Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 231

Cloe POV

I wheeled the chair too close to the sink and hit the end of my stumps on the sink counter. It hurt, like really hurt, causing my eyes to water. That hurt. I managed to brush my teeth and change my top, but the bottom hurt too much to pull it over the ends of my legs. I hate my legs, or what’s left of them; they remind me of my father and sister, one for each leg, that they are gone because of them. I don’t blame the truck driver, even though he was on his phone and didn’t notice what he did. It was my Dad forcing me to stay in the back of the truck; anywhere else, like the cab, I would have been fine, but he insisted I be in the back, clean it, and not leave the back till he returned. So my loss was all on him.

I tried not to cry, as the end of my legs throbbed with pain, which I had just caused. Storm knocked on the door, and that made me want to cry even harder, because I could see in his eyes, when he came in to help, how concerned he was. Dotty was kind, didn’t yell at me for being stupid, or even ask what happened. I take that as a plus; I had expected to be yelled at, like I would have if it were Dad.

Sleep came quickly; today has been a busy one, and my body was exhausted, but my mind must still have been active, as a nightmare from my past visited me.

‘No, don’t, please, DAD.’ Please. It didn’t matter how I begged and pleaded; the cellar was his favorite place to leave me while he entertained upstairs. Some days, he would let me walk down the stairs; other days, he would open the door and give me a shove, and I would tumble to the bottom of the stairs. Once, the fall knocked me out, and I woke early in the morning to a bucket of cold water on my face. Today was one of those days when he shoved me in, and as I tumbled down, he slammed the door shut and locked it.

‘Get up, you lazy cow, the place is a mess, get it cleaned up.’ I tried to get up, but my arm was at a funny angle.

Dad grabbed me by my broken arm and lifted me.

‘You stupid girl, now look what you have done to yourself. I will have to get Mabel here to bandage you up, and you know how much I hate calling her over to fix your clumsiness.’ He shook me, making the pain in my arm intensify, and I screamed out in pain. He slapped me a few times because he could.

Suddenly, something changed that was not part of my usual nightmares.

I felt like I was floating in the air.

Wait.

That’s not right, I never float, bounce, maybe, thump for sure, crash definitely, but float never.

A warmth filled my body, not the cold dampness from the cellar floor, but something else, something different, and I clung to it as if my life depended on it. Anything that was different was good, yes?

Hot. I groaned. I was not used to being hot, so I threw the covers off me, sat up, swung my legs to the side of the bed, and went to stand up, and fell straight to the floor.

What the heck?

Storm was at my side in an instant. I have forgotten, I had no legs, silly I know, but somewhere between sleep and half waking up, I had briefly forgotten, where I was, and what happened to me, but the pain, in my legs, was no joke, and tears were running down my face,this was worse than when I broke my arm, and Dad shook it, making the pain worse.

“Dotty, come quick.” Storm had collected me in his arms and was rocking me back and forth, kissing my hair, whispering words of regret that he didn’t grab hold of me quickly enough.

Dotty was rushing through the door and was at our side.

“What happened?” Dotty asked, looking at my legs, stumps, whatever.

“She went to get up, thinking she had forgotten that she needed the wheelchair.” Storm sounded distressed, as if he was blaming himself. It was only then that I noticed we were on the floor, between the bed and the window, so I must have been in bed with Storm. I blushed at the thought, and now knew why I felt hot; I must have been in his arms, and his body warmth was overheating me.

“I need to call the doctor; we need his approval to put stitches back in. She had broken quite a few.” Storm hissed and pushed my head to his chest, hiding my head from seeing my legs. Dotty left the room to speak with the doctor.

“Sorry, sweetheart, maybe we should put a railing on the side of the bed to stop you from trying to walk when half asleep,” Storm suggested. He was still rocking me back and forth, as I hiccoughed through the pain.

“We can put a railing on the side of the bed, won’t take much, at least it would give you peace of mind, when you go to sleep, or you will never get a full night’s sleep.” Tank started measuring the bed and its height, noting it down on his phone.

“Done. Dotty, double the antibiotics for a few days, and I will give you a script for something more for the swelling and pain.”

“Thank you for coming, Doctor Jaqueline. Sorry to bring you out of your warm bed so early in the morning.”

“I would have been shocked if you hadn’t done this at least once. It’s muscle memory and habit; thinking you still have your legs, it will take a while. If your pain increases, let Dotty know; she will know what to do. I will be back tomorrow to check how you are doing. Try not to damage them again.” He smiled when he spoke to me, and I got the impression he was trying to be funny, break the tension in the room.

Storm lifted me off the floor and onto his lap, allowing me to sit on the bed, then turned to get the wheelchair as the others left the room.

“Storm?” I called out, and he turned to look at me.

“Can you carry me? I don’t want to.” He was at my side in two large strides and picked me up.

“Bathroom?”

“Please.” I was shaking like a leaf after that fall, and wasn’t too confident in using the wheelchair, while I was so shaken up.