Page 22 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

The phrase seemed to resonate around them with a chilling clang and lingering echo. Neither Andre nor Lynn said anything for a few moments while Danny stared at his hands.

“Okay, Danny,” Lynn finally said, “but in case you change your mind before it’s too late, we’re still ready to get you out of this.”

Danny shook his head again, but before he could protest, Andre picked up where she’d left off .

“You can’t stop us from wanting to help you. You don’t want to accept that help, fine, but even if you really believe you don’t deserve to be saved, we’re still going to be here.” He flashed a heartfelt, earnest smile. “Always.”

Lynn smiled at Danny just as supportively. And damn, did it sting. It stung how much they continued to believe in him when he knew he wasn’t worth it.

“Guys…”

“Now, back to Ludgate,” Andre said before Danny could protest the wall of protection they’d surrounded him with.

“You tell us what you and Joey came up with—and sweet, is he like the unofficial team mascot now, because we could seriously use some additional minds on this, and a cheerleader—and we’ll tell you what we found out about that fiber. ”

“Fiber?” Danny perked up. “The fiber from the museum? You got a hit?”

“We think so,” Lynn said. “We don’t know yet if it will give us any leads to help find Ludgate, but it’s definitely interesting.”

Ignoring the elephant in the room revolving around Danny’s impending doom for now, Andre and Lynn led him over to one of the monitors. Andre sat at the desk and began pulling up newspaper articles from around the time Thanatos was defeated.

“Ludgate was known as more of a homebody before the power station incident,” Lynn explained.

“He rarely left Olympus City, only to neighboring towns, which is where we’re guessing he was during his time away.

So going off of the assumption that he wouldn’t have gone far to get what he needed for his suit and assuming he’d avoid online transactions since he’s smart enough to not want to leave a paper trail, we figured we’d see if there was anything in Olympus at the time of the explosion that could explain an outside source for the fiber. ”

“Like what? A traveling fabric salesman?” Danny couldn’t help snorting.

“More like traveling circus ,” Andre said as he brought up a particular article and several ads for the circus that had been in town during the dates around the power station explosion. “And guess what type of fabric they used for some of their performers?”

“Milliskin matte in silver?” Danny couldn’t help but return Andre’s triumphant smile .

“Bingo.” He made another keystroke and an ad for the circus’ acrobatic group popped up—all in silver suits similar to Ludgate’s.

“So he has something to do with the circus?” Danny asked.

“We checked,” Lynn shook her head. “No connections we could find.”

“But we’re guessing he was there,” Andre said.

“What happened to the circus? Did it get destroyed during the blast?”

“It sustained quite a bit of damage. No casualties or major injuries though, so they moved on.” Andre held up a hand before Danny could spout any more questions.

“There aren’t any standing structures where it was set up.

But there could be. See, I was thinking maybe that empty space where the circus was would make a good place for an ambush. ”

Which was right along the lines Danny and Joey had been thinking. “My turn,” he said and started to explain everything they’d come up with using Andre’s fogging device as the linchpin.

“The Miasma Maker!” Andre spouted at one point. “What? Everything needs a name.”

Danny and Lynn shared a fond smile before continuing to discuss logistics.

For a while, just talking shop, planning out ways they could lure and trap Ludgate, Danny felt some of his normal self creep in—until he remembered that he only had a few days left of freedom and he deserved everything he had coming to him.

“Danny, can I talk to you for a minute?” Lynn asked when Andre dove into work mode around his Miasma Maker and getting something set up in Danny’s home, as well as building their eventual trap.

Danny let Lynn lead him into the small room on the other side of the pane of glass they’d replaced after his first tantrum. It looked different frosted over, casting no reflections, as if everything started and ended in its depths and could swallow Danny whole.

“Yeah, Lynn, what is it? Please don’t try to talk me out of letting IA bring me in. I—”

“No, Danny,” she said, with a weak smile and downturned brows. “You can make your own decisions about what to do with your life and the consequences of your actions. But like Andre and I said, if you change your mind…”

He sighed but nodded so she’d leave things be .

“I just wanted to ask if the pills were helping at all. We haven’t really discussed them since you started taking them. Have you been taking them?”

There seemed to be a trap in the question, or maybe that was just Danny’s paranoia about going against what she’d told him.

“Yeah, they, uhh…they help sometimes. One isn’t usually enough, but…

they help. Help me sleep too, but that’s normal, right?

Don’t people usually use antidepressants as sleep aids? ”

“In smaller doses,” she said. “Are you having trouble sleeping?”

Every night . “Sometimes. It doesn’t matter. I think my metabolism burns through them too fast anyway. Or maybe I just can’t tell since I keep having legitimate things to feel awful about. How do I know if it’s depression or…just what I’ve earned?”

“Danny,” she said and reached out to squeeze his arm.

“No one earns feeling bad about themselves. No matter what they might have done. You’re trying to make things right.

That’s what matters. That’s all anyone can ask of you.

I wish you’d think of some other way to make up for the wrongs you’ve done, but I understand.

If you need to do this, or if you decide you need us to help you out of it, either way, we’re here. Okay?”

They’d seen him beat an Elemental to a bloody pulp, nearly break another man’s arms, scream and yell and destroy things all around them, and they were still with him, at his side, no matter what.

It wasn’t only because he was Zeus, he knew that now, but if there was something worth loving about Danny Grant that had all of them fooled, he didn’t know what that was.

Danny opened his mouth to thank her, to maybe confess that he’d taken more of the pills than he should have a few times, but before he could get the words out, “Cold Blooded” by The Pretty Reckless started playing from Andre’s direction.

Danny and Lynn both turned curious eyes on him as they reentered the main room, and he paused mid-typing at the computer.

“Uhhh…that might be my ringtone for Lucy,” he said. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at Danny and Lynn as if asking permission.

Danny felt something heavy settle in his gut. He nodded at Andre, equally anxious and terrified to find out what she had to say .

“Hello?” Andre answered with a touch too much questioning. “Hi! Yeah, I…uhh…” His eyes darted to Danny. “Yeah, he is, actually. You sure? Coz maybe I didn’t explain everything … Uhh, yeah, yeah, no, I get it, I just…” he sighed heavily, “ okay ,” and held the phone out to Danny.

Swallowing before accepting it, Danny held the phone close. “I’m here.”

“Good,” Lucy Cho’s voice came sharply from the other end.

“Coz boy do I have some bones to pick with you, Zeus. There I was yesterday giving Mickey a hard time about jumping to conclusions, only to hear the rundown from Andre. And I almost, almost said good riddance and left you to what Mickey’s planning…

but how low you stooped with him doesn’t change how happy he was these past few weeks.

Doesn’t change that Andre seems pretty certain you’re an even bigger wreck than he is right now, beside yourself with guilt and grief because you realized how much you actually care about him.

“I don’t need to hear you say you love my brother. I just need to know you won’t hurt him again. That you have his best interest in mind no matter how things go down or where that leaves the two of you at the end of it. If he wants nothing more to do with you, you leave it. Understood?”

“Wasn’t planning on anything different,” Danny said. “I wish I could make this up to him, but I know I can’t. So whatever he needs, whatever I can do, I promise that’s all that matters to me now.”

Lucy remained silent for a moment, thinking, Danny assumed, debating if he was worth trusting, while Andre and Lynn cast him reassuring glances. At long last, a drawn out sigh came over the line.

“Fuck it,” she said. “I never thought anyone could be as shitty to him as you were, but I also can’t believe you meant to go through with a plan that cruel. So you hit rock bottom, Zeus—congrats. But you pulled Mickey down with you, so now you are going to bring him back out of it.

“I don’t know the timeline, he cut me out of the planning when I demanded to know what happened between you two, but I know he’s going to hit Olympus City Museum tonight.

He wants you to show up, so he’ll have something prepared.

Don’t let him do anything stupid. Stop him, talk to him, whatever you need to do, but you fix this.

“It wasn’t just these past few weeks…” her voice cracked, and Danny caught the hint of strong emotion that she usually hid.

“Even be fore then, since you first showed up on the scene, especially after he saw your face and made that deal…he’s been different.

The neighborhood, everything, it’s been different , and I know a big part of that is because of you.

“He never was a bad guy , you know? Just had bad luck and hard edges to protect himself. But he could have been more. You make him believe he could be more. You hero types, you have a way of bringing that out in people, I guess.” A smile touched her voice, and Danny couldn’t help the quirk of his mouth as he looked at Andre.

“I’ll be there,” Danny said. “I’ll fix this. I promise.”

Taking a breath, she answered back stronger as if her voice had never wavered. “You better,” she said and ended the call.