Page 40 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

Dom came in with a telling creak of the door, since the rest of the bar was silent, only Frank and Mal there, not even the cook or whichever waitress would be filling in for Carla.

Raising his new shot of whiskey Dom’s direction, Mal watched her scowl as she approached the bar.

“Not my speed,” she said, and since Mal knew she didn’t mean whiskey in general, it had to be the early hour. No matter. Mal shrugged and downed the shot.

He still wore his baseball cap and glasses, no way around it with cops sniffing around. Now that he felt the warmth and faint buzz of liquor hitting him, much as his stomach turned at being otherwise empty, he steeled himself for what came next, for what he had to do.

“Thanks, Frank. We’ll be in the corner,” Mal said, passing over the $20. Frank nodded and continued wiping down the bar, while Mal gestured Dom to the farthest booth in the back, away from any reflective surfaces.

They sat across from each other. Dom looked alert, well-rested, which meant she hadn’t been drinking or getting into trouble last night.

Good. She’d probably been up early to tinker on one of her many projects in the garage she ran—even thieves needed hobbies or day jobs on occasion—but no smudges of grease marred her skin or clothes. Mal had caught her just in time.

“Better not expect me to give those paintings back,” she grumbled.

Mal cracked a smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Need your assistance with something else. Though before we get to that…heard you punched Zeus clean across the jaw the other night. How’d I miss that, I wonder?” He eyed his friend with a mixture of humor and calculated challenge.

“Punk deserved it,” Dom shrugged. “Lucy seemed pretty sure he’d make good, but yer breakfast of choice has me thinking yer finally ready to let me fry ‘im.”

“Your particular skillset will be required.” Mal tapped his fingers on the table.

“But for now, I need you on damage control. Whatever we can manage in the next few hours. Not out of the woods yet with the boys in blue coming to the neighborhood like I’d hoped.

Haven’t seen any, but it’s only a matter of time. ”

“Someone snitch?” Dom leaned forward with a crack of her knuckles.

“Yeah. Zeus,” Mal said, which made Dom’s lip curl into a harsher sneer, “…or so someone wants me to believe.”

The whiskey might be burning a hole in Mal’s gut, but he wasn’t looking to get lost or drunk or stupid.

He wouldn’t be fooled again. “If I’m right, Zeus isn’t the one you’ll be frying, Dom.

My money’s on Ludgate. He got to Zeus somehow, playing his strings, messing with his head, I don’t know what, but Zeus himself…

” Mal held Dom’s gaze with every ounce of fierceness in him.

“Him you don’t touch. Even if it looks like he’s the enemy. ”

Mal readied himself for Dom to scoff, bark back, raise her voice in ire, but the unexpected happened. She grew quiet, contemplative, as her brow smoothed out and she sat back with a huff. Not anger, just disgruntled concern.

“Listen, pal…”

Oh no, Mal would not be patronized.

“…this kid’s got yer head turned around.”

“Dom—”

“He runs off on you. Pulls some stunt you won’t tell me about that has you ready to bring him to his knees, an absolute wreck, now he’s got you shootin’ whiskey before noon, and yer tryin’ to tell me he’s off limits?”

“You don’t know—”

“So fuckin’ tell me already!” Dom slammed a fist down on the tabletop, making Mal flinch from the threat of the fight he’d been expecting earlier. He met Dom’s stare evenly but saw in his friend’s eyes that she would not back down first, not with this.

Mal had known it was likely too much to ask that she’d go along without demanding answers. Before that morning, he’d intended to tell her everything, but now it was a race, and while taking those shots was part of the ruse, the clock was against them.

“There isn’t time for that.”

“Then you can handle damage control by your own damn self.”

“ Dom .” Reaching across the table, Mal grabbed his friend’s wrist before she could stand and felt the muscles in her forearm ripple with tension, ready to jerk away or turn this more physical than they could afford.

So Mal didn’t fight. He loosened his hold but didn’t pull away either.

“He was using me, okay? That’s what happened, that’s what I found out. But things changed .”

Dom huffed again, but with the release of air, so too deflated her anger, and she relaxed back into the booth.

Pulling her arm out of Mal’s grip, there was frustration in her expression, but mixed with pity and rare sympathy.

Mal could have counted on one hand how seldom she’d looked at him like that over the years.

He fell back into the booth too. “Everything he’s done since then, everything he’s tried to do, there’s no way he meant to sucker me a second time.

Should have known something was wrong when he disappeared last night.

With Ludgate skulking around…I felt it, knew something was off, but like a rookie , I ignored my instincts.

Knew better when I saw him this morning.

Something happened. Ludgate did something to him. ”

“Ludgate did, huh?” Dom eyed Mal skeptically.

“I’ve told you what he can do. And we don’t even know the half of it. Zeus is being used.”

“Instead of him just using you again.”

“It’s not like that,” Mal slammed his own fist on the table, then took a breath to quiet the lack of control that had stirred within him, choosing to blame it on the liquor.

“I believe him, Dom. The him that tried to make me see the truth at the heist, who stood there and let you burn him just to prove a point, and who’s been trying ever since to talk things out.

I have to believe him. He believed in me. Thinks I’m more than… this .”

Gesturing weakly at himself, at the pathetic picture he painted with flushed cheeks from the whiskey, he tore the hat from his head and threw it into the booth.

“You wanna think he’s making me soft, go ahead, but I’m not an idiot. I won’t give up on him, Dom. Not again.”

Her brow was tight, lips pursed, but her eyes betrayed a crinkle of wavering. “And what if yer wrong? Huh? What then? What if he’s usin’ you another way now, and yer too lovesick to see it? Then do I get to fry ‘im?”

Laughter bubbled out of Mal, and the lines smoothed from Dom’s forehead with a tease of a grin. She was with him, from here to the end. “If I’m wrong? Doubt you’ll manage much of anything before I ice him.” Anxious to get started, Mal grinned back at his friend. “Ready to get to work?”

R

Dom’s first task was to go to Andrew Electronics to pick up Priestly while Mal brought in Lucy and Oz. It was finally time to call in that favor Hermes owed him.

They met up at a safe house Mal hadn’t used in over a month—which made it less likely Ludgate knew about it.

There was always the chance that Mal was being watched, that all of them were, so the most they could do was avoid windows and mirrors and anything else obviously reflective and hope for the best.

It had been a risk to go to Haven, but that had been deliberate; if Ludgate was watching, Mal wanted him to think he was wrecked and acting out.

He even played it up when he and Dom left that he was wobbly on his feet.

When he got out of the neighborhood and hit an alley with brick buildings and no windows, he took off at a brisker pace .

Mal knew his city. Knew how to avoid reflections as much as anyone could. He hoped Ludgate was too preoccupied with Danny to be watching him, but he had to be careful. He couldn’t risk going home. Not until this was over.

“Got your gear,” Oz said when he blinked into existence. Mal barely flinched as he finished something on the safe house computer and turned to face the teleporter. “Plus essentials,” Oz added, dropping a couple duffle bags at Mal’s feet.

“Nice work, Oz. Notice anything amiss?”

“Not that I could tell.”

“Good.” Unzipping the bags, Mal looked inside. Oz had left his sunglasses behind like he asked. He hadn’t asked for Danny’s messenger bag with the goggles and comms either. Too risky with reflections, though Priestly had given him new comms for the occasion. “Back to patrolling the streets.”

“Got it,” Oz said. “From Haven, down through the shops, and end at Carla’s.

Shop keeps are already warned. Anyone gets a lock on me for too long in one place, I’ll be gone before they can blink.

Got a few plainclothes snooping around already, but they’re easy to spot.

Momma and baby are doin’ fine, by the way,” he said with a warmer smile. “Michael keeps asking about you.”

Mal sighed as he looked at his gear and the things he’d asked Oz to get from his apartment. This safe house wasn’t meant for a long haul, cramped and dark with minimal luxuries, but it was the only option they had. “Tell him the truth. I’ll visit as soon as I can.”

“You sure Carla wouldn’t be better off staying with her mom? She—”

“Dunkirk’s on the streets again. Lucy confirmed he got out of holding.

Can’t risk it. Best place for her is still in the neighborhood even with Ludgate around.

Besides, they’ve got you to look out for them.

” Mal grinned, and instead of grinning back or shaking his head, Oz looked at him reminiscent of how Michael—and Danny—had lately, as if Mal was somehow more than he believed of himself.

“They sure do. And if anyone can move faster than a freak jumping mirrors, it’s this freak right here.” Offering a wink and swift salute, Oz vanished on the spot.

All Mal had done to warrant his loyalty was—well, saved his girlfriend a few times over.

But still, Mal had always seen it as quid pro quo, only helping because he knew he’d get more in return.

He doubted now how true that was, because even if Oz never again agreed to use his powers for Mal’s benefit, Mal would still defend him, or Carla, or any of his team.