Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 81

Tank POV

It’s fun pulling Max onto my lap; she never expects me to pull her down when it’s mealtime. We discussed this last time, I did it, and you could say she lost the argument. I stiffened when the nom spoke about Jenny, and the quick response from Prez. He’s right, she has the right to ask other girls here, especially her best friend.

Max and Jenny disappeared up the stairs, and I knew that was the last time I would see her for a while, so I took this opportunity to speak out.

“Sticks, I am angry with you and your girls.” I looked at Prez to see how he would respond, but all he did was lift his head and look at me.

“What! Why?”

“You, Cricket, and Pins have been so busy organising my little ladies’ celebration, you forgot a few major things.” I barked, trying to keep my temper in check, and starting to lose it.

“Careful,” Prez said softly. I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but I kept looking at Sticks.

Now I had her attention.

“What major things?” She asked, confused.

“How about you failing to include her in the organising, or picking out her dress, or getting her best friend here to be a bridesmaid? If she hadn’t asked about the bridesmaids, she wouldn’t have known about them till it was too late. She wanted to cancel it and start again later, when she got to have a say in it. She cried on my shoulder about how she was not included or having a say in her own ceremony. Max has never seen one, and didn’t know what to expect. You have her so scared she was almost sick.” My voice grew deeper the angrier I got. The calmer my voice went, and even Bruiser suddenly moved, knowing what it meant, the more I spoke.

“Of course, we included her.” Sticks argued.

“When? You asked her favorite colors and where, and that’s it; she had to ask the questions

with me. When did she get to go pick a dress, or get involved in who the other bridesmaids would be, or…”

“Stop,” Prez commanded.

“Sticks, you have failed in your duties,” Prez said angrily.

“I didn’t….” He didn’t let her finish.

“You did not fulfill your duties by including the bride in her own wedding. How would if, on your day, you knew nothing of our ways, didn’t get to choose your dress, didn’t know about the promises you would make, and all you knew was to show up and wait for someone. to tell you what to do? I can’t believe you did this to Max.” Prez got up and walked away. I heard a door slam.

“I…I…!” Sticks burst into tears, and her girls surrounded her to comfort her, sending me an angry look as if it was my fault she stuffed up.

Standing, I headed off to find Blaze, who most likely wondered why he hadn’t heard from Jenny. I saw him in the games room playing pool.

“Blaze got a minute?” I called out when he finished his game.

“Yeah, Mate, what do you need?” Yep, that’s our Blaze, always ready to give a helping hand.

“I just found out that you are interested in my little ladies, best friend.”

“Yeah, Sticks asked days ago, but I haven’t heard anything, thought she changed her mind.”

“Sticks failed to inform Max that you were interested; she only just found out and texted her.”

‘You mean, I could have met up with her days ago? What’s wrong with Sticks lately? Someone said it was baby brain.”

‘Jenny will be good for you to have around, especially leading up to Friday, take this time off from work, and enjoy her company, when she isn’t tangled around Blaze’s torso.” I joked that it was funny to see him walk away with her like that. It’s given me some ammunition to throw back at him after some of the ribbing he had given me. All in fun, but still nice to give back a little.

“Jenny has always had my back, and I hers. She sees things differently. I would never have thought of Sticks doing that because it was easier for her, but still, it would have been informed as she went along, rather than leaving me in the dark; it was as if it was not even my ceremony.” I could see Max getting upset again, so I pulled her to me and kissed her gently.

“Want to play pool?” I asked, trying to think of something to get Max’s mind off everything.

“Sure.” I led her out the room, and downstairs, the games room was busy, but we managed after a small wait to get on the table, where Max and I played doubles, and I learned that Max could play, enough for us to keep hold of the table, when you lost the winner keeps the table, and takes on the next couple waiting.

It was good to see Max relax and laugh at some of the guys’ bad jokes. The drunker they got, the worse the joke got, but it was all good fun. I had a few beers and was mellow, thinking nothing could go wrong tonight, we were on the right track again.

“Tank.” Bruiser came into the games room, and the blank look on his face was never good. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as he approached us.

“Problem?” I asked, moving to the side, to listen.

Prez’s drunk and out cold in his office. You’re the boss tonight. Sticks and Prez argued; it was ugly. Sticks has gone to her room, in tears, and I have no clue what to do.”

“Let’s get Prez comfortable on the spare couch, and leave Sticks to cry it out. I saw it coming. It’s been a few days, things have been off, maybe at last they have blown off steam, and they can get back to normal. Think Sticks didn’t cope too well, with the clubhouse being attacked, her haven, no longer safe.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I can understand that thought; it hit me a bit, too. With her being with child, she would be extra vulnerable, and so would, same as Cricket, maybe taking over the ceremony was getting her mind off her fears.”

“Yeah, when you try and look at the bigger picture, what happened over the past few weeks, Pixie, Doris, the camping weekend, and the attack, she would have grabbed the chance to make something good happen, for herself and the club, and not think of Max. I don’t think she did it on purpose, not including her, I mean.” I say as I walk with Bruiser to the office to put Prez in a more comfortable position.

“That is why you make the best VP. You take it all in and make sense of it all. Thank you.” Together, we moved Prez to the couch and covered him with a blanket.