Chapter 7
My mouth feels like a desert and my eyes are fighting to stay closed, but with a defeated groan I roll out of bed and drag myself to my bathroom to relieve my bladder without opening them. Luckily, I have the layout memorized and am able to make it without incident.
The longer I’m up the more I realize how cold it is in my house. I like it pretty cold in here, but not like this. Once I’m done in the bathroom, I manage to open my eyes slightly to go out in the hallway. I haven’t put my glasses on yet and while I’m near sighted I have to squint to see that my thermostat isn’t even on. I look around and notice…nothing is on.
“Shit,” I mumble to myself, knowing this means there’s something wrong and I groan knowing if this isn’t just a normal blackout that it’s going to be expensive to fix.
I crawl back into bed to be cozy and warm under the blankets but I’m not able to fall back asleep stressing about not having power. I debate seeing how long I can really live without it. The answer is, not long. I need internet, lights, and heat. It’s the beginning of the winter in Denver so it’s fucking cold.
I put on my glasses before getting up to look out the window to see if any of my neighbors are also without power, and I see porch lights and inside lights on. Shit. That must mean it’s just a me issue.
At least maybe I can have someone I know look at it first in case it’s something simple and not have to get screwed over by some asshole who charges me way too much because they are able to see that I know absolutely nothing. I know I have a breaker box…somewhere. I have no idea what to do if I actually found it, but hey, I know I have one.
Picking up my phone, I think about who I could ask. Normally I’m sure people would ask their dads, but I don’t have one of those, so I pick the next option. Obviously, that being my best friend who happens to have three boyfriends.
Audrey: Hey, by chance can you spare one of your boyfriends to come look at my potentially broken electricity?
Chandler: I’m not sure any of them will know anything about that, but I can see! Do you need a place to stay while it gets fixed?
Audrey: Thanks, but I think I’ll be okay for a little. Plus, I’m not crashing at the sex fest that is your house *winking emoji*
Chandler: If you say so! *Shrugging emoji*
I wrap myself up in my blankets like a cozy burrito to try and stay warm. I must doze off in my comfort cocoon when I’m woken up from my phone going off with a text I see from Chandler that is a gif of Robin Williams in character from Mrs. Doubtfire saying, “help is on the way, dear!”
Dragging my blanket with me to my closet, I reluctantly part with it to grab a pair of warm sweatpants and a sweatshirt to change into before heading downstairs to make some coffee when I realize that it requires electricity. Groaning, I’m realizing I can’t go without power for long at all. I have basic needs, and coffee is one of those.
I settle on the couch, and it doesn’t feel very long before there’s a knock on my door. When I open it fully expecting to see one of Chandler’s boyfriends, my face falls at the person standing in front of me.
The tall, handsome, dark haired hockey player I was hoping to not have to see face to face again. I fold my arms across my chest.
“What are you doing here and why?” I narrow my eyes at Charlie Mann.
“I heard you needed some help with your power,” he answers nervously, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I asked for one of your teammates. Literally any of them.”
“Well, none of them have a dad that is an electrician and spent summers working for him. But if you want me to leave to call someone else, I won’t stop you.” His shoulders scrunch and I almost feel bad for being so snappy. Almost.
With a sigh I open the door wider to let him in, “Fine.”
He’s cautious as he walks into my space and there’s tension between us but that could still be my annoyance that he’s here and that this is what is even happening.
“I don’t know where the breaker box thing is,” I tell him when I see him looking around and it feels so personal to have him in here.
He nods, “Mind if I look around for it?”
I wave him off with a quiet, “fine.” I debate following him but don’t want to come across as overbearing. If he’s telling the truth then he probably knows what he’s doing and I can just sit and wait, hoping it’s an easy fix.
Part of me also recognizes I’m being more of a bitch than I probably should be. He apologized and I really don’t care that he stood me up. But at this point I feel like I’m standing my ground and that I’m not interested in him. Which is translating into bitchiness.
I sit back on the couch and scroll through my phone before I start to feel a little bad. With a groan I decide to extend an olive branch because he is over here helping me first thing in the morning when I know he doesn’t have a ton of down time during the season.
Charlie is up in the attic and clearly had no issues getting up there because once I’m upstairs the hallway is blocked by the pull-down ladder. I cringe looking up at it. I’ve seen enough horror movies to never step foot in places like that. No way.
“Hey, I might go grab some coffee if you want one,” I yell up from the safety of keeping my feet planted on the floor.
He doesn’t respond right away, and I hear some shuffling. I wonder for a moment if he’s ignoring me. I guess I wouldn’t blame him if he was.
Then I hear something falling and a soft, “shit.”
Cringing, I lean against the ladder, “You okay?” I call out.
“Yeah, one second,” he responds with a cough.
That can’t be a good sign.
I step back away from the ladder, hugging myself to try to keep warm because it’s still cold as shit in here. When he comes down a minute later I can’t help myself as I watch his thick jean covered legs climb down backward and once his ass is in view…damn.
I’m no better than a man.
There’s something about hockey butts, though, that is impossible to deny. Even his Henley shirt strains against the muscles on his back that move as he makes his way down toward me. I hate how hot this man is because it’ll never happen.
He turns to face me, and I give him a small smile that may look a bit awkward.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah? Why?”
“I don’t know, you’re looking at me a little weird,” he shrugs.
“I am not,” I insist.
He just shrugs again.
“Did you find it?” I ask through an eye roll.
“Yeah,” he looks down at our feet, clearly not at all pleased with whatever he found.
“So, what’s the damage?” I ask nervously. I’m not sure If I want to know.
“Um, well honestly I can’t tell too much without opening things up, but it’s not great.”
“What do you mean ‘not great’?”
“I think you have a bit of a pest problem and I’ve found some wires that aren’t attached to anything when I’m pretty sure they should be,” he’s cautious with relaying this news, I can tell because he’s still not looking at me.
“Pests like…what?” my voice cracks.
“Probably mice, or rats,” he winces.
“Ew, what the fuck?” I screech, “And they…what? Chewed through the wires?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“That’s disgusting! What do I do?!”
“Call a pest control company first, then an electrician.”
I groan, “Great. Okay. Thanks for coming over and looking at it for me, I guess.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Charlie looks down at his hands that are covered in dust or something, “Let me just clean up real quick if that’s okay.”
I nod and almost miss him going toward the first door in the hallway before my brain registers which room that leads to. It may have a bathroom attached to it, but also has a lot of sex toys and other very obvious items throughout it.
Without much thought I lunge in front of the door, stopping him with my whole body as his hand grasps the doorknob. He backs up, just barely. Our chests aren’t even inch from each other from my sudden movement and I look up at his confused face.
“This isn’t a bathroom, you can wash your hands downstairs,” I say with my arms outstretched to fully block the closed door.
I notice the side of his mouth ticks up just slightly, “What room is this then? Your bedroom?”
Was that flirty sounding or was that just me?
“No, it’s not my bedroom, but it’s a room in my house that you are not invited into,” I tell him firmly while I refuse to move.
The corner of his mouth tips up, “Well, now I’m curious.”
“Be curious somewhere else,” I nod my head behind him. I wouldn’t be this protective if it was my bedroom.
In an act of boldness I didn’t expect to see from Charlie, he presses his body closer to mine so our chests are touching with each breath we take.
“What are you hiding in there?” he raises an eyebrow in question.
“All the corpses of curious men who came into my house,” I tease with an eyebrow raise of my own hoping he will just let it go.
But he doesn’t and I want to laugh at the fact that I thought this man was shy based on what I’ve seen from him so far. But the man in front of me right now doesn’t seem shy. He seems bold and like he wants to push my buttons. Good thing I like to push right back.
“Show me,” he smirks, pressing even closer. I feel his hand move toward the doorknob again and I don’t think I just react.
I fist my hands in his shirt and instead of trying to push him back, I yank his mouth down to mine. It’s my initial distraction tactic and as soon as our lips make contact, I feel his body freeze and I regret the move instantly. I pull back, meeting his gaze that looks both shocked and confused.
“I’m sorry I–” he doesn’t let me finish as his large body presses me against the door and he’s kissing me. Like, actually kissing me back. It’s unexpected, but unlike him I don’t hesitate because I like kissing, even if this was all meant to be a distraction, I’m going to enjoy it.
My hands unclench his shirt and slide down his chest where I feel the muscles that are the result of being a professional athlete before I wrap them around his back to pull him against me harder. He has one hand sliding behind my neck, fingers tangled in my hair and the other on my hip holding me against him as my tongue slides along the seam of his lips and he lets me deepen the kiss.
It doesn’t take long to realize that my plan has officially backfired and as our tongues slide against each other’s and teeth nip at our lips, I forgot how this even started as I’m lost in wanting to see how far he might let this go. Because I would let it go a hell of a lot farther. Which is why I slide my hands lower, to the hem of his shirt and start to inch it upward.
I don’t get very far before we are tumbling backward which doesn’t make sense because there was just a door behind me…
We break apart and I gasp, trying to push him out of the door he just opened leading us to stumble into my cam room.
“You’re a jerk,” I groan, using all my strength to try and push him out, but it’s futile. He’s so much bigger than me.
“You kissed me first,” he shrugs taking in the room as I’m still trying to do anything to get him out.
“Not that part. That was…I don’t know what that was, just get out.”
“What is this?” He’s still looking around and I sigh in defeat, knowing I’m going to have to come up with some very interesting explanation if he’s going to continue to be stubborn and not leave.
“My job.”