Page 25 of Van

“I have nowhere else to go,” I remind him. His eyes move away from me and look the other way before he sighs.

“I’ll stay away from you.”

“What?” Now he drags his eyes back to mine, and I see the hurt and pain in them.

“I’ll stay away from you, Chy. I’m sorry.” With that, he turns and walks out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

And I’m left confused and unsure of what to do.

Chapter 11

Van

I walked away and left her alone in her room the other night. I couldn’t listen to her say she wanted to leave anymore. I know what she’s thinking, and she’s wrong. I wouldn’t hurt her or the baby. Now I’m fucked in the head. I’m pissed she even thought it, but even more pissed that I made her think it.

I down another beer as I look around the bar. There are a few of our guys here tonight, but mostly, this bar is for civilians. I just needed out of the clubhouse after seeing her all day. She was off work today and stayed at the clubhouse. It was hell not going to her. I’ve grown attached to her, and I don’t know what I’m going to do now.

“You want to talk about it?” the bartender, Cher, asks me.

“No.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure,” I tell her. She nods her head and passes me another beer and a shot. I down the shot quickly before I take the beer down in record time. Before I know it, I’m drunk off my ass, causing a scene.

Cher tries to stop me, but there’s no use. I’m drunk, fucked out of my mind, and singing fucking karaoke. I want to hate myself right now, but I can’t. I’m too drunk.

That’s when I see Mask walk in, followed by Pike and Free.

“Hey motherfuckers!” I yell into the microphone. Mask looks over and shakes his head before the door opens, and she walks in. What the hell is she doing here? This isn’t a place for a pregnant woman. She walks over to Mask and they both look up at me. Mask whispers something in her ear right before she nods and comes toward the stage.

“Can you get down?”

“For you?”

“Yeah. For me,” she says. I nod my head and stumble my drunken ass off the stage, passing her the mic before I head back to the bar. I don’t know what she wants from me. She’s the one who wanted me to stay away from her, and now here she is, in my space.

“You done with this shit yet?” Free asks as I grab another beer and take a long pull. Cher will cut me off soon. I’m surprised she hasn’t already.

“What shit is that?”

“Whatever this drunken shit is, you’re on tonight,” he answers, looking me in the eye. My eyes drift over to Chy and back to him.

“Why’d you bring her?”

“She needed to see this shit,” Mask sternly replies.

“No, she really didn’t.”

“Yeah, Van, she did. She wanted to come,” he adds.

“She wanted to come? To see me like this?”

“Maybe she just needed to see what kind of bullshit she was gettin’ into with you.”

“Which is what?”

“Look at you, Van. I’ve never seen you look like this before.”

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