Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 295

TEMPEST POV

Dad’s on the loose.

Will he find me?

Am I who he’s after, or was he after Mia?

That’s all that kept going over in my head.

Storm let me hear all that was being done to keep me safe, but I hardly listened to any of it. Suppose Dad wants me badly enough, he will find me one way or another. I don’t want anyone else hurt because of him. For the first time in my life, I wish I knew how to fire a gun. Because Dad needs one, before he does more harm, the stories that have been turning up since his arrest and escape have been amazing; some I know are not true, the timing was all wrong, but that still leaves room for doubt on plausible ones. I have never felt this way in my life, even when Dad had beaten me till I fell unconscious, not even when he left me locked in a room with no food or water, for two days while he went to do something with Mia and his friends.

“Babe, you are worrying me. Talk to me.” Storm nudged my shoulder to gain my attention.

“I need a gun and to learn to shoot,” I replied, still thinking of what I would like to do to my father, and not what I was saying out loud.

‘No, you don’t.’ I have a gun and know how to shoot. You never leave my side when we leave the property. We have bodyguards all around us, and I have a bulletproof body suit for you to wear.

From today on, you wear it until this is over.” Storm reasured me, as best he could. Pulling me onto his lap, where I felt safe and protected.

“My father will be on the warpath, focused on his destination, and if that’s me, nothing will stop him till he does what he was out to do. He had connections, or else how else did he get out of jail so easily? Someone took out the guards and the paramedics; the ambulance has not been found, but they won’t get much out of it once they find it. Thought they all had GPS signals, guess that would have been disabled.” My mind was running rampant, trying to think like my father, so I could work out where he might be.

“Hey, slow down, you are not alone in this. The police, our security guards, Gramps, Dad, Mum, Dirk, everyone is working on this. Calm, please.” Storm kept peppering me with kisses, trying to distract me, holding me close to him.

“Breath, follow me, deep breath in through your nose, and out through your mouth, come on, follow me.” Storm kept taking in deep breaths and loudly exhaling. Soon, I was following him as he breathed in and out, trying to concentrate on his voice and breathing only. It was hard to shut off the mind when it’s on some twisted circle of thought. But eventually, my mind stopped, and I hopped off the merry-go-round for now.

“Better. That’s my girl.” The praise made me feel good inside, that I was achieving something.

“What’s going on?” Gramps’ voice came from the door as he walked in, looking worriedly at me.

“Tempest is having a meltdown, but she’s back with us now.”

“Her father?” Gramps asked as he sat beside us on the lounge.

“Yeah.”

“I want to learn to shoot.” I sobbed out, looking at Gramps.

“No doubt you do, but learning to shoot and aiming the gun, or rifle, doesn’t mean you can shoot.”

Gramps warmly replied.

“I only have maybe another week of this level work and I am done, Karen will be here next week to see me work, might stay the whole day, and if she likes what she sees, than Karen will sign off on me, and I will be an official physiotheraptist, and I am busy with my studies, for the higher level, and that’s coming along well, since moving in here. I can’t thank you enough for all you have done for I don’t know how to repay you.”

“What’s to repay? In a few months, we will be looking at prosthetics, and by then, you will be ready to continue my rehabilitation at a higher level. We both get a win out of this.”

“That may be so, but me living here, for free, was never really something that was part of the job, but a perk you gave me, and for that I need to repay you somehow.” Tracey had been harping on about the free living arrangement since she came here, and it was becoming annoying.

“I have a large house, I offered you a room, it helped you and me win-win, I don’t need to be paid in money, I needed therapy, and you gave me double what I would have had if you lived in town, that payment is enough for me.” It’s like an old record, stuck in a groove, and I don’t think she will get past it, because Tracey was fixated on the money side of the arrangement.

“Yes, we don’t need your money,” Storm added to the disagreement I was having with Tracey, having entered the room, catching the tail end of the conversation.

“Not you too.” Tracey huffed in annoyance.

“You look good, by the way. I am surprised but pleased to see you in the same team colours.” Storm was wearing the same shirt, and I was jealous that I had a different one, an older year when our team won the championship.

Doom, Skunk, Gramps and Sprocket all walked in, all wearing the same shirt, and I was the odd one out.

“Story of my life, always the odd one out,” I say out loud.

“Not the odd one out, just different, and different means you’re not following anyone else’s lead but your own.” Tracey grinned at me, then looked at the guys again, and blushed.