Page 41 of Van

“Thanks, man.”

The guys walk up and hug him while the girls do the same with me. When Van has had enough, he grabs the baby and my hand and leads me down the hall to the rooms. He opens the door and ushers me inside, and I gasp. He wasn’t lying. The whole room is set up for Nate. His bed, his clothes, his dresser. Van thought of everything.

“When did you do this?” I ask as we walk further into the room.

“When you were missin’. I knew you’d be back one day and need this,” he explains. He sets the car seat on the bed and unbuckles the baby before pulling him out and holding him in his arms. It’s amazing to see something as big as Van holding such a tiny baby in his arms.

“You need to sleep. You’ve barely slept,” I tell him.

“I got this. You need to sleep. I’ll take care of him.”

“You like it?” I ask him with a smirk on my face.

“I think I do. I like holdin’ him.”

“I see that,” I tell him as I climb onto the bed and lie down. I didn’t realize just how tired I was until my head hit the pillow. It’s nice being back in my bed too. It’s been so long.

“I have a lot of questions, Chy, but they can all wait. You need to rest and recover. But don’t think I’m not gonna go after him. I am.”

“I know you are,” I say softly.

“He can’t get away with what he did, and he sure as hell isn’t comin’ near you or this baby,” he tells me.

“I just don’t know how to react to all of this,” I tell him. Van walks over and sits on the edge of the bed with Nate in his arms and smiles at me.

“You don’t have to. That’s the beauty of this. You have a little boy to raise now. You have someone to love and look after. The rest is up to me, Chy.”

“I feel like thank you isn’t enough.”

“Just you bein’ here is enough,” he says, causing my chest to clench. There’s something about Van that screams at me to keep him around. There’s something magnetic that pulls me in, and I want to stay. We talk a little and I tell him a little more about what happened with Derrick before he sighs.

“You sure you don’t want to get some rest?” I ask him once more. He shakes his head and stands with Nate, rocking him back and forth.

“Nope. I got this. You sleep.”

Chapter 19

Van

“You ever gonna put him down?” Pike asks when I walk back into the main room and sit with the little guy in my arms.

“Not plannin’ on it. Besides, he likes it when I hold him,” I retort with a grin. One I couldn’t stop from crossing my face even if I wanted to.

“You like this?” Mask asks, nodding toward the baby.

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure I would but damn, holdin’ him feels right, brother. It all feels right.”

“Then you keep that, Van. You keep your girl and that little boy,” he says, nodding to him once more.

“I plan on it. I also plan on killin’ the motherfucker who touched them,” I inform him.

“I figured that.”

“When need to find his ass first,” I tell him. He nods his head and takes down his beer before glancing around the room. Then he drags his gaze back to mine.

“You know, I never thought I’d see the day you’d settled down with anyone.”

“Why is that?”

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