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“Calm down,” he said, jingling his keys in his palm to find the correct one. “I’m not complaining.”
“Sounded like you were… if you want I can-”
“I don’t, alright? I don’t want. This is fine. I’m just teasing you. It’s what Ido. I understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. I just thought we were taking the piss, that’s all.”
“Sorry,” she said.
“Stop apologizing,” he said, unlocking the door.
“Okay. But how can I help?”
He wanted to tell her to wait for him in the living room, but he needed some help. Well, he didn’tneedit, but if they wanted to get out of here before ten, he should ask for it.
“Can you go out back and look for the hole I dug? The water main’s there. Turn it on when I say, okay? I’ve got the basement window open. You’ll hear me.”
“You want me to reach into a dark hole in your backyard? I meant, did you want me to hold a flashlight or something? Not go reaching into strange crevices where an evil clown could grab me.”
He sighed. “Pleasego reach into the hole, Pennywise said it was too small for his kind, so you only have to worry about the usual vermin. Please, and thank you, Teagan.”
Chapter Ten
She huffed in exasperation but went, anyway. Jaxon went down to the basement and started swapping out the valves. It was an easy enough job to do when the water wasn’t on, but the proper test would be when he gave her the signal to flip the switch. Or turn the handle, more accurately.
Once the additional part was in place, he yelled out the open basement window. “Okay, Teagan! Turn it on!”
He waited.
The groaning of the pipes as they filled sounded like music to his ears. And for a few seconds, it looked like he’d fixed it.
Except… he hadn’t. Of fucking course, he hadn’t.
Water pooled under his feet, spraying up from the drain in the middle of the basement floor.
“Fuck,” he swore. “Fuck, fuck, fuck… Okay!” he called out the window. Nothing changed. If anything, more water gushed around his ankles, soaking his shoes and wicking into his socks.
“Okay, Teagan, okay!” He called.
“What? What do you-” she replied, her face in the tiny basement window.
“I said, okay,” he repeated, sounding more than a little perturbed.
“Shit! I thought okay meant you were alright! I didn’t… fuck, sorry!” She disappeared and seconds later, the water stopped.
It didn’t drain, though, so he’d have to drain this again before they left. Which was a load of shit.
“Fuck.”
The fucking sump pump only drained water that was already in the basement. So where the fuck did it come from? He’d drained the water manually. There shouldn’tbeany water in the sump pump. Let alone running into it. Fucking hell.
At least none of the support beams were getting wet. It was just the poured cement floor of the basement itself, along with the cinder block walls.
Kneeling down, he pulled up the drain on the floor to examine the sump pump. He couldn’t see much. He’d have to drain the water to get a better look. Which was going to make them late to the bar.
Which was a load of bollocks because Teagan looked so nice. She’d gotten all dolled up, and he was going to tell her they were going to be late because he was fucking around in the basement.
The only thing he could think of it being was a leak somewhere he couldn’t see. It was like some kind of stress dream.
He could have kicked something. He was so mad.
