Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 22

Maxine POV

The door opened, letting the beat of the drums downstairs grow louder, enough to arouse me, but not fully awake.

Zero spoke kindly to his brother; it warmed my heart that these two siblings cared so much for each other. They had each other’s backs. Even when both were obviously drunk, they still tried to help each other. Guess Tank was more the worse for wear than Zero, drunk as a skunk, legless, call it what you will, but they both reeked of booze.

Wish my family had been like that. I pushed that fleeting thought away; no use crying over wanna’s or should-haves.

I didn’t wake fully, so sleep found me fairly quickly once Zero left the room, and Tank’s soft snores started.

My bladder had me out of bed and stumbling to the bathroom.

Completed what I needed to do and returned to stand, looking out the window. We hadn’t closed the curtains, and the window was slightly ajar, sending in a cold breeze. It wasn’t too bad, enough to raise goosebumps on my arms. The sun had started to change the night’s darkness into pre-dawn twilight, enough to see outside, but no sun yet to begin the long stretches of shadow along the ground.

It was peaceful, calm before what madness the day might bring; some bodies lay on the ground, sleeping where they fell, not as lucky as Tank, who had his brother to help him to a comfortable bed, hope Zero found his, and was not lying somewhere on the ground.

I gave Tank one last look, pulling the covers up over him. He was still lying on his back, where Zero dumped him, sound asleep.

The kitchen was empty, except for lots of dishes yet to be washed after last night’s party. While I wait for the coffee pot to do its thing, I filled the dishwasher, tidied up a little, poured a cup of coffee, grabbed a sad-looking apple, and headed to my workshop.

The place was my new sanctuary, a place I could come and hide and get things done.

I sorted out the paints in the back room, the ones I was going to use on the Prez bike, then opened up my computer, printed out my design, cleaned up the tanks, and got to work on the design, placing an undercoat first. The color of the main part of the tank would be, then, with a small outline, to start putting the basic idea of the design on the metal.

I have no idea how long I sat there in the area I had created for this part of the work, as this was not done in the special paint room, which is the room I would use when I start adding colors to the tank. But Cricket came in, placed a coffee and some toast on an upturned box she had placed near me, and stood watching for a while.

“Thank you,” I said as I lifted the end off the tank and looked up at her.

“Don’t make a habit of it. Like the design so far.” Turned and left. My eyes tracked her till she left the building.

I am unsure what I am not supposed to make a habit of. I shrugged, took a sip of coffee and a large bite of toast, and looked back down at what I had been doing. I had done enough to get a good idea of what it will be. Another hour and I can consider adding some paint.

That hour went quickly. I stood and arched my back, sore from being in the same spot for too long. But when I am in the zone, even a twinge in the back can’t bring me away from what I am doing. After finishing the now cold coffee, I head inside, time for some real food and a hot coffee, before I start the painting.

It was late afternoon, most had already eaten, either a late breakfast or lunch, and the makings for sandwiches were still on the table in the kitchen, along with Tank.

Who was not alone.

I stopped in my tracks and watched.

One of the girls, whom I had thought wasn’t family, was running her hand over Tank’s chest, touching the VP patch he now wore.

“Nice, that makes you even more handsome and desirable.” She purred at him in a sultry voice that made my skin crawl.

He grabbed her hand and threw this away.

“Leave off, I am taken,” Tank growled at her, his voice full of disgust.

“Not given out a ladies’ cut yet, so you are still fair game.” She didn’t give up.

He gave her his back and continued to make a sandwich, but she didn’t give up, wrapping her arms around his back and rubbing her chest against him.

I had had had enough, walked up behind her, grabbed her hair in my hand, pulled her back away from Tank, and threw her across the room, I was surprised at how easy it was to make her fly like that, I thought it would have taken more effort, guess luck was on my side, or I was stronger than I thought.

Her scream when I grabbed her, and the continued loud sobs from where she landed on the kitchen floor, brought others rushing into the kitchen to find out who was murdering whom.

“What’s going on?” The Prez asked as he stepped around the sobbing woman, and looked at Tank and me.

“She threw me on the ground, and it hurts.” Sobbed the woman louder.

“I didn’t ask you.” The Prez spat back, his hands on his hips.

“My woman didn’t take kindly to that tart’s advances on me. I told her I was taken, but refused to take no for an answer, and my woman dealt with it.” Tank answered with pride, pulling me to him and kissing my neck.

That action and work calmed me down. I hadn’t realized how angry I got. Guess I am prepared to fight for what I consider mine. He had shown that he was a one-woman man, and that was enough for me to fight for it, which was all new to me. I had never bothered to fight for a man before. Mind you, the others were cheaters, and I wouldn’t fight for a cheater. Didn’t seem to be any reason, which says a lot for the boyfriends.

“What are you doing in this part of the clubhouse?” The Prez moved from questioning us and set his eyes on the woman on the floor, still sobbing hard. I didn’t hurt her that much. Talk about a wimp.

“I heard that Tank got VP. I came to congratulate him.” She cried out as if she were the one wronged.

“What part of this area is out of bounds, or that Tank was taken, didn’t you get?” He was fuming. I hadn’t seen this side of the Prez before. I had only seen the good side. Mind you, I have never been around him when he needed to yell at someone.

“Sorry, thought the occasion would allow exceptions.” She pulled herself up off the floor once she realized a crowd was forming, and no one was giving her support.

“One month ban, I don’t want to see your scrawny body in this clubhouse for a month, do you hear me? If you breach that order, you will get a lifetime ban,” Bruiser had arrived by then and ordered some noms to drag her sorry arss out of the building and notify the gate; she was banned.

“Tank?” The Prez looked at him, and I have no clue what that question was, but Tank seemed to know.

“Should have seen her, was pure magic, grabbed her by the hair, and threw her, the bytch didn’t see it coming, and to be honest, I had my back to her, and didn’t see Max enter the room.”

“Lucky you said all the right things, Tank, or you might have been on the floor too,” I said in half-jest, but I didn’t get the laugh I was after.

“Come on, that was funny,” I added when no one laughed.

“Think you could have put Tank on the floor?” Bruiser asked, rubbing his chin in thought.

“I have seen what is between his legs; I doubt a good knee there would miss.” I shrugged, as if kneeing Tank in the balls was nothing.

That did get a laugh and cringe at the same time, some of the guys put their hands over the area l was talking about, as if they imagined a knee in that region.