Page 19 of Scrap Metal & Love Reforged

And maintenance would take forever to fix it—if they even tried.

I’d already called maintenance about the leak, actually. And I saw now the fruits of both their labors and mine. I went to the bathroom and grabbed a towel, blotted with stains of oil that no amount of washing would remove, and shoved it into the damp edge of the frame. Saving the carpet was probably a pointless endeavor, but I still shoved two more towels against the now-damp carpet. Truthfully, it all needed to be replaced, but the landlord and I had been over this time and time again. Apparently, mold didn't count as a real problem to him.

“At least I don’t have asthma,” I muttered.

I went back to my project on the floor. Right now, it wasn’t much—just bits and broken pieces of glass and metal—and my inspiration had run dry. But the competition was fast approaching. I had to come up withsomething. I couldn’t just have all this wasted time and money.

I sat cross-legged on the carpet and glanced upward, grimacing at the yellow-brown discoloration on the ceiling. Someday, this whole apartment was probably going to cave in.

My phone beeped, and I pulled it out of my pocket. Godofdiscord.

“What happened?”

I sighed.“The window leaks or something. It soaked the carpet and the walls, and there’s already mold growingeverywhere. The maintenance in this place sucks. The elevator hasn’t worked in years. I almost wish they’d get into some big lawsuit, so maybe they’d actually fix some damn stuff”.

Or they’d get shut down, and I’d have to find somewhere else to live. And that sure wasn’t going to happen with my crap credit and near-zero income. I ran a hand through my hair and gazed at the ceiling, as if all the solutions to my problems would suddenly fall on my face. I knew they wouldn’t. But the ceiling itself might, at the rate I was progressing. I wondered if those water spots I saw looked like sunken places in the apartment above mine.

“That sucks! What are you going to do?”

WhatcouldI do? I didn’t have the finances to move anywhere else, and I couldn’t ask anyone for help.

Which…

That wasn’t entirely true. If I called them up, my parents would be happy to help my finances. But that would mean dredging up the past. And they’d insist on visits and phone calls. I’d come to Bluehaven to put some distance between us, not that my plan had entirely worked. Skye lived too close for comfort.

“I don’t know,”I typed back. “Hope it doesn’t rain much more. I guess. Avoid my sister. If she comes over here and finds tons of towels all over the place, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

She’d offer to help me clean things up. No, notoffer. She’d nag me into an early grave over it. And what kind of grown-ass man depended on his sister to take care of him?

“I wouldn’t count on the rain holding. Don’t you live near NYC?”

“Something like that,”I wrote.

You could never be too careful with people online. And as much as I trusted Godofdiscord, I didn’t want him gettingtooclose. When people got too close, they wanted things. They wanted your time and attention, and I was ready to give neither.I didn’thaveeither. Between working at the autobody shop and working on my art, time was scarce for me. And affection even less. But I didn’t want to think about how I justdidn’twant to be close to people. Letting people in just meant getting hurt.

“It’s been raining for a week straight now,”I replied.

And the gray, heavy clouds outside the apartment window promised more rain on the way. I felt an unwelcome spark of envy for Seth and his nice, posh apartment. It must be nice to have money and not have to worry about things like leaking windows or mold on the walls. If this was a problem that more caulk couldn’t solve, I didn’t knowwhatI would do. Keep living in my crappy, leaking apartment and deal with it; I guess. I couldn’t afford to go anywhere else.

“Do you want me to PayPal you some money?”

That was tempting. But I couldn’t take it. I was at a point where I ought to be able to make ends meet without having to mooch off people I’d met online.

“No, I couldn’t,”I said. “I’d feel like I owed you, and I don’t have the money to pay you back.”

“But I have it to spare,”he argued. “You might as well take it. It’s not like you’re asking for a million bucks.”

No, I wasn’t. I looked back at the window and grimaced. It would probably cost a ton to fix. The whole window probably needed to be replaced, truth be told. And then, the carpet. Maybe some sheetrock. And maintenance wouldn’t agree to do it. That was for sure. I had a feeling their plan was to run the building into the ground, and then cut their losses.

“No,”I replied.“I’ll figure it out.”

I always figured it out. Somehow.

Chapter Eight

Troy

The shop was slow, no surprise on a rainy Wednesday. I’d already mopped the floor several times—first for mud, then out of sheer boredom. We were so slow that Arthur and Janet both left early. It was just me, and the quiet of the shop.