Chapter 1
Sidney found two houses that he really liked.
He put an offer in on both of them, thinking that he could rent the one that he didn’t live in and that would be a nice income for him.
Not that he needed the money, but it would be nice to have the extra income coming in while making a house payment on the one that he lived in.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t have anywhere to live.
He had a nice condo that he’d been living in since they’d been built.
But after being in his family’s homes, he was sort of jealous of their homey feelings and wanted that for his own.
He also figured that since he was the last of them to find a mate, he might as well get started on having them a place to live.
His brother had pointed out that she might have a home of her own.
He was all right with that, too. If she did, then they’d live where she wanted and rent out the others.
He wasn’t going to be demanding of anything of her, like his brothers had been, and was going to woo her to be his mate.
While he wasn’t sure how that was going to work, he was reasonably sure that he would do a better job than his brothers had done with their mates.
Fowler had been the worst of all of them.
He’d demanded that Amy do things that he wanted her to do and was pissed off all the time until she finally left him.
It was touch-and-go there for a while as to whether or not she was going to have anything to do with him, but in the end, they worked it out.
The others had been better, but they’d all had trouble with their mates, with the exception of Melbourne, and he was going to be more like him than he was the others.
He wanted calm in his relationship with his mate and was going to work his damnest to have that in his life.
But only if that’s what she wanted as well.
He was going to be open-minded about her needs over his own, and that was the way he figured that he was going to win her over.
Looking over the specs of the houses, he decided that he was going to live in them for a while to see if he liked one more than the other.
He didn’t know how that was going to work, with them being unfurnished, but he figured that he could get him a sleeping bag and an air mattress to sleep in them for a while.
He’d been doing that for a while now at his condo, so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to do it for a while in his houses.
He was excited to find out that he’d been approved for both houses and made plans to sleep in the bigger of the two of them that night.
It had been sitting empty for some time now, and he was excited for the next chapter of his life.
Having the faeries go over and clean it up—they were excited to be able to do something for him—he’d be resting in his home tonight, and thought that there couldn’t be anything better.
“I have a question for you.” He smiled when Melbourne spoke to him. “It’s no big deal, but I have a date with my mate tonight, and I have three contracts to go over. It’s about this particular one that I’m having fits about.”
“Don’t sign it. Or don’t have whoever you’re reading it over for to sign it.
I find that if there is something about it that I can’t put my finger on, then I’m not going to have it have my name on it.
” He said that it was just too easy to read.
“What do you mean? I would think that it would be great to have one that is too easy to read.”
“What I mean is, there is no attorney jargon in it. It’s just a single sheet of paper that tells what they want and the terms that they want to work with.
No party of the first part or anything like that.
It looks like they might have written it themselves.
” He asked if there was an attorney’s name on it.
“Yes, but in that we’re to contact them if we have any questions.
I have a feeling that I’m right in this.
That someone got together with their partner and wrote this up, hoping for us to give them money. ”
“What’s the kind of money they’re asking for?
I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that it’s not nearly as much as we’ve given out before.
” He told him what it was for and how much they were asking.
“That’s not really all that much. I mean, half a million is a lot of money, but if they want to upgrade their systems, then that can only be just enough to do it and not any leeway if something were to go wrong.
Do you suppose they’re going to be doing the work themselves, too? ”
“I never thought of that. I don’t remember seeing any kind of construction company now that you mention it.” He could feel the concern in his brother’s voice. “I don’t see anything. This is getting weird. I think you might be right about that. What would you do?”
“Sounds like a bad investment to me, but then I don’t do contracts as much as you do.
It’s not a great deal of money to be upgrading something, but then again, you would know that better than me.
” He said that he wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough money.
“I don’t either. Even if you take into account the fact that they might be doing it all on their own, that’s not enough to upgrade any kind of warehouse that needs to be upgraded.
I’d not sign it right now, but get more information.
It could be nothing more than they wanted to save some money on the contract. I don’t know.”
“I’m going to make an appointment with them in the morning to see if I can get some answers.
That way, if they’re doing it all on their own, I can get them with a construction company, or there is no deal.
I don’t know this company at all, and it could be a scam.
But I have a feeling that they’re doing everything, including the paperwork, on their own.
” Melbourne asked if they could be trying to save money all the way around.
“That’s my thoughts too. They’re saving money by doing everything on their own. ”
After closing the connection, he went about his business of figuring out what he was going to need to spend the night at his house.
Nothing more than an overnight bag, and he went out and purchased himself a shower curtain of his own.
The thought of using the one in the house gave him the willies.
Also, he picked up some towels to have if he needed them when he actually moved in.
Things were looking good for him, and he was excited to be looking into the next part of his life.
The faeries had done a good job on the house.
The floors gleamed with cleanliness, and he thought that the windows in the house looked brand new.
He was just looking into the bedrooms again when he realized that the house was larger than he thought.
It actually had eight bedrooms rather than the six that he thought it had.
Excited now, he found the master bedroom to be great for him, and he filled his mattress up with air so that he could wander around the house some more.
The kitchen was going to need to be upgraded.
It wasn’t that old, but since the house has been sitting empty for so long, things needed to be done.
Like it needed a new refrigerator as the one that was in the kitchen was too small for entertaining.
And with his large family, he’d need something big.
For all he knew, his mate could have a large family too, and that would be great. There was also the countertop.
It was made of some kind of tile that was broken in a lot of places, and he wanted that to be upgraded.
He was thinking about how he’d seen concrete as countertops and wondered if that was something that he’d want.
Making notes on things that he found out, he had a list going with about ten items on it before leaving the kitchen.
He was going to get with his brother Melbourne to see if he still had his list of things that he needed when he and Sammy bought their first home.
He could use it to go by when he filled out the rooms, he thought.
It took him nearly two sheets of paper to write down the things that he could see needed to be taken care of.
That was only the things that he could see on his own.
He was sure other things needed to be taken care of, but being new to owning a home, he wasn’t positive that he got them all.
As soon as he walked into the living room, he knew that he wanted to get the same furniture as his brothers had. Soft and comfy.
It took him until nearly midnight to get the house in order of his lists.
He’d divided his list up by room and would go back when he thought of something else and write it down.
Like two of the rooms were furnished, and he liked that, but the things needed to be polished up, too.
They were something that he thought he could use while he decided what he wanted to put in the rooms on his own.
Just as he was thinking he’d done enough for one night, he heard from his brother Dyson.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?” He said that he was just headed to bed when he reached out.
“This won’t take a minute. I’m having everyone over for dinner tomorrow night, and I wanted to know if you’re seeing anyone who would make you have a date.
I know you’ve not met your mate yet, but I know on occasion that we date someone that might be nice to have around. ”
“I’m not seeing anyone, no. But thanks for asking.” He said it was no problem, but wanted to be sure. “What kind of dinner is this? Sounds formal.”