Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 256

Storm POV

The night was to celebrate Razor, and he beamed with pride at all the praise, and so he should. He might get a university placement, with his ability, but I won’t jump too far ahead; he needs to enjoy the journey, without the pressure of his future. Dad mentioned talent scouts in the place, and he half expects to get a call about Razor, most likely offer him a chance to play with the minor teams, or even train with the big leagues.

Coming back with another plate of food and some ice cream for Cloe. I get the impression something was discussed that weighs heavily on her; she didn’t have that spark in her eyes that she had when I left the table, and I looked at Mum and Dad suspiciously. Dad raised his hand defensively, and Mum shrugged. Neither gave a hint of what just went down. Seeing her loss of spark brought my mood down, and now I am concerned for Cloe. Our tech guy arrived to return Cloe’s phone.

“Thank you,” Cloe said, but it didn’t sound like she was happy to have the phone back. Cloe placed it on the table in front of her, like it was hot, and didn’t want it near her. I frowned.

“What did the phone do? Is it hot?” I asked, reaching out to touch it. Nope, not hot.

“We just found out that Cloe was never allowed to use the old broken phone, or get punished.” Mum filled me in, and I wondered again what had triggered that conversation.

“We are giving her a box of old unused phones for her to pull apart and look at the coding, and how it works, which might help with her studies, as phones are slightly different to computers,” Dad adds, it still didn’t clear all my doubts, however I didn’t want to push it, in case it upsets Cloe more than she was already upset.

“Do you need anything, Cloe?” I asked after I polished off my second plate of food, and downed another coffee.

“I am tired, can you take me to bed?” That sounded nice, but I know she didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Dad chuckled, with a knowing smile, and Mum rolled her eyes.

I collected Cloe, her arms instantly went around my neck, and after saying goodnight, she nestled her head into my chest as I walked upstairs to our room. Cloe was asleep before I made it to our bedroom; she was so drained. I did what I had been doing the past few days, and changed her into her night clothes, and she didn’t awaken once. I know Dotty had given Cloe her meds earlier, so maybe this deep sleep was from a long day and the meds combined. Took a long shower, as I thought of today, and her father at the game, which was unsettling for all of us, but more so for Cloe. Could that be a trigger for how she was at the table? No. If Cloe were upset over that, she would have looked glum all afternoon; no, this was something more. Finding no answers in the shower, I dried off and climbed in behind her.

Before I knew it, my phone was ringing, and it was already eight o’clock. Cloe was still nestled in at my side, still fast asleep.

“Hello.” I greeted, not checking who was calling.

“Thought you were coming to the meeting.” Dad’s voice floated over the phone; in the background, I could hear lots of voices.

“Shiet, sorry, slept in, give me twenty.” I wake Cloe, get her dressed and downstairs, place her in the wheelchair, as agreed, and with toast in my hand, rush out the door, leaving Cloe to get her own breakfast. I can’t believe I slept in. Cloe was great, didn’t complain or make a fuss, just accepted what was going on, and left me to do my thing.

The meeting hadn’t started, as a few stragglers were still arriving. I grabbed a plate of food and sat near Zero. He was busy on his phone. Dad was out front, being VP. He has a lot of responsibility. Prez and Dad work well as a team; I have rarely seen them disagree, not when it comes to the club. I was slightly surprised that Zero wasn’t up there. Maybe this didn’t involve an enforcer.

“Settle down.” Dad’s voice boomed out across the room. The room quietened quickly, all eyes to the front, waiting for Prez to talk.

“As you all might already know, a young lass called Cloe was in an unfortunate accident at our show and shine. That brought the eyes of the world to our town, but for the wrong reasons. However, it has come to our attention that Cloe’s father is a known troublemaker and is associated with drugs and guns. Mr Dawson and his wingmen have been spotted in our town a lot since that accident, and it was not to help his daughter; if anything, his daughter, Cloe, is in danger. Mr Dawson won’t hesitate to take his own daughter out if given the chance. I also believe he is trying to get a foothold in our town, and I find that unacceptable. Floors open for discussion.”

Drugs?

Guns?

Not in our town.

Out to kill Cloe.

Not on my watch.

The room got loud as we all agreed that Mr Dawson was not allowed to gain a foothold and that we should protect Cloe. Why he hates her so much is beyond me. Many suggestions were thrown around the room. We are united in our focus; some ideas sound good, others are not something we want to do. Yet.

“Can we take them out?” It was one wild suggestion. In theory, it sounds good, but realistically, it might not be that easy. He’s well known, so he would be noticed if he suddenly disappeared. That would not look good for our town; he would need to disappear somewhere. else, and away from us.

“Does the girl know much?” Someone asked, and I wanted to punch him so badly, ‘the girl’, she has a name, dip wit.

“Tank, what’s up?” He answered on the first ring.

“When will you be here?” Dad answers, both with no preamble.

“After lunch?” Uncle Simon sounds distracted.

“Cloe’s dad is into guns and drugs, trying to bring them into our town. He and his buddies have been seen around town a lot, and he was at Razor’s ice hockey game. This was not a coincidence. He’s giving us a message loud and clear.”

“Got it, what do you want from me?”

“Have you received the report on the Grandparents and brother yet. Thinking if they are not

involved, and could reunite them with Cloe.”

“Yes, all clear, none of them has been in contact with Mr Dawson in years and has kept their distance from him, the brother is a lawyer now, the grandparent retired to a holiday home near the ocean. I agree, the idea of getting them together sounds good. Do you want me to handle the initial contact?”

“Yep, sounds good. Also, when these four leave our town, can you get your men to tail them? I think they need to visit the mulch and fertiliser factory when they are out of town. Unsure how soon that could happen, but think that’s the best solution.”

“On it. Anything else?”

“No, will see you for dinner.” Dad hung up, and we stared at each other for some time.

“Don’t tell Cloe till we have something positive to tell her,” I suggested, and I was glad the day was getting better. I had no issue with Dad wanting that man to become fertiliser, which will save a lot of kids from drugs and keep guns off our streets.