Cas took care of all this.  I heard Matt talking on his phone but I ignored
him and kept banging my head against the wall.  I never thought of there being
a problem with my meds being filled here. 

“Seraph,
Simon’s here, he will be inside in a moment.”

I
nodded and took a deep breath, this would be okay, we would get everything
worked out and I would get my meds.  I had called the same chain pharmacy I
used back home so they would have all my scripts, and doctor’s information, it
would be okay.

“Scout,”
Simon said and I looked up at him, “calm, Scout, calm.” He ran a hand up and
down my arm trying to soothe me.

“I’m
okay, just needed a moment,” I said. “So any ideas?”

“Yeah
we’re going to have to call your doctor, and see what he can do.”

“Okay,
that makes sense.”

“Going
to call his office now, okay?”

“Yeah,
but will they talk to you?” I asked concerned since they only ever talked to me
or Cas.

“Yes
they will talk to me, I’m on the list.”

I
took a deep cleansing breath and held it for a count of three then released it
slowly and nodded, “Everything’s fine, I have three days left of what I have,
we will have it worked out before then.”

“That’s
right, Scout, we will,” said Simon. “You okay now?”

“Yeah,
sorry about that, just so much going on lately.” I said looking up at him
again. “But I’m fine, just needed a breather.”

“Okay,
I am going to call your doctor, why don’t you guys head in and find out where
we need to be and what we need to do.”

I
leaned up as far as I could and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Simon.” I
whispered then headed off with Liam and Kale.

“Sure
you’re good, Harper Lee?” asked Liam.

“Yeah,
just talking to Cas last night and all the other crap yesterday has me wound
tight.” I would not mention my run in with what’s his name outside, it would
only freak them out more.

“Understandable,”
replied Kale, “it’ll all be straightened out.”

“Yeah,”
then I looked up at them and grinned, “Cas may be coming home early.”

“Really?”
asked Liam excitedly.

I
bobbed my head up and down. “Yep, nothing’s certain yet, but he said it’s a
possibility.”

“That’s
great, Harper Lee.”

“I
know, right!” I beamed a smile at Liam and went through the doors to the shop
and we were directed to where they had the three witches set up to torture us
today.

A
few minutes later, Simon joined us. “Okay Scout, talked to the doc’s office,
they were worried about something like this happening, so they already
contacted another doctor here in town.  You have an appointment set up later
today.  You go in talk to the doctor a few minutes.  He already knows your
scripts and said he will write them out for this state, and then he will send
us on our way.”

I
took a deep breath and nodded, “Okay, sounds like a plan.” Then I got my head
in the game for what we had to do today, starting with trying to ignore the
stylists.

Chapter
9

Eddie
Zant walked in front of us and I watched him as everyone quieted down.  “Today,
you will all be working on tearing down your pedal cars to begin to work, your
paint schedules are up.  Do not miss your scheduled times, you will not be
allowed to make it up.  Also the machine shop is now open for you to use, you
will find the more common needed tools in your stall, but the specialized
equipment is located in there.  You have four hours, get started.”

I
watched everyone rush off and open their stalls to get to work.  I looked over
at the guys and shrugged then made my way to our stall.  Everything was just as
we had left it the day before and we immediately went to work tearing the car
apart.  Once the seat was freed, I took it to a corner to begin stripping the
worn vinyl off, then the batting, and looked over the base of the seat.  It
looked good, a little wear, but nothing that needed to be fixed, and I wouldn’t
have to make a new one, which made me happy.

The
guys kept working on stripping down the car, checking parts, and making notes
on what needed to be done.  I went in search of new batting and vinyl so I
could recover the seat.  I couldn’t do the more artistic work, but I knew how
to do a simple recover, Saul had made sure of it.  I finally found the
materials I needed, there was a small selection of colors to choose, and I
thought about my paint scheme while I picked what I wanted.  When I had the
materials I needed, I headed back to our work area.  Once there, I went through
one of the two toolboxes we were allowed to pack with what we thought we would
need and bring with us.

Liam
and Saul thought I had been crazy when I put my tools in there I would need to
recover a seat, but I had insisted, and now I was happy I had.  I was in the
middle of cleaning the seat so I could apply the glue for the padding when I
glanced over and saw two of the three judges watching me.

“Scout,
what are you doing?” Paul Fineman asked.

“Recovering
this seat.”

“Have
you ever recovered a seat before?” asked Sterling.

I
glanced over at him and smirked, “Of course,” then went back to work.

“Why
recover the seat, instead of doing one of the more important things you could
be doing?”

“Well
I could be working on getting it ready to paint, but giving the car a beautiful
paint job doesn’t help your ass while sitting in it and using the car.”

They
nodded and wrote something down.  I went back to work stripping the old glue. 
I finally added the first layer of padding and left the seat to dry before
adding the second.  The guys had finished tearing the car apart and were now
polishing, grinding, and fixing broken pieces.

“What
can I do?”

Liam
gestured towards the body of the car, “Start getting it ready for yourself,
already got the dents out.”

I
nodded and went to work sanding the shell of the car; I needed it smooth and
all the old paint, dirt, and just general age off it before I could paint.  The
judges continued walking around, watching each team as they worked. The cameras
following them around, as well as us, was getting annoying.  After an hour of
sanding, I stopped running my fingers against the metal, it was mostly
finished.  I needed to wipe it down and go over it once more just to make sure.
I went back to the seat, added the second layer of padding, stretching it
around the first, and was happy with how it was turning it out.  I left it to
let it finish drying overnight before I pulled the vinyl over it.

I
glanced up at the clock and saw that we had an hour left, just enough time to
finish getting this thing sanded.  Tomorrow I would see if I needed to patch
any small dents, but today I wanted to get it shining.  I wet down several rags
at the sink each station had and went to wiping down the shell, making sure no
grains of sand remained from the first sanding as well as any remaining dirt. 
Once I was happy that it was clean, I went back over it with the electric
sander, making sure the edges were smooth and clean.  I turned the sander off
just before the bell that marked time went off, I sighed and removed my
goggles.

I
looked around and was happy with all we had accomplished today. The broken
pieces had been fixed, everything was stripped, sanded, and ready for the next
stage.  I smiled at my three teammates and we went to work cleaning everything
up, just like we did at our home shop.

We
all worked at Saul’s shop.  He has a garage that fixes and restores old cars,
and then he has the shop we work at, fixing and restoring bikes.  We also build
custom bikes, but it’s not our specialty, and Saul only lets us take on
projects when were slow with restorations.

Our
plan was to buy Saul out of the business eventually, continue with the
restorations but also take on more custom bikes, and stop repairs all
together.  That would leave him with his car business, which is what he
preferred to begin with, so everyone would be happy.  Saul was onboard with
this plan, we just needed the money to buy him out, as well as do some
renovations to the building, and buy some newer equipment.  The four of us ran
this side of the business already, so we knew what it was worth, what it
brought in, and what we needed to do to make it succeed.

After
cleaning and locking up, I checked the time on my phone, I still had a few
hours before meeting the psychiatrist that Dr. Moore was sending me too.  I was
about to ask what everyone wanted to do with the time when I heard someone
clear their throat, I looked over and Marc the producer was gesturing us over
to him.  I really hoped he wasn’t going to ruin my good mood, I had a lot of
fun today working.

“You
four need to go to the medical station, for drug testing,” he said looking at
me like he expected me to fail.

“Drug
testing?” asked Simon.

“Mmhmm,
one of the conditions you agreed to when you signed the contract, all teams can
be drug tested at any time.”

“Fine,
let’s get it over with,” I growled and headed off in the direction he had
indicated.

We
sat down in the medical station, and were handed paperwork to fill out, asking
our names, date of birth, and any medications we were on.

“Do
you need dosages too, or just the medication’s name?” I asked.

“Just
the name of all the medications you’ve taken in the past thirty days.”

I
nodded and went to work listing my scripts.  I looked over at Simon.

“Have
I had Haldol?”

He
nodded so I added that to the list and handed it back to the nurse.  A man came
and took Liam, Kale, and Simon to the guy’s bathroom and the nurse followed me
into the girls’ room.

“These
are all the medications you’ve taken in the past thirty days?” she asked.

“Yep.”
I said taking the cup and heading into the stall.

“Door
open.”

I
sighed, I knew this routine already, and I did my business and put the lid back
on the cup.  I walked out of the stall, handed her the cup, and went to wash my
hands. I walked out the door and waited for the guys to come out. I could help
but think it was interesting that we were the team chosen to have the first
drug test.  I had some ideas on that little coincidence, but thought to leave
it alone while we were still here in the building.

After
everyone was finished, we headed out to where our bikes were parked. “So where
now?” asked Liam.

“Somewhere
I can hydrate,” I responded. “I’m going to have to pee in another cup in about
two hours.”

“Come
on, let’s go find a coffee shop near the hospital,” Simon said. “You two can do
whatever you want, we’re done for the day.”

“Sweet,”
said Liam climbing on his bike, “I am sure we can think of something.”  He
winked at me and then he and Kale took off.

“Come
on, let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah,
I’m tired of this place.”

We
found a small coffee shop inside the hospital and after we ordered, we sat at
one of the tables nearby. I was people watching when Simon cleared his throat.

“Yes?”

“So
are you thinking the same thing I am, that it’s not exactly a coincidence that
we were drug tested?”

“No,
I don’t think it was.” I pulled my gaze from the young girl carrying a small
baby and looked over at him. “No, I don’t think it was at all.”

“Any
ideas?”

“The
producer trying to get rid of us, my father, Thayne who knows.”

“Who’s
Thayne?”

Damn
it.  “Uhm, one of the Ace & Lace guys,” I told him waiting for the
inquisition to begin.

“How
do you know any of their names?”

“I,
uh, I met him this morning,” I said hoping he would drop it.

“This
morning?” he asked raising his eyebrow.

I
took a drink of my coffee and tried to find an answer that wouldn’t get me
yelled at.  “In the parking lot.”

“Uh
huh, and?”

“And
he wanted to tell me that
he
was sorry, and couldn’t we work out a way
for him to participate.”

“Uh
huh and?”

I
sighed.  “When I told him no, he got angry, yelled, then stormed off.”

“Anything
else?”

“No,
and I didn’t freak out either.”

“Didn’t
think you had, so those are your ideas on the drug test, huh?”

“Yep,
can’t think of anyone else, can you?”

“One
of the other teams?”

I
thought about that for a moment.  “No, I see no reason behind it.”

“I
can think of five hundred thousand reasons,” he muttered.

I
rolled my eyes at him. “No, I don’t see it, they wouldn’t start the subterfuge
this early.”

He
nodded, “Yeah, I think you’re probably right.”

“It
had to be someone who would suspect my meds, or heard us talking about it,” I
surmised.

“No
telling who that could be.”

We
sat the rest of the time in quiet. I continued to people watch while he played
with his phone, probably texting his wife.  When time was up, we went in search
of the doctor’s office so I could get this over with.  I really wasn’t looking
forward to this, but I knew I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to get my meds
refilled.

Once
we found the office, I went to the receptionist to check in, and I hoped that I
wouldn’t have to wait long.