Page 51 of Lovesick Gods (Lovesick #1)

The blood drained from Danny’s face. Shit. Shit .

“Andre—”

“What the hell , Danny? Cho? You’re screwing Malcolm Cho?!” Andre erupted as if he’d been holding in his emotions since the moment Danny walked in. “After you jumped down my throat for saying you shouldn’t hate him? What was that? Just to throw me off? Some kind of act?”

“What? No .” Danny surged toward Andre, causing him to wheel back like he didn’t want to be anywhere near Danny right now. “None of it was an act,” except for when I’m with him , “I blew up that night because it touched a nerve, okay? I still thought I did hate him then.”

“When you were already sleeping together?” Andre wrinkled his nose.

Danny couldn’t deny that; he’d been honest with Andre and Lynn about finding a lover since the start, even if they hadn’t known his identity. “Yes.”

“And now you, what? Don’t ? Or you still hate him and just don’t care?”

Danny’s mouth opened only to hang agape, silent. Did he hate Cho? Did he still want to go through with his plan to break the man’s heart? Either way, he couldn’t tell Andre that. He’d just look more disgusted with Danny than he already was.

Because it was awful, wasn’t it? What he planned to do? It was despicable. Cruel…

“Danny?” Andre snapped him back to the moment, looking fervent and desperate, but not angry anymore, not really.

“It’s complicated,” Danny said, staring at the floor between him and Andre.

“And I know you probably think it’s dangerous and stupid because it’s Cho, and whether I hate him or not, I shouldn’t trust him, but if he was just using this to get one over on me, he’s had me vulnerable enough to make a move plenty of times. ”

Andre let the silence linger before he said, “If you’ve been sleeping with him since what happened with Camouflage, I believe you. But it’s not only about that, Danny.”

“It’s not?”

“Yeah, okay, so trusting Prometheus is a little hard for me to swallow,” Andre shrugged, then immediately cringed at his choice of words. “But it also means you lied to us. Repeatedly. Again .”

“I never lied.” Danny finally looked up at him. “I told you I was seeing someone. I told you it was just sex. I even told you it was a guy.”

The incredulity on Andre’s face would have been comical in any other situation.

“Don’t start with me about withholding information versus lying when we’re talking about Prometheus .

It’s not the same thing and you know it.

This isn’t some sugar daddy or creep we’d tell you to steer clear of for your own good.

He’s a supervillain . Which is why,” Andre held up a hand to stop the protest Danny wasn’t even sure he had ready, “I’m going to be honest with you too. ”

Oh god. Danny had been so caught up in the idea of Andre knowing about him and Cho, he’d completely forgotten what else his friend might have overheard. Had Andre eavesdropped on everything? Even when Danny came close to…when he’d almost …

“Gaia Facebooked me last night.”

“Huh?” Danny had clearly been too much in his head to have heard that right.

Slowly, Andre rolled back toward the desk and Danny pivoted out of the way so he could reach the computer.

“Lucy Cho, under a dummy account as Lucy Green, Facebooked me last night. No friend request or anything, just a PM. Which, umm…might have started a conversation? I was going to tell you last night!” he added quickly, as if Danny would have chided him right then.

“That’s part of why I wanted you to test the suit—I was working up the nerve to confess.

Then you ran off like you couldn’t get away fast enough and I got my… earful .” He shuddered.

“Wait,” Danny perched beside the computer but didn’t yet read the conversation Andre pulled up, “how much did you overhear? For my own sanity.”

“Dude, like I ever want to hear what Prometheus’s ‘O’ face sounds like. Urg…” he blanched, suddenly green around the edges, “why did I put that image in my head?”

“Andre…” Danny fought a twitch at his mouth.

“Relax. I stopped listening about the time you said you’d do unspeakable things to Prometheus wearing my suit, thank you very much. The real Zeus suit better not have been anywhere near him at any point unless he was fully dressed and aiming an ice dagger at you.”

The remaining tension dissolved from Danny’s shoulders. Andre hadn’t overheard how far Danny had gone or any of Cho’s breakdown.

Good. That was good.

“ Danny .”

“I got it. The Zeus suit remains unsullied,” Danny said, hands raised in placation. “I promise.” Never mind that Danny had worn the suit to Cho’s place with plans to sully it. “Now, come on, Andre. Let me see what happened with Gaia.”

The conversation over Facebook wasn’t anything for Andre to feel guilty about. Mostly it was just Lucy trying, quite innocently, to get to know Andre, and Andre evading offering up anything concrete while trying unsuccessfully to suss out ulterior motives.

Finally, Lucy had said, Truth? Mickey’s been seeing some new boytoy on the sly. Has me wondering what a better offer might look like.

Better offer than what?

Maybe we could meet some time and figure that out.

Surrre, Gaia. Like you or your brother would ever be able to give up thievery.

You’re probably right. See ya around, cutie, she’d ended the conversation and signed off.

“Imagine my surprise when I found out said boytoy is actually you ,” Andre said, though Danny wondered if the grimace on his face had more to do with how things had ended with Lucy than anything between Danny and Cho.

Andre had never met Lucy in person, but the way he talked about her whenever she faced off against Zeus definitely implied appreciation, if not an outright crush on the woman.

Lucy wasn’t a bad person. Not really. Who wouldn’t have grown up a little rough around the edges with a father like Icebox? It was a wonder both she and Cho weren’t serial killers.

Yet that was close to how Danny had thought of Cho recently.

The man had killed people. A significant number of people over the years—and probably several that had never been attributed to him, given how good he was at getting away with his crimes.

Sure, they had all been bad people, but where was the line?

That was something Danny had been asking himself a lot lately, as that line grew fainter and fainter beneath his feet.

But doing bad things, making bad choices, that wasn’t supposed to be where things ended.

People were meant to have second chances.

If they wanted them. If they tried to change.

Danny had been raised to believe that reformation was always preferable to punishment, which contradicted everything he’d been planning with breaking Cho’s heart.

“She might have meant it, ya know,” Danny said when Andre continued to stare at his computer screen.

“I know. I just don’t know if I’m up for the risk.

Even for the hottest woman I’ve ever seen.

Plus, she’s actually pretty funny,” he glanced up at Danny excitedly.

“And smart , like, she shared this link with me about new CSI tech for Elementals, which I thought was a test for her to see if I was already using stuff like that to catch her, but she totally researched it and understood how it works even if it’s not a field she’s interested in. ”

Danny broke into a grin, which caused Andre to shake his head at himself.

“Anyway…your boyfriend would probably ice me for even thinking of taking her out.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Just sleeping with the enemy, then?”

“That was the plan…” Danny let his mind drift to the encounters with Cho that hadn’t only been about sex, like staying over at his apartment watching action movies until all hours, snuggled on the sofa. That was not nemesis or fuckbuddy behavior.

“Look,” Andre said, voice dropping to a timid, serious timbre, “I am totally on board with you exploring your dark side if you’re sure you know what you’re doing, especially if it’s helping. But is it ? Helping? Or is he just another complication you’re going to have to overcome when this is over?”

Danny knew the real answer, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

The sex, like Stella had pointed out so succinctly, was just a temporary high that honestly made him feel worse when he was without it, like an addiction.

But the other things Cho provided him, a part of that peace lingered long after they were together.

Which was silly, because it was just sharing meals and talking and spending time together, all things he could do with his real friends.

Danny didn’t understand why being with Cho was like having everything he needed from his friends and family, but with something more too, something he couldn’t define and had never felt with anyone else.

“I know I need to end it,” Danny said as his eyes drifted past Andre to the glass on the far wall that had so recently been cracked from when he kicked the hospital bed into it.

It was fixed now, replaced with a new, unmarred pane.

If only people could be fixed as easily.

“But I want a little longer with him. A few more weeks, that’s all.

He does help. More than I ever expected he could.

When I have a good day, most of the time it’s because of him. I know that probably sounds crazy…”

“A little. But nah, I get it. When I push aside my general irritation for the guy, I was the one telling you he’s not all bad a couple weeks ago.

And I’d be a hypocrite if I told you to stay away from him when I…

might have been considering exploring my own bad idea.

” He nodded at the computer screen, and they shared a smile before both expressions faltered.

“Do you really think Gaia could ever stop being a bad guy?”

“Maybe. Do you think Cho…?” Danny couldn’t finish the question.

“I don’t know, man. But if that ever happens? No double dates.”

Danny snorted. “Deal.”