Painted Lines (27 page)

“Don’t
care, I have to be there Monday morning.”

“We’re
working it out, okay?” he said trying to reassure me.

I
looked up at him and could see it on his face, he didn’t see a way to work this
out.

Chapter
43

I
dozed in and out throughout the night, being woken what felt like every fifteen
minutes to be poked and prodded by nurses.  By the time morning came, I was so
ready to go home.  I hated hospitals.  I never had a good experience in them. 
When the doctor and a nurse came in that morning, I was bouncing with nervous
energy.  Thayne had left to go get coffee and Liam had shown up to annoy me.  I
had kicked him out to go find someone else to bug, so that left me with Kale
who was passed out in the chair beside me.

“Ms.
Lewis,” the doctor said, “how are you feeling?”

“Better,
ready to go home.”

He
nodded, “Well let’s take a look, shall we?”

I
watched as he cut away the gauze over my arm, when I saw the angry red skin
around the line of black, I flinched.

“How
many stitches?” I muttered looking away.

“Forty-two
in all,” he answered while looking down at my arm prodding at the skin around
the stitches.  “It’s looking good.  We should be able to let you out as soon as
the paperwork is finished,” he told me smiling at me.

“Thank
you.”

He
nodded, “I will get it started, along with prescriptions and after care.”

He
left and I laid back down exhausted after not getting much sleep the night
before.  The nurse began spreading some ointment across the wound.  I watched
Kale sleep but when he started snoring, I reached over and smacked his leg.  He
jerked open his eyes and looked at me for a minute not really focusing, then he
noticed the nurse and cringed and looked away.  I was relieved when she began
to cover it with gauze once again.  My arm was beginning to hurt again, but I
really didn’t want whatever they had been pumping me with, so I stayed quiet.

“You
okay,” asked a groggy Kale noticing me wincing.

“Yeah,
just sleepy.”

“Well,
you should be able to get out of here soon and get some sleep.”

“Hope
so.”

“So
where is everyone?”

“Thayne
is on a coffee search, and I kicked Li out.”

“You
kicked him out?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Why?”

“He
was irritating me.”

“Okay,”
he said stretching, “do you know where he went?”

I
shrugged, “Dunno, probably harassing someone else.”

“You’re
cranky,” he muttered.

“I’m
in pain, haven’t had coffee, or my meds.  Yes, I am fucking cranky,” I snapped.

The
nurse watched me wearily but finished taping my arm up.  “You’re in pain?”

“Yeah,
but I don’t want that stuff you’ve been giving me.   I don’t like how it makes
me feel.”

“Okay,
we can get you something else.”

“She
needs her meds,” Kale piped in.

“What
meds?” the nurse asked.

“It’s
in her chart,” Kale answered, “we talked to them about it last night.”

The
nurse nodded and picked up my chart looking it over and pursed her lips. “Hmm,
let me call the doctor,” then she headed out the door.

I
looked over at Kale, “What was that about?”

“Dunno,”
he said, “she took it with her.”

I
nodded and stared back up at the ceiling counting the tiles hoping to distract
myself from the increasing pain in my arm.

I
was to a hundred and twenty-seven when the door opened again, I looked up and
saw Dr. Carter standing there with a self-satisfied smile, “Ms. Lewis we meet
again,” he said coolly.

I
groaned, “Not in the mood for this today.”

He
walked into the room and Dr. Lawrence following behind looking down right
pissed.

“Scout,”
she said with a kind smile that looked brittle around the edges “how are you
feeling today?”

“Honestly?”
When she nodded, I answered her, “In pain, pissed off that he’s here, and ready
to go home.”

She
smiled a real smile at me, “Well let’s see what we can do about getting you
home today.”

Dr.
Carter scowled at her then had his fake placating smile back on his face when
he looked at me again.  “We just have a few concerns.”

The
door opened again and I smiled widely at Thayne carrying two cups of coffee,
“Hi.”

“Hey
you’re awake, Bella,” he said walking towards me and kissing me gently.  “Here
I got lost,” he said sheepishly handing me a cup of coffee.

I
took a drink and sighed, “Thanks.”

He
looked over at the doctors, “So can she leave soon?”

“They
were just discussing it,” Kale said quietly watching Dr. Carter.  “Her doctor
said yes, but now we seem to have a problem.”

“What
problem?” asked Thayne.

Kale
nodded at the two doctors in the room.

“We
just have a few concerns,” Dr. Carter stated smoothly, “and you are?”

“I
would be the boyfriend, what concerns?”

“Can
we discuss this alone with Ms. Lewis?”

“Uhm,
no I don’t think you can,” I answered. “I know what your concerns are, and I
dare you to try it.”

“I’m
sorry what?” he asked confused.

Thayne
gave me a questioning look, I shrugged, “He thinks I am a harm to myself and
wants me held for an evaluation.  Now what he doesn’t know is that Kale over
there has my lawyer on speed dial.  I have a history of fainting, comes with
the territory of panic attacks, the panic attacks alone do not constitute harm
to oneself especially since I am being treated for them.  So he can continue
with this, and I will call my lawyer then my regular doctor.  I’ll be leaving
today regardless.”

Thayne
nodded.  “Sounds like a lot of fun,” he muttered.

I
shrugged, “Not the first time it’s happened.”

“Ms.
Lewis, Scout, I am just trying to make sure you’re all right.”

“No
you’re not, you want to find out about me.  You want to write up a case about
me, which you can do without my consent if you have me legally held.  What you
don’t know is that my case has already been written.  My current doctor was
given permission by me, so now that you know this, can we drop it, and let me
go home?”

Thayne
reached a hand out and started playing with my hair.  “Been through this
before, have we?”

“Yeah,
Cas always dealt with it before, but I knew what was going on most of the time,
apparently I am intriguing.”

“Thank
you, Scout,” Dr. Lawrence murmured smiling at me.  “We’ll be leaving now.  Oh
and Dr. Carter will be removing the stop he put on your normal medications.”

She
walked out the door with Dr. Carter following closely behind and I flipped him
off.  I heard her start in on him before the door closed.

I
smiled up at Thayne, “Hopefully I will be going home soon.”

“Good,”
he whispered and gently kissed me again.  “Drink your coffee.”

I
did as I was told, drinking it quickly.  The nurse came back with my regular
meds and the added bonus of pain medication.

I
sat in the front seat of Thayne’s car heading home, listening to Kale talk to
Cas on the phone about what had happened at the hospital.  I leaned my head
back just happy to be out of there.

“No
I swear, Cas it was like listening to you.  She just told them this is what’s
going to happen, and you are releasing me today.  It was funny I looked around
for you for a moment.”

I
heard a couple of sounds of agreement before Kale passed me the phone.  “He
wants to talk to you.”

I
took the phone and a deep breath, “Cas.”

“You
okay, baby girl?”

“Yeah,
tired and my arm is sore.”

He
sighed, “I shouldn’t have left.”

“Would
have happened anyway.”

“Maybe.”

“It
would have, it’s not the first time.”

“I
know.”

“How’s
San Diego?”

“Hot. 
I hear you let the doctors have it.”

“Eh,
I wanted to go home.”

“I
know, you hate hospitals.”

“Mmhmm.”

“So
according to Kale you sounded like me, how did you know what to say?”

“Lots
of practice pretending to be asleep, you learn a lot that way.”

“Ah.”

I
smiled when we pulled into the driveway.  “Cas, we’re home, I’m going to let
you go so I can get some real sleep.”

“Okay,
Scout, call me if you need something.”

I
looked over at Thayne and smiled.  “I’ll be fine, lots of people here.”

“I
know, I just worry.”

“I
know and I love you for it.  I’ll call you later, k?”

“Okay,
talk to you later.”

I
hung up the phone, opened the door, and headed into the house ready to get some
sleep that wasn’t constantly interrupted.

When
I walked in, I found the producer, Marc sitting in the living room with Matt,
Simon, and Eddie Zant.  I sighed—guess I wasn’t going to bed yet.

“Seraph,”
Matt said standing up I walked towards him and he hugged me hard.  “How you
feeling?”

“Exhausted.”

“Hmm,
then go to bed.”

I
shook my head.  “What’s going on?”

Simon
hugged me next.  “Trying to figure out what to do next week.”

“Any
ideas?”

“A
few,” he said looking over at Thayne.

“Okay…and
they are?”

“Sit
down and we’ll all talk,” he said leading me to the couch.  I nodded at Marc
and Eddie then took my place between Simon and Matt. 

Thayne
sat down on the floor beside me putting his hand on my knee, stroking up and
down my calf muscle, I leaned back relaxing.

“So?”
I asked eyes closed.

“Well,
we can still compete as long as you’re there.   Each team is going to take on a
team member from the last team cut,” Matt explained.

“Hmm,
this helps us how?” I asked.

“You
need someone who can paint, and help the guys, they had such a person,” Eddie
said.

“Thayne,”
I mused.

“Yeah,”
said Matt, “your team will choose Thayne and we’re choosing someone else I have
my eye on.”

I
nodded, “That could work.”

“Well
it’s either this or disqualify your team and bring Ace & Lace back,”
replied Marc.

“Uhm,
most of the guys are already gone, they went back yesterday after we were cut,”
chimed in Thayne.

“Just
trust us, okay, Scout,” Eddie said kindly.

I
nodded.  “Is that all?”

Marc
made a disgruntled noise but I looked at Matt and Eddie.  “I am tired, my pain
killers are making it worse, so if that’s all I need to be here for I am going
to bed.  I trust my team to handle anything else.”

They
both nodded and I went to stand up but stumbled nearly falling. Thayne jumped
up, steadying me.  He reached down swooping my legs out from underneath me and
carrying me to my room.

“Same
goes for me, it’s been a long night,” Thayne said over his shoulder.

I
heard a chorus of sleep wells and goodnights then I was in my room, the door
shut, and I leaned further into Thayne.

“So
tired,” I said around a yawn.

He
kissed my forehead, “I know, Bella, let’s get you out of these clothes and
something comfortable then you can sleep.”

I
nodded drowsily and he sat me down on my bed.  I pointed him to where my bags
were lying and he quickly pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a tank top.  I
lifted an arm, a leg, whatever he asked while he carefully undressed and redressed
me.  I laid back in bed, watching him strip out of his jeans and T-shirt.  He
crawled into bed, spooning around me.  I sighed contently and wiggled further
into him.

“Love
you, Thayne,” I muttered before sleep pulled me under.

Chapter
44

I
stretched and felt the pull of stitches then pain.  I winced and pulled my arm
down closer to my body.  I blinked a few times trying to figure out where I
was, I remembered coming home, talking to people about the show, and then
somehow I had ended up in my bed. I wiggled further into the cozy warmth of my
bed not wanting to get up, but quickly the need to pee outweighed the thoughts
of warm comfort.  I threw off the covers and realized I was wearing a pair of
pajama pants.  I could have sworn I left the hospital in jeans, I’d figure it
out later.  I rolled out of bed glancing at the clock but not really seeing the
numbers.  I stumbled out of the room into the bathroom nearly knocking Kale
over.

When
I walked out, Kale was standing there holding a magazine smirking at me, “Feel
better?”

“Yeah,”
I mumbled.  I looked back at my door debating the merits of climbing back in
bed or searching for something to drink and pain pills since my arm was really
starting to hurt.

“Nuh
uh,” said Kale grabbing my arm and pointing me away from my door, “kitchen,
coffee, food, meds, and then sleep.”

I
nodded and headed that direction without falling down. When I walked into the
kitchen five heads turned and looked at me. I flipped them all off and headed
for the coffee pot.  Taking a deep drink of caffeinated bliss, I sighed.  I
took another gulp of coffee before turning around to face the peanut gallery. 
A plate was handed to me immediately by someone, I set it down, and tucked into
it not really caring what it was at this point, I was starving.  They restarted
their conversations but I didn’t pay them any attention more concerned with
caffeine and food. When I finished off both, I put my plate in the sink and
refilled my cup.

I
turned towards everyone feeling relatively more human and everyone’s heads
turned towards me. I gave them a finger wave then went in search of my meds.

“What
do I have to take?” I asked not caring who answered.  “I can’t remember what I
was given in the hospital.”

Simon
rolled his eyes, “Why doesn’t that surprise me?  Pain pill if you need it,
antibiotic after food two times a day and then your regular meds.”

I
nodded and started opening bottles and pulling out pills.  Once I had
everything I needed, I popped them all in my mouth and chased it with coffee.

“Mmm,
breakfast of champs,” I muttered, “now can I go back to sleep?”

“Nope,”
said Simon.

I
sighed, “Okay, what else?”

“Do
you remember talking to us last night, Harper Lee?”

I
stood there for a minute trying to go back through the foggy parts until I finally
remembered. I nodded, “Thayne’s joining our team for the last phase to help
paint.”

Five
heads shook no.  “Thayne is painting, you’re napping,” said Thayne.

I
shook my head no, “Nope, you can do most of the work, but I am in there with
you.”

“Don’t
trust me?”

“It’s
not that at all.  I am just an anal bitch and I will be there the entire time
you are painting or you can all bite me and then I will do it myself.”

“The
risk of infection, the pain meds on top of your normal stuff, and many other
reasons is why you shouldn’t be in there.  But that isn’t going to change your
mind, is it?” asked Thayne.

I
shook my head no.

He
sighed, “All right but you will not be doing any work.  You will wear the
protective clothing at all times in that room, and you will tell me if you need
to leave, not ignore it until you pass out, got it?”

I
looked up at him, pulled my best doe-eyed pout, and only got a look that said
it wouldn’t work this time.  “Fine,” I muttered.

“Promise
me, Bella.”

I
looked up at him and stuck my tongue out at him.  “I promise but you have to
follow my design to a T and my instruction on how to do it.”

He
nodded and reached for me, pulling me into his arms.  I leaned into him further
cuddling into his chest and nearly purred when he rubbed the scruff on his chin
against my neck.

“How
did he do that?” muttered Simon.

“Do
what?” I asked lazily enjoying Thayne being so close.

“How
did he get you to agree so easily?  You don’t let anyone mess with your
designs.”

I
shrugged, “He promised to follow my orders.”

I
heard Liam and Cam giggling. I glanced over at them and by the look on their
faces, I didn’t want to know what they were talking about.

“Can
I go to bed now?”

“Yeah,”
said Thayne, “let’s go take a nap.”

I
nodded then covered up a yawn and headed back to my room after dropping my
coffee cup off at the sink.

“How
did I end up in PJs?”  I asked Thayne then yawned again.

“You
don’t remember?”

I
shook my head no.

“Huh,”
he grunted looking at me a little strangely.  “After we came back to your room
I helped you change then we went to bed.”

“Oh,
sorry I forgot that.  Do anything kinky to me while helping me change?”

He
chuckled, “Yeah, lots of things too bad you can’t remember them,” he said
jokingly but still looked a little off.

“You
okay?”

He
looked over at me and looked at me, no stared at me then nodded his head
slowly, “Yeah, just tired.”

“Okay,”
I said not believing that was it but too tired to really push it.

I
crawled into bed and he covered me up kissing my forehead.  “Thought you were
going to take a nap with me?” I mumbled.

“I
need to get Nik home.”

I
nodded my eyes closing, “K.”

He
kissed me softly on the lips, “Be back later.”

“K,”
I slurred then fell asleep.

When
I woke later that day and dragged myself out of my room in search of something
to drink and a bathroom.  Once those needs were met, I stumbled into living
room where I found Matt sitting on the couch cooing at Zadok.  I plopped down
beside him and rested my head on his shoulder running my fingers through the
soft hair that was on Zadok’s head.

“How
you feeling, Seraph?”

“Better,
I guess.”

“How’s
the arm?”

“It
hurts a little but not enough to justify pain medication.”

He
nodded, “Try some Tylenol.”

“Already
did.”

“Good,
but don’t start hurting and ignore it because you’re too stubborn to take the
prescription stuff.”

I
rolled my eyes and fluffed Zadok’s hair some more, “I won’t.”

“Yes
you will, you always do.”

“Thanks
for the vote of confidence.”

“Oh
I have all the confidence in you.  I just know you don’t like taking that
stuff.”

“It
makes my head fuzzy.”

He
leaned down and kissed my head, “I know, and you hate that feeling.”

“So
where is everyone at?”

“Well
I am babysitting.”

“Me
or Zadok.”

“Both
actually, Cam and Simon went out to dinner on a date, and Liam and Kale went
for a ride on a date.”

I
snorted, “You mean they all left you here to deal with me and then ran for the
hills?”

“Pretty
much,” he nudged my head that was still lying on his shoulder.  “I think Cam
and Simon are having some problems.”

“They
are.  They think they are fooling us, but we hear the fighting.”

“So
why are they fighting?”

“Money,
how they spend their time, how they don’t spend their time.”

“Ah,
they were young and didn’t know each other well. Now they don’t know how to
deal with it all.”

“Basically,”
I murmured curling further into his side.  “Heard from Thayne?”

“Ah
yet another star crossed lover, yes, he called to check on you.  He said he
would see you tomorrow.”

“Mmkay,”

“You
like him, huh?”

I
smiled thinking about Thayne.  “Yeah, I like him a lot.”

“Have
you told him?”

“That
I like him?  I’m pretty sure he knows that.”

“No,
that you love him.”

I
scoffed, “I don’t love him.”

“Really,
Seraph?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No,
it’s something, old man, what is it?”

“It’s
just that I’ve seen that look before.  It’s the same look your mother had when
she looked at Ace when she was younger.  You look exactly like her sometimes,
it’s uncanny.”

“Did
my mom love Ace?”

“Yeah
she did.  She never meant to hurt him, but after a while he wasn’t there for
her like she needed him to be, and then things just happened that we can’t take
back.  And in all honesty, I wouldn’t take it back even though we hurt a lot of
people.”

“Why
wouldn’t you change what happened?”

“Because
then, Seraph, I wouldn’t have you, and I can never regret having you as my
daughter.  You are my angel.  You were one of the two best things to ever
happen in my life.”

“Oh,”
I whispered wiping away the tear that fell down my cheek.

He
sighed and looked down at a now sleeping Zadok and smiled, “The three best
things to happen in my life,” he corrected.

“He
is special.”

“Yes
he is special, and I look forward to having many more grandbabies to hold.”

I
wiped my eyes once more then got up to search for something to make for
dinner.  After making sandwiches, I curled up on the couch with my sketch pad
and pencils and spent the evening sketching and thinking about what Matt had
said.  There was a lot to think about, he didn’t regret me, the first parent in
my life to ever say that to me.  I would never know if my mom would have wanted
me or not.  I know Ace hadn’t, now I had another chance with a parent.  I
looked down at my sketch and realized I was drawing Thayne from memory.  His
eyes looked up at me and I traced them with my finger.  I had a lot to think
about regarding Thayne.  Was I in love with him?  I knew he said he was falling
for me but was he really or was that just the illusion of love?

I
knew I loved spending time with him, that he was fun to talk to, that I would
miss him if he were to leave, but was that love or something else?  I just
didn’t know.  I hadn’t seen many examples of loving couples.  I never really
believed that Ace loved my stepmother, more that he tolerated her.  Matt had
never been in a relationship that I knew of after his wife had died, and Saul
was still in love with my deceased grandmother.  How did you know you were in
love?  What was it like?  Was it this incessant need I had to be near Thayne
all the time, or the desire to just lie beside him and hear him breathing?  I
didn’t know and I had no idea who I could talk to about this, while Matt was
great, I didn’t feel comfortable with that.  Simon, still didn’t trust him, Cam
had her own problems, and Liam didn’t take anything seriously.  Kale maybe,
Kale would listen to me but I didn’t know if he would give me his opinion.  I
really wish Cas and I were in a better place, this is something I would have
talked through with him.

Finally
I finished the sketch, placed it on the table, then headed to take a shower and
get ready for bed.  I had to be at the shop early in the morning to let the
harpies do their thing before the final week began.