Chapter 13 #2
“Huh.” That started Iago on a what-if loop. What if the guy was older and wiser now? What if the city council was more progressive? What if Iago called the guy, and he wanted to come back? How cool would that be? “Well, thanks, Sebastian. How’s the kids?”
“Good. Good. Colton is so tickled to have a local ghost, too. That way he’s home and not roaming.”
“Hush, you,” Xander ordered.
“Sorry, not sorry, buddy. Deal.”
Iago snort-chuckled and rolled more silverware as Xander did his goodbyes.
“So, do you like it?”
Iago looked up and blinked. “Huh?”
“I mean, chasing ghosts, that kind of stuff. Are you into it?” Xander asked.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. He didn’t really have an answer to that.
It was his job. It had been his job for a long time.
“I like organizing these things, like herding the guys and making sure that we get all the information and equipment we need and that everybody’s safe.
Colton needed something to do after his accident, and Gent was looking for something too, and they just brought me along on the project. ”
“That’s totally cool. It just never would have occurred to me as a career path, you know?
” Xander added the chopped up carrots, which were now fine-diced, to some oil in a pan.
It looked like it was orange-ish in color.
He’d also put out a bag of peas. Iago figured he’d grab rice, too, since it looked like he was making Spanish rice to go with the beans.
He also plated up the chicken fingers and fries he’d fried up. “Be right back. I’m gonna take these out.”
“Okay.” While Xander was gone Iago pondered his reasoning about doing a ghost hunting job.
It really combined all the things he loved to do— organizing, research, technology— but he also loved storytelling.
He adored the idea of helping people solve their ghost problems or of telling people’s stories, people who needed their stories told.
And then there was the fact that it was Colton and Gent who had asked him to come along for the ride. They were his family now, though he still had family who was related to him by blood, in theory, some foster parents who hadn’t utterly sucked.
After Mason had introduced them, Gent and his parents had just really taken him under their wing and then Colton had become a big brother to him too.
Xander breezed back in, brushing past him and running a hand over his hair before heading back to the big cooktop.
“So you started cooking in high school?”
“Yeah, I got a job bussing tables and stuff at the truck stop, and one night the cook just didn’t show up. My mom taught me how to make all sorts of breakfast food, so they put me to work.”
He had to laugh at that. “Were you old enough to be behind the cooktop?”
“Eh, not quite, but it was all right. Who is going to turn me in for code enforcement? All of the cops wanted their breakfast.”
“Did you threaten to withhold coffee from them if they turned you in?”
Xander gave him a wolfish grin. “Something like that.”
“Your folks didn’t mind you driving all the way to Secret Springs by yourself?”
Xander rolled his eyes. “Obviously, not so much in the winter, but in the summer I kind of lived down there. They knew where I was, and I was safe and happy. Bastian and Xavi were there too.”
Iago propped his chin on his hand, keeping one eye on his laptop to see if the guys were messaging him. “What did Xavi do?”
“He worked at the canteen at the hot springs pool. They served nachos and stuff, but that’s where he found his flair for being a barista.”
“And Sebastian did something nerdy?”
“Yeah he worked part time for the library, but he also worked for a lady who did tarot cards and palm reading. He apprenticed with her, you know?” Xander finally dumped the rice into the oil and the carrots and started toasting it.
Watching him cook was so fascinating because it was just like this incredible progression.
He would chop and dice and prep, and then he would add things to pots and stir and suddenly there was food.
Iago was really more of an assembly kind of guy. A sandwich. Bread, cheese, meat, condiment. And his soup came from a can.
“Fun! I mean, he does a great job. He did a reading for me.”
That caught Xander’s attention. “Did he tell you that you were going to hook up with someone tall, red-headed, and handsome?”
“No, but he did tell me I would find my destiny in Hot Springs Junction. I assumed he meant the fact that we were all going to settle there, but who knows what he meant now?” Iago liked the idea that it was Xander who was his destiny and this baby, among other things.
He never wanted to be separated from his friends if he didn’t have to, after all.
“I like that you’re going to find what you need in Hot Springs Junction because I happen to be here.” Xander turned the heat down just a bit before coming over to drop a kiss on his lips.
“Hey, for all you know, the little sprog and I are going to be destiny-ing all by ourselves.” He put a hand on his belly.
“Nope. No solo destiny. Only with me.” That possessive alpha tone should have annoyed him, but it didn’t. In fact it made heat flutter in his belly.
“I like destiny-ing with you, lover. I like it a lot.” He stood and took another kiss, keeping it light and easy. Commercial kitchens were not places for hanky-panky — there were sharp things, hot things, the possibility of germs.
But he wanted Xander to feel like he was being seen and heard.
“Mmm. I like it too.” Xander squeezed his butt.
“Oh!” Iago went up on tiptoe. “Woo.”
“Will you two quit playing grab ass?” Amanda was back. “More chicken fingers, my friend. Someone else saw them.”
“You got it.” Xander patted him and got back to work.
“Chicken nuggets — the eternal crispy snack.”
Xander chuckled and nodded. “They’re yummy and easy. I’m not proud — if it makes the kids happy, I’m tickled.”
“Is our baby going to be a chicken nug expert?”
“Mmm…I’m thinking soup. He’ll be a soup fiend.”
“Oh, I can see that.” Iago felt like maybe the baby already had a soup fetish. “And yours is so good.”
“I’m glad you like it, baby.”
“It’s perfect. I mean it. It’s my favorite. Seriously, my absolute favorite food.” Chicken, potato, bean and bacon, chile verde — he was easy.
He even liked clam chowder, though only in winter.
“I was thinking of making some gazpacho. What is your stomach’s immediate response to that?”
He pondered that. So far, tomatoes hadn’t bothered him other than on pizza, so he was happy to try it. “Sure. Not too spicy?”
“We’ll start slow on the spice, then turn it up, fair?”
“Yes. Totally fair. I think I’d have more trouble with like, jalapeno than with the acid from the tomatoes.”
“Cool.” Xander moved around easily while he tapped out his message to his team. “Cucumber will be great for you.”
“Will it? I love cucumber. It’s mostly water, huh?”
“It is. But they’re also packed with all sorts of antioxidant compounds.” Xander grinned. “Rice, beans… Oh. Tortillas.”
“Mmm…I love tortillas with butter, hot off the grill.” His belly growled, making him smile.
“Flour, right? I kind of want people to be able to build a burrito.”
“Build a Burrito Day! We should do that with the guys one day.” He was like a caffeinated gnat on crack.
“We should. I like a baked potato bar, too.”
His eyes widened. “Oh my God, that’s like potato soup but still in the potato.”
Xander hooted, the sound so fond. “I love you, baby. Did I say that already?”
“Yes. But you can say it again. And again. Over and over.” It made Iago feel as if he could float, as if he had done something right, all on his own.
“Well, I do, baby. So much already. It’s a little scary.”
He met Xander’s gaze over the counter and his laptop, wanting to give that his full attention. “It is. But we’re smart dogs. We’ll figure it out. Okay?”
“Okay.” Xander grinned at him until the timer on the chicken nuggets beeped, and then he was back to work.
But if this was going to be how his life was? Iago was very okay with that.