CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Sebastian was still warm and a little sweaty from the orgasm when they walked into Crawford’s kitchen a while later.
He’d ended up on his back on the couch, Crawford pinning him down and wrapping his hand around both their cocks. They’d made a mess of things and Sebastian had needed to mop himself up and borrow a shirt from Crawford after.
The plain black T-shirt was hilariously baggy on him.
“You hungry?” Crawford asked now.
Sebastian shrugged. “I could eat.”
“I’m not feeling motivated to cook but I’ve got prepared meals from the team chef. You want one? Or we could order takeout.”
“I dunno, what’ve you got?”
Sebastian’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, frowning when he saw it was a call from his sister.
Crawford opened the refrigerator and peered at a stack of foil containers with labeled cardboard tops. “Well, looks like—”
“Hang on, I’ve got to get this, it’s Brie,” Sebastian said, concerned. She usually texted unless it was an emergency.
“Sure.” Crawford nodded and shut the door, gesturing for him to answer.
“Hey,” Sebastian said. “What’s up?”
“Seb?” Brie sniffled.
He stiffened. “What’s wrong? Is Harper—”
“She’s fine,” Brie said. “But I … are you busy?”
“Not too busy for you,” he assured her. “What’s going on? You sound upset.”
Crawford frowned, leaning against the counter and Sebastian waved vaguely at him, mouthing, Harper’s fine.
The way the worry immediately melted from Crawford’s face made an odd sensation settle in Sebastian’s chest. He rubbed at it and focused back on his sister.
“It’s just been a really fucking bad day,” Brie said in a small voice.
“Tell me what happened. Is it the divorce?”
“No. A pipe broke in the bathroom upstairs and the entire kitchen below it flooded and …” Brie let out a small hiccupping sob. “I just can’t fucking deal with any more shit!”
“Oh fuck. What happened? How did the pipe burst?”
Across from him, Crawford frowned.
“I don’t know. I called Dad and he thinks it probably froze.”
“Ahh fuck. Yeah, it has been really cold, hasn’t it?”
“Exactly.” Brie sniffled.
“Is the water still running?”
“No, Dad talked me through going out to the sidewalk and finding the access cover so I could shut off all the water coming into the house. But now that means we have no water at all in the house and I just … everything is a fucking mess and I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Did you try calling a plumber?”
“Of course I fucking called,” she snapped. “But they’re all busy because apparently this is happening all over the damn city.”
“Ahh shit. Yeah, that makes sense. What’s the earliest you can get someone there?”
“Tuesday?” she said with a hitch in her breath. “And the guy is super expensive. The others that are sort of affordable can’t make it until late Wednesday.”
“You can’t go without water for two or three days,” Sebastian said, appalled.
“Well, I don’t fucking know what else to do.”
Crawford stepped closer, mouthing, Put her on speaker.
Sebastian gave him a confused look, but he gestured impatiently and mouthed, Just do it.
Sebastian cleared his throat. “Uhh, Brie, I’m, uh, hanging out with a—a friend and he wants me to put you on speaker. Is that okay?”
There was silence on the other end before she said, “Uhh, I guess so?”
Sebastian pulled the phone away from his ear and set it to speaker mode. “Okay, can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” she said, still sounding as confused as Sebastian felt.
“Hey, Brie?” Crawford said.
There was silence for a moment before she said, “Who is this?”
“Luke Crawford.”
“What the fuck are you doing at my brother’s place?” she asked.
“He’s at my place. We’ve been watching hockey.”
“Since when do you two get along?”
“Since … look, it doesn’t fucking matter. I’m trying to be sure I got this right from what I heard from his half of the conversation. You had a pipe burst because of the cold?”
“Yeah. I called our dad and he said that the pipe probably wasn’t insulated properly and burst because of the extreme cold we’ve had lately.”
“Yeah, sounds about right. There was some flooding?”
“Yeah. Everything is a fucking wreck.”
“Is the water off or still running?”
“Off. I called my dad and he helped me figure out how to turn off the water to the house.” She sniffled.
“And you can’t get a plumber for a few days?”
“Right. They’re all booked.”
Luke cleared his throat. “You want me to come over and take a look? I could probably fix it for you.”
There was silence. “I … I don’t know …”
“He does a lot of his own home improvement stuff, Brie,” Sebastian interjected. “He knows what he’s doing.”
“No, that wasn’t why I hesitated. I … you wouldn’t mind coming over to do that, Luke?”
“No,” Crawford said. “Wouldn’t have offered if I did.”
“I feel terrible for even asking—”
“You didn’t ask. I offered.”
“True. Ugh. I don’t know. I don’t really feel comfortable being without water for a couple of days. The duplex uses radiators for heating too and so without water …”
“You’ll freeze,” Crawford filled in, sounding appalled.
“If it was just me, that would be one thing. I could manage with the space heaters we’ve got, but Harper …”
“You two can stay at my place if you want,” Sebastian offered, in case she wanted an alternative. “You can both sleep in my room while I take the couch. Or I can put you up in a hotel. It’s up to you.”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary. If you really think you can fix it, Luke, that’s probably the best option. I just hate to put you out like this.”
“It’s not putting me out. And please, Brie, let me fucking do this for Harper,” Crawford said firmly.
“Yeah, okay.” Brie sighed. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“I’m sure.”
“We’ll be there in about half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes at the latest,” Sebastian said, already mentally calculating the distance to her place. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Seb. Thanks, Luke.”
“Not a problem,” Crawford said.
“See you soon. Love you, Brie,” Sebastian said, then ended the call.
He stared across the kitchen at Crawford. “You do realize that Brie … well, she’s smart. She’ll probably put the pieces together about what we’ve been doing. She might have already—”
“It’s fine,” Crawford said gruffly. “Now come help me grab my plumbing supplies.”
Sebastian nodded and followed him down to the basement, but as he watched Crawford select tools and load them into an empty bucket and canvas bag, he wondered if Crawford really knew what he was getting into.
As Luke drove them over to Brie’s place, Sebastian kept trying to talk to him.
He kept saying that Luke didn’t have to do this and that Sebastian knew he valued his privacy and that he didn’t have to out himself and their hookups to his sister until Luke snapped, “Will you fucking shut up for thirty seconds so I can think?”
Sebastian snapped his mouth shut and was quiet the rest of the way there.
Luke felt almost guilty and he gruffly offered an apology when they parked on the street in front of Brie and Harper’s duplex.
Sebastian got out of the car.
The duplex was a somewhat shabby place, in need of a paint job and some landscaping, but the overall neighborhood appeared decent as Luke carried his tools and supplies up to the front of the house.
Sebastian knocked on the door, then immediately let himself in, “Hey, Brie,” he called out. “We’re here.”
They stepped inside the entryway and Sebastian hung up his coat, then held out a hand for Luke’s.
“Mr. Luke! Mr. Luke!” Harper called out, moving toward them as quickly as she could. “You came to the rescue like Mommy said you would!”
Luke shrugged off his jacket and handed it to Sebastian. “Hey, there, kiddo. And of course I came. I heard you and your mom needed a little help.”
“You’re the best!” She threw her arms around his legs, and he smiled down at her, patting the top of her curly hair.
The best? Nah. But it’s nice to hear someone say so.
Luke held out his arms to see if she wanted to be picked up and when she nodded, he hefted her up onto his hip. “Did the water get you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. But everything is a mess.” She sounded more excited than upset about this and he smiled.
“It’s okay, we’ll get everything straightened out. I promise.”
“Thank you for doing this,” Brie said and he glanced up to see her hovering nearby, an uneasy expression on her face. “You didn’t have to—”
“I don’t have to do much of anything beyond play hockey,” he said with a shrug. “But I’m here and I want to help. Show me where the leak is.”
He had to put Harper down to carry the tools.
He’d had no idea what he might need so he’d brought a pipe cutter, adjustable wrenches, pipe wrench, kneepads, gloves, hole saw, goggles, buckets, and threader set, along with a variety of plumbing friendly tapes, caulks, and adhesives.
He’d probably have to run to the store to get some pipes and fittings at some point, but this should cover most of what he’d need. He had a feeling Brie would probably insist on paying for the supplies, so this way he could keep the costs down.
The bathroom was upstairs, on the second floor and above the kitchen, so it took nearly a dozen trips up and down the steps to ascertain exactly where the damage had taken place and how Luke was going to tackle the problem.
Harper was underfoot the whole time, excited to see him and trying to “help.”
Luke didn’t know who the jackass was who’d added a second sink to the upstairs bathroom, but they clearly hadn’t known what they were doing. They’d installed it along an exterior wall and had done a shoddy job tying it into the existing plumbing.
He’d been tempted to ask Brie if it was her asshole ex who’d done the terrible work, but he didn’t want her to feel any worse.
As it was, she kept staring at him with guilty, watering eyes.
Crawford really wished they would both clear out.
He wasn’t about to say that to either of them, especially in their own house, but apparently Sebastian figured it out because he finally got Brie to start gathering up a mound of towels she’d used to mop up the water in the bathroom and kitchen and put them in a hamper to be washed as soon as the water was back on.
And after Luke almost tripped on Harper on the narrow old stairs and clocked her with one of his heavy tools, Sebastian plunked Harper down at the table with some crayons and coloring books.
“You can keep talking,” Luke told her as he tore down a section of wet sheetrock to haul out to the curb in heavy duty garbage bags.
And Harper did, telling him about her physical therapy and something about a pet bunny. He wasn’t sure if it was a real rabbit she’d met somewhere or something from a book or kids’ show but he nodded and ‘mm-hmmed’ while he worked in the kitchen.
“Gotta head to the home improvement store,” he said eventually as they all stood staring at the ruined space. “You want to come with me, Sebastian?”
“Uhh, sure,” he said, his gaze darting between Brie and Harper. “I can do that.”
On the drive there, they were both silent, letting the music on the radio fill the car.
After Crawford parked and reached for the door handle to get out and go into the store, Sebastian didn’t move. “I just realized I should probably stay in here. Wouldn’t want someone to see us together and …”
Crawford started the car again so Sebastian wouldn’t freeze, then got out. He leaned down to glare at Sebastian. “Don’t fuck up my radio while I’m gone.”
Sebastian grinned and flipped him off. “I make no promises.”
Crawford was pretty familiar with the store, so it didn’t take him too long to gather what he needed but he did get stopped in the plumbing aisle by a fan asking for an autograph.
He didn’t get asked a lot when he went out, mostly people tended to give him a wide berth, but it did happen sometimes.
He’d also been mistaken for a local metal singer once, which he’d found pretty funny.
He’d signed shit anyway and posed for a picture with his tongue out and making the ‘rock on’ gesture, which had circulated the internet for a while when someone had figured out who he actually was.
Sebastian was dicking around on his phone when Luke returned to the car. He put his purchases in the trunk, then slid into the driver’s seat.
“Did anyone recognize you?” Sebastian asked.
“One person did.”
“Just as well I didn’t go in then.”
Luke nodded. He was probably right, although the odds of someone recognizing him and Sebastian and posting about it online were probably small. Did some people know who the Vintage Jersey Guy who chirped Luke all the time was? Maybe.
Would they recognize Sebastian out of the jersey and connect the two? Probably not.
But whatever. Maybe he did have a point that they should be careful. Fans could get weird.
They listened to music again on the drive home and it wasn’t until they arrived back at the house that Sebastian spoke. He reached out and touched Luke’s thigh. “Hey, thanks again for doing this for my family. It means a lot to me.”
Luke nodded and turned off the engine, getting out and retrieving the supplies. Sebastian took a few of them too before Luke could argue but before he could head for the house, Sebastian stopped him.
“I mean it,” Sebastian said, stepping closer, the pipes in Luke’s arms between them. “I came to Boston to help Harper and Brie, but I can’t always do as much as I’d like. It means a lot that you were willing to help.”
“Sure,” Luke said gruffly. Because what else was he going to do? Leave a mom and kid to suffer? No way.
To his surprise, Sebastian leaned in, stretching out to brush his lips across Luke’s jaw.
Luke stared after Sebastian as he turned and walked up the sidewalk, frowning, not sure why he suddenly felt like he was standing on slippery ground.