Will rested his hands on the kitchen island, staring at the pizza instead of meeting Cole’s gaze. “I mean, no, he hasn’tforgiven you for that. But it’s mostly the part where you told people he cheated on you that he hasn’t forgiven.”
“Oh, that poor thing.” Cole let the sarcasm drip. “I should’ve considered the widdle feelings of the manwhore who cheated on me.” He rolled his eyes.
To Will’s credit, a flicker of guilt went across his face. Fidgeting nervously, he said, “Okay, but he does still hold a grudge against you. Same as he does against Desiree. And me.”
Cole tilted his head. “What the fuck does he have against you? Did you smoke some other dude’s rope while you were?—”
“Hey,” Will snapped. “Marcuscheated on you. Not me. You can hate him all you want, but don’t fucking blame me.”
“You were a willing party,” Cole threw back. “So don’t act like?—”
“I didn’t know he had a boyfriend!”
“Bullshit, you didn’t.”
Will made a frustrated sound and threw up his hands. “For fuck’s sake. Believe whatever you want, okay? But I don’t cheat, and I don’t take part in other people’s cheating.” He paused, then quietly added, “Not willingly.”
“Yeah. Sure you don’t.” Cole waved a hand. “Anyway. Why is he pissy with you?”
Will glared like he was debating pushing the issue, and Cole was ready. He was in a hell of a mood tonight, and headache or not, he was happy to throw down verbally with the man who’d gleefully played hide-the-pickle withhisboyfriend.
Again, though, Will appeared to let it go. With a heavy sigh, he let his shoulders drop. “Ironically, he hasn’t forgiven me for the same reason you said he hasn’t forgiven you—for breaking up with him.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. I dumped him, and nobody dumps Marcus.” He tutted and rolled his eyes again. “We’re supposed to wait untilhe’sdonewithus, and…” He gestured sharply. “Anyway. I tried to end it amicably, he lost his shit, and here we are.”
“But he’ll still tip you off about a lucrative steal.”
“And he’ll tipyouoff about it.”
“Mmhmm. And the woman who bested him and humiliated him was there.” Cole absently thumbed the corner of the pizza box. “Along with Ivan Glazkov.”
Furrowing his brow, Will asked, “Is there a connection between those two?”
Nodding, Cole said, “They did some jobs together in the early days. But in his legitimate life, Ivan is an art critic.”
Will grimaced. “Oh, shit. Was he the one who wrote that big article about Marcus’s landscape collection?”
“Yep. Marcus was using a pseudonym at the time because Desiree had turned his name into a punchline. Ivan didn’t know that pseudonym was Marcus, and he just—God, he fucking destroyed the whole series. Like, I’m pretty sure that article singlehandedly debunked the idea that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
Will whistled low. “Fuck.”
“Uh-huh. It was bad. That was the end of their friendship, and I doubt Marcus is any closer to forgiving him than he is us.”
“So that’s at least four people there tonight who’ve been crossed off Marcus’s Christmas card list.” Will folded his arms again and shifted his weight. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“No, definitely not.”
They were both silent for a long, contemplative moment. Across the island, Will quirked his lips, brow furrowed and eyes unfocused as if he were deep in thought. Cole was tempted to snark about whether Will was capable of deep thought, but his gut told him to keep quiet this time.
Finally, Will said, “What if…” He hesitated, then tentatively met Cole’s gaze. “What if we were all there ashisdiversion?”
Cole straightened. “Go on.”
Shifting his weight, Will rapidly drummed his fingers on the counter. “Think about it. He made sure we both knew about the Puffin. There were at least five other people from our circle at that party, one of whom made a play for the Puffin… which turned out to be fake.” His fingers stilled. “Seven art thieves, at least some of whom have bad blood with Marcus, all on a—well, a wild puffin chase, I guess.”
“But Marcus himself wasn’t there and didn’t make a play for it,” Cole murmured, catching the thread. “There’s no way he’d ever try to steal something that securely protected himself. So the question is, did he want all of us to get arrested? Or were we the diversion while he was making a play for something else?”
