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“Shit,” I hissed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I dove for the water shutoff valve under the sink before realizing that it was turned off already. I had no idea what to do next. Turn off the main water valve, the one that fed the whole building? Where the hell would I find that? I needed to act fast or the work I’d spent the past month doing would be completely and utterly ruined. “Fuck my life,” I muttered.
I stood, ignoring the fact that my shirt and jeans were soaked, and raced up the stairs to get my phone. I needed a plumber and I needed one fast. Once I’d grabbed my phone, I tapped “Port Grandlin plumber” into the search and began with the first number that appeared in the results.
I talked to several voicemails before I got anyone on the phone. The first two plumbers I spoke to only worked on residential and told me to try Hayes Restoration and Renovation. I ignored them both and kept calling. I didn’t need a restoration company, I needed a goddamned plumber. I could do the restoring, all I needed was someone to shut off the water at the main valve. After the third plumber I spoke to said he couldn’t come right then and also referred me to Hayes, I sighed, swallowed my pride, and dialed the number for Hayes.
The phone rang a couple of times before someone answered. “This is Levi. How can I help you?”
“Sorry to bother you on a Saturday night, but is this Hayes Restoration and Renovation?”
“Sure is. I’m Levi Hayes. What can I do for you?”
I exhaled in a rush. “I need an emergency plumber to come out right away and they all keep referring me to you.”
“Is this a commercial site? New construction or existing? What’s going on?”
“Commercial. Not new. I’m the new owner of the Radiance Theater downtown. The bathroom… I don’t know what happened exactly. The sink I replaced this afternoon is leaking.”
He scoffed at that. “I’m sorry. I don’t see how a leaking sink is an emergency. Just shut off the water to the restrooms and—“
Frustrated, I nearly growled into the phone, gritting my teeth to keep my patience. “I tried that already. The water valve is turned off and it’s still leaking. Like, spraying water into the air and there’s an inch of standing water on the new tile floor. That kind of leaking.”
“I gotcha. In that case, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Use the staff entrance around back. I’ll make sure it’s open. Just come straight in when you arrive. I’ll be bailing out the bathroom or something.”
“Noted. See you soon.”
I hung up the phone and my gaze darted around the room, trying desperately to find some sort of something that would help in the bathroom situation. “Fuck,“ I said again, kicking the leg of the couch. “What am I going to do?”
Instead of sitting around doing nothing, I grabbed my tiny two-gallon wet-dry vacuum and headed back into the fray.
Chapter Three
Levi
Igrabbed my keys and rushed out of the house, slid into my work truck, and booked it downtown for the second time that day. The drive was relatively quick considering the Saturday night traffic, and for that, I breathed a sigh of relief. I careened into the Radiance’s back lot, threw the truck into park, and grabbed my toolbox before sprinting inside.
I yanked open the back door of the theater and found myself in a dimly lit hallway. At the far end shone lights from the lobby, so I headed in that direction, careful not to trip over anything in my haste. The moment I stepped into the brightly lit lobby, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I’d spent many days in the cool darkness of the movie theaters in my childhood and teen years. I’d had my first date there. A few years later, I’d had my first kiss there, at a screening of an action movie I barely remembered. What I did remember was the way Billy D’Alessio put his tongue in my mouth just before the end credits rolled, and how much I’d liked it.
The lobby was lit up like it was business as usual, though somewhat less awe-inspiring than it had been in the theater’s heyday. The carpet was dingy and worn, and off to one side, a dark spot crept inch by inch out from the men’s room. From inside of the restroom came the roar of a wet-dry vacuum.
“Hello?” I shouted, doubtful I’d be heard over the vacuum. With a shrug, I headed in the direction of the soaked carpet, my shoes sloshing through the water as soon as I got close. The vacuum noise cut off and someone swore from the bathroom. I followed the voice and pulled the door to the men’s room open, only to collide with someone head-on.
That someone had been carrying a small cannister full of water which clattered to the tile as we crashed into one another, the contents dumping onto the floor, which was already covered in at least a half inch of water. That someone was also soaking wet. He would’ve been hot even if he hadn’t been drenched head to toe, but his clothes clinging to him definitely didn’t hurt the image.
As the cannister tumbled to the ground, I jumped back in an effort to protect myself from getting any more water on myself than I strictly needed to, but it was too late. A small wave of water hit my boots and I had never been more grateful for waterproofing. The cuffs of my jeans weren’t spared, though.
“Shit. Fuck.” The guy backed away. “You must be Levi?”
I nodded. “Let’s get this leak figured out, huh?” I waded forward toward the offending sink, which had a small but steady fountain erupting from it. I placed my toolbox on the floor and dipped down, ignoring the shower I was getting as I reached for the water shutoff valve under the sink. Just as he’d said on the phone, though, the valve was off. I needed to come up with a plan B quickly.
“Be right back.” With that, I grabbed my toolbox and rushed back the way I’d come in, out into the lot behind the theater and the warm Virginia night. As expected, there was a main shutoff valve near the door and I grabbed a valve key from my toolbox to cut the water supply to the Radiance. Once the water was well and truly off, I made my way back inside, where I found the guy waiting, looking defeated and soggy.
I gave him a warm smile. “Water’s off. That’s a start, right?”
He nodded. “I guess we didn’t get a chance to introduce ourselves properly. I’m Soren Duval, the new owner of this place. I really appreciate you coming on such short notice.”
“It’s no problem.” I shrugged, giving him a quick once-over. He was lean, but by the looks of the way his soaking wet shirt and jeans hugged his body, he was in good shape. Water dripped from his shaggy dark brown hair, and just as I met his dark brown eyes, I caught his gaze traveling my body, too, giving me a once-over before snapping up to meet my eyes. He knew he’d been caught, I could tell, because his cheeks reddened and he broke eye contact with me. I couldn’t help but wonder where he fell on the sexuality spectrum. It had been too long since I’d gotten laid, not that sleeping with customers was a good idea. I shook my head to clear it.
