Chapter 5 #2
“I guess I should feel good about that.” He really didn’t like the idea of Iago being wigged out either, though. “This is pretty low-key, though.”
“Yeah, but…” Iago tilted his head and leaned back a little bit in his chair.
“But?”
“Well, I mean, if you think about it, if it’s this pin or this medal, how much energy has to be involved in it to knock stuff off and move stuff around? That’s a pretty big deal.”
Xander frowned at him. “You’re not making it better.”
“Oh well, I was trying to.” He got a sheepish grin. “Does that count for anything?”
“Yes.” He had the strongest urge to touch Iago, to ruffle his bright blue hair or put a hand on the back of his neck. “It does. I just don’t like that I can’t identify it, really.”
“Well, I bet it came in with something you bought.”
“This is good shit, Xander.” Mason munched a pepper with cream cheese dip. “Thanks for this.”
“We’ll buy you some groceries,” Colton murmured. “I know we eat a lot.”
“Eh, you know I feed people.” It was what he did. And he always had odds and ends of food left over in his fridge from his recipe experiments.
“We do know. We appreciate it.” Law offered a wink to Iago. “How come when you make food it never looks like this?”
“I don’t know. How come when you make food you always burn everything to the bottom of the damn pan?” Iago shot back.
Law grinned and widened his eyes. “For the same reason that every time Colton tries to use the grill there’s an explosion you can see from space.”
“So, what you’re saying is that none of you are good cooks?” Xander asked.
Mason nodded solemnly. “That’s exactly what we’re saying. We’ve never had to. We’re on the road all the time. Gent can cook, but he doesn’t really admit it because he doesn’t like to feed us all the time.”
“Wow, that’s kind of pathetic.” Xander loved that, though, because that meant they would come to him when they needed good food beyond eggs and sandwiches.
He loved sharing food and ideas about food, making food, and eating food.
He didn’t want to be a chef. He didn’t want to have to go to culinary school. He didn’t want to be frou-frou and plate things up with aplomb and do all that stuff that they talked about at chefy places, but he knew food was love.
“Don’t judge us.” Colton waved a piece of salami in the air. “We have other useful skills.”
“Like what?” Iago asked. “I mean, seriously? We have other skills?”
“Well, you can type.”
Iago nodded to Law. “I can, and also I do have some pretty good Google fu. What about Colton?”
Mason grinned. “Colton has the money.”
“Right, Colton and Gent have the money.” Law hooted like a big, goofy owl. “I have the camera skills,” Law continued. “I can make anybody look good. I can make things look exciting even when they’re boring, and I usually catch the stuff that actually is exciting.”
Mason nodded, grabbing another selection of cheese, meat, and fruit. “And I’m really good at saying, ‘Whoaaaaaa, did you see that?’”
They all chuckled at that. Mason was actually good at staging the whole shoot and running all of the meters and other machines that gave them veracity. Xander had seen them in action, so he knew.
“Cooking is way more useful,” Colton admitted.
“Hey, don’t knock what you do,” Xander told them. “Sebastian has been incredibly grateful to have his safe house back.”
Colton beamed at him. “Grateful doesn’t even begin to cover it for me. I got my life back. I got my lover back. I got my baby back. I didn’t even know I was missing her. I have to admit, so often I watch her little sister and think about how I missed this with her.”
Xander nodded. “Now, I was there, and she was amazing, but you have lots of firsts left.”
Colton chuckled. “That’s what Bastian tells me.”
“You do and then neither one of you should feel guilty about it. I know it hurts, but there shouldn’t be any guilt.
Your family, on the other hand, they deserve everything they get.
” Colton’s parents had really done both Colton and Sebastian dirty, trying to buy Sebastian off so he would leave Colton alone, not telling Colton he had a baby, not letting Sebastian know that Colton was hurt really badly and laid up in a hospital someplace.
Colton’s gaze hardened into something like stone. “Yeah, fuck them.”
It was Iago’s turn to hoot now, and his laughter drew Xander’s gaze like he was some kind of moth and Iago was a brightly lit candle. “Sweet and to the point, boss. Tell us how you really feel.”
Colton blinked at Iago, tilted his head like a dog hearing a whistle. “I know that you sent a PI to threaten them with every single thing they did wrong as soon as you found out.”
Iago shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I would never do that, and if I did do that, I think it would be a charming idea.”
That wickedness was sexy.
So much about Iago was sexy, and that was what had freaked him out, but Xander was trying to decide to embrace it these days. After he’d hurt Iago’s feelings so badly, he decided he didn’t want to be a dick.
Maybe he wanted to get dick, but he didn’t want to be one.
“If I saw them, I would just punch them in the noses,” Xander murmured.
“You wake up and choose violence every day, though.” Colton clapped him on the back. “I need to get back to work. Thanks for the food.”
“If you’re still here at dinner time, there will be more.” Xander waved everybody but Iago off to do their thing. Which meant he got his blue-haired object of obsession all to himself while he did the dishes.
“Can I have the last radish?” Iago pushed up against him and reached over him to snag the last bit of veg.
Xander could feel Iago’s surprisingly hard little body all along his. Okay, that was unholy hot, and he loved it.
“Uh-huh. I mean I like radishes, but I think you like them more than I do, and there’s still pickles. I really love pickles.” And there he went babbling like an idiot again.
Iago chuckled and just sort of leaned. “I enjoy pickles too but I like the sharpness of radish better.”
Just about the time Iago had bitten into the radish, the charcuterie board rattled against the counter and then flew off, landing on the floor.
“Guys, we have activity!” Iago hollered, looking around as if he could see something. “Is it radishes you don’t like, man? Radishes are good, but you don’t have to have any. I can eat them all.”