Page 26

Confusingly, that shout did not come from Marcus. In fact, Marcus whirled to face asecondfigure in black, which launched itself out of the shadows at him.

Andy had a quick, confused glimpse of black jeans, black turtleneck, a black-streaked face beneath a black toque—and then Marcus and…Quinn? Was that—could that—but yeah,Quinnand Marcus tumbled down the narrow staircase.

“Quinn. Jesus…”

Bathrobe flapping, Andy ended his call and ran down the stairs after them.

They all landed at the bottom of the steps at about the same instant. Marcus was larger, but it seemed Quinn had the advantage of surprise. Also the advantage of a lot of other advantages which seemed to include fight moves straight out of a martial-arts movie.

Somehow Quinn was on his feet before Marcus—swearing heavily and seeming half-stunned—managed to get to his handsand knees. Quinn dragged Marcus upright by his hair and slammed him into the wood paneling.

The whole shop seemed to shake with the impact.

“Whoareyou? What do youwant?” Marcus cried.

Quinn slammed him into the wall again, felt him over in a fast, efficient frisk, and then let him go. Marcus slid down the wall, breathing hard, staring from Quinn to Andy.

“Fucking psycho…”

“You okay, Andy?” Quinn also sounded out of breath. “You know this guy?”

“Who the fuckareyou?” Marcus demanded.

“Right back at you, pal. Who areyou?”

Andy was grateful, of course. There had been a minute there when Marcus started up the stairs— But he was just as bewildered as Marcus. “What are you doing here, Quinn?”

“I told you. I owed you one.Areyou okay?”

Andy nodded. “Yeah. Fine. Thanks.” He meant it. He felt sick at the memory of the look on Marcus’s face. Marcus was not big on conversation, and he had not shown up that night to discuss divvying up the DVDs.

And yet that was not the most confusing thing that had happened in the last five minutes.

“Oh, I get it now.” Marcus recovered his normal aplomb fast. “You’re the new boyfriend.” To Andy, he said, “Maybe you should tell him whoIam.” He didn’t try to rise, but settled back against the wood paneling as though it was his choice to sit on the floor at their feet.

Andy scowled. “This is Marcus Bok. My ex.”

Quinn cocked a skeptical eyebrow in Marcus’s direction.

“Yourex?” Marcus’s laugh of disbelief sounded genuine. “Is that what he’s telling you? News to me!”

“It always is to guys like you.” Quinn asked Andy, “What do you want to do with him?”

That got Marcus’s attention.

“He belongs in jail,” Andy said.

“You little shit! After everything I’ve done for you?” Marcus tried to rise, Quinn stepped forward, and somehow the back of Marcus’s head hit the wall again. Hard.

Andy winced. He knew exactly how it felt to have someone shove your head into a wall. But then again, Marcus was the reason he knew that.

“Andy,” protested Marcus. “Youaskedme to come here. You said you wanted to talk it out.” To Quinn he said, and he sounded unnervingly sincere, “He’s my boyfriend. We were together three years. Of course I wanted to see if we could work it out!”

Andy opened his mouth to protest, but Quinn gave a funny laugh. He said to Marcus, “I guess it was a formal call. You’re wearing gloves.”

Andy stared down at Marcus’s big hands encased in black leather. All at once, he felt a little light-headed.

Marcus retorted, “It’s cold, man. You’re wearing gloves too!”