Chapter 19 · Clinic Sink

"Sloane, get back, it's coming apart!"

The pipe under the utility sink let go like a shotgun. Water hit the ceiling tiles, hit my face, hit the stack of clean towels I'd folded an hour ago. I grabbed the wrench off the shelf and dropped to my knees in the flood.

"Valve's stripped." I twisted, my hands slipping on rusted metal. "Cassian, hand me the pliers, not the wrench, the pliers—"

"You called me at midnight to fix your plumbing?" He was already down beside me, sleeves shoved up, forearms wet to the elbow. "I thought this was an emergency."

"It is an emergency. My exam room's turning into a swimming pool."

He reached past me and the valve screeched shut under his grip like it had been waiting for someone stronger to ask. Water dropped to a drip. Then nothing. My knees were soaked through, my scrub top plastered to my back, and he was crouched close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him through wet cotton.

"You could've called maintenance," he said.

"At midnight?"

"You