Page 89 of Filthy Fae

“Really?” Mack asked, sounding intrigued.

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I want to buy a lake house. I want it to be something Scarlet loves, but I don’t want to stress her out. So, I’m in a bit of a predicament.”

Mack made a nose in his throat. “You want me to find a house she’ll love?”

Not quite. But I hesitated for a second before explaining what I meant. “Well, I was hoping we could do the house hunting together.”

Mack leaned away to regard me before speaking. “Sure, friend. That would be great.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Scarlet

Sitting across my desk from my sister and Zane, I slid another packet across to them.

“This is a mold notice and waiver,” I tapped the paper. “It’s never been an issue in your unit—as you know,” I said, wryly. “But you still need to sign it.”

Zeezee pulled the paper closer. She leaned so far back in her chair, it was a miracle she hadn’t toppled yet. Working her jaw back and forth, she flipped to the second page and scrawled her signature across the bottom.

“Not even going to read it?” I smirked. “I could have put anything in there. I could now own your soul.”

“He’ll do it for the both of us.” She pushed the paper to Zane, who glanced over from where he was studying the lead paint waiver. His gaze darted between Zeezee and me before falling back to the page.

Zane would never be my favorite person, but each time I looked at my sister and her mate, both healthy and whole, I felt a glow in my belly. It hadn’t taken me long to decide not to evict the pair. As neither of their names were on the lease, I simply moved out officially, traded in my “free unit” for twenty-one vacation days a year, and rented the unit to Zeezee and Zane. This way, their rent would be due at the first of the month, and if they didn’t pay, they’d have to deal with Marie.

“So.” Zeezee folded her hands on the table. “Zane wanted me to ask if you got the receipts he sent Mom?”

“Yeah, well...” Zane lifted his head again. “We had to replace over a thousand dollars in furniture, and both of us missed a couple days of work through no fault of our own. We really feel that there should be some compensation.”

The glow was officially extinguished. They might have been through hell, but Zeezee and Zane were still their obnoxious selves.

“You do know who cleaned up your whole apartment, right?” I pointed to myself. “Yours truly and a few other volunteers who weren’t you.”

Zeezee rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t replace our waterlogged chair legs or our couch. Look, Zane’s right. We got pulled into some political bullshit, and we’re just trying to get our lives back.”

I slipped an envelope out of my bag. “Actually, the pack council did decide on compensating you twelve hundred dollars for damages.” I held out the envelope.

“Pack council?” Zane smirked. “Isn’t that just you and your parents?”

“And me.” Zeezee glared. “What the fuck, Scar? Why was I left out of this decision?”

Zeezee took the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside. She gave me a look before turning it around.

Printed on the paper were only three little words: Paid in Full.

“Not funny, Scar,” Zeezee said.

“Oh, that’s not a joke. You’re welcome to pay back the twelve hundred you stole from the pack, and then I’ll give you the settlement money. If you have it, that is.” I leaned back in my own chair, folding my arms. “Anyway, can we find the halfway point between your paces in signing these forms? Because I have an actual date, and if this runs over, I’m going to cut you off and make you spend the night in the pack-house.”

Zeezee leaned back even farther and grinned. “A date? With which one?” She smirked. “Or someone new?”

I pointed to the forms. “I’m not joking about making you sleep at Mom and Dad’s.”

Both of them stared at me for a few seconds more before looking down to the forms.

“I’ve highlighted everywhere you need to initial in the rental agreement. Also, as you know, this is an official Haven House.” I gave them the full lecture on Haven Houses and the rules of the complex which all boiled down to “don’t kill anyone no matter how much they provoke you.” Zane already knew, but going over it with Zeezee couldn’t hurt. It took an amazingly fast thirty minutes to get them out the door and lock my office.

As I sprinted up the stairs, three tenants tried to tell me about issues, but I held up a hand with each of them.