Chapter 17
Van
I run my hand through my hair as I sigh and close my eyes. It’s been a month. A month, she’s been gone. We couldn’t find her anywhere. Neither could Mystic. No one matching her description has been to the local doctors or admitted to the hospital. Fuck, this is messed up.
“You okay?”
“Just a bad day,” I tell Pike. He nods his head and goes about his business when Nicole walks over with the phone in her hand.
“Phones for you.”
“I don’t wanna talk.”
“He’s busy. Can I take a message?” she asks sweetly into the line. She seems to listen when she looks confused. “Okay. Hold on. It’s the hospital, Van.”
I grab the phone, not sure who the hell I know, aside from my family, could be in the hospital. I pray none of my family is hurt.
“Yeah, this is Van.”
“I was asked to make this phone call. I don’t know how much time we have before he storms in here. Her name is Chyanne. Do you know her?”
“Where is she?” she rambles off the name of the hospital before she tells me Derrick is with her. My heart leaps into my throat when I tell the nurse not to let him know we’re coming. She agrees and I hang up, tossing the phone on the table as I yell for Mask.
“Mask!” I yell once more. He comes out of his office looking annoyed with me, but I don’t give a shit.
“She’s in the hospital. He’s there,” I tell him.
“What the fuck? She okay?”
“I don’t know anything. I need to go,” I tell him as I head for the door. My nerves are firing off one by one as I grab my keys and head for my bike. I notice the guys aren’t far behind me, and before I know it, we’re taking off toward the hospital.
It doesn’t take us long to get there before I storm inside. I look around for Derrick but I don’t see him anywhere when I ask the nurse for Chy’s room. She looks at the name on my cut and nods her head, leading me down the hallway. We enter another wing of the hospital and go up an elevator before she stops at one of the rooms. I hear women screaming in pain and babies crying. I assume this is the maternity ward when I walk into Chy’s room. I stop in my tracks when I see her lying on the bed hooked to machines. She turns her head, her eyes locking with mine as the air is sucked from my lungs.
“I’ll kill him.”
“The baby is coming early, Van.”
“What? What did he do?” I ask as I walk further into the room. I step up next to her bed and cup her cheek in my hand, running my thumb along the bruises.
“The baby is coming early, Van. He’s not ready,” she says, tears falling down her cheeks now. I lean down and press my lips to her forehead before whispering, “He’s gonna be fine. He’s a fighter like his mom.”
“I’m scared.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know. The nurses made him go out when they checked me. He never came back after that,” she explains to me. I nod my head and press my forehead to hers.
“Everything is gonna be okay. I’m gonna take care of him,” I tell her.
“Please don’t get in trouble, Van. I need you.”
“I need you too, baby. Everything is gonna be fine,” I tell her once more. She has to know that. She has to believe nothing is going to happen to her now I’m here.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs as she pulls me down to her. I hold her the best way I can as I soothe her. Her face is bruised, not severely, but I also don’t know what else he did to her.
“What else did he do to you?”
“He hit me a lot but never near my stomach. He wanted the baby, Van. Not me. He wants my son.”
“He isn’t touchin’ that baby. I’ll make sure of it,” I tell her.
“You can’t do that. How can you do that? He’s the father,” she cries harder.
“I got this, baby. Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then trust me when I say I got this. There’s nothin’ he can do,” I tell her. When I finally pull away from her, I see just how bad she looks. She looks tired and sad all at the same time. I just smile at her letting her know I’m here and I’m proud of her. She made it. She made it through whatever he did to her.
“I didn’t call the cops, but I still think I should,” the nurse says as she walks into the room. I turn to face her and shake my head.
“Cops don’t do shit, and we all know it. He won’t be comin’ near her again. I’m gonna have someone outside the door at all times, especially if I’m not here,” I tell the woman.
“What? Where are you going?” Chy asks, sounding panicked.
“Nowhere, baby. Just in case I have to, one of the guys will be outside. He isn’t gettin’ near you or the baby.” Chy nods her head as the nurse moves to her side and checks the machines.
“I don’t like this,” she mumbles.
“I know how this looks, and it’s bad. I’ll be the first to admit bad for her. But I can promise you once he knows I’m here, he won’t come back around.” The nurse turns to look at Chy and then at me before nodding her head.
“She’s going to have this baby soon, and she doesn’t need any drama.”
“No drama here. I got it. There won’t be.”
“And who are you in this situation?”
“I’m the dad,” I tell her proudly. Chy gasps before I look over at her and see the tears pooling in her eyes. “You think I wouldn’t step up? I told you, you’re mine.”
“And the other guy?”
“Is a nobody,” I tell her. She smiles and nods her head. “I’ll make sure he isn’t allowed back down here,” she assures us before leaving the room.
“You don’t have to do this,” Chyanne tells me.
“I want this, Chy. When you were gone, I thought I was goin’ crazy. I couldn’t sleep or eat. I just wanted you.” Now, the tears pour down her cheeks. I walk back over and wipe them away, knowing she doesn’t need the extra stress on her right now.
“Thank you, Van.”
“Don’t thank me. This is what I want, Chy. Let’s just have this baby,” I tell her. She giggles a little before the doctors and nurses start filtering back in. They set up the room, getting Chy ready as I stand still like I’m out of place. I’ve never witnessed a birth before. I’ve never seen a baby be born, and I don’t know how to react to all of this.
Chy does everything they tell her to do. She pushes when they say push. She breathes when they tell her to. Hell, she’s a pro at this shit if you ask me. I stand next to her head, holding her hand as she does what she’s instructed until I hear the cries. Small little cries. Then, the baby is placed on her chest, and she looks up at me in tears once more.
“Damn, Chy. You did good, baby,” I tell her as I look at the little boy lying on her chest.
“Is he okay?” she asks as they wipe him off. Before I knew it, they took him from her and carried him over to the small bed they had set up for him. I watch in awe as they take his temperature and clean him up a little more.
“He looks good. Six pounds. Not bad for being a little early.”
“Six pounds?” I ask, looking between the doctor and Chy.
“Yeah, right at six pounds.”
“That’s okay, right? Not too small?” I ask, wanting to make sure everything is good with him.
“That’s a good size for him. He looks good. Breathing well on his own,” the nurse reports as I walk over and look at him. I can’t believe how small he is. There’s nothing to him. Just a tiny little body.
“Damn, Chy. He’s perfect,” I tell her while still looking at him. I can’t believe she made that little human. She made a little boy. She grew him inside of her for months and now here he is.
I watch in awe of everything they do. He’s so small. It’s hard to believe my nieces and nephews were that little at one point.
When they wrap him up and take him back over to Chy, I follow behind them. She holds him in her arms and cradles him to her, and I can’t stop looking at the two of them. I pull my cell out and snap a picture, sending it to Mask and the guys.
“They both okay?” I ask the doctor as they finish up with her.
“They both look great,” he tells me. I nod my head and run my hand through my hair, thankful everything is going well. She didn’t need any other stress. She didn’t need any more drama.
“He’s so cute,” Chy says, drawing my attention back to the baby.
“He looks a lot like you,” I tell her.
“Yeah, he does.” She smiles and I know that everything is going to be alright.