Unworthy

by Evans, A. K.

  Keith straightened from Tate, who was blissfully happy and unaware as he bounced and hit his hands on every possible toy.

  When Keith moved toward me, I asked, “Why are you doing this? Why would you try to take my son away from me?”

  “I get about two and a half days with him every other weekend, Delaney. I think it’s time he spent more time with me.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “So why aren’t you attempting to discuss that with me so we can work out a new schedule that gives you more time with your son? And, just saying, you having more time with him doesn’t mean that I suddenly lose custody of my child. From what I was told, you want full custody of him.”

  “Yeah, I do,” he admitted. “How I get that is up to you.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “You can’t be serious with the counseling thing, Keith.”

  Keith closed the distance between us. “I’m very serious. Like I said, how I get full custody of my child is up to you. You can do it with or without me.”

  “It’s not going to work between us. I’ve moved on.”

  His face twisted in disgust.

  I went on. “I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth. Right now, I need you to know that I’ll fight you. I don’t care how much money you throw at this, I’ll fight until I die before I let you take my son away from me. If you want more time with him, I’m willing to work out an arrangement that works for the both of us, but I am not giving him up.”

  Keith reached out and wrapped both hands around my biceps. He pressed in hard. “I’ll throw everything I have at this. You’ve moved on with someone else and want to continue that, go right ahead. But rest assured, my son isn’t going to be raised by another man, especially some lowlife who’s unworthy of him.”

  The grip he had on my arms was well past the point of hurting. “Let me go,” I ordered.

  He squeezed tighter.

  “Keith, you’re hurting me. Let me go,” I repeated.

  “Take the time and think about it,” he suggested. “I get it. You want to go back and see what’s between you and this guy. But we’re a family. You can’t break us apart. And if you keep this up, I’ll be forced to do what I’ve got to do.”

  With that, Keith let go of my arms. I moved quickly to the door. Once I was through it, I turned and shared, “You know all about Trent and how I felt about him all these years. I never hid that from you. But he isn’t the reason we aren’t together, Keith. You are. You chose to take your anger and frustration out on me. And that’s the only thing you can blame this separation and impending divorce on.”

  “Then, strap in, Delaney. Because you’re in for the fight of your life.”

  “It’ll have to be because I’ll die before I let you take him away from me,” I snapped.

  With that, I turned and walked away.

  “Now that we’ve gotten your car, purchased more fruits and vegetables than any one person needs, and have had dinner, can you tell me why you look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders?”

  I looked up from the applesauce I was currently making at the stove and brought my eyes to Trent’s. Try as I might, I failed at hiding just how frustrated I was with what went down when I dropped Tate off. It was only a few days ago when I went to his office and brought all this drama on him. I really didn’t want it to become our lives, especially not when I had him to myself this weekend.

  Shaking my head, I answered, “It’s nothing more than it was a few days ago. I dropped Tate off and thought I could reason with Keith.”

  “How so?” Trent asked.

  “I simply asked him why he was doing this. When he explained he wanted more time with Tate, I told him I was amenable to working out an arrangement that worked for him, Tate, and me that would allow him to have more time with his son. Obviously, I don’t want to be away from Tate any more than I already am, but if I put myself in Keith’s shoes, I’d be feeling pretty lousy.”

  Trent nodded, showing he was following along.

  “Keith indicated he was not open to just working out a simple agreement between us. He wants to fight me to have Tate living in his home and all but suggested that if I don’t want to be away from my son that I need to be living there, too.”

  Trent looked just as frustrated as I felt.

  “Anyway,” I went on. “It’s nothing new. My attorney already told me that this is what Keith was pushing for. I just thought if I spoke with him directly, I might be able to convince him otherwise. I set myself up for this heartache tonight when I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere.”

  Walking around the counter to where I was standing, Trent slid his hand into my hair and tipped my head back.

  “Why didn’t you talk to me about this when you first got to the office?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t want all of our time being spent talking about this. I want to enjoy my time with you, particularly now when we have time to ourselves.”

  “Two problems with that, sweet cheeks,” he started. “First, you’re preparing food for Tate right now so it’s done early and we can have the rest of the weekend to work up at the house together. Second, you aren’t exactly enjoying yourself right now because this is on your mind. You need to get out whatever is on your mind so we can work through it and move on.”

  He had a valid point.

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “He’s not going to take your baby from you, Delaney. I won’t let that happen,” Trent promised.

  I buried my face in his chest and admitted, “I know. I told Keith I wouldn’t back down no matter what he tried to do.”

  “And you’ve got me to be here fighting with you every step of the way.”

  I tipped my head back and breathed, “I love you.”

  Trent grinned. “I know you do.”

  Feeling him hard between us, I pressed my hips into him. “I need another hour to finish up Tate’s food. Then, you can have me all to yourself.”

  “What are the chances I can help you with some of this and speed that process up?”

  I smiled and welcomed the help. “Grab a knife, handsome.”

  Trent wasted no time and grabbed a knife. It was then, as Trent stood there chopping carrots for Tate, that I found myself more attracted to him than I’d ever been.

  Forty-five minutes later, we’d successfully finished preparing all of the baby food. It was late considering everything else I’d done that evening, but now I had the rest of the weekend to focus on my man.

  While I finished cleaning up the rest of the kitchen, Trent moved to lock up the apartment and start turning off the lights. By the time he’d done that, I was finished and met him in my bedroom. Having already showered when we got back earlier, I moved to the bed and climbed in. Trent slid in next to me, his hands immediately seeking me out.

  For a long time we stayed there on our sides, our bodies pressed together as our hands roamed over one another. Bit by bit, we each lost an article of clothing.

  It was incredibly sexy relying on my sense of sound to indicate what Trent was feeling. Each time we were together, I was learning more and more about what he liked, and I thoroughly enjoyed this new way of exploring.

  The biggest reason for this was that Trent didn’t mind sharing how he felt. When he liked something I did, I knew. I knew because his fingers would grip me a little harder and his groans would get a little deeper.

  I loved it.

  Reaching a point where he’d clearly had enough teasing, Trent shoved an arm between the bed and the side of my body. He rolled to his back and took me with him.

  My thighs parted and straddled his hips. I felt movement under me before I heard the sound of the condom wrapper.

  “Climb on, baby.”

  I did.

  I lifted my hips, positioned myself over him, and slowly slipped all of him inside me. I let out a moan, and my back arched the moment he was fully seated in me. I only took a second to recover before
I leaned forward, pressed my palms flat to his chest, and began moving my hips over him.

  The first few strokes were slow. After that, frantic.

  All of the kissing, rubbing, licking, and touching before now had gotten me more than turned on. I dropped down, my breasts brushing up against his solid chest, where I began moving faster.

  I needed it.

  Hearing Trent’s groans and growls, combined with the feel of his rough yet gentle hands on my skin, had me seeking.

  Searching.

  Craving.

  Aching for an orgasm.

  “Delaney, babe, fuck,” he bit out.

  He was on the verge, too.

  “I’m going to come,” I warned him.

  “Take it, sweet cheeks,” he encouraged me.

  So, I did.

  And it was halfway through my own when I heard and felt Trent take his.

  My body completely collapsed on top of his, as we both struggled to catch our breath. A few minutes later, Trent carefully and gently rolled me to the side as he slid out of me.

  “Be back.”

  When he slipped back under the blankets not long after he left, he wrapped his arm around my back and curled me into his side. I felt myself close to drifting.

  Or, I had been close to drifting until he spoke.

  “You’re a great mom, Delaney,” he shared, his voice still husky from the sex, but gentle all the same.

  My body tensed hearing those words.

  Trent continued, “Don’t let that asshole make you feel any different, no matter what. You work hard to provide for your son. He always comes first for you. Even when he’s not here with you, you’re spending the time you could be focusing on yourself or just relaxing doing things to prepare for when he comes back to you. Slaving in the kitchen to prepare two weeks’ worth of food for him after you’ve already spent an entire week busting your ass to provide for him.”

  “Trent,” I whispered, not sure how to respond to what he was saying.

  “What I’m saying is, there’s no judge in his or her right mind that’ll see what you do day in and day out ever since the day Tate was born and think he doesn’t belong with you. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have time with his father, but you shouldn’t be worried that in order for him to have that that you won’t have your boy anymore. As a kid who had parents that didn’t want him, I can tell you that what you do for Tate is nothing short of magical. Nobody can take that away from you…not even a judge.”

  A tear leaked from my eye and fell onto his chest. “Thank you, Trent. That means everything to me.”

  “It’s the truth,” he maintained.

  I let the silence settle between us because there wasn’t much else I could say. This situation with Keith would play out however it would play out. And all I could do was everything I’d been doing. I’d focus on my kid in all the ways I’d already been doing. If it came down to it, I’d do exactly what I told Keith I’d do. I would fight until my last breath before I let anyone take my baby away from me.

  And in the end, I knew I’d have Trent standing there with me fighting that very same battle.

  “What are you doing?” Trent asked as he walked out of my bedroom.

  He had a look of concern on his face.

  I glanced up from the table and answered, “I was just reviewing all the notes I made about the renovations for the house.”

  “Why?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just to be certain that there isn’t anything we should change.”

  Trent stopped walking when he finally made it to me. “We already talked about the plans. I thought you liked everything.”

  “I do. I mean, of course I do, considering I’m the one who suggested the specific changes and picked out all the colors and textures.”

  “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

  “There isn’t necessarily a problem,” I started. “I just thought I’d look everything over and see if I could give you a second option. This way, before we go and start demolishing things or spending money on stuff that can’t be returned, you could at least have a choice. I’d hate to order something that you end up not liking.”

  Trent called my name.

  “Yeah?”

  “Stand up,” he instructed.

  Confusion washed over me, but I did as he requested.

  Sliding his hands around my waist, Trent pulled me toward him. “The plans we already discussed included knocking out a wall so I could have my view, right?”

  I dipped my chin in response.

  “And when the house is ready to be lived in, you’re moving in with me, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And that means Tate is going to be there, too, correct?”

  I started growing annoyed at his line of questioning. “Of course.”

  “Right. Then I’ve got to tell you, I don’t really care about any of the other stuff.”

  I shook my head. “You say that now, but I didn’t exactly give you any choices for colors and styles. I just showed you what I liked and you agreed. Perhaps if I gave you options, you would have chosen something else. It would be awful for everything to get finished and you to look around and decide I made terrible choices.”

  Trent’s face softened. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “It could. And then you might get angry with me for making your house look hideous,” I returned.

  He jerked his head back at that and remarked, “That’s definitely not going to happen.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I worried.

  “First of all, I trust your judgment. I really don’t care about the cosmetic stuff. If you’d chosen pink walls and purple cabinets, I still wouldn’t care if that’s what you liked. If I’ve got my view, my girl, and her boy there with me, that’s all I need.”

  As my heart melted with what he said, my face scrunched up in disgust. “Pink walls and purple cabinets?” I repeated. “I’m slightly offended that you think I’d ever choose that.”

  Trent chuckled. “I know you wouldn’t. I was just trying to drive home the point that none of that stuff really matters to me.”

  I loved that he felt that way. Even still, I pressed on, “Okay. But these things can be costly. I don’t want to make a mistake with it, that’s all.”

  “If that happens, we’ll just replace it with something else,” he asserted.

  “When you order fifty-thousand dollars’ worth of flooring and suddenly realize it’s all wrong and unreturnable, you might feel differently,” I warned him.

  “Delaney?”

  “Yeah.”

  Trent took in a deep breath. When he let it go, he sighed, “I guess we should have this conversation now because we’re going to need to do it at some point anyway.”

  I braced myself for whatever he was going to say because I had a feeling it was going to be something huge.

  “Money is not a concern for me,” he began. “I think you know that I’ve been working since before you and I even got together in high school. Back then, I was doing it to help my gram where I could. But I still saved money. When you and I got together, I continued to work, and I started saving even more money knowing what I wanted to be able to eventually give to you. After you ended things with me, especially with the reason you gave me for it, I went into overdrive. I didn’t care when other people gave me shit about my situation. But when you left me because I was unworthy of you, I vowed to never let that happen again. So, for the last fifteen years, I’ve only spent money on things I needed. Rarely have I splurged. There’s more than enough money, sweet cheeks. Even if there’s a so-called ‘fifty-thousand-dollar mistake,’ it’s not a problem.”

  I shoved my face into his chest. I had no doubts that Trent worked hard his entire life simply because that was just the kind of guy he was. But knowing the words I said to him made him feel so worthless that he spent his life trying to prove himself made my belly grow cold.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.


  “For what?”

  “For making you believe you didn’t deserve me.”

  “You know what makes me angry, Delaney?” he asked.

  Oh no. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  I tipped my chin up and looked at him. I’m certain my expression indicated just how nervous I was about what he might say.

  “I woke up this morning to an empty bed unable to kiss you because you thought it was more important to come out and worry about something that does not matter. I still haven’t had an opportunity to get a kiss from you because we’ve been discussing this nonsense. Flooring choices do not make me angry. Not being able to wake up and kiss my woman does.”

  Trent deserved to have anything he wanted that would make him happy, so I did not delay. I pressed up on my toes and gave him a fabulous morning kiss.

  When we separated our mouths, he grinned at me. “If you give me that every morning after you’ve slept beside me all night, I’ll be happy. With that, our view, and your boy giggling every day, I don’t need anything else, sweet cheeks.”

  I squeezed him a little tighter. “I love you, Trent Michaels.”

  Trent didn’t return the sentiment with words. He dropped his mouth to mine and kissed me again. Once he’d done that, he advised, “We’re getting breakfast on the way to the house today. I’d like to get as much work done on the house as we can, so the sooner we get there, the better.”

  “What’s for breakfast?” I wondered.

  “I figure since a bunch of the guys are coming up to help us, it’d be smart to grab a couple dozen donuts.”

  Mmm. Donuts.

  I slipped out of Trent’s arms and declared, “Okay, let’s go.”

  Thirty minutes later, we pulled up at the construction site. I found it funny that I was so excited to be working on the weekend. Normally, I’d have dreaded the thought of needing to work on what was typically my free time, but this was different. This was Trent and me working together, with a few of his friends, to renovate a home he wanted to make ours. There was nothing for me to dread about that.