Page 74 of Unexpected

“Yeah, not looking so great. I’m currently eating chicken nuggets and trying not to watch the news.”

He chuckled. “Sounds like a good night. The water is pretty high on the street, almost to the sidewalk up on the curb.”

I cringed. “Shit. Doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon either.”

“Nope. So, I was thinking maybe—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. To my right and just outside my back door was a large crashing noise before something scraped down the door. It sounded like metal sliding against the glass. The abrupt sound made me scream, and I almost toppled backward off the island.

Once I steadied myself and knew I wasn’t falling to the hard tile floor, I checked that the door was locked. Even with the blood rushing behind my ears and my heart pounding what felt like a million beats a minute, my eyes first checked the lock. Then checked for broken panes of glass. Thankfully, whatever it had been hadn’t shattered the glass.

“Hazel!” Luke yelled, breaking me from my panic. “What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know. There was a huge bang outside of my back door. Scared the fucking shit out of me.”

“Don’t move. I’m coming over,” Luke barked.

“You don’t have to. Let me turn the light on and see if I can see anything before you come running over in the pouring rain for nothing.”

He was saying something about staying where I was and not going toward the door, but I wasn’t necessarily listening. I had decent self-preservation instincts, and this didn’t feel like someone trying to break in. Although, I wouldn’t have put it past Michael to want to scare the shit out of me.

The thought made me pause for a second, my hand midair and reaching for the porch light, but I shook it off as quickly as it popped into my head.

I flicked the light on but still braced myself for what I might find. Directly in front of the door was the gutter that had been hanging above it only a second before. Water was still running down it toward the foundation of the house.

“Unlock your front door, I’m walking out of the house now.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” I said, stealing one last glance at the downed gutter before hurrying to the front door.

Luke must have sprinted because he was climbing the last two steps up the porch when I made it to the door. I swung it open and was greeted by a toe-curling sight. Luke’s dark hair was dripping wet and plastered to his forehead, as was his soaked white shirt. I could see the outline of his abs as well as his dark tattoos through the almost see-through material.

“What the hell happened?” he asked as he politely wiped his feet on the welcome rug. Not that it would actually do much, but it was a sweet gesture.

He walked past me, his jeans tucked awkwardly into the tops of his boots like he put them on in a rush and didn’t have enough time to fix them properly.

“The umm… the gutter,” I stuttered, taken aback by Luke’s disheveled yet mouthwatering appearance. “The gutter at the back door fell.”

Luke peered out the back before pulling the door open and quickly inspecting the damage. He stepped out onto the back patio and into the rain once again. The never-ending rain didn’t seem to bother him much until he had to look up to inspect the damage near the roof. He covered his eyes with his hand and squinted against the harshness of the patio light and the torrential downpour.

He stooped down and inspected the gutter, shaking his head softly before stepping back inside.

“When’s the last time you cleaned out your gutters?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. There was something about the combination of the water dripping off him, along with his quick breaths, that made desire pool low in my stomach.

“Honestly?” I asked, and he gave me a nod that saidyes, honestly.“I personally never have, and if I didn’t, it’s very likely Michael didn’t either. Is that what happened?”

Luke shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. “Possibly, but I can’t be completely sure. It’s likely it just came loose.”

“So, can we fix it?”

He thought for a moment, running his hand over his chin and cheek. “Do you have any two-by-fours or something like that?”

I furrowed my brow, not entirely sure where he was going with it. “Umm… yes. In the garage,” I said as I hiked my thumb over my shoulder.

I led him into the garage, flicking on the light and grabbing a two-by-four from the corner where I had propped them out of the way just a few days before.

“You’ve done a lot of organizing.”

“Yeah.” I couldn’t think of a better response; I didn’t really want to discuss my imminent move and how my heart hurt a little knowing I wouldn’t get to see Luke as frequently. Even if it was just a wave as we both walked into our separate houses, it was an interaction I looked forward to. The emotion made me feel stupid—we barely knew each other. “How many do we need?”

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