Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 31

Tank POV

We sat in the meeting room, too many for us to use the Prez’s office, and Sticks handed out coffee and muffins. Yeah, bikers don’t mind coffee and cake. Well, ours do. Not all of us wake up and head for the bottle first thing. I don’t drink as much as some might believe, not because I don’t like drinking, but the last time I got drunk, I hurt someone badly, and I don’t want to do that again.

“Word is, about ten Jones boys are on the road, headed this way. The gas station called, warning us. Pixie says tomorrow. Guess she either lied or they’re coming early. That being said, we have some of ours posted and ready. When they arrive, we will tail them openly, let them know we know they are here, and follow them around. No contact unless they approach us, then I want to hear about it, the moment they do.” Prez was in a mood; I don’t think he got much sleep last night, as we are all coping with his agro.

“Slug, did the boys say anything useful?” The guys they dragged outside had foul mouths on them; it was hard to get anything out of them except obscenities. They were still high on whatever they injected into their arms-making them fearless and dumb.

“Nah, got drugged up, they don’t know nothin, all Pixie was doing, they went for the laughs,” Slug replied, which was about what we expected; they would follow if they put up with someone like Pixie.

“Dumb broad, brought us noffin but trouble since she came, should have got rid of ages ago.” Stonner hated Pixie right from the first day; he wouldn’t let her near him, ever. He was one of the few who had given her a backhander for taking things too far, and, to his credit, he was a little drunk. Still, that girl never knew when to give up and had paid the price. She cried and bytched and complained for weeks, but Stonner wasn’t going to give her the time of day.

I have to agree with him that that girl smelled like trouble, and now we have some on our doorstep.

“Look on the bright side. If she hadn’t been her silly self, testing the club members as she often does, and if her only cost had been her shiner, we wouldn’t have gotten information that trouble was coming and why. We are ahead.” I tried to put a positive spin on this whole Pixie deal.

“You’re right, bro, she did, or at least the other guys with her gave us good info; they didn’t know about the shop situation, but knew something about the Jones gang, being the ones that Pixie was attached to.” Slug slurred; it appeared he was already drunk, and it was only halfway through the day. I would hate to have his kidneys.

We talked about the Jones gang on their way here, and what the plans were, nothing we haven’t dealt with before. We pride ourselves on keeping our town safe. It helps to own almost half, if not more than half, of the town. The mayor, one of our older club members, who doesn’t get involved in club affairs as much as he did in his younger days, we have a lot like that, who are in retirement of sorts.

Nearly all our club members have a degree in something; some are actually very smart. I have a degree I never use; I did the course online because I promised my mum I would finish school. Got to keep your promises, no matter how stupid that promise was in hindsight.

“Maxine did well today, didn’t complain about being pulled out of bed, did the job, and returned, not a peep of complaint. She’s a keeper.” I don’t know why I am getting compliments for Maxine; it’s not like I was the one who had taught her how to do what she did. I have her in my bed. The guys don’t know that I haven’t done anything more than hold her and enjoy having her with me. Cricky, I don’t even know if she has been with a man before. We haven’t reached that far; both of us seem to be holding back. I know my fears, but I haven’t been ready to investigate hers.

It’s not exactly a question I can pose.

What do you say?

‘Hey, little lady, have you been with a man before?’

I don’t feel right just throwing in the twenty questions to get to know each other.

I think when and if I reach the stage that I am ready to try and be with a woman again, and if my body will let me, I might ask then.

As I am told, it’s all in the timing; if the timing is correct, the way you ask the question won’t matter.

The meeting concluded, and we agreed not to involve Maxine in the pending skirmish; she doesn’t need to be one of the boys. There has to be a line drawn somewhere so that she can be herself. Be one of the ladies, it didn’t feel right, just because she could probably beat a few of your guys in a fight. We don’t need women, along for things like that.

Besides, she wants to get so much done; the list Prez gave her will keep her busy for a whole year, and that doesn’t include the rebuilds she wants to get started on.

As I was heading out past the kitchen, Cricket called out.

“Hey Tank, can you get your lady in here? It’s time for dinner, and I don’t want her out there all night on an empty stomach.”

“Sure, sweet thing,” I replied. It makes me feel good inside when they call her my lady. I know the casuals who aren’t claimed won’t agree to her being my lady; some still try it on. Guys who have ole ladies, it doesn’t stop casuals, even with it in the rules, they get banned for a month, and if they do it again, they’re out, never to return.

I stood at the doorway for a little while, letting her finish what she was doing, the pink of her tongue pokes out of her lips and back in, something she does when she’s concentrating hard. That action gave me a semi. This woman seems to make me hard or semi-hard with little to no effort at all.

She finishes what she was doing and stands up, arching her back, her hips coming forward, her hands on her hips. A sigh in relief, and it escapes her lips before she notices me at the entrance of the painting room.

Maxine agreed to let me look at her work, and it was terrific; the image looks like it’s coming out of the tank.

“Ever thought of doing some tattoos?” I could picture her putting her ink on her skin; she was a true artist.

“Grandpa wanted me to try, but I was worried about hurting someone, or making a mistake that the wearer would have to carry their whole life.” She shrugged as if it was nothing. What could she do? Compliments are not something she asks for, and she blushes when she gets them, which tells me she rarely gets them since her grandparents died.

“I think you’d do good, I am more than happy for you to practice on me. Any mistake made on me won’t be a mistake; it will be a mark of Maxine.” I grin, hoping she will say yes.

“I tried creating a few tattoos on the streets, covering scars, or when a group of guys wanted to show them together as a gang and all wanted the same mark, it gave me some extra pocket money, but I don’t like painting on skin, it feels all wrong, that’s what I told my Grandpa, and he dropped trying to push me. I have Grandpa’s old kit; I doubt you could get parts for it now. It’s old, but it does a great job. But I never considered it as a job, the same as this. Painting and tattooing were for fun, a hobby, not my job.” She kept saying that. A hobby. Who does that sort of thing as a hobby?

My woman, that’s who.

I doubt you’d find anyone else in the world who has her talent and calls it a hobby.

“You did a lot of things to make money,” I add as we leave the workshop, locking it up, making it secure. She was worried that visitors might come and damage the work, and while it was in that workshop area, she considered it her responsibility to make sure it stayed safe.

“Grandpa wanted me to try my hand at everything. If he could do it, he felt I should be able to, so we spent a lot of time together. The painting was by Grandma. She loved to paint, and she taught me to blend colors. It was Grandpa who suggested transferring the painting idea to the bike. Before now, the only paintwork I had done was on my bike, I never thought of doing it for anyone else. As I said, it was a hobby, something to try my hand at, with no pressure to make it work. It was fun, not a job. I might not be good at everything, but I gave it a go, and it half decent job.”