Sweet Temptation: A Trick-Or-Treat Collaboration

“We are talking. What could you possibly have to say to me after telling me you fucked me to forget you’re in love with your sister’s husband?”

“I’m pregnant,” I blurt out.

I am walking into a storm, desperately clutching onto anything for fear of being drowned in its ferocity. The second the words leave my mouth, my breathing hitches uncomfortably, causing the temperature in the room to rise from the sheer panic overtaking my entire being.

“You’re pregnant? And you’re telling me because?”

“You’re the father.”

He pulls himself off the chair, the sound of the recliner banging against the worn-out carpet. Pacing back and forth, he runs his hands through his hair in a mad rush. “Are you sure?”

“That I’m pregnant, or you’re the father?”

“Both.”

“I’ve been to the doctor, so yes, I’m sure. As for you being the father, I haven’t slept with anyone else in five months. My dates match the night of Halloween.”

I kept to myself the facts that the only way I knew it was him was by the secret video camera in my room, which only I have access to.

The day I found out I was pregnant, I raced home and replayed the footage. To give him credit, it wasn’t all him with the sexual advances. I was more than willing to fuck him, that much was obvious from the tapes.

Silence falls over the room. I expect him to call me names, shy away from the reality that in a few short months he will become a father.

Suddenly, he stops dead in his tracks just in front of me. “I don’t shy away from my responsibilities. I’m here for you. I want to be here for you.”

“You… want to be here?” I repeat somewhat confused.

“Yes, what else did you expect? For me to run away from my problems, and have you raise my child alone?”

“Yes,” I admit. “Because that’s what I’ve known my whole life. I’ve been surrounded by men who make careless decisions without taking responsibility. Sums up Hollywood to a tee.”

“Well, this ain’t Hollywood,” he reminds me. “Look around you, people are working hard just to make ends meet.”

“I didn’t mean to… I’m scared, okay?” My lips quiver. The hormones, once again, controlling my emotions.

“Hey.” He sits beside me, touching my face and grazing my cheek. “What do you have to be scared about? You’re going to be a great mother. Scary is being alone, no money, and rent due. You’re one step ahead already. I can’t promise anything besides being a present father. My parents taught me that unconditional love is the easiest kind because it will stay with you forever.”

Adriel places his arm on my shoulder, bringing me into his side as we both sit in silence. And when I least expected it, the one person I never imagined in my wildest dreams created a dream of my own.

It’s not a promise to love me, marry me, or even date me. It’s a promise to be a father forever.

The only promise that will change is the life of our unborn child.

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