Yes, obviously they would, but… “Oh yeah?” Will grinned as he sidled in a little closer to Cole. “Ready to snuggle up, buttercup?”
Cole rolled his eyes. “Never.”
“Aw, honeybee. Is that any way to talk to your boyfriend?”
“My imaginary, gold-digging boyfriend Burt?”
Fun over. “Ugh, why did you pick that name?” Will muttered. “I’ve never met a Burt I liked.”
“Me neither.”
Ooh, knives out.
Will decided discretion was the better part of valor and rubbed a hand over his face. “I still think we should have brought Campeau with us.”
Cole shook his head. “I wasn’t going to be responsible for corralling him this far. He’s fine where he is.” Which was handcuffed to the headboard of the massive bed back at the hotel, gagged, mostly naked, and without access to his phone. They’d left a direction with the hotel staff to check the room at six a.m., so even if they didn’t get back there Campeau would still be freed, but…
“Are you nervous?”
Will turned to Cole. “What?”
“You.” Cole had crossed his arms as he leaned back against one of the glass walls. It was a good look for him, apart from the leaning on a pane of glass part. Will resisted the urge to grab him by the tie and haul him out of danger.Perceiveddanger, he reminded himself. This was specialty glass, obviously, but…
“You seem genuinely nervous,” Cole said. “I didn’t think you got that way.”
Will bristled. “I’m fine.”
“Because if you’re not, you can leave. I’ll handle things myself from here on out.”
That would have almost been sweet, if it had come from a place of care. Instead, Will knew Cole was fishing for any reason he could find to ditch him, and Will would be good-God-damned if he was going to be kicked to the curb at this point. “Didn’t your mama ever tell you don’t dig up more snakes than you can kill?”
Cole blinked. “Ah, no. My mother never said anything like that to me.”
“Right,” Will commiserated. “Instead you had to put up with a bunch of nursery school lectures on cubism as an artistic reaction to rationalism in the industrial age. I bet the only gifts you got as a kid were those massive Lego sets, huh?”
“You—”
“Oh right, they probably gave you Monopoly to play against yourself, too. The point is, don’t make more trouble for yourself than you can manage, and I’m not here to cause trouble. I mean, not for us, at least.”
The conversation—argument, who was Will kidding—would undoubtedly have gotten a lot louder once Cole picked up his half of it again if the elevator hadn’t suddenly started to descend to the first floor.
He’s here.
They ended up on opposite sides of the elevator itself, the only real cover the place offered, waiting for Marcus to show his face. Cole had claimed dibs on calling him out, which was fine with Will; he didn’t care if he never saw that lying piece of shit again as long as he got his hands on the Puffin. They stood in silence as the elevator began to rise again, and after a breathless few seconds, the doors dinged. Marcus stepped into the room wearing a bulky jacket with the hood pulled over his head. The back of the jacket bulged oddly—did he have a backpack on underneath it? Was that where Marcus was keeping the Puffin?
Wait a fucking second…Marcus would never wear that getup, not the way it ruined his silhouette.
Will turned to Cole.That’s not him, he mouthed. Cole, mouth grim, nodded like he already knew that. Which, fine, of course he did, but what was the play now?
Apparently, it was stepping forward and simply saying, “Well? Where’s the Puffin?”
The man whirled around so fast the hood fell off his head. “You’re not Campeau,” he snapped in heavily accented English. “Where is he? I won’t do business with anyone else.”
Oh, son of a bitch. “Justin?” Will exclaimed. “Quoi lefuck,man, what are you doing here?”
“William?” The young, round-faced man with a pathetic excuse for a moustache blanched, and then?—
He ran for the stairs.
