Broken Read Online Free Page B

shit.
    My toilet downstairs had been a pain in my ass since I’d moved in. I’d asked the owner to fix it several times. Always he’d adjust the nut, saying that the insides were the wrong size, but that was enough. Yeah, because who doesn’t want to stick their hand in the tank every month and just tighten that nut? I also knew enough about plumbing that if the insides were the wrong size that the flap that stopped the water flow of the tank refilling was as well.
    It had been on my list forever to take apart that damn toilet and replace the insides. I’d even looked up the model number and printed out the right sizes of everything I’d need. I’d measured, gone through all the motions. It had been on the kitchen table. I simply had not gotten around to doing it.
    Yesterday I had used the toilet and it sounded different when I flushed it. I had assumed it was time to tighten the damn nut and lifted the cover of the tank, cursing myself once again for not just fixing the thing already. Only to find the insides replaced. All new. Now, I know, the insides of a toilet can all look the same and it would be really easy to forget what they look like.
    Except I hadn’t. They had been really old. And these were brand spanking new.
    And that flap to stop the water had been pink.
    It was now blue. That float to balance the value do-hickey had been white.
    It was now black.
    I was not making it up. It could not all be in my head. Worrying that I seriously had forgotten a major, half day project like replacing the toilet guts, I raced to my computer and logged in to my online banking.
    Not a single debit card transaction or pending purchase at Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Menards in the past two weeks. And I wasn’t a person who carried enough cash in her wallet to cover the amount it would cost to replace all of that.
    Now if anyone had a logical explanation for how the fuck my toilet guts had been replaced and the damn thing had been fixed on its own besides magical elves running around my house, I was more than open to hearing it. Really, I was.
    Crazy to think my neighbors were sneaking into my house and fixing things for me at night? Of course, but I was still having the dreams that they were touching me in a non-sexual way under the covers at night. Yeah, so all around, I was leaning towards I was losing my damn mind.
    But still grateful for the toilet being fixed and the lightbulbs changed out and the half dozen other things done and disappeared from my to-do list. Insane, right? I guess it was just a few more reasons to add to why I’d end up in a padded room one day.
    This was all racing through my mind as I pulled some burgers out of my freezer and threw them in the microwave, setting them to defrost a few minutes as I walked out onto the deck to start the grill. Maybe it was best to simply accept the gift of help and let it go? I mean, people had believed in benefactor fairies for centuries—god knew I’d done enough research on them over the years I’d been writing about paranormals.
    It could just be they’d taken notice of me because of it and decided to pay me a visit.
    “Yeah, good one, Cara,” I muttered under my breath as I pushed the ignite button, the grill lighting right up. I walked back inside and removed the meat from the microwave, checking that it was defrosted enough before opening the package and laying them carefully on the grill with the spatula. I watched the flames kick up, the juices dripping down and sizzling loudly. I had just closed the top when I saw Teak come racing out onto his deck.
    “Oh my fucking god , she cooks too !” he exclaimed loudly. Then my eyes about popped out of my head as jumped the rail and landed on the ground ten feet below.
    “Are you insane?” I shouted as he raced across our strip of joint yard, over my bottom level deck, and then up the stairs to me.
    “Please tell me you have enough to feed me too, beautiful Cara,” Teak moaned as he lifted me in his arms and