Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
“Iago, man. Breakfast is ready.”
He pulled on his robe and headed downstairs, trying not to be all grumpy. He was rarely grumpy, but today was hard.
Because he was a little out of sorts.
Law and Mason were already in the kitchen, toast and bacon sitting on the counter along with bowls of grits.
“Looks nice. What’s the occasion?”
Law winced. “Xander being a dick?”
“Oh.” He sighed, heading to the coffee maker. “Yeah. He was, for sure.”
And Iago didn’t get it. He was never mean to Xander. He wasn’t a prick. He liked people. Hee thought Xander was hot — had thought so. Now, he didn’t, dammit.
He thought Xander was a fucker, which made him sad.
“Yeah. I don’t think he knows how to be any other way, man.” Mason handed him a plate once he sat.
“Thank you.” What did it matter? No one said Xander had to like him. Iago was just a newcomer to Hot Springs Junction, the tiny Colorado town Colton’s man had grown up in. A guy who did a ghost show, and Xander hated the idea of ghosts. “You guys love me. That’s cool enough for school.”
“We love you more than our luggage, babe.” Mason’s expression filled with sympathy.
“You do. You two are great. I just… I’m not going over there again.”
Law winced.
“What?”
“Well—we might be shooting over there this week.”
Iago’s eyebrows went up. “What? Why?”
That was just what he needed — to be in a situation where he was forced to research for the show and be around Xander.
“He has some serious activity, man.” Law gave him a pat on the arm. “Like breaking things, shaking tables…”
“Well, I wish you guys the best of luck. I’ll do research from here.” He stirred salt and pepper into his grits. He had a computer. He could tap in electronically to feed them the bits they needed to have without him ever having to step foot in Xander’s house again.
“But we need you, Iago. You run everything. Colton likes to think he does, but it’s you.” That was Law.
“And I’ll be here. Hell, if you shoot without him, I’ll be there, but he doesn’t care for me, and there are only, like, six people in the whole town. I’m already disliked by twenty percent.” Okay so he was being pouty, and he knew it. He poked at his grits, wanting them to be on his side.
“Dude, you’re exaggerating.” Law bumped hips with him after he rose to get more coffee. “Seriously, I think he likes you too much, and it wigs him out.”
“I don’t care. I don’t like being spoken about like I’m not there. It sucks.” It made him feel small.
He was already small in stature. He didn’t need to shrink himself for some… cook.
“Fair enough.” Mason munched away at his food. “I mean, you can just tell him to fuck off every time you see him.”
Iago grinned over. “You are a dick. I adore you.”
“Ditto, cabbagehead.”
They clicked spoons.
His phone buzzed, and he grimaced, not wanting to look at it until after breakfast.
The Mason and Law’s phones went off too.
“Not me!” he and Law shouted at the same time.
Groaning, Mason clicked the answer button. “Hey, Gent. You’re on speaker.”
“You lost the coin toss, did you?” Gent’s voice was dry as dust.
“Yep.” Mason popped the P sound at the end of the word. “What can we do for you?”
“Some of the footage from last night was fascinating. It would make an interesting show.”
Oh great. He had just known it when Mason and Law started talking about activity at Xander’s house. He had just known this was going to happen.
“Okay. You just let us know what you want. Iago will run it remotely.”
There was a long pause. Then Gent cleared his throat. “Iago?”
He rolled his eyes, waggling his eyebrows madly. “Yeah, Boss?”
“Want to tell me about it?” The big guy’s voice was gentle. Gent, who backed their show and did all the production, was a little older than them, and always very big brotherly.
“Nope. He just doesn’t care for me, so I shouldn’t be in his house.”
“I don’t think that’s the case at all, but if it makes you feel better, you can work this one remotely.”
“Good deal. I’m more than capable of researching from here, basically next door.”
“Sure.” Gent cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m sending the footage to you to watch. I would just watch it with you, but I’m going out to lunch in Secret Springs with Jack Harlan. He has a ghost ranch he wants to talk to us about.”
“Ooh…fun. Ghost ranches sound sparkly.” Iago winked at Law. “Spectral roosters?”
“See through cows.”
“Demon bulls. Moo.”
They all started laughing together. It was so easy to be tickled with each other.
They were like peanut butter and jelly. They all went together. Maybe with a few crunchy nuts and some banana thrown in.
“Anyway, you lot be good. And if you can’t be good—” Gent added.
“Don’t get caught,” they all chorused.
They finished their breakfast and cleaned up. The three of them had a rhythm going, which was nice.
He didn’t mind at all sharing a house with Law and Mason. It was a big, rambling old place with six bedrooms and five bathrooms. It was a little drafty and a little weird, but incredibly comfortable, and they all managed to function in the space.
He got out his laptop once they were all finished, booting it up so he could start a log for the new investigation. “Law, you’ll stream the walk-through to me?”
“No problem. No problem at all.” Law nodded to him. “We need to research the building. I did a really basic interview that Mason got on video last night, and I’ll get that to you, asap.”
Mason leaned against the kitchen door. “Basically, everything was okay until he started renovating the kitchen, and everything went to hell.”
“Maybe it was just meanness on Xander’s part. You know that happens. Poltergeists and such.” That sounded like a totally reasonable answer. Xander would probably pull that kind of activity to him.
“He doesn’t seem any meaner now than he ever has, but it does look odd that it would be that and not the kitchen renovation.” Mason’s voice was dry as dust.
“Well, and how mean can he possibly be? He has friends here.” That was Law.
Mason shook his head. “No, not even an asshole can spend an entire life growing up and not have friends. I mean, they all grew up here. They all went to high school together. Of course they’re friends.”
He grinned at Mason, and Law rolled his eyes. “You guys are not helping.”
“I don’t have to help. My feelings are still hurt. That was mean, and I haven’t done anything to him except be nice.” Iago hugged his arms around himself.
“True. I guess you wig him out, man. Maybe he’s like, weird about attraction to men.” Mason shrugged.
Iago blinked. “Oh? Oh! I hadn’t thought about that.”
It was so rare to find someone who was concerned about gender. Alphas and omegas, sure. Every so often there would be a situation where there were two alphas who fell in love or two omegas, and that could be challenging just because it was so unusual.
People tended to stare.
Gender issues, those were not generally a problem.
“I hadn’t thought about it, so thanks for that.”
“Anytime, man.” Law shrugged at him.
“Well, obviously he doesn’t have a problem with Colton and Sebastian.”
Law rolled his eyes again. “No, but maybe he just doesn’t want a man coming onto him.”
“I didn’t come onto him!”
“You guys have this chemistry, man. You can’t deny it.”
“I feel chemistry. He feels distaste. Totally different sensations.” And he hated that he still thought Xander was beautiful with his red hair and green eyes and freckles.
“Okay. Let’s get to work.” Mason waved a hand. “You two will sit here and debate until Doomsday.”
“I’ll work on my computer. We’ll get to the job done. I know what the guy’s address is. It’s not a big deal.” He could totally be research guy and never once have to actually deal with Xander.
“Okay, cool. I forwarded the initial videos,” Law said, phone in hand.
“That’s a good start. Now, go do ghostie things.”
“Spoooooky.” Mason winked at him.
“That’s right. Go. Shoo. Be effective, be be effective.” Iago clapped in time. He was the best cheerleader.
“Yeah, yeah.”
The guys packed a bunch of equipment in bags before heading off to invade Xander’s house again, and Iago slumped over to the couch, falling on it with a sigh.
His feelings were really hurt, and he hated missing out on working with the guys.
It was his favorite thing on earth to do.
He loved running the show from the computers, setting up shots, and telling the guys the history of the property when they were onscreen.
Thanks to Xander, he couldn’t do any of that.
They would stream it to him, sure, but he would have to sit here on his ass and do the work instead of wandering around and listening to them banter at each other.
He sat back with his laptop and got to work trying to find anything about Xander’s house that might lead them to some kind of conclusion about what type of ghost was in there.
The problem was there was jack shit. There was a ghost story about every fucking building in Hot Springs Junction but not about Xander’s house. It was like his family had no skeletons in their closet.
He worked for quite a while watching the videos Law had sent him, making notes, looking up land transfers and house sales. Finally, he realized it was almost noon.
Was he hungry? He hadn’t really done more than pick at his breakfast even though the guys had provided it for him, so maybe he was.
Maybe he should make himself a sandwich.
They had some turkey, and they had some sliced bread.
Iago wrinkled his nose. Nothing sounded good, though.
Honestly things had been very quiet from the guys.
He really hadn’t gotten any calls or texts, so he was feeling even more left out.
Oh, woe was him. How pathetic was he? He would just put his head down and do his damn job.
Even if he did have to go it alone.