Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Xander tugged his T-shirt over his head, then shimmied into a pair of jeans, mentally running down the list of shit he had to get done today.
The hotel was pretty sparse on guests, so the ladies who owned it were just offering a few pre-made meals he’d done, as well as sandwiches and bacon and eggs, but there was an eightieth birthday party he was catering up there today, so he needed to get up to the pass and get to work.
Xavi walked in once he was in the big kitchen, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a sandwich in the other, the third part of the three Hot Springs musketeers offering him a warm grin. “I thought maybe you could use a hand.”
One of his eyebrows shot up. “The coffee shop not open?”
“I got a teenager in training — Jami Keller.”
Xander cackled, just about tickled. “Oh, look at you, having an employee.”
“She’s not really an employee. She’s a part-time person so I can go pee sometimes.”
Xander nodded. That rocked for Xavi in a deep joyous way. He loved that Hot Springs Junction was having a wee Renaissance. “I’ll totally take the sandwich and the coffee and the offer of help.”
“Sausage, egg, and cheese.” Xavi handed over the sandwich. “And sure, why not? I have time off from my coffee-making duties. I should totally make food with you.” Xavi winked at him. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen anybody.”
“Well, my house is awash with ghost hunters, and I’ve been staying elsewhere.”
“Do you have a room here at the hotel? You can always stay with me.”
His cheeks were so hot, but he shook his head no. “I have a bed.”
One that was warm and filled with Iago and involved sex, a lot of really hot sex.
Morning sex.
Afternoon delight sex.
Post supper sex.
Post midnight snack sex.
He was pretty sure his dick was raw.
Spoiler. It was totally worth it.
“Huh.” Xavi eyed him, expression one of pure speculation. “Well, good on you, my friend.”
He snorted, then stuffed his face with sandwich before he could blurt out details. Iago might not want him to kiss and tell. Not even to Xavi.
And besides, this all felt new and fragile.
“Am I going to have to call Sebastian, or are you just going to confess?” Those dark eyebrows went up and down.
“Confess to what, dude?”
Xavi rolled his eyes. “I literally know every single person in this town. Literally. You have to be sleeping with one of the Spooky Brigade.”
“Spooky Brigade?” Okay, that was pretty cute. They might need T-shirts.
“Mmhmm.” Xavi tapped his chin with one finger. “Now I know it’s not Gent, because he’s not your type.”
Oh, was that a little bit of jealousy in Xavi’s words?
“That leaves Law, Mason, or Iago. If I had to bet — which I’m pretty good at, by the way — I’m going to bet you’re making the beast with two backs with Iago.”
Xander blew out a breath and tried to swallow the sausage in his throat at the same time.
He flailed around, searching for a drink and finding his coffee, which was whoa hot and burned his tongue.
Xavi was banging on his back, and he sprayed the counter with the mouthful of coffee.
Any other time he’d be alone in the kitchen, and he could just deal with it in an appropriate way.
As it was, he just choked it back, eyes watering as Xavi stared at him, worrying.
“It’s cool, buddy. Iago’s cute. He’s got a nice little body, he has great taste in coffee, and he has decent taste in chocolate. Not great, but decent.”
He glared at Xavi, his eyebrows lowering. “Look, not everybody can eat chocolate that’s got like ninety percent cocoa and tastes just like bread.”
“Look, Hershey boy.” Xavi waved a hand. “That shit is nasty.”
“I like milk chocolate.” This was why he was a cook, not a chef. “But yeah. it’s Iago.”
“Yeah? That’s exciting, isn’t it?” Xavi tilted his head. “It is exciting, right?”
“It is. It’s just new. And I was kind of awful to him for a hot minute, so I need to step carefully to begin with. I hurt his feelings, and I feel super-lucky that he still likes me.” And he wasn’t going to mess that up, dammit.
“You always are.”
He blinked at Xavi. “I’m always what?”
“Mean to people when you first met them because you’re scared they’re not going to like you, so you try to push them away before they can push you away, which is weird, but it’s totally you.”
He gritted his teeth and stared. “Shut up.”
“You shut up.”
“You shut up more.” Was he actually doing this? “I need carrots cut.”
“Okay, how? Coins or sticks or…”
“Matchsticks, but not shreds.” He could always count on Xavi. He really could.
Xavi beamed at him. “Not a problem. I live to cut things into little matchsticks.” He grabbed a batch of carrots and started to wash them. “So, tell me about the ghosties in the house. Have you figured anything out?”
He shook his head and started browning butter. “Iago is researching about the house, and the guys are taking all of these readings and stuff. Of course, the more that they do, the worse it gets.”
“Oh, ugh. I bet. It’s like Sebastian’s place did, huh? When Colton showed?” Xavi carefully sliced and julienned.
“Exactly like that. Except I’m supposed to live in the not-haunted house.”
“That sucks. Have they damaged anything that you brought in to do the reno?”
“Not so far.” He pulled out mushrooms, then began wiping them down with towel.
“Oh well, that’s good. God knows you don’t need that mess, but you can’t tell what happened, why it started now? I mean, I’ve been to your house a million times in my lifetime, and nobody ever threw anything at me from nowhere or rattled chains.”
“I know.” He got his knife out and started chopping the mushrooms, the sound like a rat-a-tat-tat of an old-fashioned Tommy gun.
“I don’t understand. It wasn’t until I started renovating in the kitchen, but we can’t find anything like an old gas line or a hole in the wall or weird stuff in the old cabinets.
“Well, you’re going to figure it out, or at least the spooky guys will.”
Xander chortled. If he wasn’t careful, Xavi would have him calling the crew ‘The Spooky Guys,’ and he’d get his ass in trouble. “You’re killing me with the spooky guy stuff. It’s not like you don’t know their names.”
“Sure, but I’m not entirely certain they know mine.” Xavi presented him with a perfectly julienned batch of carrot matchsticks. “What next, and what are you making anyway?”
“One, you know they know your name. Colton is well aware. Abby says it a thousand times a day.” He winked over, teasing easily.
“And two, I’m making one of those Chinese chicken salad things first. You know, with the crunchy chow mein noodles and the ginger dressing.
The birthday girl wants some sort of family recipe chow mein thing from like the 1960s or 70s.
I don’t know. It looks interesting. I’m looking forward to it. ”
He loved old family recipes, and a lot of times he asked for them when he was hired to cater a birthday or a wedding anniversary that was advanced into the years.
Food memories were important, and it was just as important to introduce them to friends and family who may never have gotten to eat them before.
“You’re such a weirdo. You want me to do something like cabbage then?”
“Do you mind doing it on the mandolin?” It needed to be thinly shredded in order to melt into the recipe like it was supposed to.
“You know I’m not afraid of sharp stuff.” Xavi winked at him before pulling the mandolin out from underneath one of the steel counters. He set it up to the right gauge and then started shredding. “How many people are coming to this birthday?”
“Like fifty?”
“Holy shit. I’m surprised they didn’t do it over at the hotel in Secret Springs.”
He had to laugh at that. “Well, as much as I love Charlie,” Xander said, referring to the manager of the Grand Springs hotel, “The ladies here offer a lot cheaper stuff, and it’s closer. It’s Mrs. Arbuckle.”
“Oh, shit. I didn’t realize that. I’m surprised you didn’t do it down at the park in town.”
“I think she wanted to feel fancy. The park would have just been another cookout.”
It wasn’t exactly a fancy hotel up here in the pass, but it didn’t matter for Mrs. Arbuckle. That was the only thing that anyone cared about.
“Wanna turn on the radio?” Xavi asked.
“Yeah, put on something to chop to.” He loved when Xavi chose the music, because it was always something like Latin pop or Latin rap, and they could shake their butts all over the kitchen.
By the time Xavi had to go back to the coffee shop because his teenage assistant texted and said she needed a hand, ninety percent of his mise en place was done, and he was far farther ahead than he had expected to be.
He put everything into containers and stuck it in the fridge so he could walk over with Xavi and get another cup of coffee.
Xavi’s little coffee shop was rocking when they got over there — the place packed with laughter and chatter, which was a little weird given that it was not quite lunchtime.
The entirety of the Echoes cast was there in the coffee shop, along with Abby and Dani both. Sebastian was noticeably absent.
He looked around with a curious smile. “What’s going on?”
Iago looked up from the kids’ table where he was coloring with Abby. “Oh, it was time for a break, and we decided to come up here.”
Colton nodded, peeking up from his laptop. “Sebastian had a consultation online, so we decided, what the hell, let’s go visit our favorite coffee place.”
“Nice.” Xavi beamed at them as he headed back behind the counter. “Give my new part-timer a trial by fire, huh?”
Xander shuffled closer to Iago. “And a nice day for a drive up here, too, huh?”
“That was exactly what I said,” Iago murmured. “A nice day for a drive. Ideal, in fact. Why not head up to the pass and see what’s on offer at the coffee shop?”
Mason let out a sharp laugh. “Ha! It was way more like, ‘I’m going up to the coffee shop to see if Xander is up there. I’m taking the babies. If you guys want to come you can.’”
Iago’s cheeks went a violent shade of pink.
How was that so adorable?
“Well, well. Are we having a mad affair?”
Xander was going to kick Xavi’s butt.