CHAPTER TEN
Beck jolted awake. Something was wrong. His heart pounded in his ears as he tried to slow his breathing. What had woken him?
There.
That noise.
What was it? It sounded like water spraying from a hose. That was not a sound you wanted to hear in the middle of the night.
He stumbled out of bed and made his way downstairs, clinging to the railing, still half-asleep. The sound grew louder. Fuck, was there a busted pipe somewhere?
He looked around the kitchen. He didn’t see anything as he moved toward the back porch. Was it the washing machine? More awake now, he ran the last few steps to the laundry room, but it wasn’t the washer. It was the hot-water heater.
Water shot out toward the wall. He reached to try to turn one of the knobs on the side, hoping to shut it off.
“Fuck!” He jumped back. The water was scalding hot.
What was he going to do? He couldn’t get near the thing. There had to be a valve to shut the water off, but he had no idea where it was. His father had given him a long lecture about things he needed to know to look after a house, but he’d been too caught up in his own pity party to pay attention.
So far only the laundry room wall and floor were soaked, but the water was starting to run out into the hall. He had to stop this. Where would someone put a water cutoff valve? Who would know?
A plumber. Did he know a plumber in Ames Bridge?
Shit, where was his phone? He raced back upstairs. When he found it, he started trying to look up plumbers, but his fingers were clumsy from sleep and nerves. Even if he found someone, how long would it take them to get out there? How much water would be on the floor by then?
Cal might know what to do.
He’d walked out on Cal sitting on his kitchen floor with tears on his face. No way in hell could he call him in the middle of the night.
You were both panicky and irrational. He said to call if you needed help.
Beck made the call before he’d even finished that thought.
It rang and rang as he walked back downstairs. Water continued to pour out. Unable to stand looking at it, Beck stepped onto the back porch.
Finally, Cal answered. “Beck?”
“Yeah, sorry. The hot water. It’s everywhere. I don’t—”
“Slow down.”
Beck took a breath. “The hot-water heater is shooting out water, and I don’t know how to make it stop.”
“There’s a shutoff valve for the whole house. You’ll need to just use that if you can’t get near the heater.”
“I don’t know where it is.”
“Okay. Did you look in the laundry room?”
“Yes. I didn’t see anything that looked right.”
“It’s often in a closet. Try the coat closet in the kitchen.”
Beck ran to the kitchen, flipped on the lights, and opened the closet.
“I’m looking.”
“Feel around. It will be on a pipe that runs through there.”
“Shit. No pipes in here.”
“What about the closet in that room at the back of the house?”
“The sewing room?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what Miss Helen called it. Try that.”
Beck ran to the sewing room and jerked open the closet. A thin pipe ran through it at the back corner. “I think this is it.” He felt along the pipe. “There’s a knob here.”
“Is there a label on it or anything?”
“No.”
Cal sighed. “Just try turning it to the right.”
It wouldn’t budge at first, so Beck held the phone between his cheek and shoulder and used both hands. “It’s moving.”
“Good. Turn it as far as it goes.”
Beck did, and then he raced back to the laundry room. The water was still flowing out, but it slowed and finally stopped.”
“It worked. Oh my God, it worked. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m getting in my truck now. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“What? Oh, you don’t have to do that. I just needed help to get the water stopped.”
“And now you have water all over the place and a busted hot-water heater, which I’m guessing you don’t know how to fix.”
“Do you?”
“Possibly not, but I know some things to look for. You know my cousin Roscoe?”
“Um…” Beck brought up his mental Ames Bridge genealogy chart. “The mechanic?”
“Yeah. His girlfriend’s a plumber.”
“Wait. There’s a female plumber in Ames Bridge?”
Cal laughed. “Yes, there is.”
“Wow. You could just give me her number.”
“Beck, hang up. I’m on my way.”
***
When Cal arrived, Beck was tossing yet another soaking-wet towel in the washing machine. His grandmother had a closetful, but he wasn’t sure there were enough towels in the entire world to dry the floor. The tub of the washer was almost full of them already.
Beck ran to answer the door and realized halfway there that he was only wearing boxer briefs. But Cal had gotten up and come over in the middle of the night to help him, so he couldn’t leave him standing there while he changed.
Cal’s eyes widened when Beck opened the door, and heat rushed to Beck’s cheeks. “I jumped out of bed when I heard the water, and I didn’t—”
“I don’t mind.” His low voice made Beck shiver. Why had things gotten so fucked up earlier?
Because we’re both way too stubborn.
“I brought my shop vac,” Cal said as he wheeled it into the kitchen.
“Oh, thanks. I’ve been trying to soak the water up, but—”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work. I’ll get all the standing water up with this, and then we’ll assess how much damage there is; hopefully not too much.”
“Cal, you really don’t have to—”
“Just let me take care of this. I owe you that much.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
Cal sighed. “I treated you like shit when we were kids because I was hung up on you and too scared to say it. Helping you clean up this disaster is the least I can do now.”
“It’s one thirty in the morning.” Way to state the obvious.
Cal shrugged. “I don’t sleep a lot anyway.”
Thinking about Cal lying awake at night made Beck’s stomach flip-flop. “At least let me be the one to run the damn shop vac.”
Cal frowned but eventually handed the hose to Beck. “Fine. I’ll start the load of towels.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“I’m going to anyway.” Cal closed the washer’s lid and started fiddling with the knobs.
Beck studied the shop vac. Where the hell was the switch to turn it on? It was just a vacuum that also sucked up liquid; surely, he could figure out how to work it. After a few seconds of examining it, he managed to turn it on, but it wasn’t sucking up water, so he turned it back off.
“Here, let me do it,” Cal said, bending down to look at the machine.
Beck shook his head. “I guess you think I’m pretty hopeless.”
“I think you’re tired and shaken up. Anyone who can entertain preschoolers as well as you did, not to mention actually reining in Jigsaw after…how long without being on a horse?”
Beck considered for a moment while Cal fiddled with the wet vac’s filter. He’d ridden some during college and a little during his first years as a teacher. “Five years.”
“Damn. That’s impressive and hardly hopeless. So relax and let me do this, okay? The filter just needs adjusting.”
Why was Cal being so nice to him? The land? Did he really think Beck would refuse to rent to him because they’d argued after sex?
That would be…exactly what a lot of men would do.
“Cal, you know I’m still going to let you use the land, right? No matter what happened earlier.”
“This isn’t about you renting me the fucking land. This is about being a decent neighbor.”
“But you—”
“I get it. You don’t expect decency from me because you didn’t get it when I was younger, and you’re not sure I’ve changed.”
“No, after what happened earlier, I know you’ve changed.” He’d been afraid to believe it until Cal had taken his cock down his throat. That was fairly convincing.
“I would’ve gotten on my knees for you years ago if I’d thought you wanted that.”
Beck had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over. “But… You…”
Cal flipped the switch on the wet vac, and it roared to life, ending any point in trying to reply.
He worked at the water, sucking it up little by little. Beck stood transfixed, watching Cal’s toned arms flex as he pushed the vac along the floor.
Cal glanced back at him as he maneuvered the machine around the side of the hot-water heater and caught Beck staring. He grinned and dropped his gaze to Beck’s cock, which was straining against the stretchy fabric of his underwear. There was promise in his eyes. Could they try again and fuck without arguing this time?
Feeling much too exposed, Beck forced himself to turn away. He opened the dryer and sorted through the clothes that had been left there until he found a T-shirt and shorts. Then he stepped into the hall where he’d be out of the way to get dressed.
When Cal was done, he turned off the vac and looked around. “You see any puddles I missed?”
Beck shook his head.
“Okay. We need a few more towels to wipe the floor, and then we’ll see how much damage there is under it. Does this house have a basement or just a crawl space?”
“Just a crawl space.” A scary, bug-filled cave of doom.
“Grab a flashlight. We need to see if water is dripping under the house.”
Beck hadn’t even considered the damage to the boards under the flooring. “Shit, the wood’s going to rot.”
“No, we’re going to prevent that,” Cal said as Beck found two flashlights by the back door where his grandma always kept them. He held them up for Cal to see.
“Good. Leave one there for me, and go on and look under the house while I dry the floor.”
Beck shuddered at the thought. “Um…”
“What?”
“It’s…um…creepy?” Beck’s face felt like it might catch fire, but no way in hell could he crawl under the house.
Cal raised his brows. “Creepy?”
“Yeah, there are all kinds of bugs and shit under there, and one time there was a possum and it hissed at me and… Damn, I’m not scared of much, but…”
Cal smiled and tossed him a towel. “Help me here, and then I’ll deal with it.”
Beck couldn’t stop glancing at Cal as they worked together. He hadn’t laughed or even smirked.
“So is the door to the crawl space out back?”
“Yeah.” Beck left the wet towel on top of the washer and then flipped the switch for the back porch light before stepping outside.
When he reached the tiny crawl space door, Beck struggled with the rusted sliding lock, but finally the door popped open, and he skittered back, braced for a possum attack. When no creatures rushed out to attack, Beck brazenly crouched down by the door and shone his light into the dark recesses.
Cal leaned over his shoulder, adding his own light and sweeping it from side to side. “You can just stand back and let me do this.”
“I’m okay if I don’t actually have to go in there.”
Cal moved in closer, practically lying over Beck’s back. When his warm breath tickled Beck’s neck, Beck nearly dropped the flashlight.
“Here,” Cal said, putting his hand over Beck’s. “Point toward the back of the house along with mine.”
“I don’t see anything.” Not that he was looking very hard, since he couldn’t think about anything but the feel of Cal’s hips against his. “There’s room for you beside me, you know.”
“I know.” Cal’s low laugh had him biting his lip to keep from groaning. “If nothing is dripping through the floor, then you’re probably okay.”
“Uh-huh.” Beck drew in a shaky breath, and Cal’s scent—leather, sweat, and something that smelled like a field in the spring—made it hard to think. There could have been a river flowing out the door past him or a family of possums hosting a party, and he wouldn’t have noticed.
Cal sat back, and Beck scrambled out of the doorway. “We’ll get Stephanie’s opinion tomorrow, but I think everything’s okay.”
Beck tried to remember how to form sentences. “I’ll…”
“You’ll what?”
“I’ll talk to Stephanie. You don’t have to take time out of your day to help me with a plumber.”
Cal’s mouth curved up in a half smile. “I know I don’t have to.”
“But—”
“When I said that this—us—was a mistake…”
The thump of Beck’s heart was so loud, he was sure Cal could hear it. “Yeah?”
“I was being a fucking coward.”
“No, you—”
Cal held up a hand. “I was afraid of how much I want you, but I do. I want you very badly.”