Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Xander was making Immy soft boiled eggs as she got dressed in his room. He had to make the most of being with her now as there definitely wouldn’t be any more incredible shower sex once Etta came home the next day.
Just then the doorbell rang, quite insistently.
He went to the intercom and saw that it was two of his brothers, Logan and Archer. Logan didn’t look happy, but then he never did. He was the oldest of the six of them and took that responsibility very seriously.
Xander cursed under his breath. He really didn’t want them here when Immy was here. But as the bell rang again, he knew he didn’t really have a choice. Logan even had his own key, which he hadn’t had call to use so far, but Xander wouldn’t put it past him to just come up.
He pressed the button to let them up and heard them stomp up the stairs. A few seconds later, they arrived in his lounge.
Logan cast an eye over him. ‘You’re alive then?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be alive?’
‘Maybe try answering your bloody phone,’ Archer said. ‘We were worried you were OK.’
Xander grabbed his phone which he hadn’t looked at since the night before, to see he had fourteen missed calls from all of his brothers. Although most notably, nothing from his parents.
‘Why wouldn’t I be OK?’
‘We heard you ran into a burning building to rescue a dog,’ Archer said.
‘Ah.’ Xander went back to the kitchen to remove the toast from under the grill from fear of starting his own fire.
‘Is that true?’ Logan said, following him. Archer helped himself to an apple from the fruit bowl and then followed them into the kitchen too, biting into the apple and crunching it in the most irritating way.
‘Umm, not technically. The building wasn’t exactly on fire, just the shop downstairs, and I went upstairs which wasn’t on fire. And I wasn’t there to save a dog, although I did carry him out of the building and take him to the vet afterwards.’
Xander saw Jacob wag his tail from his position on the sofa as if he knew they were talking about him.
‘What were you doing there then?’ Logan said.
‘I was there to save the woman that lived there.’
‘I knew there would be some woman involved,’ Logan said, rolling his eyes. ‘Pretty stupid thing to do if you ask me. You should have waited for the fire brigade to arrive and do their job.’
‘Oh, don’t give me that crap. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if someone was in trouble.’
‘Yes but I don’t have a daughter. You need to think about how your actions impact on her. What if you hadn’t made it out of there, then she would have lost both of her parents.’
Xander sighed. Logan probably had a point but he wasn’t going to admit that. ‘The flat wasn’t on fire. The fire in the shop had only just started. I was in and out in less than thirty seconds. I wasn’t in any danger.’
‘A lot can happen in thirty seconds,’ Logan said.
‘Who was the woman?’ Archer said, trying to steal a slice of toast.
Xander smacked his hand away. ‘None of your business.’
‘I’m just saying, there’s quite a lot of toast there. Did she reward you for your heroism with a night of passion?’
‘That’s definitely not any of your business,’ Xander snapped.
‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
There was a noise from the bedroom, inadvertently proving Archer’s point.
‘Well, I’m alive, as you can see. You two can go now,’ Xander said, gesturing for them to follow him to the door.
Unfortunately they didn’t move.
‘Which shop was it?’ Logan asked.
Xander sighed. Logan didn’t live directly in the town so he might not know the shops and their owners too well.
‘The sweet shop opposite.’
‘Immy’s,’ Logan said, concern creasing his face. ‘Is she OK?’
Well, that hope was dashed rather too quickly.
‘Yes, she’s fine.’ Xander chewed his lip while he deliberated over whether to tell them about the baby. They’d have to know at some point but maybe now wasn’t the time. He looked at Logan’s worried face and a stab of jealousy spiked through him. ‘Why are you so concerned about Immy?’
‘She’s family and that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be messing around with her,’ Logan said.
Xander guessed she technically was family or would be once his cousin, Quinn, married her sister in a few months. What was the technical term for your cousin’s wife’s sister? Cousin-in-law maybe. Certainly not a reason for him to stay away from her. ‘I’m not messing around with her.’
Archer stood there eating his apple, looking between them as if he was at a tennis match.
‘A series of one-night stands and then treating her like she doesn’t exist afterwards. What would you call it if not messing her around?’
Xander winced. It was like being told off by your dad, except his dad had never taken any interest in his life. Probably why Logan had stepped up into the role. Xander didn’t even want to know how Logan was aware the details of his sex life. Logan always knew when his brothers did something wrong.
‘I’m not messing around with her anymore.’
‘Good, I’m glad you’ve put that behind you. She’s a nice girl, she deserves better than to have you mess her around like that. You just need to stay away from her now.’
‘Hang on,’ Archer said, throwing the finished apple core in the bin and clearly wondering if he could get away with stealing a banana too.
‘If you’re not messing around with Immy, who’s in there?
’ He gestured to Xander’s bedroom as Immy started singing the first verse of, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’
Xander sighed. ‘That’s Immy.’
Logan folded his arms across his chest. ‘You just said—’
‘I said I wasn’t messing around with her anymore because we’ve decided to make a go of it, a proper relationship.’
‘Oh finally,’ Archer said.
‘What does that mean?’
‘You’ve been in love with her for months.’
‘I have not been…’ Xander trailed off because if he finished that sentence it would be a lie.
‘I guess the fire finally made you see sense,’ Archer said, swiping a banana and then having the audacity to grab a peach and stuff it in his pocket.
‘Something like that,’ Xander muttered, just wanting them out of there now. He certainly didn’t want to scare Immy off with his overbearing, pain-in-the-arse brothers.
Just then Immy came out the bedroom, wearing his shirt and a pair of shorts, towelling her tumble of red curls and still humming to herself. She hadn’t seen his brothers yet.
‘Well, I’ll definitely have to add the shower to my top five places to have sex,’ Immy said, rubbing her head. She lowered the towel and her face blushed as she spotted Logan and Archer. ‘Oh hello.’
Xander moved over to her, wrapping an arm round her shoulders and kissing her forehead. ‘Sorry, they were just leaving. They wanted to check we were OK.’
‘I’m so sorry to hear about your shop, Immy,’ Logan said, somehow completely bypassing her faux pas.
‘Whatever you need to help you get back on your feet, please let us know. We’re all pretty practical in making, building or fixing things.
You don’t have to wait for the insurance to decide to help or not. We can help now.’
‘Thank you. I’m not sure where to start and how much everything will cost.’
‘You don’t need to worry about that,’ Logan said. ‘You’re family.’
Her smile faltered a little as she looked up at Xander. ‘Did you tell them about the baby?’
He winced. ‘Not yet.’
‘Oh.’ Immy flushed and turned back to face his brothers. ‘Umm… surprise,’ she said, dryly.
‘You… you’re pregnant,’ Logan said, while Archer stared at them with wide eyes.
‘Yes, umm… Three months approximately. Well, a fraction over.’ A smile grew on her face. ‘He or she is due October first so they’ll be an autumn baby.’
She placed a hand on her belly and looked up at Xander, happiness and excitement shining from her eyes. He couldn’t help smiling too, her happiness was infectious.
‘Congratulations,’ Logan said, though he looked far from delighted.
‘It’s mine, just in case you were wondering,’ Xander said.
Logan nodded.
Archer came over to give Immy a hug. ‘That’s wonderful news, congratulations to you both.’ He clapped Xander on the back. ‘I can’t wait to teach him or her all about dinosaurs.’
Xander smiled at that. As a palaeontologist and now running his own business as a paleo-artist, Archer knew everything there was to know about dinosaurs and had spent many hours teaching Etta all about them.
Brook had hated Etta’s passion for dinosaurs, hoping she would fall in love with ballet or wear pretty dresses.
She’d hated that Etta’s favourite clothes were dinosaur jumpers or leggings.
Once Brook died, the first thing Xander did was paint dinosaurs all over Etta’s bedroom walls, much to her delight.
‘That will be great,’ Immy said.
‘Well, we should go,’ Logan said. ‘Let us know what you need for the shop.’
Immy nodded. ‘I will, thanks.’
Xander waved goodbye to them and they left.
Immy looked up at him in concern. ‘Logan didn’t seem very happy about the pregnancy.’
‘Logan doesn’t do happy about anything, I wouldn’t worry about it. Besides, if he’s upset, it’s because he’s angry at me, not you.’
‘Why would he be angry at you?’
‘Probably thinks I didn’t use protection.’
‘But we did. I know I wasn’t sure before if there was a time we might have forgotten, but after this afternoon when you didn’t use a condom, I know for a fact that was the first time. It felt different, more… intimate. I would have remembered that if it happened before.’
‘I thought that too.’
‘So tell him you have super-powered sperm and see if he’s impressed by that.’
‘Somehow I don’t think he will be. Anyway, I made you your eggs. With toasted soldiers.’
She smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. ‘Thank you for looking after me. And I’m sorry you’re getting it in the neck because of me.’
‘Oh, don’t worry about that. Logan will always find something about me to complain about.’
She nodded but still looked worried as she walked towards the food and that made him worried. He had to protect what they had because it already felt so fragile. He had to fight for it because he was pretty sure he was already falling in love with her.