Page 105 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“I’m really glad that you guys found Dhara,” he said quietly, not looking at me but at the floor. “She’s done so much for me. She literally took every hit for me. She deserves something good in her life.” His voice cracked and he had to take a few breaths to fight off the tears.

“You are something good in her life,” I said firmly, leaning down and forcing him to finally meet my eyes.

The moment he did, his blue eyes started to water. I gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“We love your sister, and we want to make her happy, but we also love you. I know that it seems sudden, but the moment we scent-matched with Dhara, we were all in. We wanted this life with you, too. I can’t promise to be a perfect man. I’ve never been responsible for a preteen,” I admitted with a small laugh, “but I want to do right by you. We want you to tell us if we’re doing something wrong. But no matter what happens, we will always be here to protect you and give you guys what you need. That makes us happy. It fulfills us. I need you to understand that, Gavin.”

He swallowed hard, his eyes wide and full of so much hope and longing that I felt my own eyes watering, too. I blinked the tears away, but I didn’t hide it. He deserved to see that he had an impact on me, too.

Gavin blew out a breath and finally shook his head.

“It’s honestly been so weird... but really great. I like that we get to do things like normal people for once. Having dinners. Going out shopping and being allowed to look at something that might make me happy with no guilt trips or mean words.”

“We have a whole lot of experiences ahead of us,” I promised, “and we want you to know that you’re a priority just the same as Dhara. We’re not going to suddenly pack up and leave you behind, okay? I promise you that.”

“Good,” Gavin said, and the way his shoulders drooped a little, I could tell that had been a fear of his.

This kid might not realize it yet, but he was mine, and we were doing everything we could to fight for him.

Gavin would be officially ours before too long, and his mother would be nothing more than a distant, awful nightmare they’d never have to see again.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

August

We were sitting side by side in the clinic lobby. Soft, ambient music was playing, and the air had that strange emptiness of filtered spaces.

Poor Dhara was so damn nervous that she was practically crushing my fingers where they were wrapped around hers. I didn’t flinch or pull away. If she needed me to keep herself strong, then I would give her all of me.

“It’s going to be fine, firecracker,” I said. “No matter what they say in there, it will not change how we feel about you. Nothing will ever change that.”

She nodded, unable to form the words to respond. We had to practically walk her through checking in. Even her brown sugar, cinnamon, and warm spice scent was charred around the edges.

“Dhara Livingston?” a nurse called as she stepped out of the back room.

Her smile was bright and open, and Dhara stood, pulling me with her. Lachlan and Conrad were right there with us.

She looked at Dhara. “Are you okay having them back there with you?”

“They’re my emotional support pack,” Dhara said, making the nurse crack up.

“Well then, by all means, come on, guys.”

She turned and led us back to a room.

“We’re going to have to change the group chat to Dhara’s Emotional Support Pack now,” Conrad teased.

“You guys have a group chat about me?” she questioned.

“Of course, we do, firecracker. We had to plan how to woo you.”

She rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile on her lips that I loved. She’d been doing that a lot more lately. I don’t know if she’d noticed, but I certainly had.

A few days ago, she’d mentioned to Lachlan how scared she was to come here. So, the next morning, he’d had us pull out our schedules, combine them, and call to set up the appointment. She’d looked so relieved to have someone taking the lead that I knew this was one of her biggest worries.

Outside of that, she’d spent time finding herself again. She’d come back and decorated her nest with all the new things, directing us where to hang everything. Just seeing her boss us around lit a fire inside of me.