Page 16 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Need something?” Gah, I was rude. “I mean, what’s up?”

He glanced up at me. “I broke my faucet and I can’t get the shut off to work. Daire’s not answering his phone.”

I ran out of my room and to his, not even bothering with my shoes. One thing about Sunshine Manor was we had kick ass water pressure, making a broken faucet potentially disastrous.

His door was open and I ran straight to the sink and dropped to my knees, not thinking about my dream. Nope. This was an emergency.

Opening the cabinet doors, I saw just how bad it was when water rushed at me and onto the floor.

“You didn’t do this.” I started to empty the cabinet. There wasn’t much in it, but what was there was ruined. Paper towels, some new boxes of tissues, paper plates. All the things that couldn’t get wet. “The pipe burst. The handle breaking was a side effect. Do you have a wrench?”

He didn’t answer, and when I looked up at him, I saw sheer panic on his face. “I can’t pay for this… my deposit…”

I stood up, my socks now soaking wet, and put my hands on his shoulders. “This was not you, but we need to handle it now. I need a wrench or whatever tools you have.”

He sloshed off and came back with a tool box that was mostly useless, but it did have a vise grip. “I need a towel too.”

I tried to get it shut off. I managed to slow it, but not much else.

“Why is my ceiling dripping.” Ryder walked in before quickly adding, “Oh. I’ll go get towels.”

Archer came in with a towel and it helped me get the torque I needed. We would still need a plumber and a bucket, but it was slow enough it wouldn’t cause too much more damage… probably.

“Thanks. I can’t believe you’re helping me after yesterday… and I’m?—”

“I brought reinforcements.” Ryder announced Neil and Ivor at his side, all of them with towels and Ivor also holding two mops. “We need to get Daire to bring in a plumber and maybe those fancy dehumidifiers.”

“I can call in a favor and borrow one of those. One of the realtors I do a lot for has them. They like to make basements not feel so basement-like.” I rolled my eyes. No humidifier changes a stone basement into anythingbut a stone basement.

“Let’s get this dry.” I took off my socks and just tossed them into the trash, not wanting to deal with them.

We worked together as a team, and it was nice. One of the things I loved about this place was how we were more than just strangers living side by side.

“I thought you were working,” Ryder said to Ivor as we were running the mops the last time.

“Yeah about that. Kinda got fired for being late. And I wasn’t late as much as my boss changed my hours to when I had class. I’d have skipped, but it was a big test.” Fuck that. Good riddance to his job, except for the needing money thing.

“I got some work for you,” Ryder offered before I could, once again showing the more pack-like existence we had living here. “Mostly shit work like cleaning, lugging, and shipping, but if you want it.”

“I want it.” He let out a long breath. “I was so scared to tell Daire. It’s not fair to him.”

“What were you scared to tell me?” In came Daire, as if his ears had been ringing and he’d hunted down the culprit.

“I got a new job,” Ivor said. “And I might not be paid right away, but there will be money.”

“And you need a plumber,” I interjected. “This pipe broke—looks like it rusted out, which I hate to tell you means?—”

“It’s not the only pipe needing replacement.” He rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand. “I’ll call the plumber and a crew to clean this fully. I can see water up some of the drywall.”

Shit. That wasn’t good.

“Archer… you can stay with me if you want, ” Neil offered. “This will mold pretty quick.”

No. He can stay with me… in my bed.

“Thanks. I appreciate that.” Archer accepted the offer.

Great, now I was going to spend the night thinking of Archer… naked… but not with me.

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