Chapter 15 #3
“Still?” He went to the kitchen, finding his perfect cornbread cut into pieces, one section removed. “I see someone has stolen a slice. I wonder who that could be.” He glared at Mason, who held his hands up and shook his head.
Iago winced. “It just looked so good, and it was still hot, so I could have it with a little butter…”
“You’re allowed to steal whatever you want. In fact it’s not stealing because what’s mine is yours.”
“Awww,” Law and Mason chorused together.
Iago flushed with pleasure, he thought. “Thanks. So, soup?”
“Soup. Do you guys want soup or chili?”
“Chili.” Mason and Law were doing that two-headed man thing today where they were saying the same thing at the same time a lot.
“You got it. I’ll heat some stuff up, and we can have a feast. I’m guessing Colton and Sebastian are eating at home.”
“Yeah. Colton said he would go hang out with the fam for a while.” Law waved a hand in the air. “And I think maybe Gent swiped right on something.”
Iago bounced a little bit. “Oh, how cool would that be? First Gent can hook up, and then you two can start having a thing.”
Law and Mason stared at each other in pure shock, then stared back at Iago.
“Ew.”
“Dude.”
“We’re like—”
“—brothers.”
Law nodded to Mason. “He is the big brother. I’m the baby brother. Besides that, we both want kids someday.”
Mason agreed, “Not now, but in a few years. Sure, little ghost-hunting babies.”
Xan couldn’t even imagine either Law or Mason as a parent.
Of course, he couldn’t imagine himself as a parent either, so—
Iago put a hand over his, drawing his attention. “You’re going to be a great alpha dad. I’ve seen you with Sebastian’s kids. You’re amazing.”
“Was I being obvious?” Xander asked.
“A little wild around the eyes.”
“Sorry.” He kissed Iago’s nose, then got busy with food.
It was easy. He understood it, and it never caused crazy complications.
Well, it caused crazy complications right now because his kitchen was still all torn up.
He was going to be heating things up in a toaster oven in the dining room, but it was okay.
They stove was off until the mine shaft was sealed. He could live with it.
“Come in and sit with me while I heat stuff up?”
Iago could move from the kitchen, where he’d perched himself, a few feet into the dining room. It wouldn’t hurt anything.
“So we’re going to cover that hole up tonight, right?”
“Yeah, but you can come stay at my place. No problem.” Iago’s shoulders were up near his ears. “I’m sorry this became such a deal. I didn’t think that we’d find that you had an open mine shaft under your house.”
“Yep, it’s absolutely the weirdest thing that I’ve ever experienced.” And that was the god’s honest truth. Sebastian’s ghosts had seemed…way more reasonable.
“Lucky.”
He blinked at Iago, “What?”
“Oh, dude, you’ve got ghosts throwing books and a mineshaft.” Iago chuckled. “Mason got possessed by an axe-wielding maniac in your best friend’s house. We found a skeleton of a child murdered in the seventeen-hundreds once. That was wicked.”
Xander stared. He did not understand this. Not at all. “And you do this on purpose.”
Iago stilled, lips going tight. “Well, yeah, it’s a neat job. I get to learn all sorts of things about all sorts of stuff, especially here. It’s nice to have a home base. Colton’s happy, Gent’s happy, and Mason’s happy. I love it here.”
How did Iago do that, steal the wind from his grumpy sails? “Well, I’m glad. I don’t know that I love that you’re a ghost hunter, though.”
“Well, you knew I was a ghost hunter before you got pregnant with me, and apparently that was that.”
That statement was crystal clear, and to be honest? Iago totally had a point.
Xander had fallen in love with somebody who hunted ghosts, and he’d better get the fuck over it.
He had to grin at that, because it didn’t matter. He would have fallen for Iago no matter what he did. He could have been a chimney sweep for all Xander cared. And it was handy to have ghost hunters around if he had a ghost, or more than one ghost.
He started the cornbread heating back up in the toaster oven, then looked around the dining room. “Okay, you guys, wherever you are, can’t you just write a note or something to tell us what you want?”
To his utter shock, the blueprints of his house —the ones that Iago had brought — fluttered down onto the kitchen floor, appearing from nowhere.
Everyone stopped and stared for a long moment, and it was Iago who broke the silence and said, “I gotta call the guys.”
Mason nodded, “I’ll take readings.”
“I don’t think we should touch it.”
Xander was all over that. That was the first logical thing Law had said. He got out his phone though and took a picture of it as it lay on the floor.
“You’re right, but obviously that was an answer, yeah? Somebody is answering me so thank you, whoever that was, for the help.”
He’d learned from Sebastian that if the ghosts were assisting, one always tried to make sure they thanked them.
Iago hung up his phone. “The guys are on their way. Thank you, ghosts. We appreciate you.” Iago smiled up at the ceiling. “We’re going to figure this out, I promise.”
“We will.” Xander was determined. He needed to close this chapter to fully open the one with Iago.
And he was so ready to do that it hurt.