She made small talk with Steve, but the creepy feeling had effectively ruined the peacefulness of the park, and Nadia was ready to leave.
“I think Addison has had enough fresh air for today. It’s about time for her to wake up, and she will be hungry, so why don’t we head back to the house?”
Steve watched her for a second before answering. “Are you okay, Nadia? You seem really tense all of a sudden. Did I say something to upset you?”
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong.” The last thing she wanted was for Steve to think she was upset with him. The guy was a sweetheart. “It’s just me. I’ve had a lot on my mind these last few days. That’s all.”
Nadia hoped that Steve would let it go and breathed a sigh of relief when he stood and held out his hand to help her up. She smiled and thanked him when she stood and began walking.
“You do know that I make a really good listener if you ever want to talk, right?” he said casually.
“I may take you up on that offer in the future. Right now, I am just trying to work everything out in my head.” It made her feel good, though, to know he was there for her. She had a feeling he really did make a good listener and wouldn’t judge her either. That was something she had never had before. A true friend.
Nadia smiled to herself when she realized that Steve, Jackson, and Greg were actually her friends. In just a few days she had gone from a lonely existence with no friends at all to having three of them. It was crazy how some things just worked themselves out.
When they finally made it inside the house, Nadia released the breath she had been holding. The whole way home, she kept looking over her shoulder expecting that creepy guy from the park to be right behind her. She knew it was more than likely an overactive imagination on her part, but she just wished she had seen the direction the guy had gone in when he had left. She decided she wouldn’t mention anything to the guys because there was no need to get them worked up when it was probably nothing. She would just have to be more careful and only take trips to the park when Steve, Jackson, or Greg could go with her. Addison chose that moment to make her demand for food by screaming at the top of her lungs, and Nadia put the thoughts of the guy at the park behind her to care for the baby.
Three days later
Nadia was so tired and miserable she started crying as soon as Jackson walked through the door. Addison had been crying all day, and she didn’t know what to do. She had tried cleaning her, feeding her, and putting her to sleep, but none of it worked. The only thing that seemed to be helping was walking her. Nadia had been doing that for three hours now. Every time she thought Addison was finally asleep and stopped walking, the baby would start screaming again.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Jackson asked as he rushed over and took the baby out of her arms.
“I can’t get her to stop crying.” She got it out as best she could through her own sobbing.
“How long has she been like this?”
“All day,” was all Nadia could get out through the hiccups. She felt horrible. Today was the first day that all three guys had somewhere to be and had left her alone with the baby. Of course, today would be the day this would happen. Jackson would see how horribly incapable she was of taking care of a baby and fire her.
“Why didn’t you call me? She has a fever, honey. Go pack her a bag. We need to take her to the emergency room.”
“Oh God, Jackson, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. What if I made her worse by not giving her medicine?” She’d thought she was finished crying, but the waterworks started again at the thought the baby had suffered when there was something that she could have done about it.
“Nadia, I need you to calm down and go get the baby’s things. We need to leave as soon as possible. I don’t know what is wrong with her, but I want to take her to the hospital just in case.”
It sucked that he was calmer than she was. Nadia sucked it up and did what he asked. She was used to packing the baby’s diaper bag and had it ready to go in no time. She followed Jackson out to his SUV and watched as he strapped the baby in. She felt helpless and close to tears again, but she refused to let them fall. If Jackson could be tough, then she could, too. It was the least she could do after her breakdown. Once they were on the road, Nadia dialed Greg and Steve and told them what was going on. They agreed to meet them at the hospital. The next call was to Addison’s pediatrician. The man was a friend of the guys, and he also agreed to drop what he was doing and meet them at the emergency room. She felt better after talking to the doctor. She told him the baby’s symptoms, and he assured her that Addison probably had a simple ear infection.
When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor was already waiting for them outside of the ER. He immediately took Jackson and Addison back to one of the rooms. Not once did Jackson look back at her. She tried to tell herself he was just focused on Addison. In the back of her mind, she knew he probably blamed her. Nadia felt herself deflate as she sank into one of the waiting room chairs and held her head in her hands. Why had she ever thought she could take care of a baby? She was totally selfish to think she could do this job without any experience. Not once had she thought she could jeopardize someone’s life.
Nadia felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Steve and Greg standing there with concerned looks on their faces.
“It’s my fault,” she said with a sigh. She was too tired to get worked up again. “Jackson probably hates me, and I don’t blame him. I should have called one of you guys, but I thought I could handle it on my own. I didn’t want you guys to come rushing home on your first day out if the baby was only fussy.”
“Nadia, look at me,” Greg said in what she had learned was his bossy tone. “None of this is your fault. These things happen, and you learn as you go along.”
“Yeah, but I should have known something was wrong by the way she was crying. I didn’t even recognize that she had a fever. If I hadn’t been too stubborn to call for help, we could have gotten Addison the help she needed a lot sooner.”
Steve and Greg didn’t say anything more. They obviously sensed that nothing they could say would change the way she felt. Instead, they sat on either side of her and tried their best to comfort her in some way. Nadia’s mind was on Addison. She couldn’t have cared less that Jackson would probably fire her as soon as he got the chance and she would be homeless. She didn’t care what happened to her as long as the baby was safe.
It seemed as though they had been waiting for hours when Jackson finally came through the doors with a sleeping Addison in his arms. Nadia was relieved to see he was smiling. She hung back when Greg and Steve rushed over and began questioning him. True enough, it turned out the baby had an ear infection. She was now comfortably sleeping after a little pain medication from the doctor and a prescription for antibiotics. Nadia still had the baby’s bag, so she followed Jackson out to his car. Once they were on the road, Jackson grabbed her hand and squeezed a little.
“The guys told me you think this is your fault and that I am mad at you. I’m not sure where you got that from, but you did nothing wrong. This type of thing happens to all babies at some point. Today was just the day it happened to Addison.”
Nadia didn’t understand how Jackson could be so forgiving. “I should have called you as soon as I realized I couldn’t get her calmed down. She suffered longer than she had to because of me. How can you say this is not my fault?”
“Because it’s simply not your fault. I’m actually proud of you for sticking it out and not giving up as long as you did.”
Jackson laughed. “It became quite clear from the beginning you didn’t have a clue what you were doing.”
“Then why did you keep me around? Why let me take care of Addison?”
“Because I knew you were determined to learn. Watching you with her, I saw you were gentle and caring. If you didn’t know something, you weren’t afraid to ask one of us.”
“Until today,” she said with a muffled laugh, afraid to wake the baby.
“Yeah, until today. That’s my point. I have seen you on the computer researching. No one would go that far to learn about how to take care of a baby if they didn’t care. You care, and that is exactly what Addison needs right now.”
Awww, that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.
Nadia was silent the rest of the way home, but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. Jackson was right about one thing. Her fingers were itching to get on the Internet so she could learn everything she could about infant ear infections. She had to admit it felt good to know Jackson didn’t blame her for anything. She still had a job, and she made a vow to ask for help whenever she needed it from now on.
When they arrived at home, Nadia climbed out and got Addison out of her seat. She carried the baby inside and got her ready for bed as gently as possible so she didn’t wake her. Addison had to be tired, and Nadia wanted her to get as much sleep as possible. Once she laid the baby down, she made her way out to the living room where the guys were waiting.
Nadia flopped down on the couch between Jackson and Greg. She leaned back against Greg when Jackson lifted her feet into his lap and began massaging. There was no stopping the moan that slipped out.
“Oh, that feels so good, Jackson. I’m so tired.”
“I think we all are. Look at Steve over there,” Greg whispered in her ear.
Nadia ignored the chill that went up her spine from Greg’s lips being so close to her neck and looked over at Steve. She giggled when she saw him sitting in the chair with his head thrown back. He was completely passed out with his mouth wide open.
“I think he has the right idea,” Jackson grunted. I feel like I could sleep for a week. I just feel sorry for Addison. I never remember having an ear infection that painful. My eardrums are aching from all the screaming she was doing though.”
“I know,” Nadia said, agreeing with Jackson. “I felt so helpless. I’m just glad the medicine finally kicked in and we got her to sleep.”
She snuggled farther into Greg when he began massaging her shoulders. Nadia couldn’t help the heat building between her legs. These two guys touching her was something she had been fantasizing about since the day she’d met them. The only thing that would make the situation better was if Steve were awake and joining in. She knew the guys weren’t touching her sexually. They were just trying to relieve her tension, but her pussy didn’t seem to care. Moisture flooded her panties and she had to fight not to squirm. She wondered if she could squeeze her thighs together without the guys noticing, but there was no way Nadia would do anything to make them move.
“Does that feel good?” Jackson asked.
Nadia jumped. Had he seen her thighs tremble? There was pure curiosity in his eyes. He truly did want to know if his massage felt good, but she could also see lust shining in his eyes as well.
“You have no idea how good that feels.” There. She’d answered truthfully. Too bad he had no idea she wasn’t talking about the foot massage.
She moved her foot slightly to get more comfortable, and her heel bumped against Jackson’s crotch. Nadia froze. The man was obviously as turned on as she was. He was rock hard, and from the look of his jeans tenting, he was huge. She swallowed and tried her best to tear her eyes away from him.
Greg’s lips and warm breath on her neck caused Nadia to leap off the couch. It was one thing to fantasize about being with all three guys, but being with them in reality was another. There was no way she would ever do anything to come between them. They were brothers in all but blood, and this situation had the potential to blow up in all of their faces.
“Um, thanks for the massage, guys. I think I’m going to go take a nice hot bath and get some sleep before Addison wakes up again.”
Nadia turned and made her escape before the guys could see the embarrassing blush that she could feel creeping up her face. She was mortified to see her outburst had woken Steve and he was looking at her as if she had lost her mind. What she needed was a nice hot bath to take her mind off things. Nadia blamed the stress of Addison being sick and crying for hours nonstop for her actions with Jackson and Greg. Her resistance was low.
“A little alone time and I will be good as new,” she mumbled under her breath as she made her way to her bathroom. That was her MO lately—deny, deny, deny. If she told herself everything was okay enough times then surely she would start believing it. Right? She really hoped so because, as things stood now, one slight slip and Nadia would probably jump whichever roommate she saw first.
She ran the bath water as hot as she could get it and sank down in the tub. Letting out a sigh, Nadia rolled a towel to tuck under her neck and leaned back. She made herself forget everything for just a few minutes and tried to just relax and soak.
* * * *
Jackson sat forward on the couch and rubbed his face. He hoped he and Greg hadn’t just messed things up with Nadia. The way she practically ran out of the room as though it were on fire showed it was pretty obvious they had. He groaned.
“I have no clue what just happened, but from the guilty looks on both of your faces, I can pretty much guess,” Steve said.
Jackson looked over at Greg and saw what Steve was talking about. Greg truly did look guilty, and Jackson had a feeling he had the same look on his own face. He wasn’t feeling guilty he’d tried to seduce Nadia though. No, he was feeling guilty because he’d broken the pact. He hadn’t even been thinking of his best friends when he was touching her. All he’d cared about was making Nadia feel good. If he had to be honest with himself, it hadn’t bothered him that Greg was doing the same thing. What did that say about him? Shouldn’t he have been more bothered by that?