The Beast of Stornoway

Chapter 91: Van

Van groaned as he slid a hand to his forehead.

Amani is going to kill me. I'm so bloody hungover.

He told her he wouldn't drink during her pregnancy and what did he do?

Get bloody pissed with Hamdi.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. At least he managed to get to his bed.

What a damn day?

He remembered going to his doctor's appointment where he was told that his vasectomy failed because his vas deferens, the tube that carried his sperm, regrew on its own. He had no idea that was even possible. He grinned, but he wasn't too upset about it. He thanked God Amani was the one he managed to get pregnant and not Rebecca.

Not that I was ever going to be with her like that.

Then Hamdi came over and that was where his memory failed him. He couldn't remember what the hell they did last night. He remembered Hamdi telling him they had to have one drink to celebrate him becoming a father. Then he vaguely remembered convincing Gerard to take them into town. His eyes grew wide. He better not have had loose lips last night and told the whole bloody town about the baby.

Bloody hell, Blarcum. No, no, I can't remember much, but I know I'm not that stupid to do that. I'm pretty sure Hamdi wouldn't either...

He heard a groan and a curse from his floor. Hamdi slowly sat up and rubbed his head as he looked at Van. They stared at each other and burst out laughing at the disheveled state of them.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Van laughed

Hamdi shook his head and pet Nova's excited face. "God, I don't know. I-I can't remember how we got home last night," he groaned and dragged himself to the chair near the window. "Whose idea was it to drink like we were bloody teenagers?"

"It was your idea, ya numpty. I agreed to one bloody drink."

Hamdi grinned. "Yeah, but we had to celebrate the news!" He slid his phone from his pocket and frowned. "Oh bloody hell, Marie has been calling me all night!" He gasped as his phone began to ring in his hand.

Van chuckled and wondered if Marie had a bit too much to drink with Amani. He wouldn't be surprised if she decided to drink enough for the both of them and then drunk dialed her husband. She was the master at drunk dialed phone calls.

"Hey darling, what? Marie...honey...slow down...what are you talking about?" Hamdi said and sat up straight in his chair. "Bloody hell, are you alright?!"

Van frowned at the worried tone in Hamdi's voice. He sat up and reached next to him for his phone to check for messages from Amani. His heart clenched as he stared at the twenty missed calls from Marie.

What the fuck is going on?

The door to his room burst open and Niamh, his lead security agent, stood in the doorway with his eyes wide with panic. "Please excuse my intrusion, m'Lord, but we have a situation."

"What situation?" Van growled as his heart sank to his stomach. He hadn't heard from Amani and he could hear Marie's hysterical voice from Hamdi's phone.

"Wait, Marie. I'll put you on speaker so you can tell Van what you just told me," Hamdi said and held his phone towards Van.

"Van! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Her weeping voice filled the room. "I saw them tranquilize the shop owner and her guards. I tried to get to her, to...to get out of the shop, but they got me too. Th-they put us in the storage room and she was gone when we woke up. It's my fault. It's all my fault."