Unworthy

by Evans, A. K.

  “Delaney.” Trent’s voice came out pained and tortured.

  Neither of us said anything for a long while. We simply held on tight, disappointed at the time we’d lost, but grateful for finding each other again.

  After some time had passed and my crying subsided, Trent’s gentle voice filled the air around us. “He’s bundled up, Delaney, but we need to get Tate out of the cold.”

  I nodded and turned with him to move inside.

  Before we left the house, I snapped a bunch of pictures on my phone. I knew I wouldn’t forget anything about the space, but I wanted them anyway.

  Shortly afterward, Trent, Tate, and I were back in the car and on our way down the gravel driveway.

  “It’s beautiful,” I murmured. “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

  Trent stopped at the end of the lane, put his hand on my thigh, and gave a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you like it,” he started. “Because when it’s ready, I want you and Tate to move in with me.”

  “What?”

  “It’ll take a few more months until it’s livable, but I’ll push harder to finish if I know I’ll have you with me.”

  My eyes searched his face, trying to gauge just how serious he was. “Isn’t it…don’t you think it’s a little quick for us to be moving in together?”

  Trent shook his head. “Sweet cheeks, fifteen years is hardly quick. I’m not looking to make you cry again, but the truth is, I’m confident that if things hadn’t ended between us years ago, we’d have already been living together. To that end, there’s nobody else in this world for me. I’ve dated other women—women who were nice, sweet, pretty, and funny—but nobody came close to you. You’ve been married, and you’re going through a divorce. Obviously, that didn’t work out. I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t do what we know is right. I don’t want to waste any more time.”

  I gave his words all of three seconds to penetrate before I blurted, “My lease is up in two months.”

  His eyes widened. “Don’t renew it,” he ordered. “I’ll talk to some of the guys at work and get them to help me out with the house. If we don’t finish on time, you and Tate can move into the condo with me until it does. I want to make the transition easiest on Tate, so I’m going to do what I can to get the house ready before your lease is up. This way, we won’t be moving him twice.”

  My insides warmed. “I love you so much, Trent Michaels.”

  He leaned over the center console, gave me the world’s best kiss, and whispered against my lips, “I love you, too, Delaney.”

  “So, I was right?” Pierce asked, even though his tone indicated he already knew the answer to his question and was gloating.

  The only problem is that while Pierce seemed to know what he was talking about, I had no idea.

  “Right about what?” I retorted.

  “The mother of the baby you saved,” he clarified. “She was single. And apparently, very, very cute.”

  I glared at Pierce.

  “Well, that’s a death glare if I ever saw one,” Holden interrupted.

  I looked to the door of my office and saw Holden and Cruz standing there.

  “Pierce is pushing his luck right now,” I explained.

  “Is this the reason that Lorenzo mentioned you were looking for guys to help out with the renovations on the new house? He said something about a baby you saved and a subsequent, very uncomfortable meeting between you and that baby’s mother here in the office.”

  Christ.

  “It’s like I’m working with a bunch of damn women. When did you all start gossiping?” I muttered.

  Cruz laughed. “Please,” he started. “You were just as involved in all of it when Levi, Dom, Lorenzo, Pierce, and myself were all dealing with our women. And Holden’s in the mix of it as well right now. So, don’t act like you’ve been immune to it.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Roll your eyes all you want,” Pierce goaded. “I’m just saying, I was standing here when that very uncomfortable meeting went down. It might not have seemed that way then, but I knew things weren’t over between the two of you when she walked out of here that day.”

  “It’s all good now, though, right?” Holden confirmed.

  I nodded. “Yeah. It’s all very good.”

  “You need extra hands at the house?” he asked.

  “If you’ve got them to lend,” I began. “Her lease is up in two months. I told her not to renew it and will move her into my condo if the house isn’t finished by then. But she’s got a kid. I’d like to make this easier on him.”

  Cruz shook his head with a smirk on his face.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing. It’s just, aside from Dom, you were the last person I pegged for becoming an instant dad. Maybe Lorenzo, too. But the bigger shock with him was seeing him settle down with a woman at all. I figure the kid will come in time.”

  My thoughts drifted to Tate. It was currently Tuesday evening, and not quite a week ago, I fell in love with that little boy. Seeing him upset, crying, and in pain broke my heart in a way I never knew was possible. Learning the truth from Delaney about his name only made me feel that much more for him, and I knew I’d go to the ends of the earth to always protect him.

  “Yep, he’s gone,” Holden interrupted my thoughts.

  “Watch yourself,” I warned. “Don’t forget I was there in the aftermath of Leni’s studio being torched.”

  Holden snapped his mouth shut as his jaw went hard.

  Cruz broke the tension. “In all seriousness, Michaels, I’m happy for you. You need extra hands, I’m down to help.”

  “Appreciated.”

  “Me too,” Holden added.

  Just then, Lorenzo’s frame filled the doorway and his face looked scary.

  “What’s up, man?” I asked, my body alert just seeing the look on his face.

  Lorenzo stepped to the side. Delaney was standing there with Tate in her arms.

  I immediately stood.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. “He’s really going to try to take Tate away from me,” she cried quietly.

  “What happened?”

  “I just got a call as I was leaving work. I didn’t recognize the number and thought it might be them calling about my car. It was my attorney. He said that Keith’s attorney reached out to him to let him know that they’re moving ahead with the custody battle. I immediately drove to daycare to pick him up and came here.”

  I moved to her. “Okay. I thought you were expecting him to fight you for custody.”

  Delaney shrugged. “I mean, he said he was going to do it, but I didn’t actually believe him. He knows how important Tate is to me, how hard I work to take care of him, and all the things I sacrifice to give my baby the best I can. Why would someone do that? Why would you try to take your child away from their parent that loved and cared about them?”

  I put my arms around her and promised, “Nobody is going to take him away from you.”

  I looked around the room to find the guys were all looking pissed about what they’d just heard.

  “He’s got the money to fight me,” she worried. “I have some, but not nearly the same amount that he’s working with.”

  Tate was beginning to squirm in Delaney’s arms, so I lifted him into mine. He face planted into my neck. “Who cares if he has money?”

  “I do.”

  I blinked at her in surprise as my body locked. “What?”

  “Not like that,” she started. “It’s just that I learned a long time ago that people with money have power and Keith can use that to get what he wants,” she worried.

  “He’s not getting your boy, sweet cheeks.”

  She sighed. “My attorney did tell me that Keith offered to halt the custody proceedings if I was willing to consider going to counseling. Of course, I immediately jumped at that because… well, why wouldn’t I? He has all this money to burn and
will take me to the cleaners trying to get what he wants. I’ll do anything to keep my son, so it seemed like a really great option.”

  Now I was downright pissed.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  She shook her head.

  My stomach sank as I realized that for the second time in my life that she was willing to throw away what we had for money.

  Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to hold on to Tate and Delaney, but I wasn’t going to keep her with me if that wasn’t where she wanted to be. I looked down at Tate, felt my heart break all over again, and kissed him on his head.

  “Take him,” I clipped, handing him over to Delaney.

  Her eyes widened. “Trent?”

  “Delaney, take him,” I demanded. “I’m not going through this with you again. I can’t fucking believe you’d end us a second time and get back together with him. You need to take him and go.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. “Trent, I’m not leaving here with you like this.”

  Delaney still didn’t take Trent, so I turned toward Cruz since he was the closest and said, “Take him before I lose my mind.”

  Cruz took Tate from my arms, I instantly felt the loss of the little guy, and I moved toward my office door.

  “Trent,” Delaney called.

  I looked back at her and ordered, “I’m walking away right now. Get the fuck out of my office and don’t ever come back.”

  She jerked back with such force it was as though I’d physically struck her.

  I hated seeing it.

  Even still, I stepped out of my private office and walked back toward the break room. I hadn’t even been pacing in the break room for more than a minute when I looked up and saw her standing in the doorway again.

  “Get out, Delaney,” I snapped.

  “Trent, listen to me,” she pleaded.

  “You want to get back with him,” I reminded her. “Why would you do this?”

  “I want to be with you!” She shouted. “I don’t want to get back together with him!”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m not interested in being the guy on the side while you play house with him.”

  “Trent?”

  “What?”

  “Shut up and listen to me.”

  I raised my brows in question at her. And waited.

  “When my attorney told me that Keith was willing to halt the custody proceedings if I went to counseling, I agreed because I assumed he meant counseling for co-parenting. I mean, we’re talking about custody of Tate, why would I have thought anything different? But Keith wasn’t referring to counseling that would help us get along better as parents. As you assumed, he wants marriage counseling. Once my attorney clarified that with me, I told him there was no way I’d ever consider that.”

  Fuck.

  Delaney paused a moment, the look on her face changing. She was clearly angry with me. “I’m so pissed at you right now, Trent Michaels. How dare you think I’d throw us away again?”

  I started walking toward her. “Delaney—” I got out before she cut me off.

  “I’m not finished,” she clipped.

  My body jerked to a halt. I’d never seen her so riled up.

  “I told you just days ago how terrified I was that I’d fuck us up. And I told you not to let me screw us up again. You thought I was doing that now and your answer was to just walk away?”

  I closed my eyes.

  My girl.

  She was right.

  “I’m sorry. I was pissed at you thinking you were making the same exact mistake you made years ago, but I have no place to be that way when my response was to do exactly what I did then, which was walking away from you.”

  She took in a deep breath and blew it out before walking toward me. “I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean for that to come out wrong. I’d never want to put you through that again.”

  Reaching out to her, I slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her toward me. The second she was close enough, I brought my lips to hers and kissed her. No sooner did I do that when we heard someone clearing their throat.

  I tore my mouth from Delaney’s and saw Lorenzo, Holden, Pierce, and Cruz standing there. Cruz was still holding a very squirmy Tate.

  “Happy to see you two worked that out,” Cruz declared. “But I think this guy is hungry. He’s been trying to eat my face off for the last couple of minutes.”

  I walked over to Cruz, took Tate from him, and made introductions. “Delaney, this is Lorenzo, Cruz, Pierce, and Holden. Guys, this is Delaney and her son, Tate.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “Sorry about what just happened. But thank you for keeping your eye on Tate.”

  “No worries,” Holden insisted.

  “Everything cool with you two?” Lorenzo asked.

  I took the opportunity to share, “Her soon-to-be ex-husband is an asshole. Delaney thought he wanted to go to counseling to learn how to co-parent. He wants marriage counseling.”

  Understanding, frustration, and a bit of anger washed over their faces.

  “If there’s anything we can do,” Pierce offered.

  “Thanks, man.”

  “In the meantime, we’ll get as many of the guys rounded up as we can to help you out at the house.”

  “You guys are going to help?” Delaney asked.

  “Of course,” Cruz replied. “We were going to do it before we all officially met you. Now, after all of that, and especially after we heard you tell Trent you weren’t finished speaking, we’re definitely going to do what we can to help you out.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  At that, the guys said goodbye and dispersed.

  I curled my arm around Delaney’s shoulder. “I think we need to get you and Tate home, get him fed, and then you and I can talk about what’s on your mind with the battle you’ve got in front of you.”

  She melted into me. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

  “Come on,” I urged. “I’ll drive all of us now, and we can stop back here in the morning after we take Tate to daycare.”

  “Okay.”

  “Love you, sweet cheeks.”

  She smiled at me and returned, “I love you, too.”

  “Where should I meet you after I drop him off?” I asked, walking from the job site I was currently on to my car.

  “Just come to the office,” Trent answered. “I’m finishing up a few last-minute things here for Levi, but I should be ready to go by the time you get here.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you soon then.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to go with you?” he confirmed.

  I opened the door to Trent’s SUV and got in. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Finish what you’ve got to finish so we can start our weekend when I get to you.”

  He smiled. I knew because I could hear it when he replied, “You got it, sweet cheeks. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  I disconnected the call and started the vehicle. I was going to pick my boy up at daycare so I could take him to his dad’s house. Then, Trent and I were going to go pick up my car, which was finally repaired. Afterward, we were starting our weekend.

  Our weekend was going to consist of working on the new house. Some of the Cunningham Security guys had cleared their schedules for the next two days and were going to help us get some things accomplished.

  As much as I loved my baby and didn’t want to be away from him, I knew he needed to spend time with his father. Trent and I also needed time alone together. Since Tate was only ever with his dad every other weekend, Trent and I didn’t get much opportunity to be alone. I had no doubts my guy would be using this time very wisely.

  On those very lovely thoughts, I pulled out of my spot and drove away.

  After getting Tate from daycare, I loaded him in the car and took off toward his dad’s house. When we arrived there, I climbed into the back seat and nursed my son. While he nursed, I chatted with him.

 
“I’m going to miss you so much this weekend, little man. But I know the time is going to fly by because I have so much stuff planned.”

  Tate kept his eyes on me but focused most of his attention on the task at hand. I didn’t mind and continued sharing my plans for the weekend with him. “Mommy’s picking up her car after she leaves here. Then, I’m going to the grocery store to get food for you. Should we try the squash this time?”

  My little boy stopped eating, broke the suction, and grinned at me. I took that as his affirmation that squash was totally fine.

  Moving on, I added, “Trent and I are going to spend all weekend working with some of his friends on his new house. He wants us to move in with him, baby. What do you think? Would you like to live with Trent? I think he loves you a lot.”

  The fingers on Tate’s tiny little hand that had been resting on my chest began to curl against my skin.

  Tate wanted to live with Trent. At least, that’s what I was telling myself his squeeze meant.

  I finished feeding Tate, rounded up his things, and walked to the front door to drop him off. I rang the doorbell and waited. When it opened, Keith was standing there with his phone up to his ear. He took Tate’s diaper bag and food bag from me as he stepped back and urged me to come into the house.

  “Hey, listen Marty. Delaney just got here with Tate. I’ll give you a call back. In the meantime, see what you can get me on the Jefferson property,” Keith said as he turned to walk toward the kitchen.

  I stepped inside the house only because I didn’t want to wait out in the cold with Tate until Keith was done. Waiting for Keith to return from the kitchen, I cuddled Tate and gave him a few extra hugs and kisses.

  “Sorry about that,” Keith lamented when he emerged from the kitchen. “Hey, little guy.”

  He took Tate from my arms and pulled him close. After giving his son a few cuddles, Keith looked at me.

  “I talked to my attorney earlier this week,” I shared.

  A smug look washed over him. He turned and took a couple steps into the family room where I saw he had one of Tate’s bouncers. As he worked to get Tate settled in his bouncer, he spoke. “I figured you’d be hearing from him. Since I haven’t had an opportunity to speak with my attorney yet, I don’t know what the outcome of that was.”