He must have noted the way my face crumpled more and more as he spoke, because he quieted, clearing his throat.
“The good news is it’s fixable,” he offered pathetically.
“Right. You just need to gut the entire system.”
The man gave me an apologetic smile. “Ah, don’t beat yourself up. Happens all the time with old houses like this, especially with the summers getting hotter and hotter. These pipes just can’t take the expansion of the water when it gets hot like this after an already-brutal winter.”
I wanted to beat my head against the nearest brick wall.
“I spoke with your landlord, and she wants this resolved just as quickly as you do.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said flatly, trying not to laugh as I pictured Miss Margie doing anything quickly. She was a doll, and an absolute saint for renting the house to me for the low price she did. But she was also a nutcase and moved at the pace of a snail on vacation.
It had been tight since Julep moved out. That traitor of a roommate had booked the first flight to Charlotte after her boyfriend — er, fiancé — was signed to the Panthers in April. Not that I didn’t know it was coming, and not that she wasn’t an angel for still paying her half through the end of our lease, but I’d been floating it all on my own ever since.
I was doing it. I was capable. But it wasn’t easy, and I had been actively looking for a roommate to help make things easier for a few weeks now.
So much for that.
Now, I was homeless with no money saved and a paycheck that just barely helped me scrape by as it was. And, unlike many of the college kids who lived in this old neighborhood, I couldn’t just call up my mom or dad and ask for money.
I mean, I could. But I wouldn’t.
My pride, among other things, wouldn’t allow that.
I was still standing with my arms folded, subtly pinching the inside of my rib cage just in case this was a nightmare I could wake up from, when someone sidled up beside me and nearly made me jump out of my skin.
“What’s the problem?”
I pressed a hand against my heart from the scare, eyes wide until I turned and found Leo Hernandez standing beside me with concern etched into his brow.
Leo fucking Hernandez — North Boston University’s star running back, most unobtainable bachelor, and number one on my people I would murder if I could get away with it list.
Also, my neighbor.
That had been a comically ironic discovery after I’d signed the lease with Julep last year. Had I known before signing, I’d have steered clear of this house, this street, hell — this entire neighborhood.
He looked like he was fresh from summer practice, sweat soaking the edges of his hairline and making his gray NBU football t-shirt stick to his chest. His hair was boyish in its length, messy and sticking up in a thousand different ways where it wasn’t stuck to his forehead. His hazel eyes and warm brown skin were too much for most anyone attracted to males to resist, and when you combined it with a body built by years and years of football, it was the most unfortunately irresistible combination.
I used to think I loved him.
But that was before I hated him.
He folded his arms over his muscular chest, and it was then that I realized he’d ripped the sleeves off his shirt, showcasing his upper outer rib cage and every inch of his arms. I glanced at his bulging biceps for only a moment before I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
“As your neighbor, I beg to differ.”
“This your boyfriend?” The man with the clipboard asked, pointing at Leo. “I can explain it to him, if you’d like.”
I ground my teeth, both at the insinuation that I would ever date a pig-headed asshole like Leo Hernandez and that, as a woman, I needed a man whom the contractor could explain the pipe issue to in order for me to fully comprehend.
“He’s no one,” I grumbled, angling my body so that Leo was cut out of the circle that had somehow formed. “I’ll speak with Margie about next steps. Thank you for your time.”
The man looked between me and Leo a few times before shrugging, then he ripped off a copy of the assessment from his clipboard and handed it to me. “I recommend getting anything you care about out of there.”
“Right,” I said, again annoyed that he even felt the need to say that, as if it wasn’t common sense.
He left along with the small crew he’d brought with him.
Leo, however, was still standing behind me once the truck pulled away.
“Did a pipe burst or something?”
“Go away,” I clipped before heading for the house.
He was on my heels. “It sounds pretty serious.”
I ignored him, opening the front door of the house and attempting to slam it in his face. But he caught it, and then he dipped his head through and whistled at what he saw.
It was a fucking mess.
Not just one pipe had burst. It was as if one gave out and the rest of the pipes decided they were tired, too, so they threw in the towel and joined the first. There was a giant hole in the ceiling where water had built and caused it to collapse, and if that were all I had to worry about, maybe I could have stayed. But the entire system had gone. Water was everywhere, and so was debris, and I just stared at it all with Leo at my side.
“You can’t stay here,” he said, assessing the damage with his thick brows bent together. His dark, messy hair was still half-stuck to his forehead, his lips a bit chapped from the sun as he looked around. How he made sweat and sun-damage so appealing was beyond me, and I filed it as just another reason to hate him.
And I already had plenty.
“Wow, where would I be without you to point out the obvious?”
He shook his head. “Do you have a place to go? Need a ride or anything?”
I made an exasperated noise in my throat and pushed inside, not caring at this point that he was still standing in my doorway. “My car isn’t an issue, idiot. And I’m fine. You can leave now. Thank you for the neighborly concern.”
I shot each word out like pellets from a gun chamber, surveying the house and trying to decide where to start, what I needed to get out, and what could possibly remain behind. The fact that I didn’t have anywhere to move any of it was an issue I would deal with once Leo got out of my hair.
“You can stay with us.”
I laughed — and not an amused laugh, but one that was laced with bitter anger and resentment.
“I’m serious,” Leo said, pushing inside and carefully side-stepping where the ceiling had collapsed. “You don’t even have to pay rent. Holden’s room is free now since he and Julep moved to Charlotte.”
I spun on my heels. “You really expect me to move in with you and two other football players?”
He shrugged, a cocky smirk playing on his lips. “What I expect is that you don’t have as many options as you’re acting like you do.”
I clamped my mouth shut, jaw aching with how hard I ground my teeth. He was right. I didn’t have a single option, really, other than stay a few nights at a hotel and try to find a cheap interim place on Craigslist. And even those options meant I’d have limited funds for things like food and gas after the fact. I was trying to work on a savings, but as an apprentice slash shop assistant, I didn’t have much to make ends meet, let along stash aside for a rainy day.