Page 20 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

“When it started,” Danny kept his gaze unfocused, “I only slept with him to mess with him. To have a good time to distract myself from everything going wrong in my life, so I could get a good laugh out of throwing him away when he fell for me. He found out I was using him. I fell in love with him and changed my mind about hurting him like that, but now he knows it started as a lie and he hates me for it.”

“So he’s going to ruin your life?” John growled.

“I don’t care.” Danny pushed away from the sofa.

“Danny—”

“I don’t care!” He whirled on John, angry and ashamed and so exhausted.

“How am I supposed to fight this, Dad? The picture he sent to the captain is real. I did stash that evidence. Not because he asked, but because I wanted to. To protect him. I know where he is, and I’m not going to tell them. I’m guilty.”

“You could still turn him over and save yourself.” John stepped forward. “If he sent that picture to Shan, then you don’t owe him anything.”

But I do. “He knows I’m Zeus. He’ll—”

“Why should they believe him? We can—”

“I’m not doing that, Dad. I’m not fighting this.” Shaking his head, Danny moved forward to the landing of the stairs and clung to the banister.

“You’re willing to go to jail for him?” John said with distaste on his tongue, but Mal wasn’t the one he should be cursing. Danny was the bad guy. Danny was the problem.

Every day he was a bigger and bigger danger to everyone. Even Joey had accepted Danny into his life, when Danny was the reason several times over that people needed saving. Now the same was true for Mal. And if Ludgate targeted Mal too...

Danny wished he could stay away from them. Wished he could disappear and save all of them the trouble he caused. Starting up the stairs, he kept John behind him and avoided Stella and Joey’s stares as he said, “Maybe I deserve it.”

“Danny…”

Ignoring the pleas that followed him as he bounded up to his room, he could have used his powers to jump away faster and lock his door to shut them all out, but he didn’t have the strength.

Instead, he trudged up to his room slowly and went to sit amidst the tangled mess of covers on his unmade bed.

Before he’d had even a minute to sulk alone, a gentle knock came at his partially open door. Danny knew without looking up that it was Stella. Once again, he’d kept something from his best friend, not for her sake, but to protect himself.

He sat with his hands folded between his legs and stared at them as she crossed the room and sat beside him. She didn’t say anything for several moments, just reached over and placed her hand over his.

Danny didn’t feel like crying anymore. He didn’t feel like anything. But the touch of her hand and her presence at his hip still made him feel better. He didn’t deserve to feel better, and as that thought swirled through his mind, he almost pulled away.

“You really love him,” Stella said, soft and without judgment. “He sent a photo of you two to Captain Shan?”

“He’s just doing this because he’s hurt,” Danny headed off any chance she had to make Mal out to be the bad guy. “He’s not like you think. And I know that probably sounds like I’m more messed up than usual because he’s hurt people, killed people, but Mal’s better than that, he is.”

Part of Danny had thought that maybe he’d helped coax some of that goodness out of Mal. Maybe he’d helped remind him that he didn’t have to be violent to get what he wanted. But the goodness had always been there. As much as Mal threatened people, he also cared about them and this city.

Maybe Danny was messed up for thinking that was enough. Mal had still killed people. He’d still done terrible things. But so had Danny. At what point was someone allowed to strive to be better?

“If he’s worth all this, Danny, then why aren’t you fighting for him?”

Danny blinked at the sudden words like a haze had been lifted.

Turning to look at Stella, who still held her hand atop his and leaned comfortingly against his side, he was shaken by the expression she gave him as if he were worth everything.

That unabashed affection used to make him feel strong, like he could face any hurdle in his path, but he didn’t feel that way today.

“I want to,” he said. “I tried to. But he won’t listen.

He knows I lied, so he thinks it was all a lie.

I don’t know how I could ever make this up to him, ever get him to trust me again or look at me like…

” He closed his eyes because it was too painful to remember what he’d never get to have again.

“Maybe the only way, even if he never understands or forgives me, is to let him do this. Let him win. Take what’s coming and pay for what I’ve done. ”

“Danny…” Stella’s brow scrunched with worry and dissention, but even as she seemed about to protest, her mouth fell closed again with a defeated sigh.

“The way you talked about him before I knew it was Cho, I get now why you didn’t believe it could ever be more than just sex and convenience.

But it obviously became more than that for both of you.

I don’t know what to tell you now. I don’t know what the right answer is.

All I know is that Olympus City needs Zeus.

And I need Danny Grant. If they put you away… ”

Danny cringed as he saw all the pain he was causing his sister because of his own selfish desires. “I’m sorry, Stella…”

Smiling at him sadly, she removed her hand only to reach for him and pull him against her into an embrace. “Don’t be sorry, Danny. Just tell me. What do you need?”

The first thought that crossed Danny’s mind was Mal .

What he really needed was sleep. He needed food.

He needed time to think about how he’d handle this, if he handled it at all or just let it happen.

He needed to think about Ludgate and how everyone he cared about was still at risk, including Mal.

He needed to take it all one step at a time, but there was too much, it was too much .

So he merely thought about today and everything that had happened. The comms. IA had them. If they traced any of the components to Mal’s neighborhood, so many other people would get pulled into this.

“I need to call Mal,” Danny said as he squeezed Stella once more and let her go. “There’s evidence that could lead the police to where he lives. I have to warn him.”

“Won’t IA check your phone records?” she asked.

“They will. Andre’s going to erase anything incriminating remotely. It’ll be harder to find any traces on my phone that way instead of me trying to delete things myself. And he can focus on Mal’s messages. He knows which number is his.”

“He does, huh?” She cocked her head at him with a faint smile .

Danny’s stomach quivered for every lie he’d told lately, for all the things he’d kept from her. “Andre overheard…I didn’t tell him…”

“It’s okay,” she said, smiling wider to offer him reprieve.

“I get that there are some things you won’t be able to share with me.

But you always can. I need you to know that.

If Cho’s really worth all this, then sometime soon, I want to hear all about him.

Okay?” She patted his hand one last time but didn’t wait for Danny’s response before she stood and exited the room to leave him his privacy.

She even shut the door behind her, and no immediate knocks came to signal that Joey or John was coming in to take their turn.

Good. Danny appreciated everything all of them had done and everything they likely would do, once John got over his initial shock and anger. But right now he needed to be alone.

Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Mal’s number.

R

After finishing going over the rough plan with Dom to hit the museum, Mal had left some of the more crucial elements of their preparation in Dom’s hands and headed home.

He should rest. Eat something. Map out further contingencies if things went sour.

But first he wanted to finalize a few of the more delicate pieces to the plan.

The icing on the cake, as it were. The simple but crucial elements that would hit Danny low and hard.

Mal stood before his closet with an appraising eye on his wardrobe just as his phone began to ring. He frowned, thinking it might be Dom already hitting a wall with the heist or Lucy trying to weasel more information out of him and talk him out of doing this. But no.

The name ‘Sparky’ blinked at Mal from his display.

A cold twinge settled in his gut. Shan would have reprimanded Danny by now. Kid was probably spiraling in his haste to cover things up, to make it all go away and save himself the grief. Mal couldn’t have that.

“Something I can help you with, Danny?” he answered smugly, sitting on his bed to keep from pacing—and to keep his knees from shaking too much with the anticipation of hearing Danny’s voice .

“I’m calling to try to help you .”

Oh that was rich. “Think you got a bargaining chip, do you?” Mal sneered into the phone.

“No, it’s nothing like that. I’m trying to warn you. Sending that picture meant IA went through my office. It might take a few days, but they’ll be headed right for you.” He sounded urgent but still oddly monotone. Probably to hide the shred of panic settling in.

“Actually gave me up, huh?” Mal’s hand trembled as he clutched his phone.

“ No . Mal, listen to me. They found your comms in my bottom drawer.”

The comms. Mal hadn’t followed up with Priestly to find out what became of them, he’d just assumed it was taken care of. “And here I thought you’d put them aside to protect me, that you’d destroy them or give them back. But you were just hanging onto them to have something to use against me later.”

“No, I…” Danny’s voice broke, cracked as he trailed off. “I was going to give them back to you, I just…forgot.”

Mal huffed a jagged laugh. “Treachery or stupidity, which is worse? I’m not worried.

Let them come. If all they get is the neighborhood, then the only person who needs to be worried is you.

” Letting the smile enter his voice as he sat there, he pictured Danny’s face twisted with resentment.

“Jail time will be good for you, Danny. Assuming you don’t run for it. You are so very good at that.”

The line was quiet, and Mal could hear Danny breathing, a shuddery inhale filled with emotion that once might have made Mal waver.

There was no anger or indignation in Danny’s tone when he spoke again.

Only defeat. “I know. You’re right. Running is the only thing I’ve ever been good at.

But I think this time I’m going to take what I’ve got coming. ”

The smile drained from Mal’s face. He couldn’t listen to these lies.

It was just a ploy to make him feel pity, to make him relent.

Danny didn’t care about him; he only cared about saving himself.

When the time came, he wouldn’t pay the piper.

He’d show his true colors again, and Mal would stand tall as he watched Danny fall from his pedestal.

“Mal…?” Danny prompted softly when Mal didn’t respond .

His wounded voice did not make Mal’s breath catch. It did not make his eyes feel hot. It did not make him wish he could touch the kid and ease his suffering. It did not .

Mal pulled the phone away from his face so Danny wouldn’t hear how much of an effort it took to breathe. He was fine, he was fine, he’d be fine …

“What do you want, Danny?” he spoke coldly when he brought the phone back to his ear.

Danny’s voice was gentle as he said, “Nothing. I know you don’t believe me. I know you never will. But I really am sorry. For everything.”

The click of the line going dead made Mal gasp because he’d expected Danny to plead a better case than that, to at least wait for his response, not to give in so easily and leave him hanging.

Maybe that was the game this time, to make Mal believe Danny mourned what he’d taken from them.

But it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

Danny deserved what he had coming. If Mal gave in now, his nemesis would get exactly what he wanted.

No. No . The truth would come out. Danny wasn’t going to jail.

He’d never allow that. He’d find some way out of it, Mal was certain.

Danny had no interest in doing right by Mal if it meant paying for his crimes.

He was just looking to bring back the fair weather of an easy lay.

Once Mal pulled off this next heist and lured Zeus out into the open again, the real Danny Grant would be there and the last of the ruse would fall away.

Mal just needed to see it. He needed to watch the moment when Danny’s mask broke and he couldn’t pretend anymore.

It wasn’t that he was needlessly cruel. He didn’t need to physically harm Danny or go after the people he cared about. He just wanted to see Danny’s grand facade as the untouchable hero crumble away into dust.

Throwing his phone aside, Mal stood from the bed and took a breath, willing the warmth lingering in his eyes to go away.

Slowly, he returned to the closet and pulled out his cerulean button-down, a black tie, and his best suit, vest and all.

Three pieces was what Danny had asked for at Mal’s next heist, and this time he planned to deliver.

Tomorrow night Mal would drive the knife that much deeper and rid himself of wanting Danny Grant once and for all.