Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Because with this roof leaking, I could see the damage on the walls…and I somehow knew that it wasn’t going to be as easy as just fixing the roof.
For it to be as bad as it was, it had to have been happening for a while.
Meaning there was likely a lot more damage than I could see behind the walls.
Fuck.
“I can empty a bucket…” She trailed off when I shook my head.
“You’re not staying in here until we figure out what’s going on,” I said. “You’re my guest until then.”
She started to argue, but I held up my hand.
“I know that you think you’ll be fine, and chances are, you probably will…” the power chose that moment to go out. “But you’re not staying here. Not only do I not want you to, but I kind of want you there with me for the rest of the night doing…other things.”
She laughed then.
“Okay,” she breathed, coming up close to me. “We can do other things.”
She pulled away before I could get my hands on her and turned to the fridge.
“With the power out, we can’t cook anything,” she began to say.
“I have a generator,” I said. “It feeds half the house. The air conditioning, about half the lights, and the entirety of the kitchen. We can cook over there.”
I heard her open the fridge and pull stuff out.
“Then come over here and grab my milk,” she ordered. “I’ll make pancakes.”
I went over there and grabbed her milk.
I also made sure to grab her ass.
Chapter 8
-Drink a lot of water.
-Watch how you talk to ladies when they first wake up in the morning.
-Rules to live by
Lock
I pulled the bike to a stop in the carport, hearing Saylor settling herself and getting ready to swing her leg over to dismount.
But my eyes were all for the man that was standing there with his arms crossed, looking pissed.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said as I got off the bike. “I caught a call right as I was leaving.”
The man took in my uniform and nodded.
His demeanor instantly changed as I made my way to him.
Holding out my hand, I said, “My name is Lock.”
“Tony,” he grumbled as he turned and headed in the direction of the pool house. “I already took a look. Thanks for the code.”
I nodded and fell into step beside him.
I could feel Saylor hurrying to catch up, and I looked over my shoulder at her to wink.
She smiled at me widely, and I would’ve continued to stare at her like a complete loser yet something on the street caught my eye.
A green car that was driving by.
I slowed to a stop and turned more fully so I could see, but the car didn’t stop or slow down in any way. Just drove past.
And since my street was a common one for people to cut through to get to opposite parts of the city, I decided to shrug it off and catch up to the man that’d started talking to me while I’d fallen behind.
Catching up, I heard him say ‘mold.’
“What kind of mold?” I asked.
“Black mold,” he said. “You have black mold in your walls…but there’s no way for me to tell how bad it is without removing the drywall.” He paused. “The carpet’s gonna have to go, too.”
The carpet wasn’t a concern to me. That was always going to go.
The drywall, though? That was supposed to stay.
Fuck, that was going to be expensive.
And I didn’t have the money right now to fix it.
“Do you have insurance?” Tony asked.
I breathed a quick sigh of relief.
“I do,” I confirmed.
“I also have rental insurance,” Saylor said. “They told me that it would cover almost anything…even the house taking off after a tornado. Can you do double the coverage?”
Tony’s eyes left mine and stopped on Saylor, his entire demeanor softening.
“Yeah,” he paused. “Probably.”
“I can’t know exactly what’s wrong with it until I do a full examination of what’s behind the walls,” he said. “But for now, everything about a foot down at least is going to have to come out because it’s rotted from the continuous rain it gets. I can give you a better idea of the rest once I can get a look behind. For now, I can file it on your insurance and we can go from there.” He looked at me. “I don’t recommend anyone live here until it’s fixed.”
I quickly agreed with him that he should do what needed to be done, promising to give my insurance a call tomorrow, and he left.
Saylor and I were left standing there staring at the hole he’d cut out of the wall to get a look behind it.
“Black mold is bad, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve heard it is.”
“I’m going to have to move out.” Her shoulders slumped.
I felt my belly tighten.