Page 104 of Off the Pitch

Thank God for David and his ridiculous worrying.

I traipsed back through the downstairs and perched halfway up the stairs, not wanting to stand in the freezing water but not wanting to stray too far. As I dialed the number, my thoughts started turning to what I was going to do next. It was obvious I couldn’t stay here, given the hole in my ceiling, but I wasn’t quite sure where I could go.

David and Christian were halfway around the world at the moment, since Christian had sprung a surprise holiday in the Maldives on David, saying that he’d been working too hard and they needed a break. I was sure they did, but right now it was horribly inconvenient for me. They’d probably left a spare key with Lily and Harper, but I didn’t really want to bother them and ruin their holiday. Another small part of me wanted to prove to myself that I could handle things without David having to step in and look after me.

Another option was staying with Lily and Harper, but I didn’t want to inconvenience them since I knew Lily had a busy summer of DJing lined up. I wasn’t even sure if she was still in the country.

The only other person I could think of was Hugo…

“Good morning, thank you for calling Insurety. How can I help?” said a man’s voice on the other end of the line, and I nearly jumped three feet into the air. I’d quite forgotten I was still on hold with the insurance company.

“Oh yes, good morning. I wonder if you can help me…”

An hour later, I was standing in my hallway in a clean pair of shorts and an old pair of flipflops, brushing water out of the front door into the street as the sun rose over London.

The insurance people had been pretty helpful and said they’d send someone around to look at the problem in the next couple of hours. They’d even asked if I’d need somewhere to stay, offering to put me up in a hotel. I hadn’t immediately said yes though. While I’d been on hold, I’d fired off a vague text to Hugo telling him what had happened. Not that I expected anything, but my brain was frazzled, and I needed someone to talk my options out with.

I was already starting to wonder how much this was going to cost me and whether the insurance would cover it all. And even if they did cover it, I doubted the work would be done quickly, and they couldn’t put me up in a hotel forever. I’d need somewhere to stay, preferably somewhere I could take my computer so I could at least keep working and not drown in bills.

Standing by the front door and leaning against the frame, I watched a taxi idly driving up and down the main road. It was still very quiet; London a mere hour away from buzzing back to life. The taxi stopped and a tall man with dark hair climbed out, muttering something to the driver. Even from a distance there was something extraordinarily familiar about his tall frame.

“Hugo?” I called, not quite sure whether what I was seeing was real or just an illusion created by my exhausted brain.

Hugo spun on the spot, relief clear on his face as he hurried as fast as he could across the road and onto my street. “Kit! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, still slightly stunned by his appearance outside my house at five in the morning. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to help.” He gave me a look that suggested his purpose was obvious. “You said your house had flooded. What happened?”

“Oh, I think one of the pipes burst. There’s a huge hole in the ceiling.” I tried to keep my voice light, but even I heard the strain in every syllable.

“Are you hurt?” Hugo’s eyes looked me up and down, and I shook my head. “Thank God.” He reached out and pulled me into a hug. I clung to him as he wrapped his arm around me, drawing me into his side. His body was a solid, comforting presence and he smelled faintly of sandalwood and vanilla, two things I’d always adored.

For the first time since I’d woken up, I felt calm. As if everything would be alright.

“How did you find me?” I said eventually, stepping back to look up into his dark eyes. I could see the golden flecks even better at this distance, and I discovered they weren’t flecks at all but a golden ring around his pupils. His eyes were so beautiful I almost stopped breathing.

Hugo looked at me sheepishly, “I knew you lived in Pimlico, not too far from the tube. I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find you.”

My mouth dropped open. “So… you just got a taxi to drive around in the hope you might find me?”

“Yes,” he muttered. “It worked though.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “That sounds like something I would do.”

“Then it was obviously a very smart thing to do.”

“Pfft. It was obviously a very silly thing to do!” I paused, realising how ungrateful that sounded. I didn’t want him to think that at all. “But thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, then gave me another one of those smiles that made me feel like I was being bathed in sunshine. “So, tell me what’s going on.”

As I relayed the sorry tale, I led him into the house, pointed out the gaping hole in the ceiling, and watched as his face wrinkled in concern. I’d managed to get most of the water out the front door onto the street or into the tiny courtyard that counted as my back garden. It helped that most of the floors were wooden, so a lot of the water had rested on top instead of soaking in, and I was hopeful they wouldn’t be too badly damaged.

Luckily, most of my possessions were safe, although a few things would need drying out or washing. A lot of the water had hit the battered leather sofa, but it needed replacing anyway, so it wouldn’t be a great loss.

“Where are you going to stay?” Hugo asked, fixing me with a hard look.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. I still didn’t know the answer to that. “Maybe a hotel? When David and Christian come back, I can stay with them.”

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