Page 143 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“You have no landscaping. There’s peeling paint right there,” I said, pointing toward the roofline. “I’m not saying your properties are bad, but they’re far from high-end. I’ll pay above market value, but you’re not going to extort me.”

“It’s not just about market value. It’s about the loss of income selling these would cost me.”

“Oh, come off it, George.” His omega had been waiting silently off to the side.

She looked far less than pleased at his deal-making skills. Or lack thereof.

“Sell them, and you can finally take me to the coast like you promised. Somewhere warm and sunny for retirement. You were selling next year anyway. Time to move up the timeline.”

He deflated a little. “Fine. Get me in contact with your lawyer, but you better pay well, son.”

Lachlan walked back over. “I gave him access and budgets. He should have everything squared away and ready to negotiate.”

He opened his wallet and pulled out a business card, handing it over to George.

“Here you go. He’s expecting your call.”

“You boys are nuts,” George muttered, snatching the card before turning back toward his wife. She was practically beaming, and honestly, even if he was fighting us out of stubborn pride, he looked a little relieved himself.

These cabins would need some work. They’d be great for her heat, but if we were going to keep them as rentals or sell them and not lose money, we’d have to put some effort into them.

We waited while he talked on the phone with our lawyer.

About twenty minutes later, he approached us again, pulling a huge key ring out of his pocket.

“Here are the keys you’ll need for the weekend. We can meet next week to talk about the rest of the logistics. He gave me an advance to make sure I could trust this.”

George looked far more chipper now after that conversation. He was going to get quite a deal out of this.

“Right, that’s squared away. Let’s unload,” Lachlan said, heading toward the SUV where Gavin was still waiting.

“Did you guys seriously buy a bunch of cabins?” he asked, looking incredulous.

“Yes. In fact, we did,” I said, not even a bit sorry about it. “Normally, I wouldn’t do something so crazy, but we’re running out of time.”

He shook his head and muttered to himself. “Maybe we needed some crazy in our lives.”

Then he grabbed a stack of boxes and headed toward the cabin. Between the four of us, we made quick work of unloading everything we’d bought and setting it up.

To the old man’s credit, they had a clean place. The inside looked much better than the exterior, and it was going to be absolutely perfect for heat week.

“What about the nurse?” I asked Conrad, who was handling that part.

“The agency is sending her out in the morning. I already sent the payment as a sign of good faith, including her wages.”

Then everything was in place. We had her meds waiting. The cabin was stocked. The trial was over.

She was having the first girls’ night of her life. Tomorrow we’d get our omega back for an entire week.

We’d become an official pack.

I couldn’t fucking wait.

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

Dhara