Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

they were kids, just barely hanging onto the house. Their mother loved this place, so the father never could bring himself to move the family out.

I glanced at my watch, wondering what the hell was taking Lorelei so long. She had said to wait here, that she would be right back, but the longer I stood there, the more I wondered if she was ever coming back. I felt something hit my shoulder and glanced over, but didn’t see anything. I sighed and shoved my hands in my pockets. I shouldn’t have come out here. What the hell was I thinking? I wasn’t any good at design. I gave my opinion, but that was it.

Something hit my shoulder again and this time when I glanced over, I saw that it was water. Looking up, I noticed a huge water spot on the ceiling. There was a creaking noise, like the floor was giving way. The ceiling cracked and my eyes went wide. I dove for the side, just as the ceiling caved in and a giant claw foot tub fell from the floor above.

I fell hard on my side, covering my head as shit fell all around me. Something crushed my left ankle and I cried out, feeling like my bones were being crushed into little bits.

Lorelei

I raced upstairs to grab the color samples I had picked up at the hardware store, but when I ran into my temporary bedroom, I saw what I looked like in the mirror. God, it was terrible. I had grease marks all over my face and hands. I looked just terrible. I ran to the bathroom, figuring I could quickly clean up before going back downstairs. I flipped on the water in the clawfoot tub, and got the right temperature. I ran back to my room and stripped out of my clothes, tossing them in the hamper. Nobody came upstairs yet, since they were all working in the kitchen now. I grabbed some fresh clothes and ran back to the bathroom, slipping on water the minute I stepped back inside.

“Shit,” I swore as I took in the leak that had sprung from somewhere. Crawling around naked on the floor, I tried to find the source of the water, but couldn’t find it. The pipes had to be in the floor or the wall. Hell, I didn’t know how plumbing worked, especially in old houses. The closer I got to the feet of the tub, the more I could see that the floor had already rotted around it. I quickly turned off the water and then stood up, resigned that I was not going to get a shower in today. I quickly pulled on my underwear, jeans, bra, and shirt, but before I could pull on my socks and shoes, I heard a groaning sound.

I stood still, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. I stepped closer to the tub, straining to hear. The floor seemed to crack beneath my toes and I leapt back, scrambling to get to the door before the whole floor gave out beneath my feet. I grabbed the doorframe just in time to see the floor, along with the tub collapse into the floor beneath me.

Staring with wide eyes at the gaping hole, my heart hammered in my chest. Holy crap, I had almost just been sucked down with the tub, and who knows if I would have survived that. My head snapped to the side at the sound of yelling, and I quickly scrambled to my feet, racing for the stairs. My feet collected splinters from the wood along the way, but I had to see what was going on.

Running down the stairs, I stared with wide eyes as I screeched to a halt at the bottom. The tub had fallen through the ceiling almost right on top of Andrew. I hadn’t even realized that the bathroom was right above the living room. Eric was kneeling next to Andrew, shaking his shoulder. Oh God, I had killed him.

Rushing over, I knelt down on his other side, staring at his prone figure. Eric was asking him if he was okay, but Andrew seemed to be in shock or something. He just kept staring at the tub until Eric slapped him across the face. I flinched back, thinking maybe that was taking things a little far.

Andrew finally snapped out of it, wincing as he moved. “Shit, my ankle.”

My eyes frantically searched his body for any other injuries, but I couldn’t see any. Eric was already down by Andrew’s feet, searching through the wreckage.

“The leg of the tub snapped off. Your foot is pinned under the tub. RJ, grab the other side of the tub.”

RJ rushed over and grabbed the tub, while two other guys, whose names I didn’t know, ran over to help. Without thinking, I grabbed Andrew’s hand and squeezed it, trying to reassure him, though it was more for me. I had already dealt with enough death. I really didn’t need to think about what might have happened unintentionally. If I had wanted to kill him today, it definitely wouldn’t have been in my own house, and it wouldn’t have been death by falling tub. They lifted the tub off his foot and Andrew scooted away, cringing in pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked, trying to put as much emotion as possible into my voice.

He looked at me warily and nodded. “Yeah, I think my ankle is crushed, but the rest of me seems to be fine.”

“Yeah, imagine what would have happened if the tub had fallen on you,” I laughed.

But he didn’t laugh along with me. Okay, strike one on the comedy front. Apparently, he was not amused by any of this. Not that I could blame him.

“I can drive you to the hospital,” I said quickly.

“No!” He stared at me with wide eyes for just a moment before shaking his head. “Uh…Eric should take me.”

I nodded, though I was confused by the fearful look