Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Xander was really starting to get worried.
Either Iago was really sick with something like stomach cancer or some shit, or he was pregnant.
And he didn’t think Iago had really had a heat…
Oh, if Iago was pregnant, it was totally his, because it had been that long, but…
Was it possible?
Iago hadn’t said anything.
He would have said something, right? Surely he would have said something.
Unless he didn’t know. Because he seemed worried too.
Then again, maybe Iago was just worried about the weirdness with the blueprints. He’d brought them to Xander’s house so they could match up the elevations with the actual house, but they’d laid them down on the coffee table to get a drink from the makeshift kitchen, and they’d… disappeared.
Iago had freaked out. So had he, come to that. And then Iago had gotten sick again…
So Xander finally called Sebastian, asking him if they could meet for coffee at Xavi’s shop.
Together.
Just the three of them. Him, Bastian, and Xavi.
By the time Bastian was there, Xander was queasy himself, and Xavi was buzzing with questions.
“Stop, okay?” he told Xavi. “I need to sit down with you and Bastian and talk about this stuff. I promise, we’ll get there.”
“I’m trying. You always act like I can stop being me.”
“No. I know better. You’re a fluttery butterfly on crack, but we like you.” He smiled, Xavi sighed, and Bastian shook his head.
“No fussing. Coffee. The baby has decided sleeping at night is stupid. I need caffeine.” Bastian yawned so hard his jaw popped.
“I’m on it. Don’t start without me.” Xavi scurried off to get them coffee, and he knew there would be pastry, too.
Bastian stared at him, bleary-eyed. “Are you okay?”
“Define okay,” Xander said.
“I can’t. My brain hurts.”
“Oh, honey. You should call me. Or the guys. Hell, they have nothing to do for a few days. We could take the kids and let you catch up on sleep.” He offered over a hand.
“Yeah?” Bastian reached out and held on. “I love the girls, and it’s so much easier with Colton here, but I am not a night owl…”
“Totally. You know that between the bunch of us we have plenty of time during the day to give you a rest. It’s not like we can’t do it.” He squeezed Bastian’s hand and gave his best friend a kiss on the cheek. His problems could go by the wayside for a few minutes.
“Thanks, honey. You guys are amazing. I love you both.” Bastian took a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Hey, I overheard, and Xander’s right. We’ll be there for you.” Xavi brought them both a coffee, and then his new assistant followed holding plates of pastry, which she put down, before she grinned at them and left. “Now what can we do for you Xander? You’re acting like you’re freaking out.”
“I—Do you think Iago is pregnant?” He just blurted the words out.
Sebastian blinked rapidly. Xavi quacked like a duck. People glanced their way, though luckily Mrs. Hayes and Miss June were both deaf as posts.
“Uh, why do you think that?” Bastian asked.
“He’s sick all the time, but only at certain times of day.
” Xander started ticking things off. “All of a sudden he loves chicken noodle soup but hates red sauce. He keeps nodding off when we’re watching movies or when he’s working.
” He took a deep breath. “The house is so much worse now. I don’t even want to go in there. ”
“Is it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, we took the blueprints over there, left them on the coffee table for a minute, and went back…”
“And?” Xavi sounded almost breathless.
“They were gone.”
“Gone? Gone where?” Bastian asked.
“I don’t know. We’d run upstairs to—” Xavier’s cheeks heated. “You know…”
Bastian cackled. “Oh, I do know. I know it well.”
“You can both fuck off,” Xavi murmured. “I haven’t gotten laid in ages.”
“Why not?” he asked. “You’re cute. You should go to the Bad Badger down in the Springs and hook up.”
“Xander! Stop!”
“Why? There’s all sorts of silver fox daddies there.”
Xavi whacked him. “Shut. Up. That’s not who I’m in—So, you. Iago. Babies.”
“Yeah. I mean, yeah. Is that nuts?” He thought it might be nuts.
“Have you asked him? I mean, shouldn’t you ask him?” Bastian winked at him, smiled.
“Well, yes, but do I ask him with a bag from the convenience store in Secret Springs with a pregnancy test in it? Because he’s pretty clueless, I think. He’s worried something is wrong with his stomach.” And he didn’t think that was performative.
“Oh man, that’s kind of scary. Has he got an appointment with the doctor?”
Xander shook his head. “He doesn’t want to drive over the mountain. I think he’s too scared to do it.”
“So dude, get a pregnancy test, because if it’s not him being pregnant, then you need to get him down the mountain to go to the doctor.” Bastian looked very sure of himself. “If you don’t, then I’m going to tell Colton, and Colton will deal with it.”
Xavi snorted. “Heaven forfend.”
He kind of stared Bastian down a little bit. “Iago is my omega. I’ll deal with it.”
Xavi chuckled. “Look at you being all macho and shit.”
He wanted to actually growl. But Xavi was right. While he had resting grumpy cat face, he was pretty easygoing. Kinda. Mostly. So this was… new.
Still, a little part of his alpha soul whispered, “Mine,” whenever he thought about Iago, let alone pregnant Iago.
“I can deal with it. I’m seeing him tonight, so I’ll grab a test from the truck stop.”
“I’m a little excited for you…” Sebastian winked at him. “It’s a lot.”
“It is. I mean don’t get me wrong, I know very well that I’m getting serious about him really fast, but I don’t feel like it’s too fast. Like it’s exactly where I want to be, but I don’t know if the same feeling applies to him or not.
” In fact, the idea that this might send Iago into a panic, and that they would break up over it made him kind of nauseated.
“You…” Bastian shook his head. “You need to find out, huh? It’s important for you both.”
“I do. I guess we have to talk like adult human beings, huh?”
“You do. You also need to find those blueprints and figure out what’s going on with the house because if he’s going to move in with you and have a baby, trust me…” Sebastian waggled his eyebrows and then frowned. “You don’t want a baby in the house with active ghost activity if it’s not friendly.”
“You’re absolutely right. I don’t. It makes me crazy. I mean I’m gonna talk to the ghosts.” Xander made up his mind about that in a split second. That was probably easier than talking to Iago.
“Cool then you should meet up with Iago at his house tonight instead of yours if that’s what you’re gonna do. Wait to bring him back over to find the blueprints until after you’ve spoken with the ghosts.” Xavi shrugged when he stared at him. “What? I can be smart.”
“I never said you couldn’t babe. And I appreciate you thinking about me.”
Xavi snorted. “Nah I’m thinking about Iago.” He waved and got up to go deal with something at the counter that his assistant couldn’t handle.
“He’s such a smartass,” Xander said. “And you know he has a little convenience store in the gift shop here for the hotel. Why doesn’t he have pregnancy tests?”
“I don’t imagine it comes up too often, and you know the owners of the hotel stock that shop, and they’re lesbians.
” Sebastian reached out to put a hand over the top of his.
“You’re gonna do this, and you’re gonna be fine,” he said.
“Just run over to the truck stop, either one of them, doesn’t matter which way you go, and grab a pregnancy test. Give it to Iago tonight. ”
“Sure, absolutely, right. I’m on it.”
“There you are. Are you working at all tonight?” Sebastian squeezed his arm and then let him go.
“Yeah, I have to work a dinner, but only because there’s a group of sports guys at the hotel, some kind of team-building rafting trip. I’ll feed them, and after I make some boxed breakfast kind of stuff for them to take out with them in the morning, I can head home.”
But that wasn’t going to be enough time to talk to the ghosts before he saw Iago, so he would text his boyfriend and make sure they met at Iago’s house instead of his.
“Sounds great.” Bastian patted his hand. “So, you like Iago enough to raise babies?”
“I— Yeah. I think I do. Is that crazy?”
“No.” Bastian laughed. “I knew like a week after I met Colton.”
“But then you broke up.”
“No. I thought he’d abandoned me. That’s on his family.”
“It is.” Xavi was all of their greatest defender. In that, he reminded Xavier of Iago. “His parents were awful. I mean, Bastian was pregnant, and Colton was in a coma, and they lied to everyone. Don’t be that person Xander.”
He grinned. “Nope. I won’t. Not even close.”
“Is Iago close to his family?” Xavi asked, and Xander shook his head.
“He’s a foster kid. He moved around a lot and had some trouble. He and Mason school, and they folded him in when the rest of them showed up.”
Iago seemed incredibly good at creating families.
“Nice. I mean, foster care has to suck, but I’m glad he found his people, you know?” Xavi was moving around, wiping down tables, getting them refills.
“I am too.” Bastian squeezed his hand. “I’m glad he found you.”
“I resisted.” Xander shook his head. “Like a moron. But I know now.”
“Then you should keep him, right?” Bastian sounded so pleased.
“I will.” Xander chewed his lower lip, so Xavi breezed by and picked up his pastry to hover it in front of his mouth so he’d take a bite of that instead.
Oh.
Yummy.
He chewed and swallowed, then he took a deep breath. “God, this is scary.”
“Hey.” Sebastian stood up and came around to hug him from behind. “Of course it is. This is a total life change, no matter what you and Iago choose to do. But you have all of us.” Bastian chuckled. “We’re literally your village.”
“Right?” Xavi chuckled softly, nodded. “Your little weird assed mountain village.”
“I love you guys.” He patted Bastian’s arm. “Thank you.”
“We love you too. We’re the godparents, right?”
“You guys, I would never deprive you of the opportunity to be godparents. Although I’m sure Iago will want Gent to be there in the mix somewhere.”
“That makes perfect sense. Gent is rich.” Xavi sat another coffee down in front of him, whisking away his empty. “But you can have several god-uncles.”
“Tons,” Bastian agreed.
“Okay. Okay, yeah. So, I’ll go grab a test, then come do that dinner, and then… go see Iago.” He needed to text to make sure they met at Iago’s house, even if Xander had more privacy.
He also had pissed off ghosts he needed to chat with.