single dad: v.h

chapter twenty-five

"She can't know about this. Promise me she won't ever know." Vinnie whispered against the younger girls lips.

"I promise."

——

"Aaliyah can we get something to eat?" Bear asked as they walked around the mall with Kaiser.

"Of course honey. What would you like to eat?" Aaliyah asks.

"Maybe Chinese food if that's okay." Bear said, knowing already that Aaliyah would always say yes to Chinese food.

"Of course! Let's go! Wanna sit in the cart with your brother for me?" Aaliyah asked, lifting Bear up and placing her in the cart next to Kaiser after receiving a nod from the little girl.

Aaliyah began pushing the cart towards the Panda Express in the food cart. Once they reached the counter Aaliyah began to order, smiling softly since Kaiser kept repeating noodles in a very loud tone while he banged his hands against the cart.

"I got you noodles baby boy. Don't hit the cart, you'll hurt yourself." Aaliyah said softly, cupping her hands over his.

They only waited for a couple minutes when Aaliyah was given the food. She walked to a table with the cart and got the kids settled in chairs. She texted Vinnie while they began eating but after awhile she grew concerned and nervous when he didn't answer her.

"Can we get build a bears?" Bear's soft and sweet voice interrupted Aaliyah's thoughts.

"Of course we can!" Aaliyah answered, a smile covering her face. She was more than happy that Bear had agreed to spend the day with her.

Aaliyah threw all of the trash away and put the kids in the cart. She walked into Build-A-Bear, chuckling when Kaiser's eyes completely lit up.

——

"Fuck Vinnie." She moaned, her face pressed into his neck and her arms wrapped around his upper body.

"I fucking missed you." Vinnie grunted, picking up the pace of his thrusts.

"M-Missed you too d-daddy."

——

"Which one do you wanna get baby girl?" Aaliyah asked, smiling when the girl held up a light brown/tan bear.

"This one. Cause it's a bear and my name is Bear. Do you like it mom?" She answered.

"Yes I like it." Aaliyah nodded, crouching down to hug Bear who had a surprised look on her face.

"I didn't mean to call yo-"

"Bear it's okay, if you wanna call me mom you can okay?" Aaliyah said.

"Really?" Bear asked, tears building up in her eyes which caused tears to form in Aaliyah's.

"Of course." Aaliyah nodded.

Bear smiled softly, wrapping her arms around Aaliyah's neck and settling in her embrace. A feeling Bear couldn't identify filled her body. What she would grow up to figure out is the feeling she was feeling was relief.

"We should help Kaiser pick one." Bear said once she pulled away even though she didn't want too.

"You're right we should." Aaliyah said.

Aaliyah stood back and picked Kaiser up from his his seat. She crouched again and held him in a way so he could see all the stuffed animals to pick from. He immediately made grabby hands at the same bear his sister had picked.

"He wants the same one as me!" Bear said.

"We'll get that one for him then." Aaliyah smiled and picked up the bear.

"Can we get one for daddy?" Bear asked.

"Yes! We can get one for daddy." Aaliyah answered, letting Bear get an animal for Vinnie.

——

"B-Baby harder. Fuck me harder"

"Yeah you wan-"

Vinnie flew up into a sitting position in his bed at the sound of his phone ringing. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at his phone to see that Aaliyah was FaceTiming him.

"Hello?" He answered as he accepted the call.

"Um hi, is everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Aaliyah said.

"Yeah, weird dream. What's up?" Vinnie asked.

"Bear wants you to pick a shirt color for your Build-A-Bear." Aaliyah chuckled softly.

"What colors do they have?" Vinnie asked, trying to act as normal as possible.

"Um let's see. Red, blue, green. There's a plain black one." Aaliyah said as she looked at all the shirt colors on the wall.

He got lost in the way she looked so happy and he remembered exactly why he loved her. Exactly why he felt so bad about having a hard on from a dream that wasn't about her but was about his ex.

"The red one." Vinnie said, giving her a sleepy smile.

"Alright sweetheart, go back to bed okay? Make sure you take more medicine." Aaliyah answered.

"I will. I love you." Vinnie said softly, blowing her a kiss through the phone.

"I love you too. See you soon!" Aaliyah blew a kiss back and hung up.

He sat there for a minute, staring ahead of him at the wall. He lied. He wasn't going back to bed.