Claimed by the Biker Giant (Maxine and Tank) novel Chapter 86

Max POV

Tank was driving the van to town, would drop me off at the paint shop, then take Sticks to the shops to pick up whatever Cricket didn’t get and a bit more. She had shown me a list the other night, after she had downed all the ice cream I had. The ceremony was going to be beautiful, and I didn’t need to make any changes to her arrangement; it was perfect.

But Cricket this morning, even Sticks looked worried about what changes she had made. That girl, I had no idea she was so jealous of me that I had slotted into the club scene so easily, according to Sticks.

“I am sorry about Cricket. She had been poisoning my head for a week now, and after that attack, she got worse, and I took it out on you, and I shouldn’t have.” Sticks kept apologizing for not seeing how bitter Cricket was becoming. Bruiser knows now and will sort her out.

“It’s not your fault, you had so much going on, and the attack would have made everyone feel vulnerable, after believing the clubhouse was safe. You would have been dealing with all the women and their fears, and with Cricket in your ear, you had no reason not to be guided by her. You have been her associate, a lot longer than I, and I arrived with my own kind of baggage.”

“You’re too kind and forgiving.”

“She is.” Tank agreed a little too quickly. Chuckling at my glare, I gave him.

“Here you go, will be back shortly, will drop the guards off along with Sticks and come back to you and help you with the paint, then return to collect Sticks.” I gave him a quick kiss, waved goodbye, and entered the paint shop.

“Hello Maxine, been a while.” Dan, an older man, greeted me with a bright smile.

“Hi. Dan, Yep, been busy, you know, time can get away from you. I sent a list. Did they come in?” I asked, heading to the paint section for vehicles.

“Yes, came in yesterday, was going to call you today. You saved me the trouble.”

Dan, can you get in paint for tattooing, or do I need to order online and have it delivered here?” I hadn’t seen any on the shelves, but it’s a specialty paint, like a lot of mine, and might need a special license to order it.

“I have some, want to see?”

“Lead the way.” I followed him to the back of the store, a small storage room, full of assorted types of paint.

“Great, can I get these colors?” I handed him a list and slowly looked at all that he had.

“Wow, can I have those two as well?”

I left Dan to gather my list and added to the pallet of paint he had waiting for me, and looked around at the other paints in the store. I was near the front window when I saw in the corner of my eye a familiar figure, and I looked up. The bell rang, and that signaled trouble.

“Well, well, well, decided to surface, did you?” My sister cooed at me, my ex attached to her arm, or was it the other way round?

“What do you mean, this is not the first time in town?” I replied, thinking that if I didn’t, she wouldn’t let it go.

“You haven’t been home to visit us. Why, you scared?” She nasally asked, her heels too loud as she walked towards me.

“I was told to get out and never return, so I did. Now you expect me to visit, make up your mind.” Not that I would have gone visiting then anyway, not now I am out.

“So they did.” She giggled, now too close to me, her perfume way too strong, overpowering the smell of the paint, in the store.

“Thought we’d invite you to our wedding, it’s next Saturday. Local church, ten o’clock, be there.” She demanded, flicked her hair over her shoulders, and turned to leave the shop. As

she reached the door, I spoke.

“Not bloody likely.” She turned and glared at me, as if that would make any difference to me. The bell rang, and I looked past her. Tank had entered the shop.

“Sort of, she’s getting married on Saturday, and demanded I be there or else, I told her I would be on my honeymoon, and could possibly make it. That’s when you walked in.” Sticks was having the men load the other vehicle, with what looked like the whole shop. Noticing that the man was arriving, she left the men to finish loading and climbed in.

“Did you buy the whole shop?” I asked, jokingly.

“Feels like it, Cricket didn’t get one thing from the list, god knows what she brought, or why. It’s like she was out to make it a disaster, and that would be stupid, because it would only backfire on her, as we all know she did the shopping. I also got you a new dress, one more in your style, because I don’t think the one Cricket convinced me to buy was right for you.”

“Does she hate me that much?” I asked, not hiding the hurt in my voice.

“No, she is jealous, but not hate, to her, you joined and became VP in less than a month; she spent two years getting Bruiser to accept her, and then when she got pregnant, he had no choice but to make her his. I don’t think he would have if she hadn’t gotten pregnant.”

That explained a lot.

“She hasn’t had morning sickness since I’ve been here, and isn’t showing yet, unlike you.”

“I agreed. Do you think she was lying?”

“I don’t know, maybe she was and lost it, and that was why she changed so much, possibly worried Bruiser would dump her if she lost it.” I tried to think of reasons why she had changed so much, and that was the only one I could come up with.

“Bruiser won’t dump her for losing the baby; if that has happened, he would coddle her all the more, feeling the loss as much as her, even if it was not planned, and he was trapped, he’s not the kind of guy to back out,” Tank added to our conversation, and it was good to get an man’s perspective.

“Good to know. Thanks, both of you. I had been feeling like a failure lately, not being able to please everyone; you have given me plenty to think about.” Sticks turned and looked out the window, signalling that this conversation was over.

I thought about my sister, and for someone who was a little further along than Sticks, her stomach looked relatively flat. Could she be lying?