Chapter 6 #2
“See you.” He left Hank contemplating the medal, then hiked back to the middle of Main to meet up with Law. They arrived at the car at the same time, Law laden with bags.
“Wow. Dropped the medal off, got some advice.” He grabbed half the bags. “Did we get everything?”
“Yep. I got us each a hot slice of pepperoni to go.”
Dude, Law rocked. “Thank you. Hank says I need to look at the blueprints of Xander’s house. Where would I get that?”
“Library? I bet you can call Tim from home…” Someone was done being here and shopping for everyone.
“Oh, I’ll come back if I need to. But I’ll text Tim…
” The Secret Springs librarian could find a lot.
He was like a wizard. They also had a little archives type place in Hot Springs Junction, but it was closed as much as it was open.
The village couldn’t support a full-time person.
Hell, they couldn’t support a half-time one.
Maybe he could volunteer there a couple of hours a week and get a key…
“You’re plotting things.” They had tucked all the stuff away and were sitting in the car, eating real quick before they headed back to Gent’s.
“I was thinking of volunteering at the archives and museum thing.”
Law snorted as he chewed. “Then you’d have unlimited access to records.”
He let his eyes go super wide. “Never say so.”
“I know, right? Tell Gent. He’ll make a donation, and that will get you in. Hell, you might not even need that. The lady from the county loves Colton.”
“Excellent. Then I can request shit from the state. This is going to rock.”
Law hummed, his voice lilting with laughter all the way over the mountain. The hotel was full up, so Xavi couldn’t come see them, but they dropped off his shit, then made their way back down to Gent’s house.
The guys came out to help, and Abby waved at him from next door. “Iago, I’m playing outside.”
“You are. I’m excited for you.”
“Did you bring me lunch, too?” She came bouncing over to smile at him.
“Have I ever forgotten my best girl when it came to lunch?” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Your dad asked me to bring you a kid’s spaghetti, salad, and some garlic bread.” Dave’s children’s bread always had way less garlic, and Abby loved it.
“No, but I wanted to make sure.”
Everybody piled out of Gent’s house to help them unload the car, because some things needed to go into fridges before they melted.
“God, that smells so good,” Mason told him, grabbing bags of food.
“I know, right? And it always holds up well enough to be reheated too.”
“Hey, how’s it going?” Gent met them on the step, smiling, his ever-so-casual slacks and open-collared shirt making Iago feel like a schlub.
“I think we got everything. I’m sure everybody will Venmo you.”
Gent just shrugged. “Meh, you know how it is. I don’t care.”
Iago wished he knew what it was like to not give a shit about money.
The guys took care of him really nicely, and Mason and Law too.
The show had done well, and they always had good advertisers, so it wasn’t even Gent paying out of his pocket.
But he couldn’t imagine the kind of casual wealth that Gent took for granted.
It did help that they were sort of settled now in a house in a town like Hot Springs Junction, which was relatively inexpensive as far as the rent, because that meant they weren’t worrying about expensing their food and trying to find a decent place to eat on the road.
And the fact that Colton was trying to be more of a stay-at-home dad kind of guy and do mostly shows somewhere around northern New Mexico and southern Colorado helped too, because they were staying at home more often than they were living out in hotels.
They got all the food put away, settling in as a group to eat lunch. They’d gotten enough half and half salad for everyone, and there was pizza, pasta, and calzones, so it was just a red sauce fiesta.
“So what did Hank say?” Xander asked as he sat down next to Iago, holding a paper plate full of salad and calzone.
“To remember that the kitchen probably wasn’t a kitchen when the house was built and to figure out what it was.”
“Oh. Huh. Yeah. I mean, apparently there was a woodburning stove that was for cooking and heat.”
“Yeah, so I’ll research that bit, see what I can find out.” That was important, after all.
“Cool. I wish I had more to give you, but my folks did very little reno on the place. They bought appliances and put down ugly carpet.” Xander’s grin transformed his face.
“And that ugly carpet had a little boy growing up on it.” He winked at Xander. “Was it a great place to grow up?”
“It was.” Xander munched a bit of crust. “My folks are great. I had my besties. We had no idea how big the world was.”
“Yeah, sometimes that’s kind of wonderful, isn’t it?” Gent shook his head. “To just not realize how vast everything outside of your little space is.”
Colton looked at Gent like he was insane. “You and I have been in big places and small places and everything in between.”
“Yes, but I’m very, very happy here in this space. I don’t feel the urge to be somewhere big.”
“Oh!” Iago grinned at them. “Guess what? That is something else that Hank told me. They’re going to go to Japan, and they’re going to go ghost hunting. They’re about to leave.”
Bastian blinked. “Wow. Are they taking Antonia?”
Iago nodded. “Yeah. I know, right? Brave.”
“I don’t know. Elliott says that Antonia is the perfect travel kid.” Colton shook his head. “I can’t imagine trying to haul everything you need for a kid with you when you’ve travel like that. I can’t imagine trying to amuse a kid her age, but maybe she’s way more advanced than we think.”
“I think traveling with kids is easier than you guys imagine.” That was Mason, and maybe he had an inside track on that because he did have siblings out his wazoo. “You guys are just spoiled. You bring too much stuff with you when you go somewhere with the kids.”
Sebastian arched his eyebrow. “Well, next time I let you watch the kids, I’ll drop them both off without anything, and then you can just deal.”
Mason chuckled. “It isn’t like I don’t have a stash of diapers, wipes, and extra clothes for everybody at my house, so that’s sort of less of a threat than you think.”
Colton stuck his tongue out at Mason.
Gent rolled his eyes at them. “I’m kind of in the same boat as Mason. Anything we didn’t have, we could just go across the fence for.”
“Yes, but I’m talking about something like going to Japan.” Iago couldn’t imagine.
Sebastian nodded. “Hank and Elliot do only have one, and she’s older than ours, so there is that. She’s used to occupying herself. Can you imagine someone like Elizabeth Anne going to Japan with Chase and Jack?”
He had met Elizabeth Ann once. She’d come with Antonia to visit Sebastian, and that child was either going to be the president of the United States or a serial killer. He wasn’t sure which.
Xander moaned. “No. No, I cannot. She’d summon Godzilla.”
They all laughed at that, and Iago brought up the other thing he and Law had talked about.
“I want to volunteer at the archives. Which one of you biggie wows can make that happen?” He glanced between Gent and Colton.
“You do?” Gent asked. “Why?”
“Because he wants unlimited access, duh.” Colton knew him well.
“I do! Think of the research.” Iago rubbed his hands together, chortling.
“You’re cute when you’re plotting things,” Xander told him softly.
“Hopefully I’m cute all the time,” he offered back.
“You so are.”
When he glanced up, everyone was staring at them, and his cheeks heated. “We should get some cake.”
Xander nodded, but whispered low, “It won’t be as good as mine.”
“It won’t, but you didn’t have to make it.”
“True.” Xander bumped against him, that little smile just for him, he thought.
Okay, that made him a little shivery. Silly, but true.
“I’ll cut the cake, since Xander is busy,” Law said. Loudly.
“Are you busy, Xander?” He wanted Xander to say yes.
“I am.” Long callused and scarred fingers touched his arm. “Law knows how to use a knife.”
“He does.” They headed into the foyer, and Iago’s heart was pounding.
Xander linked hands with him. “You okay to skip cake?”
“I am. If I need cake, I know this cook…”
“You do. And I make empowering after canoodling mug cakes.” They headed across the street, going for Xander’s house down the way.
“Oh, I like that idea.” They were going to do this.
“Me too. Seriously, is this okay? Like, running off to do this? You’re not worried or nervous?” They got to Xander’s house, and he let them in.
“I’m excited, not worried. I really am into you.” It wasn’t all that hard to admit.
“Thank God. I was so worried I’d scared you off with my bad temper.” Xander stopped as soon as the door shut behind them, swinging him around so they were chest to chest, tilting his head up for a kiss.
Oh. Yeah. That zing told him Xander was an alpha, for sure.
He pushed up into the kiss, his eyes rolling back in his head. There was no — none, zero, zilch — question that they had chemistry.
The feel of Xander’s hand on the back of his neck, holding him gently but firmly in place while that tongue plundered his mouth went right to his cock. Zoom. It filled, lifted, pressing against his zipper.
He wrapped his arms around Xander’s neck, clinging, his hips rocking nice and easy. His cock rubbed against Xander’s upper thigh, and he hummed with the pressure, which sent static all up and down his spine.
“Fuck, you feel good,” Xander told him. “I knew you would.”
“I feel amazing,” he agreed. This was exactly where he wanted to be.
“Good. Couch? I figure this is a getting to know you make-out session.” Xander’s grin went a little wild, maybe a little dangerous in a good way.
“I love your ideas. I love this idea.” Iago bit his bottom lip and nodded. “So much.”
“Mmmhmm.” Xander danced him over into the living room, plopping him down on the couch before joining him, their knees touching, Xander’s hands on his arms.
“Would you think poorly of me if I did this?” Iago moved to straddle Xander’s lap. It was so much easier.