Chapter 5

Ella's POV

I shut off the water and stood there, catching my breath.

The cold hadn't left my skin yet when I heard it — a dull thud from somewhere inside the wall, like something had come loose. Then a jet of water burst from the joint at the side of the showerhead and hit the tiles straight on, spraying mist across the whole bathroom.

I stared for two seconds. Then I lunged forward.

I pressed my hand over the crack. It did nothing. The pressure was stronger than I'd expected — water pushed through my fingers and soaked my entire arm. The floor was flooding fast, water creeping toward the gap under the door.

I looked around. There were a few valves on the wall.

I tried the first one. Nothing. The second made it worse. I stepped back, took a breath, and looked at them again — really looked — then found the one closest to where the pipe met the wall and turned it hard to the right.

The pressure dropped.

Half a turn more, and the jet shrank to a trickle, then stopped.

I stood there, completely soaked. Hair plastered to my face. Water all over the floor.

Then I started crying.

Not for any one reason. I just couldn't hold it anymore. The bathroom at Sterling Estate had a climate-controlled system — one button, and the temperature and pressure set themselves.

I'd never had to think about any of it.

Now I'd spent ten minutes fighting a single pipe, my palms were raw from the valves, and there was a bruise forming on my knee from where I'd slipped and caught the edge of the tub.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand. It didn't help. The tears kept coming anyway.

But I didn't stay on the floor.

Okay. Done.

I grabbed the towel off the hook and dragged it through my hair, then picked up the clothes Cade had left me. A black long-sleeve T-shirt — the sleeves went past my fingertips. The sweatpants were so wide at the waist I had to roll them down three times before I could walk without stepping on them.

I stopped in front of the mirror for a second. The glass was fogged over. I could barely make out my own shape.

You're here now. Deal with it.

I exhaled, pushed open the bathroom door, and walked out.

---

Cade came through the bedroom door at the same moment.

He was carrying a paper bag. He saw me the instant he stepped in, and his stride broke — just slightly.

His eyes moved over me once, taking in the oversized black sleeves hanging past my wrists, the sweatpants bunched at my feet, the wet hair sticking to the sides of my face — then he looked away, his jaw shifting, the tips of his ears going red.

"The pipe broke," I said before he could speak. "I got the main valve shut off, so the water stopped. But the joint's still loose — you'll probably need to check it."

He pressed two fingers against his brow, like he was organizing his thoughts, then nodded.

"I'll look at it later." His voice came out a shade lower than usual. "Food first."

I followed him to the living room. Jack's door was pulled almost shut, a gap of light along the frame, the sound of a game broadcast drifting through — commentary, then a burst of cheering. Just the two of us out here.

Cade set the bag down on the small table carefully, like he didn't want to make noise. He pulled out two pizza boxes — a cheap chain, the kind where the cheese has already started to congeal.

He pushed one box toward me, kept the other, and sat down with his back straight.

"Eat."

He said it and then looked down at the box, not at me. His fingers tapped the edge of the table twice, then went still.

I sat across from him and opened my box. I slid the slices on his side toward him.

"You take more. I don't need much."

He glanced at me, said nothing, and picked up a slice.

I took a bite. The cheese was stiff, and the crust had gone cold, but I hadn't eaten all night, and just having something in my stomach helped. I took another bite and kept my eyes on a grease stain on the table, not really seeing it.

Halfway through my second slice, a chill moved up my back without warning.

My hand jerked. I barely kept hold of the pizza. I took a quick bite, trying to use the warmth of the food to push the cold back, but it didn't work. My head felt heavy. The table seemed to shift slightly at the edges of my vision. I blinked and tried to focus.

"You okay?"

Cade's voice.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Just a little cold."

He didn't say anything. But he set down his slice, stood up, and walked toward the bathroom.

I assumed he was going to check the pipe.

About a minute later, he came back out. His expression had gone flat in a way it hadn't been before — as something had settled behind his eyes. He came back to the table and stood across from me.

"Why did you shower in cold water?"

His voice was level, but the kind of level that's holding something back.

"I couldn't get the hot water to work," I said. "I tried all the valves. It stayed cold."

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"There's a red knob under the tub," he said, his voice still flat and low. "You have to open that one first, before you touch the faucet."

I didn't say anything.

There was a red knob under the tub.

I never even looked down there.

Cade sat back down across from me but didn't reach for his pizza. He just looked at me — not with anything readable on his face, just looking.

I set the rest of my slice back in the box and put my hands in my lap.

I made things harder for him again.

Not just the pipe — all of it.

He was only a driver. He got pulled into this, lost his job, and now he was buying food and giving up his room and finding out I'd showered in cold water because I didn't know how to work the plumbing.

Why did he react like that?

Is he annoyed? Does he think I'm an idiot?

I pressed my palm flat against my thigh. The skin where the valve had scraped it still stung. Through the wall, I could hear the muffled sound of the game from Jack's room. A motorcycle passed on the street below.

Maybe he just doesn't want me getting sick. Because that would be more trouble.

That's probably it.

He'd taken me in because he felt obligated. I held onto that, kept it quiet, and waited for him to say something.