Page 127 of Sinful Crimes for the Artistically Inclined
Percy’s concern required an answer, but Joe could never, ever tell Percy the truth. Percy thought he was good. Percyliked the Joe that could take care of him. He liked the sweet, loveable Joe that was the yang to his yin, the light to his dark. He liked the Joe he thought he knew… But if he had even an inkling of the truth—that Joe had done things so much worse than anything Percy had ever done—how was he to explain that?
“It’s very expensive,” he attempted.
“So is London. But listen, it’s okay.” Percy rubbed his hand. Joe could see the disappointment in his eyes when he chanced a look up, even if there was no sign of it in the reassuring smile or the light tone. “We’ll go somewhere else. We’ll just go to London. Or, if you’d like an adventure, we could see which planes are departing to which locations in the next few hours. I’m sure we can find a hotel in any major city.”
He hated so much to let Percy down. And Percy was intelligent. If he knew Joe didn’t want to go, he’d wonder why. And if he ever looked into it… “You already got a hotel in Rome?”
“I’ll have Leo cancel it.”
“No, no, don’t do that, it’s?—”
“No, Joe, if there’s a reason you don’t want to go to Rome?—”
“There’s no reason.” He thought he sounded very sure and very cheery.
But Percy knew something was up. “You don’t have to tell me.” He lowered his head to catch Joe’s averted gaze. “I would never ask you to do that.”
“There’s nothing. It’s just…” He risked pissing Percy off again, but it was all he could think of. “It’s just the money. Um… But you’re right. London’s probably even worse. But maybe, could we compromise a little, and maybe eat in some nights? Just… Spread the spending out a bit?”
Percy took too long to answer. He was thinking it over. Far too smart, far too sharp.
Joe swept Percy’s hands up and kissed them. “Becauseyou’re going to be my husband someday. And that means youaresaving for retirement now. With me.”
All those lonely years, and Joe had never once imagined he might one day be looked at with so much love. Percy was the one, no doubt about it. His one true love. He was worth the risk. And what risk? A decade on, no one would recognise him. It was nothing.
Percy said, “Are you sure that’s all? Because I promise I can afford it. And after we do this heist?—”
“Sshht!” Joe gave a scandalised glance towards the driver, who was trying his best to ignore the pair of them, then lowered his voice to barely above the sound of the engine. “If you say so. I trust you completely. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with staying in on occasion.” Joe knew the best way to a shift in conversation would be to let Percy tell Joe all about how he planned to spoil him, so he started with a leading, “Besides, I bet you’ve picked somewhere nice.”
“The best!” Percy was already beaming again, animated, just the way Joe loved to see him. “We actually do have the best terrace for cocktails.”
“Oh really?”
“It’s enormous. Grape vines, statues, the lot.”
“Sounds beautiful.”
“It overlooks the Colosseum.”
Joe burst out laughing, half relief he’d regained the ground he thought he might have lost with Percy, and half defeated adoration. He was going to have to save for the pair of them, he could tell already. But what a life it would be.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
ROMAN HORROR-DAY
The apartment in Rome was everything Joe had, in a few short weeks, grown to expect from Percy. Big, beautiful, luxurious, tasteful. Their first night was drinks and dinner on the terrace, and it was spectacular. There, under a golden moon, the Colosseum below and gorgeously lit with orange lights beneath a dark and darkening blue sky, they discussed the next stage of their plans.
Percy was charmingly frank about his scheme to steal the haunted painting. He made it sound like a lark. They would have costumes, fake names, the full heist gear, and it felt to Joe like the adventure of a lifetime. Not least because, for the first time, it really seemed to Joe that Percy was opening the door on his secret life, and allowing him to step inside.
The threat of Cleo remained, but with both Althea and Leo safely hidden away, and no one having heard a thing about the princess in over a week, the two were in agreement that the hefty reward for grand theft art should be obtained first, to allow them to track Cleo wherever she might move next, and put an end to whatever her evil machinations were once and for all.
Well into the night, when the two were tipsy and warm in their romance, Percy’s eagerness to wander the city streets got the better of Joe. It was dark anyway, and hardly anyone was about. It seemed like a perfectly safe thing to do. And it was worth the small risk to hold Percy’s hand and wander aimlessly about such a beautiful place. The holiday they had both dreamed of since the start of their adventure.
Joe was both surprised and charmed by Percy’s fast friendship with several of the city’s cats, and the relaxed ambience of it all made him brave enough to call into a few very quiet bars, where no one recognised either of them.
The next day, Joe having been bolstered by that experience, they ventured out a little more, then a little more again the next day, until Joe began to feel comfortable enough to really enjoy everything the city had to offer. Percy was so perfectly at home there, and there was always a church with a ‘favourite’ artwork he needed to show Joe. Or there was simply a stroll across the Tiber, getting caught in the rain and kissing on a bridge as lightning cracked above them and they got drenched in the downpour. Every moment instilled in the pair the belief that everything was going to be fine—that they were utterly made for one another.
Four days in, and Joe was comfortable, or complacent enough, to agree to dinner at a small trattoria that Percy, as usual, described as the best. The place was cute, and was quiet when they arrived, but it soon filled up until it was warm and crowded. They’d already ordered their meals and started on a carafe of wine when Joe became aware of the eyes on him.
