Page 16 of Van

“You who she’s fucking now?”

“No. I’m just a friend. Now calm the fuck down, man.”

“A friend? She doesn’t have male friends. I made sure of that,” he gloats, pissing Van off a little more. I can see the look in his eyes, and I know this isn’t going to end well for any of us. We’re going to get kicked out of the diner, I know it.

“She does now, so why don’t you back the fuck off a little,” Van tells him as he presses his hands to Derrick’s chest and pushes him back a step.

“Let’s just go, Van,” I say.

“You need to eat. We’re not goin’ anywhere,” he says without ever looking over at me. He keeps his eyes on Derrick the whole time when a small woman comes over.

“There a problem, Van?”

“Yeah. This guy is botherin’ my friend, Mrs. Glenda.”

“Then, by all means, escort him out,” the small woman says before sliding into the booth across from me. She sits back and watches as the two of them battle it out for dominance as Van drags Derrick out of the diner.

“You’re a friend of Van’s?” she asks as I watch the door.

“Yeah.”

“Van and the guys do a lot of security work for me when they’re around. Luckily, he was here today,” she says, pulling my attention to her.

“You’re not mad?”

“Oh no. Of course not. Van can handle them,” she smiles at me. “What can I get you to eat?”

“I … I should probably wait for Van.”

“I doubt he’d want you waiting on him. I’ll get him his usual just tell me what you’ll have.”

“I’ll have whatever he has,” I tell her. She nods her head and slides back out of the booth. I turn my head to look over my shoulder to see what’s happening. It looks like they’re in a heated discussion. Van stands there with his hands clenched at his sides as if he’s waiting for Derrick to say the wrong thing or make a move. I watch them, unsure of what to do in this situation, but something tells me I shouldn’t interfere.

So I don’t. I wait. Derrick turns his head to look back inside at me once more before I see him turn around and storm off. Van rolls his shoulders and turns, walking back inside before coming back to his seat.

“He won’t fuck with you again if he’s smart, but I get the feelin’ he isn’t very smart,” he tells me. I shrug as a woman sets drinks in front of us.

“I don’t know how smart he truly is anymore,” I admit to him.

“Not very, but hopefully, he leaves you alone,” he says once more.

“What did you say to him?”

“That you were bein’ taken care of, and he didn’t need to worry about where you are or what you’re doin’. I made it pretty damn clear, too,” he says casually. The woman, Glenda, comes back and sets two plates on the table in front of us, but my focus is on Van. I can’t believe he’d do that for me. Why? He doesn’t know me that well.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” she declares before walking away once more. Van looks up at me and catches my stare.

“You okay?”

“Why would you do that for me?”

“Why not? You don’t deserve his shit,” he tells me.

“No one has ever really gotten in the middle of my messes, though. I’m not used to it,” I admit.

“Well, get used to it. He’s lucky I didn’t beat his ass for puttin’ his hands on a pregnant woman,” he tells me. I should say thank you again, but that doesn’t seem like enough. It doesn’t seem like anything.

Instead, Van grabs his food and begins to eat, nodding toward my plate. I don’t know what else to say so I grab my food and begin to eat along with him.

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