Painted Lines (2 page)

Chapter
2

I
finally made it to my motel room and let myself in, only to be welcomed by the
sound of loud freight train style snoring. Of course, I mean is it too much to
ask to actually be able to sleep?  I leaned down, untying my boots, and hastily
kicking them off into the corner. I pulled off my belt and dropped my jeans to
the floor, stepping out of them, while heading towards the bathroom.  I flicked
on the light letting it shine over the double beds, snickering at the groans
and cussing it elicited from the piles of bodies. Taking pity on them, I
quickly walked in shutting the door behind me.  I turned on the shower,
twisting the knob to make the water as hot as possible, and slipped back out in
search of my bag.  Once I found it, I decided to just grab the whole bag and
bring it with me.  I stood up, turned around, and screamed, there stood Simon,
his hair mussed wearing nothing but a smile.

I
reached out smacking him on the arm.  “Fucking asshole.”

He
chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, “Sorry.” I couldn’t see the smirk but
I knew it was there.

“No,
you’re not,” I complained.

“Shut
up!” Came from one of the lumps still in bed.

I
glared up at Simon once more then headed back towards the bathroom. Simon was
quick on my heels. I stripped out of the rest of my clothes making sure I was
facing away from him and hopped in the now steaming hot shower.  I stood under
the spray letting it wash away the hours of the road, stress, and ease my tense
muscles.  It had been a rough week for all of us, trying to prepare for the
trip and all. I was just glad we were finally here.

“So
what did Dad want?”

“To
tell me that Ace and Lace are here.” I responded still not leaving the hot
water.

“Yeah
I heard that, but I don’t know what group they are.”

I
nodded even though he couldn’t see me, “Yeah, since no one came up to us I
kinda figured.”

“You
okay?” He asked quietly.

“Fine,
not concerned with them. I just want to compete, win, then go home and get to
work on our own shop.”

“Okay,
then I’m going back to bed.”

“K,
be there in a few.”

I
felt the cool air blow in when he opened the door. I knew I wouldn’t be able to
stand up for much longer so I quickly washed and pulled on some clothes.  I
walked back into the main room, climbing into bed with Simon. He instinctively
spooned around me, snoring in my ear.  I sighed, elbowing him to move, and once
he did, I curled up into the fetal position, closing my eyes and finally went
to sleep.

I
woke up the following morning with something wet wiggling in my ear; I jerked
my head up to find a grinning Liam lying in bed beside me.  I rubbed my ear
silently cursing him to hell and back.

“What
the fuck, Li?”

He
laughed at me, “Time to get up, princess.”

I
growled at him and his use of the nickname he gave me when we met, which only caused
him to laugh harder.

“Fucking
dickhead motherfuckers, I am surrounded by stupid asses.” I muttered climbing
out of bed, when a resounding slap sounded and my ass began to sting.  I jerked
at the blow and ended up falling back onto the bed, looking up, giving my most
scathing glower at a silently laughing Kale.

“I
fucking hate all of you!” I yelled, grabbing the bag I had brought back in the
room last night, stormed into the bathroom, and slammed the door.  When I
turned around, I found Simon sitting down taking a shit, I screamed in
frustration.

“I
swear there had better be a fucking lock on my bedroom door.” I growled at
Simon, he grunted and waved me off.

I
dropped my bag on the floor and went to work finding a bra and a clean pair of
jeans.  When I finally found the pair I wanted, I tugged the softly worn paint
covered jeans on.  Skillfully I slipped my arms out of my tank slipping the bra
on, clipping it quickly and putting everything into rights before I had to
listen to Simon whine.  I pulled the small bag of toiletries out and searched
for my hairbrush and something to pull my hair back with.  I ran the brush
through my hair then pulled my long turquoise hair back into a ponytail. That
happened to be the limit of my hair styling knowledge.

I
looked in the mirror and nearly groaned. My face was covered in angry red lines
from sleep and my eyes had dark circles underneath them.  At times, I wish I
knew more about being a girl, my emerald green eyes shone back at me with
sadness.  I shook it off and brushed my teeth.

I
had been surprised I hadn’t gotten crap because of my piercings. Matt normally
had comments to make, especially with the new ones.  I had been adding to my
piercings and tats since I was seventeen, I now had two sets of shark bites,
two dimple piercings, and my septum pierced, and I was happy with how they
looked, finally.  I spit, rinsed out my mouth, and turned to find Simon
watching me.

“Yes?”

“When
did we become an old married couple?”

I
smirked at him.  “The first time you dropped your pants and showed me your cock
and I couldn’t see anything.” I responded and quickly ran out of the bathroom
before he found something to throw at me.

“I
was five, you bitch!” He yelled at me while I quickly slammed the door shut.

I
finally got everyone out of the motel room and to breakfast, or lunch rather.
Hell I didn’t know what time it was at this point, only that I was in desperate
need of coffee and food.

“So
we need to come up with the team name,” said Simon, always the responsible one.

“How
about—” Liam began but I quickly cut off any idea he had by kicking him under
the table.  “What?” He whined, rubbing his shin.

“We’re
in public,” I reminded him.

He
scowled at me but kept his mouth shut, for now at least.

“How
about the “They are going to kick your ass so might as well go home,” team,”
responded Kale. I rolled my eyes at that and looked over at Simon, hoping he
had an idea, but he just shook his head at me.  Liam opened his mouth but I
glared and he snapped it shut.

“We’ve
been trying to figure this out for weeks, and nothing, we have to give them a
name today,” I whined.

“Misfit
Cabal.”

I
looked over at Simon and quirked my eyebrow at him, “Huh?”

“Cam’s
suggestion, The Misfit Cabal, cause well she knows us.” He replied with a
shrug.

I
nodded and looked at our other two teammates and saw their smiling faces, “Okay
then, Misfit Cabal it is.”

My
cell chose that moment to ring and when I looked at the caller id, I squealed
quickly answering the call, “Cas.”

“Hey
there, just wanted to make sure you got in okay.”

“Yep,
eating breakfast.”

“Good,
so tell me about the competition?” With that, I told him about everyone and
everything I had seen and heard as well as our current game plan.  As it goes
with all our phone calls though he had to go before I was ready to let him hang
up.

“Love
you,” I told him.

“Love
you too, baby, just a little while longer.”

“I
know.” I scowled into the phone.

“Stop
pouting and go to work.” He replied but I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Sir,
yes Sir, love you, Cas,” I said before we disconnected and the depression set
in immediately.

“He
will be fine and home soon,” Simon murmured into my hair wrapping me in his
arms. I nodded, wiping my eyes, and getting my team back on track on what all
we needed to do today, including getting keys to our rental house.

After
running by the realtor’s office, we headed to our new temporary home to settle
in before heading back to the garage.  I stood shoved against the front door
trying to get it unlocked as the three stooges behind me shoved to vie to get
in the door first. I elbowed someone in the ribs trying to make room.  I
finally got the door open and quickly moved out of the way so I wouldn’t be
trampled.  I shook my head at the idiocy of how juvenile they were acting.

“Cam
and Simon get the master bedroom.” I said loudly causing everyone to look at
me.

“Why
do they get the master?” Whined Liam.

“Uhm,
because they have Zadok and need the room,” I replied shaking my head,
seriously it should be self-explanatory.

“You
and Kale get the second largest room,” I told him, “just make sure your bed is
not on any walls that are connected to my room.”

He
snickered looking over at Kale.  “Why not Scout? It’s the most action you’ve
gotten in a while.”

“I
do not need to hear you being ass fucked, Li, hell, that’s part of the reason I
moved out to begin with.”

Simon
coughed covering his laughter while Liam glared at me, and Kale looked down at
the ground, blushing.

“You
moved out because Cas’s skag left him and he kicked her out of his place.” replied
Liam.

“Skag?” 
I asked curiously.

He
shrugged, “Part skank part hag, fitting for her.”

I
looked over at a now choking Simon and laughing Kale, shaking my head; this was
going to be a long two months.

I
shook my head at him in wonder then nodded. “That too, anyway that’s the way
rooms are going. Cam should be here in a few days with the rest of our stuff.”

I
headed off in exploration of the small three-bedroom house we had rented. I
found the kitchen and was happy to find it was a decent size with plenty of
counter space.  There was a small four-person table in the dining area that
would get a decent amount of early sunlight; I looked forward to having coffee
and reading a book in the little nook in the morning.  I headed through the
hallway on the other side of the galley like kitchen.

I
found Simon unpacking in the master bedroom across the hall, his door was
closed but I could hear voices behind it. There was no way I was going in
there.  Next to the master bedroom was the bathroom I would be sharing with
Liam and Kale. Next to their room, I came across the room I would be using.

I
walked in dropped my bag to the floor and shut the door behind me. Curling up
in the center of the bed, I hoped to get a nap before it was time to leave, and
thankfully my eyes closed quickly.

Chapter
3

We
stood around the garage waiting for the producer of the show and whoever else
was joining him. They were supposed to tell us the layout of the show and who
the judges were going to be.  I glanced around looking at all the teams
assembled and noticed that we were the smallest team of only four people,
according to the rules you could have up to six team members.  I noticed most
of the teams had six people, a few had five, and we were the lonely team of
four.  Not only did all the other teams have more members, all but one was
affiliated with a known bike building shop.  I shrugged it off, we may not work
with a custom bike builder, but we did work with a man who knew bikes inside
and out.  He was able to teach us things I am sure most of these people would
never have the opportunity to learn.

Finally,
the producer showed up with his entourage, I couldn’t remember his name from
yesterday.  He walked through the group to the front and cleared his throat
trying to get everyone’s attention. Looked around, I saw most people were
ignoring him.  I could have told him that would never worked with this crowd. 
He finally smartened up and called us all to be quiet, loudly, guess he didn’t
like to be ignored.

“So
for those of you who don’t remember, my name is Marc and I am the producer of
this show. I am in charge of everything, and what I say is law.” he started.

I
rolled my head towards Simon and found him looking at me, we both pulled snarky
faces, I think the producer was going to be schooled on who was in charge with
this group, and it wouldn’t be him.

“The
way this is going to work is we will have a new challenge each week, at the end
of the week one of the teams will be asked to leave.  You will be given a mini
challenge as well to earn a prize of some sort, each week it will be something
different.”

I
rolled my eyes, so far it sounded like any other show I had unfortunately
seen—lovely.

“You
will be given your weekly challenge after the mini challenge, as well as a
schedule for each team at the certain areas in the shop.  You will have a key
to your stall to lock up when you have ran out of your scheduled time.  After
you have locked up you will hand that key over to my staff for safekeeping
until the following day.  There will be no violence allowed, if there is, both
parties will be asked to leave.”

He
glanced around the group as if to make sure we were listening.  “We will be
handing out the other rules and regulations shortly, memorize them and do not
break them.  If you have, any questions feel free to come and ask me. Let me
repeat myself, if you have any questions or concerns once again, come and talk
to me.  Now to introduce our judges, the first is Charlie Sterling, owner and
custom paint guru of Sterling Bikes.  Next is Paul Fineman, chief designer and
builder at SoCa Custom Motorcycles.  The final judge is Ace Thacker, the owner,
chief designer, and builder of Ace & Lace Cycles. I do realize that a team
is competing from Ace & Lace Cycles.  They were kind enough to offer to
take the spot of a team that was unable to be here, and since they are doing
this on short notice will not be here until Monday morning.  Therefore, to keep
this fair we have decided that Ace will not be allowed in the garage until time
of judging.  This way he won’t know whose work is whose.”

I
looked over at Simon and found him staring slack jaw at the producer. His eyes
wide as saucers, and I am sure my face looked exactly like his.

We
were so fucked it wasn’t even funny.

“It’s
now Saturday afternoon, we start on Monday morning at six a.m. Today and
tomorrow you will each, by team, have scheduled appointments with a stylist. 
Then you will be sent over to film your teams vignette for the introduction. 
Meet over there where my assistant producer will have the rules and
regulations, as well as your time to meet up with the stylist. Have a good
afternoon.  I look forward to working with all of you on Monday.”

I
rolled my head around my shoulders trying to break up the tension that had
built there with that announcement.  Looking back over at Simon, he opened his
mouth and I shook my head slightly and looked around the room.  Almost every
pair of eyes were now focused on me and my reaction to what Marc the producer
had just laid out for all of us. Without understanding what he had just done, I
turned and walked over to the assistant producer getting all the info he had
for us. Then quickly left the garage area and the eyes watching me.  I was
trying my best to act like nothing was wrong.

While
walking out of the building, I was too busy thinking of the last time I had
seen Ace instead of watching where I was going. I ran blindly into a guy who
had stopped by the door.  I looked up, apologized, then walked around him, and
headed out the doors and into the sunlight taking a deep breath.  I decided to
see what time and day we were meeting with the stylist, of course, it would be
in an hour. I had no time to get away from here for a little while.  The doors
swung open and the man I had ran into walked out pulling out a pack of
cigarettes. The rest of my team followed close behind.

Simon
saw me, opened his arms and I was wrapped up in a hug with two more pairs of
arms wrapping around us.

“It’ll
be okay, Scout,” he whispered in my ear, “we will make sure he stays away.”

I
nodded acknowledging that I heard him but really wished Cas was here with me
now.

I
took a deep breath and stepped out of their arms, there was no reason to worry
about things before anything had even happened.  I didn’t believe it, but maybe
if I kept repeating it in my head I would eventually.  I looked over at my team
and gave them a shaky smile. I knew they could see through it, but I would not
let him or his presence here shake my confidence.

“Okay,
so it seems we have to meet up with the stylist soon.” I told them, ignoring
their concerned looks. Simon looked like he was about to say something, but I
spoke up quickly, “Let’s not borrow problems, we have enough already, like
making Liam pretty enough to stand beside me.” I joked.

Liam
put his arm over my shoulder.  “Now princess, you cannot honestly think you are
prettier than I am, can you?”

I
looked up at him and squinted my eyes taking his features in and shook my head
“Li darling, I know I am prettier than you.”

He
pulled my ponytail so my head was tipped back slightly so he could look in my
eyes, “You are a brat, Harper Lee,” he declared with all the authority he could
muster while grinning.

I
nodded my head, “So you’ve told me,” I reminded him. “Okay, let’s go in and
find out where we need to be.”

Apparently,
what we needed to do was be attacked by three women who had consumed so much
sugar and caffeine they acted and talked like hummingbirds on crack.  Liam fit
in perfectly, the rest of us though were more than a little weary of getting
into their chairs and letting them, as they put it, “work their magic on our
grease monkey asses.”  When they discussed coloring my hair a “normal” color
and cutting it shorter, they were told in no uncertain terms that, that was
fine as long as they never planned to sleep again.  After that, they just
layered on pounds of makeup, tittered on about smoky eyes, and just kissed
lips.  In turn, I tuned them out, I had to for my own sanity.

After
twenty minutes of them pulling, pinching, and plucking, along with enough hair
products to kill what was left of the ozone, they finally let me out of their
chair.  I looked over at the other guys and couldn’t help the snicker that my
guys were all wearing make-up, which wasn’t unusual for Liam, but the other two
did not look happy about it.  When all three looked up at me, their jaws
dropped and they stared.  I began to fidget when none of them said anything,
just sat there looking at me.

“Holy
shit, Harper Lee,” Liam breathed out, “you’re a girl.”

I
scowled and flipped them all off and went to find the clothes they planned for
us to wear to film the vignette.  When I saw what they planned for me, my jaw
dropped. I started shaking my head, trying to take in what hung up on the rack
with my name attached to it.

“Huh
uh, nope, no way in fucking hell.” I muttered to myself spinning around in
search of someone to yell at. Nope, not happening, no way was I wearing skin
tight fucking jumpsuit.

I
sighed in annoyance because fifteen minutes later, I stood there while someone
zipped up the jumpsuit. I had been reminded that I had signed a contract, so I
didn’t have a lot of choices.  Though they did concede to not having me wear
this thing while competing since it was too tight to really move in, let alone
work in.  I should have expected this, being the only girl in the competition
of course; they would try to capitalize on that.   Though in all reality, none
of the guys I was around on a daily basis looked at me like a girl, so I didn’t
think about it.

“Scout,
you look fine.” Simon choked out when he saw me.  I glared at him, “Okay I will
admit I don’t like it either, but it will be alright, it’s just long enough to
get this finished, yea?”

I
nodded my head just wanting this to be over with. We headed to what I guessed
would be our stall and then spent the next two hours being turned this
direction and that, posed, and of course more makeup slathered on to my face. 
By the time it was all finished, I really wanted a hot shower, hot food, and to
be left the fuck alone.   I didn’t like to be touched by anyone not in my
immediate circle, let alone manhandled as I had been for the past three hours;
I was finished with people for the day.  Luckily for me, every one of my
friends realized I was at my limit and acted as a shield as I got ready to get
out of there.

Once
back in my regular clothes, I threw my hair up, and ran out the doors to where
my bike sat. I pulled on my helmet climbed on and was out of the parking lot. 
I needed to be away from everyone, the feel of people’s hands on my skin made
me want a bottle of bleach and boiling water.  I knew that this wasn’t a normal
reaction, most girls would relish the kind of treatment I had today, but I
wasn’t most girls, and the thought of going through that again was causing me
to panic. Before I knew it I was in front of our rental, not sure how I ended
up there. I quickly pulled into the driveway turning off the bike and climbing
off her.   I instantly fell to the ground ripping my helmet off, not even
feeling the bite of the cement on my hands or knees, and let the panic attack
take me.