Blackness Within (6 page)

“My name is Karl. How can I help you?” he asks in a soft voice that tumbles me into sobs.

“Are you safe? Do you need me to call the authorities?” Karl pushes.

“No, please don’t call anyone,” I plead through snot-filled stumbled words.

“What’s your name, honey?”

“Na-Natasha,” I stutter.

“Natasha, try to take a few breaths for me.”

I do what he says and gather a smidgeon of calm.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologize, completely horrified at myself.

“No need to apologize. If Shannon were here, she’d tell you the same thing. Now, since she’s not, why don’t you tell me what it is you need?”

“I’m not sure what I need to be honest. I was her nurse when she was pregnant and she’s the only person I could think to call.”

“I remember you. I was there both times you took care of her. I’m Shannon’s assistant. You probably don’t remember me because she’s always surrounded by men.”

I chuckle thinking of the hulking men that were always glued to Shannon while she was in the hospital. I try my damnedest to remember meeting a Karl. I see so many people, but Shannon and her crew make a lasting impression.

“I remember you! You’re blond with pale blue eyes, right?”

“I am,” he says kindly.

“I really am sorry for blubbering to you, Karl. I’ve had a rough twenty-four hours.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. Tell me what’s happened so I can figure out what we need to do.”

“I stole a baby.”

“What’s that?”

“I stole a baby.”

“Are you planning on returning the baby and looking for representation for legal matters?” he asks in a shocked heightened tone.

“No. I don’t know who the baby belongs to and I don’t know what to do with him. I found him in a crack house and for reasons that seem really stupid right now, I didn’t follow any normal protocols and I’m not sure what to do.”

“Natasha, I need to get an attorney. Do you mind if I put you on hold for a moment?”

“Are you callin’ the police?” I ask terrified I’ve just made a grave error.

“No. I’m going to get someone that can help you better than I can. Just hang tight.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond before instrumental music fills my ear. I should hang up. This was a really foolish idea in the first place and now I’ve made it worse. Why can’t I just do something right?

I stay on hold. What other choice do I have? I check on the baby and pace when I find him sleeping peacefully. Zeus hops off the couch and follows in my nervous wake, trying to ease my tension.

“Natasha?” his smooth deep voice filters through the phone and I feel vomit fill my mouth.

“Uh huh,” is all I’m able to respond with, like an idiot.

“This is Brian O’Sullivan. Do you remember me?”

Do I remember him? Is he fucking kidding? How could anyone forget Brian O’Sullivan? He’s a tall drink of poisonous water. Dark brown messy hair, chocolate eyes, a smile that can melt panties from a hundred paces, the body of a fighter and the cocky smirk of a man that gets what he wants. I remember Brian O’Sullivan. And he knows it. He’s been hitting on me for the last two and a half years. Damn it!

“Natasha? Did I lose you?” he prompts with concern in his voice.

“I’m here. I remember you,” I say in a small voice.

“Karl filled me in a little. Why don’t you start from the beginning and let’s see what I can do for you?”

“I’m thinkin’ I should just forget about this. I don’t know why I thought calling Shannon was a good idea, but I’m seeing things more clearly now. It’s best—”

“Natasha,” he cuts me off abruptly, “you need to consider your actions very carefully from this point forward. A plan needs to be made with your legal wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of the baby you currently have in your custody as top priority.”

He doesn’t sound like the dirty sleaze ball that hit on me the entire time I took care of his sister. He sounds commanding and well spoken. My mind is reeling and I don’t have the capacity to process everything coming at me right now.

“I’ve been trying to figure this out! I don’t know what I’m doing and calling an attorney and telling him I just committed a crime seems supremely stupid right now. I’m gonna lose my job. I’ll be arrested. My brother’s gonna go to jail! Who’s gonna take care of Zeus while I rot in prison for kidnapping?!”

“Zeus?”

“My dog!” I squeal like a five-year-old before I dissolve into tears again.

As I sob, I can hear him trying to soothe me, but I can’t rein it in. I’m going to lose everything and all I can do is cry about it. Between gasps I hear Sully say, “I’ll be right there.”

Then he hangs up on me. Right here? I don’t understand. He doesn’t know where I live. I think I’ve just hallucinated that entire interaction. I continue to bawl into Zeus’s head as I cuddle up to the only being on Earth that’s always been here for me. I’m completely alone in this world. What have I done?

O’Sullivan

I have no clue what I’m doing. I’m driving my Mercedes like a crazed person to get to a woman I don’t know. And what I do know is mostly due to her anatomy and the things I’ve imagined doing to it. The moment she started crying I felt the need to see her, hold her, make the sadness enveloping her usually succulent voice disappear.

This is a strange and unwelcome reaction to a woman, but I’m still driving to her fucking house. My stalker brain remembers how to get to there after following her months ago.

I pull up in front of her tiny house and take in my surroundings. It’s a quiet street that’s well manicured, feeling lived in and comfortable. Natasha fits here if only for the tiny amount of information I know about her.

The pale yellow bungalow has an inviting porch with a swing covered in protective green vinyl for the winter. Her front door is a recently painted creamy white. I knock softly and wait. What the fuck am I doing here?

The door swings open and I have my reason staring back at me.

Natasha is standing there in black yoga pants, an over-sized Chiefs T-shirt with a little baby puke staining it, her pale blonde hair piled on top of her head and her light grey eyes bright red from crying with dark circles shadowing them. She needs a hug. I move to do that and am stopped by a threatening growl.

“Don’t touch me,” Natasha says to me softly. “Zeus, off.”

The German Shepherd immediately obeys and moves away from me, still watching my every move. I see why she was crying about her dog.

“Why are you here?” she asks, not welcoming me an inch into her space.

“You needed someone and I was available,” I say in a shrug.

“I’m fine. You made an unnecessary trip.”

She moves to slam the door in my face. I’m going to have to give this woman something more than my usual cocky attitude. I’m a ladies’ man. I can get a woman out of her clothes and in any position I want with five words and a well-practiced smile. It’s a talent. Natasha doesn’t need the asshole womanizer. She needs the professional attorney that can handle clients with care and concern while keeping them out of prison. I can do that.

“Listening to you cry made me sick to my stomach. I don’t know you and you sure as shit don’t know me, but let me assure you, I don’t typically care if a woman is cryin’. I want to be here. Let me help you, Natasha,” I finish softly.

Okay, that’s not usually what I would say to a client either. What the hell am I doing here? As her brow furrows making her look even cuter than she already does, I have my answer. It’s not one I want, but it’s an answer.

“You’re trouble. I can see it all over you. I saw it the first time you hit on me and it’s still beaming from that cocky grin permanently smeared on your face. You’re bad news, Sully,” she dictates and it takes my fucking breath away.

First, nobody but Kid calls me Sully. I hate it. I’ve hated it my entire life. Yet my heart just fluttered like something a girl describes happening when she’s twelve when Natasha said it. I’m totally fucked.

“You’re right. I’m usually trouble. But I’m also really good at gettin’ people outta trouble. Let me help you. I just wanna help you, not cause you any more problems.”

I keep my cocky smile in check and offer her a sincere one. It must work because she steps back and allows me entry into her home. Thank fuck because it’s January and icicles were forming on my balls.

Her living room is warm and inviting. A small fireplace surrounded by red brick is the centerpiece of the homey space. The walls are a soft blue, covered in family pictures and a few paintings. Her hardwood floors look original and I’m guessing this house is well over seventy-years old. Someone put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to bring this house to the place it is today.

I follow her over to a plush couch with a soft green slipcover hiding whatever is beneath it. Zeus follows me with his eyes from a large black dog bed in front of the hearth. I ease myself onto the couch a cushion away from Natasha not wanting to get my face eaten off by her bodyguard. I slip my suit jacket off, lay it over the arm of the couch and watch Natasha pull her legs up under her, almost curling into a protective ball. I make her uncomfortable. Not good.

“Where’s the baby?” I ask in a professional tone.

“Sleeping.”

“Here?”

She nods. This isn’t going to be easy.

“Does anyone else know the baby’s here?”

“No.”

“Can you tell me why you didn’t call the authorities when you found the baby? Does the baby have a name?”

“I’m sure he does, but I don’t know it. I found him in a crack house.”

“Why were you in a crack house?”

I really hope this woman that works with pregnant women and helps deliver babies all day doesn’t have a drug problem. I’ll turn her in quicker than I’ll take my next breath.

“My brother’s a drug addict. It’s his house. I went to check on him because our mom hadn’t been able to get a hold of him. I found the baby there. I went into autopilot and came home. When I finally realized what I had done…” she trails off, looking at her lap. She’s embarrassed about her family. I’m sure she didn’t call the cops because she’s worried about her brother getting in trouble.

“Is the baby your brother’s?”

“Blake, my brother, he’d tell me if he had a baby. There were two other people in the house when I got there. All three of them were passed out. They were all alive when I got there and they’re not there anymore.”

“So the baby could belong to one of the other people.”

“He could. There’s been nothing on the news about a missing baby. I know a junkie isn’t likely to call the cops, but wouldn’t they do something to try to find the baby? I haven’t heard from Blake. If he were out lookin’ for a missing baby, he’d call me. He always calls me,” she admits sadly.

“Okay, so if the baby doesn’t belong to anyone that was in the house, do you think they kidnapped him?”

Her face blanches. She hadn’t considered that.

“Blake wouldn’t do that.”

“Drug addicts aren’t always themselves,” I point out.

“Blake wouldn’t do that!” she snarls at me, causing Zeus to growl at me and stand from his bed. “I’m okay, Zeus.”

The dog backs off, but stays standing.

“If Blake didn’t, maybe the others did,” I suggest quietly.

“Then why isn’t there an Amber Alert? If they stole a baby then surely it would be all over the news by now. I’ve had the baby for hours and there’s nothing. And they’d had that baby for at least two days judging by the state he was in when I got him,” she insists.

“Does the baby need medical attention?”

If there’s something wrong with the baby, I’ll have to make some calls, but I can get my roommate Aidan to take a look at him. Aidan Callaghan is a trauma surgeon so not really the right kind of doctor to look over a baby, but he would do it.

“I’m a nurse, Sully,” Natasha admonishes.

“Right,” I pause trying to get her voice calling me that name out of my head…and my dick. “So we have to assume this baby isn’t a part of the normal world. Any typical parent would be sick with worry and the authorities would be involved at this point. I’ll have the lead investigator at the firm start diggin’ around to try to find out who your brother’s involved with. That’s our best shot at this point. Until we figure out who the baby belongs to, I think we need to assume you’re not safe.” As I say it, I feel a fight building in my chest. If she’s in danger…no she’s not my responsibility. She’s got Zeus. Did I really just pass of this woman to her dog? I’m a bigger asshole than I give myself credit for.

“Why would I be in danger?” Natasha asks in a panicked voice. I want to reach across the couch to soothe her, but I resist the urge.

“A baby that’s not bein’ reported as missing is probably the child of someone that doesn’t want to involve authorities. If you have a criminal’s baby, they could come lookin’ for him and when they find you I don’t think they’ll be very understanding.”

“Shit! I’m gonna kill my brother when I see him,” she huffs.

“Let’s not add murder to your kidnapping charges,” I joke.

She laughs at me and it’s the best sound that’s filled my ears since I’ve been in this house. It’s a short-lived moment as the reality of the situation begins to seep into her features. Natasha steels her spine and breathes slowly avoiding eye contact with me. I wait patiently. She’s about to break again and I’m glad I’m here this time. She shouldn’t be alone dealing with this. No one should be dealing with this, certainly not this kind woman that’s worked tirelessly to make a life for herself.