Page 47 of Lovesick Gods (Lovesick #1)

“He was always unstable. Had a temper,” the assistant manager, Chris Stantz, told Danny when he questioned him. “But, man, six months ago, he lost it.”

Six months ago , when Thanatos was defeated—that was too great a coincidence.

There was a bigger piece to the puzzle Danny was missing.

Rick would have been able to figure it out, even with the lacking evidence.

They’d always complemented each other so well, noticed things the other didn’t.

Danny and his father thought too much alike to make good partners in quite the same way.

Every time he passed other officers in the precinct, he felt their eyes on him, as if they were thinking the same thing—that Danny was useless without Rick.

It didn’t help that John always lingered when he was in the office, like he wanted to take up Rick’s desk and fill the gap left behind, but he never asked. And Danny didn’t offer.

He gamed with Andre Thursday night as promised—not Heists .

They played Diablo III ; Andre a Crusader, Danny a Demon Hunter.

It was definitely more fun than the previous game night.

But something hung in the air, the sense that Andre was using kid gloves around him and trying too hard to cheer him up.

When Danny replenished his plate of food, he snuck away to take one of the pills from Lynn.

He wasn’t sure if they worked, but when he felt his emotions spike, the act of taking one made him pause, think, breathe .

He’d been taking them consistently ever since giving in and choking back the first one.

The week passed too slowly regardless, with too little progress at work, too much tension around family and friends, no opportunity to see Cho, and while the pills helped, they didn’t take the pain away completely. It all built up like a steadily sparking powder keg waiting to blow.

“Danny?” Joey said when the two of them were setting the table Friday night. This week, family dinner had been scheduled for the end of the week. Joey actually speaking to Danny was a nice change from the awkward silence that usually hovered around them. “What did you bring to add to the meal?”

Tonight they were having steak— à la John—while Stella provided most of the side dishes and Joey had made a salad.

“Oh, uhh…bread,” Danny said. “Just need to heat it up in the oven. I better get on that.” Rushing back into the kitchen, he lightning jumped to the corner store and returned with a loaf of rosemary and garlic bread in only a few minutes. He knew he’d forgotten something.

When he returned to the dining room, he found John and Stella helping Joey finish the table.

Walking in on the three of them like that gave Danny pause—the more comfortable laughter between them and the rhythm in which they moved was humbling to witness.

Only six months since Joey had lost his mother, the only parent he’d ever known, and already he was so at home with a father and sister.

“This isn’t a spectator sport, kiddo,” John said with an authoritative point of his finger and teasing smirk. “Go get the napkins, huh? You’re about to be blown away by how I did these steaks.”

Danny tried to smile in kind, but once they were sitting at the table, playing at being a happy family, his attention drifted to Joey’s watch with a yellow lightning bolt decorating the face.

Every time he looked at Joey there was another reminder of how he’d failed and of how someone half his age was handling that same loss so much better than he was.

They were halfway through dinner when Danny’s phone buzzed. He didn’t think much of it when he checked the message. He’d left things tentative about seeing Cho tonight—if dinner ended early, which was unlikely—so he knew it couldn’t be him.

Bow before my glory—The Invisible Man is ready. Come test out your new suit, bro!

Andre, it’s family dinner night, remember?

I know, I know, but this is just a quick field test to see if you can use your powers without the reflectors fritzing. Fifteen minutes tops. Say you’re running out for ice cream.

Danny was too sorely tempted to not accept the offer. That stealth suit could make or break his chances against Ludgate, and right now he had no idea when the thief would strike again.

“Something important, Danny?” Joey asked, noticing his diverted attention.

Typing quickly, Danny messaged Andre that he was on his way. “Yeah, actually. Andre needs my help with something back at the precinct. I wouldn’t normally duck out, but it’ll only be fifteen minutes. You mind, Dad?”

“Wouldn’t normally, right,” Joey muttered—softly, but not quite low enough not to be heard.

Danny turned his focus back to the boy. “Something you wanna say, Joey?”

Stella and John both shot him a reproachful look. He knew he didn’t have a right to snap when Joey wasn’t exactly wrong, but he’d always known he wasn’t imagining the sneers in Joey’s smiles.

He was smiling now, but nothing about it looked friendly.

“Yeah, I do. Are you ever actually here when you’re with us?

Half the time you don’t show, even though you live here.

And when you do show up, half that time you’re on your phone.

Or staring off into space. You know, if you don’t want to be here, it wouldn’t bother me to see you gone. ”

“ Joey ,” John said sternly.

“What? Am I the only one who thinks Danny doesn’t want anything to do with this family? You really think that’s gonna change after it’s official?”

“Official?” Danny darted his eyes to his father. “What’s he talking about?”

Leaving his own meal unfinished, John gave a long, suffering sigh.

Stella didn’t look surprised. She’d already known. Of course she knew. She was Joey’s case worker; she was the reason they’d taken him in to begin with.

“Joey fits well here, Danny,” John said. “No reason for him to go anywhere else. I’ve been working on redoing the upstairs so he can move out of Stella’s old room—”

“And you weren’t even going to tell me you’re adopting him? No, I suppose not,” Danny looked across the table at the Dark leaning young man, “since I’m not a part of this family.” Throwing his napkin on the table, he snatched up his phone and stood.

“Danny, wait—” Stella cut in.

“You certainly don’t act like you want to be part of this family!” Joey shouted. “Not as long as I’m included.”

“Both of you, stop it. Listen to yourselves.” Stella rose before Danny could leave the room. “You’re both saying the same thing, thinking the other doesn’t believe they belong when you’re the one feeling excluded. You are both part of this family.”

“Damn right you are.” John stood up next. “I don’t want either of you thinking you have to fight over your place here. Danny, the reason I didn’t tell you about adopting Joey officially is because it happened just these past couple days, and you’ve…had your mind elsewhere.”

Danny’s stomach sank at the sorrowful look in John’s eyes—the pitying look. He was excluded because he’d excluded himself, made himself too much of a burden to deal with, so John hadn’t even bothered.

“And that’s just it, right?” Joey pushed from the table too.

“Danny gets a free pass no matter what he does, because he’s your real son.

You swear up and down that you were never treated differently,” he spun to face Stella, “but Danny bails and bails and bails on us, and his mind’s just elsewhere? Why does he even still live here?”

“Joey, you don’t understand—” John tried.

“No, I don’t!” The boy whirled on Danny again, glaring with all the hatred Danny felt toward himself.

“You got to have both parents until you were twice my age, and you wallow around like the only thing in the universe is you. You’re not the only person who lost a mom that night!

I can’t believe Zeus and someone as selfish as you can exist in the same city. ”

Danny barked a laugh. Because it was too funny.

Fucking hilarious that Danny Grant was the worst of this city and Zeus was the best, and somehow Danny was both.

It made so much sense why he was torn up inside—because he was too halves that didn’t go together, maybe never would, and that… that was funny.

So he laughed. He laughed until the others were all staring at him. “Oh, come on!” he said, near hysterics when none of them joined him; of course they didn’t. “It’s funny, right? Isn’t it funny , Stella? Because you wanted me to tell him. Well, I think he’s in for a rude awakening.”

“Danny, stop…” Stella looked at him like she was fractured inside too. But that was normal, wasn’t it? It was normal for Danny to hurt the people he loved.

“Zeus couldn’t save either of our mothers,” Danny grit out at Joey.

“It’s unfair that my mother died. It’s unfair that yours did too.

I wish I could erase myself from everyone’s lives so none of it hurt anymore, but even that wouldn’t change what happened.

You can blame me anyway though, Joey, go right ahead. I do. It is my fault.”

“Danny—” Stella reached for him.

“Don’t. Touch me.” He backed away, and his clenched fists shook and shook and…

sparked in his fury, making Joey’s eyes, making all of their eyes widen.

“I don’t want to be your charity case anymore, Stella.

You think you need to be kind because it’s sad, because helping is the right thing, but you didn’t choose to be my friend, you had to be because we’re family. No one would ever choose me.

“Even you didn’t choose me, Dad,” he turned his words on his father, who looked anguished and speechless, but only because he was a good man who deserved better than Danny for a son, “you chose them . Me you were just stuck with. If you didn’t feel obligated to love me, you’d hate me for what I let happen.

The best you can muster is pitying me. You’re pitying me right now.

But you don’t need to feel obligated to love me anymore, Dad. You get to start over with Joey.”

“Danny—”

“Have a nice night.”

Joey stood in Danny’s path when he turned for the door, but the boy backed into Stella as if Danny carried a plague in his wake.

“Danny, get back here. Danny !” John called after him. “You promised you wouldn’t run!”

Coldly, Danny looked over his shoulder and saw how stunned and terrified they all were, even John, who didn’t know what to do because there was nothing to do. Danny couldn’t be fixed.

“I know. But running’s the only thing I’m good at anymore,” he said before he turned on his heels and lightning jumped straight to the precinct.

He didn’t tell Andre anything about what he’d left behind when he arrived at the morgue.

Tossing his phone aside, he couldn’t have cared less if John or Stella called him and focused on letting his lightning run free.

When it was clear that Andre had succeeded and Danny could use the new suit to his heart’s content without it becoming visible, he told Andre he was taking it on a trial run through the city and not to expect him back until morning.

Danny knew exactly who to test the suit out on first.