Midnight Call
Nadia Cassidy is one step away from being out on the street, but her pride won’t let her ask her family for money. When she stumbles across an ad for a live-in nanny, she applies although she has no experience. How hard can living with three gorgeous guys and one tiny baby be?
Jackson Burrows received a call in the middle of the night that changed his world. His estranged sister has died, leaving him custody of her newborn baby. Jackson, along with his two roommates and best friends Greg Ballantyne and Steve Dalaney, quickly realizes that they are in over their heads and decide to hire a live-in nanny.
The attraction is instant between Nadia and the guys, but their relationship and friendship will be tested when Robert, the baby’s father, shows up and tries to take the baby and sell it to pay off his gambling debts.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 52,320 words
MIDNIGHT CALL
Keyonna Davis
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
MIDNIGHT CALL
Copyright © 2012 by Keyonna Davis
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-345-4
First E-book Publication: September 2012
Cover design by Christine Kirchoff
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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Regarding E-book Piracy
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This is Keyonna Davis’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Davis’s right to earn a living from her work.
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DEDICATION
To the many fans who have emailed me telling me how much you like my books. You give me the inspiration to keep on writing.
MIDNIGHT CALL
KEYONNA DAVIS
Copyright © 2012
Prologue
Sarah Burrows panted heavily as she waited outside her hotel room for the cab to pick her up. This wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. The baby was coming a month early, and she couldn’t have picked a worse time to make her appearance in the world. Sarah had hoped to have her life together before she had the baby, and she almost had everything in order. She’d expected to have at least a few more weeks to work and save up enough money to afford an apartment of her own before the baby came. Unfortunately, things always had a way of never working out the way she planned them.
She moved from the step when the cab pulled up and slowly made her way to the car. Obviously, the driver saw what condition she was in because he got out quickly and ran to open her door. He looked terrified when he saw her panting and sweating.
“Oh geez, lady, please tell me you aren’t going to have that baby soon. I just had the seats cleaned.”
Sarah snorted. She was so not in the mood. “Well then, Mr. Sensitive, I suggest you hop your ass back in that seat and use every short cut you know to get me to the hospital as fast as you can.” She didn’t even get the chance to shut the door good before the driver peeled away from the curb. If she wasn’t in pain, Sarah would have laughed at the look on his face as he kept staring at her crotch in the rearview mirror. What, does he think the baby is going to stick her hand out and wave hi at him?
She had to give the driver credit when he made the twenty-minute trip to the hospital in only ten. Sarah was digging through her purse for cash when her door opened and the driver yelled for a nurse to bring a wheelchair.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked, panting.
“No charge, lady,” he said as a couple of nurses helped her out.
Sarah watched as the driver inspected his backseat and then got in the car and pulled off. Well, now I know how to get free cab rides. She started to laugh at how funny the situation was but groaned instead when a contraction hit.
After what seemed like answering a thousand questions and suffering through the doctor poking and prodding her, Sarah was able to relax in bed. She had been given an epidural and medication to try to stop her labor. For the moment she wasn’t in pain, and she was able to think clearly. She pushed the button on the side of the bed to call the nurse. A few seconds later, the door opened.
“Yes, Ms. Burrows, I’m Nurse Wilson. Is everything okay?”
“I need to get something out of my purse. Can you hand it to me please?”
Sarah watched as the nurse opened the cabinet where they had placed all of her personal belongings and got her purse out. When the nurse handed it to her, she pulled out an envelope and stared at it. She had tried to mail the letter so many times, but she always chickened out. Now it seemed that she might not have a choice in the matter. Her gut instinct was screaming that something bad was about to happen. Sarah just hoped the baby was okay.
“Is there anything else I can get you, Ms. Burrows?”
“Please call me Sarah, and there is something you can do for me. If anything happens to me, I need you to call my brother. I put him down as my emergency contact when I filled out all the paperwork, so you have his number. If he comes, then I need you to give him this letter.”
The nurse tried to deny that anything was wrong, and Sarah really did hope that everything was okay, but she wasn’t taking any chances. “Can you please just do this for me? I’m not expecting anything bad to happen, but I just wa
nt to make sure that I have everything covered if things do go wrong,” Sarah said as she pushed the envelope into the nurse’s hand.
Finally, the nurse smiled and nodded. “If something happens, then I promise I will give this letter to your brother. I will more than likely be returning it to you when you get released though.” She didn’t say another word as she tucked the envelope in her scrub pocket and walked out of the room.
Sarah settled back on the bed and rubbed her belly. Now that she’d done everything she could to make sure that her baby was taken care of she could relax. She had a contingency plan set up in case something happened to her. Her brother might hate her, but she knew that he would never turn his back on family, and he would take care of her daughter if he had to. Sarah’s only regret when she’d left home at eighteen was leaving Jackson. She felt guilty for abandoning him, but she knew he would never abandon her daughter. He would give her the life she deserved and love her like she was his own. That was more than the baby’s father could do and all Sarah could ask for. When she’d found out she was pregnant, Sarah made the decision to hide it from her boyfriend. She knew he was no good, and she refused to expose her baby to him. She made the decision that day to change her life and leave him, and she had finally saved up enough money, no thanks to him and his gambling, to disappear about three weeks before. Sarah was glad for that since it looked like the baby was coming early.
Pain in her stomach and wetness between her legs caused Sarah to yell out. She threw the cover back and almost passed out when she saw blood on the sheet and not the clear liquid she expected from her water breaking. The nurse must have heard her scream because she burst through the door and then started yelling for the doctor when she saw the blood.
Time seemed to stand still as doctors and nurses rushed around the room. Sarah knew that something major was wrong, but she couldn’t seem to make herself focus enough to find out what was going on. She was quickly wheeled to another room, and a blue sheet was draped in front of her. She felt tugging and pulling in her belly and saw that a nurse was trying to talk to her, but she couldn’t hear because of the buzzing in her ears. Her vision began to blur, and she was having a hard time breathing. Just as her vision blackened, Sarah heard her baby cry for the first time.
That is probably the most beautiful sound I have ever heard, she thought as everything went black.
Chapter 1
The phone ringing in the middle of the night should have been a clear signal to Jackson that something was wrong. After the long day at work, he wanted nothing more than to turn over and ignore it. Unfortunately, he was never going to be able to go back to sleep until he saw who was calling. He had no choice but to answer.
“Yeah, this is Jackson,” he grumbled, trying to clear his throat.
“Hi, I’m looking for a Mr. Jackson Burrows? Am I speaking with him?”
Jackson sat up in bed. His stomach dropped, knowing this call was not going to be good. “This is Jackson Burrows. Who is this, and what’s going on?”
“I’m Nurse Wilson from County Memorial Hospital, and I am calling to inform you that your sister Sarah was admitted tonight due to complications from her pregnancy. Your name was listed as next of kin to notify in case of an emergency.”
“Is Sarah okay? Can I speak with her?” Jackson was in shock. He hadn’t heard from Sarah in thirteen years. He’d been only twelve when she ran off as soon as she turned eighteen and hadn’t seen her since. He tuned back in to the nurse when he heard her speak.
“Again, I’m sorry, Mr. Burrows, but I can’t give any more information out over the phone. If you don’t mind coming down to the hospital, we can answer all of your questions when you arrive.”
Jackson hung up after informing the nurse he was on his way. He and his sister had never been close due to their age differences, but he never thought this was the way they would be reunited. If he had to be honest with himself, he’d never thought he would ever see Sarah again.
Jackson quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt off the floor and threw them on. After stuffing his keys and wallet in his pocket, he picked his cell phone up from the nightstand and walked out of his bedroom. Both of his roommates were still where he had left them earlier, on the couch playing video games.
“Hey, Jackson, I thought you went to bed,” Steve yelled over his shoulder without taking his eyes off the game.
“I did, but the hospital just called. My sister is there, apparently having some sort of complication with her pregnancy, and she had me down as next of kin.”
“Your sister!” Greg yelled in shock. He put the game on pause and turned to look at Jackson. “I thought you hadn’t heard from her since she left.”
Steve and Greg were his best friends. They’d all met in second grade when the school bully was trying to beat Steve up because he was so small. Jackson and Greg jumped in to help, and all three ended up getting suspended because they broke the bully’s arm. Needless to say, no one messed with them after that, and they all watched each other’s backs. They’d been there when Sarah fought with Jackson’s parents and left the night she disappeared. They’d also been there for Jackson when his parents let guilt and depression get the best of them and basically ignored him. As far as his parents were concerned, nothing existed for them but their grief after his sister left.
“I haven’t heard a word from her. She has obviously been keeping up with me because she knew what phone number to give the hospital. I’m headed there now to see what’s going on. I just can’t believe that, after thirteen years of wondering what happened to her and where she went, I’m finally going to find out,” Jackson shook his head and walked out.
He was so lost in thought he didn’t realize his friends had followed until he heard two more car doors shut. Jackson was glad they’d decided to come with him. He loved the fact that he didn’t even have to ask them to come. They were more his family than his parents and sister had ever been.
He couldn’t get to the hospital fast enough. It seemed that every red light was against him. Jackson finally arrived and pulled into the emergency parking lot. He ran inside and straight up to the emergency desk. At twelve-thirty in the morning, there weren’t that many people around. He waited until a nurse finished typing on her computer and looked up.
“Hi, I’m Jackson Burrows. I received a call that my sister was here.”
“What is her name, sir?” the nurse asked.
“Her name is Sarah Burrows. I received a call that she was admitted due to complications with her pregnancy.”
The nurse typed something in the computer and frowned. She turned without looking at him and walked over to another nurse down the hall. Jackson could see her whispering to the other nurse and pointing to him. Judging by the look on the new nurse’s face and the fact that she took a deep breath as if bracing herself for bad news told Jackson everything he needed to know. There would be no reunion between him and his sister tonight.
“Hi, Mr. Burrows. I’m Nurse Wilson. We talked on the phone. If you come with me, I will have the doctor explain everything.”
She didn’t wait for Jackson to respond as she turned and led him to a small room down the hall where that doctor was waiting. The room looked like it might have been a small private waiting room, but Jackson was too busy trying to brace himself for the pain he knew was about to come to notice anything more. He had lost his dad three years before, and his mom had followed a year later. Although they’d practically ignored him when his sister left, he still loved them and they had been his family. If the nurse told him that his sister was gone, then he would be truly alone. Yeah, he had his best friends, but he wouldn’t have any blood relatives any more. He had always held out hope that his sister was out there somewhere and she would eventually come home. When his parents had died, he thought for sure that Sarah would show up for their funerals. His hope dimmed a little when he had to stand with only his mom and two best friends by his side as they buried his dad. When he’d buried his
mom and she still hadn’t shown up, he gave up all hope of ever seeing her again. Now, he was sitting in a hospital room waiting for a stranger to tell him that he no longer had any family left.
“I’m Dr. Fredricks. I was the doctor on call who treated your sister. I’m sorry to tell you, Mr. Burrows, but you sister was admitted earlier this evening with signs of early labor. We tried to stabilize her and stop the labor, but unfortunately we weren’t able to. The placenta detached from the uterine wall, and we had to perform an emergency Cesarean section to try and stop the bleeding. The baby is fine, but I’m sorry to inform you that your sister didn’t make it.”
Jackson thought he had prepared himself, but the pain in his chest caused him to double over. He resented his sister for leaving, but he’d never wanted her to suffer like she had. It hurt to know that she’d died alone. Why hadn’t she ever tried to contact him? He could have been there for her if she had only let him. Jackson didn’t realize he was crying until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Greg standing over him with a look of concern on his face and Steve standing right behind him.
“Did you hear what the doctor said, Jackson?” Greg asked. “He said the baby made it.”
Huh? The baby made it? Evidently the doctor had noticed the confused look on Jackson’s face because he started explaining again.
“Yes, Mr. Burrows, the baby made it. She is considered premature because she was delivered four weeks early, but she is healthy and strong. Her lungs seem to be working fine, and that is always our biggest concern when babies are delivered early. She is a bit on the small side, but that is to be expected. We will keep her here for observation, but if everything goes well then you can take her home in a few days.”
Davis, Keyonna - Midnight Call (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 1
