Unworthy

by Evans, A. K.

  I allowed myself a few seconds to fully appreciate that sensation before I began moving. Dropping myself down to my forearms, my breasts brushing up against Trent’s chest, my mouth touched his. Then, I lowered and lifted my hips over him, doing my best to experience each and every inch of his beautiful cock inside me.

  Trent’s hands roamed over my body until one arm eventually settled around my waist and the other hand moved to my ass.

  “Babe,” I rasped, feeling just how close I’d gotten.

  “Delaney,” he whispered. His breathing had quickened while the pressure from his hands increased.

  “I’m going to come, Trent,” I warned him.

  At that moment, Trent lifted me off him and I cried, “No.”

  “Hands and knees, sweet cheeks.” He sat up, shifted his body out from under mine, and within seconds was driving his cock into me.

  “Yes!”

  Hard.

  Fast.

  Beautiful.

  Trent built the orgasm I’d lost only moments before back up in no time at all. I dropped to my forearms, my ass still in the air, my hips cradled in Trent’s hands, and let it consume me. As it did, Trent’s orgasm tore through him and consumed him all the same.

  We collapsed in the bed together, our bodies pressed close, when I declared, slightly out of breath, “Definitely the best day ever.”

  Trent burst out laughing.

  I couldn’t take it away from her.

  Her smile.

  Her happiness.

  Her joy.

  Delaney had had such a great day. Seeing her excitement, wanting her to have it, I couldn’t bring myself to destroy that.

  She deserved to have that. After everything she’d endured recently, she needed to be able to experience one whole day of bliss.

  So hours later now, while she slept peacefully in my arms, I carried the weight of the world in my mind as I struggled to find sleep.

  But I didn’t mind.

  Because the news I had to deliver to her would have to wait until it was a new day. Today was going to be Delaney’s day.

  My eyes fluttered open without the sounds of a crying or fussy baby waking me. I blinked several times, making sure I was actually awake and not dreaming. I was entirely too freaked out, so even though I felt an arm wrapped around my waist and a warm body behind mine, I scooted a bit and lifted my head to look at the baby monitor on the nightstand.

  I held my breath while I listened.

  Just then, Tate moved and lifted his head to press his opposite cheek to the mattress, but he didn’t wake.

  Relief swept through me and I settled myself back in the position I’d been in when my eyes opened.

  “You’re awake,” Trent’s deep morning voice stated.

  I twisted my neck and looked back to see he was up and had his head propped up in his hand.

  “Looks like you’ve been up for a bit,” I noted.

  Trent gave me a small smile, leaned down to press a kiss to my cheek, and said, “Morning, sweet cheeks.”

  I turned the rest of my body, so my front was against his. Sliding my hands up along his chest, I returned, “Good morning, baby.”

  “Delaney?” he called.

  I tipped my head back to look up at him. “Yeah?”

  “Can we talk about something here before Tate wakes up?” he asked.

  “Of course,” I answered immediately. “Is everything okay?”

  He hesitated before he replied, “I just need to talk to you about how my day was yesterday.”

  Suddenly, I felt horrible. I’d been so wrapped up in myself yesterday that I never even asked Trent how his day was. What kind of girlfriend was I?

  “I’m not sure I like that look,” Trent declared.

  I sighed, “I’m so sorry. I just feel completely guilty now. I was so caught up in all the stuff that happened with me yesterday that I didn’t think about anything or anyone else. You must think I’m the worst girlfriend on the face of the planet.”

  “Baby, when I walked through the door yesterday after work, you were wearing your mood on your face. Thankfully, I wasn’t, because if I had been, I would have ruined your day.”

  My body tensed.

  If he believed he would have ruined my day by telling me about his, then I had no doubts he was about to tell me something I wasn’t going to like hearing.

  “You hid something from me?” I questioned him.

  “No. I just delayed bringing it up because I wanted you to have your moment yesterday to just be happy,” he offered his reason for not speaking up.

  As much as I appreciated that, I still didn’t like the idea of him holding something back that was bothering him.

  “Okay, well now you need to get it out. What’s going on?”

  After he hesitated again, which made me feel even worse about what he wanted to share, he asked, “Do you recall someone by the name of Amelia Hall reaching out to you?”

  Amelia Hall?

  My face scrunched up as I tried to place the name, but nothing was coming to me. “No. Should I know her?”

  “I believe she’s only reached out to you once or twice via phone and it was on behalf of your father.”

  As soon as he said it, my mind snapped back to a couple weeks ago when I received a call from that woman. My eyes widened. “Of course,” I began. “Now I remember. She no sooner introduced herself before she told me she was calling on behalf of my father. The minute she said his name, I cut her off and told her we’ve been estranged since the day I turned eighteen. Then I hung up on her. I believe she did try calling once more, but I didn’t answer, and the call went to voicemail. Obviously, I never called her back.”

  Trent just looked down at me. He didn’t go on. He didn’t offer any explanation.

  When too much silence had stretched between us, it hit me. I sat up abruptly in the bed and worried, “Wait. How do you know about her?”

  “Holden walked into my office yesterday telling me about a case Levi forwarded to him. Levi didn’t know all the details of it; otherwise, I’m certain he would have come directly to me with it.

  “Did this woman call you guys?”

  “Yeah. When Holden called her back, she introduced herself and stated she was an attorney calling on behalf of her client, Dennis Rogers. She wanted us to find you since attempts to reach you via phone have proven to be mostly unsuccessful.”

  I didn’t think I wanted to know anymore. I had no idea where this was headed, but I was beginning to feel particularly uneasy with it.

  Likely noticing my apprehension, Trent sat up and put his back to the headboard. He took my hand in his and stroked his thumb over the skin there.

  “He tried to call me two times before she did,” I blurted.

  “What?”

  “My father. Twice. A few months ago he called, but no sooner did he get a couple of words out when I cut him off much like I did Amelia. I explained how I didn’t want to talk to him after everything he’d done and hung up. Did Amelia tell you what he wants?”

  Trent shook his head. “No. She just said that it was confidential and not something she was allowed to share. Essentially, it was her job to find a way to contact you so that you could meet with your father and he could speak with you.”

  I felt myself growing angry. I didn’t like feeling that way, but I couldn’t help it. “What could he possibly want from me, Trent? Especially now after all these years. It’s not like it’s only been a few months or even a few years since we last spoke. He hasn’t seen me since my eighteenth birthday. What could have possibly changed?”

  I paused a moment, wracking my brain for an answer. As I was doing that, I heard babbling from Tate on the monitor.

  I gasped. “Oh no. You don’t think he somehow knows about Tate, do you? He wouldn’t try to stake a claim to him, would he? What if—”

  “Delaney!” Trent interjected.

  My eyes shot to his.

  The moment he had my gaze, his voice went so
ft and he stated, “Holden never told Amelia that he knew exactly where to find you because I work with him. He told her he’d see what he could find and call her back. In the meantime, Holden and I spent the day digging around yesterday to see what your father could possibly be contacting you about.”

  “You did?”

  Trent gave me a disbelieving look. “Do you really think I would just dump this on you without knowing where it was headed? Sweet cheeks, you’ve been dealing with enough stuff as it is. I’m not going to add to your stress. And the fact that this woman called because your father was trying to contact you and you didn’t tell me about it was enough for me to know that it wasn’t weighing on your mind. If I told you about this attorney calling us to locate you, that would have definitely changed your mindset.”

  He was right.

  And I was grateful he’d considered that.

  “Okay, so can you alleviate the stress I’m beginning to feel right now and tell me what you found?”

  Trent took in a deep breath and let it out. “First, I did some searching on the computer. I found some stuff, but nothing that really stood out to me initially. Then, I found that he’d suddenly retired from his position about a year ago.”

  My body froze. “He retired?”

  “Yeah. And from what I can tell, it was pretty unexpected.”

  That made no sense at all. My father certainly had enough money to be able to retire, but he wasn’t the kind of guy who’d do it this early.

  Trent continued, “While I continued searching on the computer, Trent drove to your childhood home to see what, if anything, he could find.”

  My brows shot up. “Did he find anything?”

  Trent nodded.

  I waited for him to tell me.

  He remained silent.

  “Trent?” I said softly, worry consuming me. “Trent, baby, what is it?”

  “We think he’s sick.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  Hesitation again before he explained, “There was a car sitting in the driveway that Holden knew couldn’t possibly be your father’s, so he waited. Eventually, a young woman walked out of the house and got in the car. She was wearing a pair of scrubs.”

  I swallowed hard. “Okay, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s sick,” I insisted.

  “No, it doesn’t. But when she left and another one pulled in only minutes later, it led us to believe that he is.”

  Something consumed me.

  I didn’t know what it was.

  Fear. Anger. Perhaps a little confusion, too.

  My father was likely having round-the-clock nurses coming in to take care of him.

  I hadn’t even had a full minute to process the news Trent had shared with me when Tate started crying.

  My body tensed.

  Before I could move, Trent gave my hand a squeeze and said, “I’ll get him.”

  Trent left the room and I sat there, immobile. I had no idea what to do.

  Was my father actually sick?

  Was that why he’d been trying to reach me?

  It was so easy to remain angry when I didn’t know any of this. Now that I did, all I felt was guilt. And feeling that made me even angrier. I didn’t want to feel guilty about being angry at the man who should have loved me and supported me instead of blackmailing me.

  Several minutes had passed when Trent entered the bedroom again with Tate.

  “His diaper was wet, so I changed him. But he’s eating his little fists,” he stated.

  “I’ll nurse him,” I said, my voice sounding nothing like my own.

  Trent settled Tate in my arms. I gave my little boy several good morning kisses before I lowered the sheet I’d had tucked under my arms and freed my breast. Tate latched on and started eating.

  I sat there, staring at my baby, feeling a million emotions run through me, not understanding how to process even one of them.

  “Delaney?” Trent called softly.

  My eyes lifted to his.

  “Talk to me,” he urged. “Tell me what’s going on in your mind right now.”

  Shaking my head, I admitted, “I don’t know what to do. I never expected this in a million years.”

  “I know.”

  Trying to distract myself from my feelings about my father, I asked, “What was the goal?”

  Confusion washed over Trent’s face. “The goal?” he repeated.

  “With the attorney,” I clarified. “She called Cunningham Security to have you guys locate me. Then what?”

  “Presumably, she was probably going to try to reach you a different way. Perhaps she would have sent something in the mail. I don’t know. Depending on how determined your father is to speak with you, he might have requested that she come right to your home,” Trent guessed.

  “What do you think I should do?” I inquired.

  Trent gave me a look that told me I wasn’t going to like his answer. “You know I can’t answer that for you. But no matter what you decide to do, I’ll support you one hundred percent. You don’t have to make a decision today. Holden called Amelia yesterday before he left the office and told her he had a few things he was going to look into, but that he’d reach out next week. So you have, at a minimum, the weekend to think about it.”

  “What if I said I wanted to see him?” I asked.

  Trent gave me a nod and didn’t hesitate to respond, “Then we’ll set that up for you.”

  My eyes gave me away.

  “Why does that surprise you?” Trent asked.

  “My father is the reason you and I lived without each other for more than fifteen years, Trent. He’s the reason I said horrible things to you. How can you be okay with me even considering being around him?”

  Trent’s face softened and his eyes warmed. “If what we believe is going on with your father is actually what’s happening and you want to talk to him or even reconcile, I’m not going to stand in the way of that. First, it would make me no better than he was back then. And, honestly, what he thinks of me doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve worked hard to make something of myself, and I’ve become someone I’m proud of. I don’t need his approval, Delaney.”

  I sat there staring at him, unable to speak.

  Trent ended, “When it comes down to it, I have you now. We’re working on building something together and I know you and I are in a place where he can’t do anything to come between us ever again. That’s all I need. Dennis Rogers isn’t a threat anymore, baby.”

  I gave him a small smile in return before I glanced down at Tate and trailed two of my fingers along his head before cupping it in my palm.

  My mind was still whirling, but I stated, “I think I want to see him.”

  Looking up, I found Trent was sitting there smiling at me. “Okay. If that changes between now and Monday morning, you let me know. Otherwise, we’ll set it up for you.”

  I gave him a nod. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  Trent leaned toward me, gave me a kiss, and said, “You’re welcome. How about you finish feeding this guy and I’ll go make breakfast?”

  “That sounds good.”

  “You still up for going to the house today?” he asked.

  “Considering that means we’ll finally be officially under one roof together sooner rather than later…yes.”

  “I can still head up and work on it today with some of the guys. We managed to get a decent amount done last weekend, and I went up a couple nights this past week to work, so we’re ahead of schedule.”

  I gave Trent the angriest face I could muster up. “Are you suggesting that you and your boys can lay tile better than me?”

  Trent’s lips twitched. “I wouldn’t dare say anything of the sort.”

  “Is that a challenge, Mr. Michaels?”

  “No.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I shot back.

  Trent shook his head and gave me a kiss on the nose. “You’re crazy. I’m going to make you breakfast, baby.”

  With that
, Trent got up and walked out of the bedroom.

  When Tate finished eating, I sat and chatted with him. “You don’t think Mommy is crazy, do you?” I asked.

  He simply grinned at me.

  “That doesn’t make me feel very good,” I mumbled.

  Tate sat there playing with the bedsheet while I watched and thought about the whole situation with my father. While I wholeheartedly believed I needed to go and see him for myself, I still had reservations. If he truly was sick, I wasn’t sure I could even manage to be kind to him after what he’d done to me. And that made me wonder if I was making the right decision by choosing to go see him.

  Tate decided he’d had enough of the bedsheet and started climbing on me. When he did, I sighed, “I really wish your grandma were still here, buddy.”

  “Ma, ma, ma, ma,” was Tate’s reply.

  I smiled and stated, “Okay, baby. Mommy’s going to get dressed and then we’ll go have breakfast with Trent.”

  With that, I pulled on a fresh pair of panties and some clothes. Then, I scooped Tate up in my arms and carried him out of the room so he could play for a bit while Trent and I had breakfast.

  And for the rest of the weekend, I did my best to put all the worries aside so I could focus on doing what Trent had said that morning about the two of us.

  We were building something together and were in a place where my father could no longer come between us. Because he was right, I poured my effort into having a great weekend with my boys.

  I knocked on the door.

  It was Tuesday evening, and I’d just gotten off from work and picked up Tate at daycare. Now, I was standing at Gloria’s front door.

  The second it opened, and I saw my friend, I declared, “If I keep this up, I’m going to owe you for the rest of my life.”

  Gloria laughed. “This sounds like it’s going to be good,” she returned as she reached to take Tate out of my arms. “Come on in.”

  I stepped inside and closed the door as Gloria began retreating into the house. While she did that, I listened to her talk to Tate. “Hey, big man. I’ve missed you. Do you know why your mama is here? What kind of trouble has she gotten herself into now?”

  Tate replied, “Ma, ma, ma.”