Page 42 of Christmas Wishes

“Keaton, yeah. Sorry to call so late. Arlo said you’re not at home.”

“No, I’m in Arizona. What’s wrong?” Landlords didn’t call in the middle of the night to make small talk. Lamp light filled the room.

“A pipe burst, and there’s a lot of water in your unit. It appears to have come from the unit above yours. I wanted to make sure you’re safe tonight. I don’t have any details for you right now, but I’ll be making calls first thing to have a professional come out and assess the issue.”

“Holy shit.”

“You can say that again.”

“Is everyone okay?” The older lady in the unit below us lived alone.

“They are. Not sure how extensive the damage is yet, but I’ll keep you posted. You have a place to stay for now?”

“Uh, yeah. I do. Thanks for keeping me posted.” How much of my stuff was ruined? How much of Arlo’s? God, Arlo.

“You said you talked to Arlo?”

“I did.”

“Okay, thanks. Talk to you tomorrow. Er, later today.”

“Take care, Keaton.”

“You too.” I tapped to end the call on my watch.

“Fuck,” Riggs said.

I hadn’t noticed that he’d sat up too. He pulled me close. “You make a cute grizzly.” My brain was short-circuiting.

“Huh?”

“Nothing. So, yeah, guess you heard all that.”

He grunted. How had his grunts gone from kinda annoying to cute?

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“I don’t fucking know. Good thing I have a million relatives I can crash with. I need to call Arlo.”

My sleepy eyes struggled to navigate the tiny screen. I used the watch to track my steps, not as a fucking communication tool. I hadn’t thought to bring my phone when I snuck downstairs to seduce Riggs.

I finally found the phone button and called Arlo. “What the fuck!” I said as soon as the call connected.

“I know.” Arlo groaned. I couldn’t tell how stressed he was by his voice. He might’ve been too sleepy for the anxiety to have hit already.

I shook off the rest of my grogginess and tried to focus on my best friend. “Are you okay? Do you want to do the breathing exercises together?” I heard some whispering in the background. Weird.

“I’m okay.” There was a long pause. “Um, Lucas is helping.”

I gave Riggs anOh my god! Can you believe itlook, but I hadn’t told him much about Arlo’s server in shining armor.

“You’re with Lucas? Oh, I bet he’shelping.” Riggs quietly chuckled next to me. “I’m glad you’re not alone,” I said more seriously.

“This sucks,” he said. He sounded stressed but not defeated. That was a good sign.

“Yeah, it fucking does. Good thing you made sure we got renters’ insurance.” Arlo was always so good with those details. His anxiety had saved our ass.

“What are we going to do?” The stress had begun to creep into his voice. I wasn’t sure what the hell he and Lucas were doing, but I hoped the man was emotionally intelligent enough to support Arlo. I hated that I wasn’t with him, but given what Arlo had shared about Lucas’s tenderness toward him throughout the week, he seemed to be in good hands.

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