Page 6 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

Danny woke up Wednesday to another text from Cho. Simple at first.

At least let me know Ludgate hasn’t snatched you up again. Would kinda put a damper on being the premier supervillain in this city if someone steals my nemesis.

Danny chuckled, and then ached for how caring Cho could be when he didn’t let his pride or bravado get in the way, however veiled by humor. I’m fine. Just busy. I’ll keep you posted.

But when Danny failed to update Cho again, because there wasn’t anything to update him on , another message came in.

If we leave the planning to you and your team, we’ll never catch Ludgate. Let me help.

Give me more time.

Be faster if we did it together.

Danny groaned. He knew what Cho was doing, but he wasn’t ready to see him. Not yet. Soon. I promise.

By the end of the day, however, Danny was still stalling.

The fiber was another dead end. There was something special about it, which should have made it easier to trace, but there was no one in Olympus City who sold it and no indication that Ludgate had traveled prior to Thanatos’s defeat or any idea where he’d been since then.

Danny had hoped the fiber would tell him something about the man’s whereabouts when not in the mirror world or where he’d been when he Awakened, but the fabric could have come from anywhere .

Captain Shan was no help either. Danny had John tell him on behalf of Zeus that Ludgate could travel through reflections, that he’d fought Ludgate at the museum— he was the culprit. Danny should have expected the captain’s response.

“That’s all fine and dandy, Detective, but we can’t take the word of a vigilante over actual evidence. And right now we got no evidence pointing at Ludgate other than one eyewitness who won’t come forward himself. We need something else. We have enough to hold Ludgate at least. Just find him .”

That’s what Danny was trying to do, but whether as Danny Grant or Zeus, he was no closer to any answers.

Andre and Lynn could only do so much on speculation.

They didn’t even really know what Ludgate’s powers were.

The only option left was to team up with Cho, but what if that’s what Ludgate wanted?

What if that’s why he’d been lying low ever since the diamond heist?

You’re safer without me around, Danny texted Cho when the man continued to push.

You can’t run scared from this guy, Sparky.

Danny was scared. He was terrified. Terrified of what he could lose. Of what he could become— again .

Finally, on Thursday, it seemed like Cho had given up. Until a new set of text messages started to come in. Could use a little TLC on these wounds. Why not come over?

Lip’s about healed now. Need to test out how much give it can handle. Wanna help?

Keep thinking about you in my duster. Care for a repeat without the underwear?

Still need to use my tongue sometime, remember? Well I’d start by…

Danny could hardly hold down his blushing at work when the texts got dirtier the longer he avoided replying.

And the worst part was, he wanted everything Cho described.

He wanted to play the game back. Wanted to tell Cho how much he missed the feel of his tongue.

The slide of his hips. His hands. God those hands and their elegant fingers…

It was Friday now, Cho would not leave him alone, and Danny had exhausted all of his excuses.

Final offer, Sparky. My place. Dinner. 1 hour .

Leaning back in his desk chair, Danny stared at his phone and considered his response.

The feeling of eyes on the back of his neck made him shiver.

He spun around—but nothing was there. Just his reflection in the window behind him.

Staring at it, he waited for his eyes to flash black, for some sign that this reflection was more than it seemed, but no matter how long he looked at it, if Ludgate was watching him, he wasn’t playing his hand just yet.

Danny returned to his phone. Try as he might, he couldn’t do this alone.

R

Final offer, Sparky. My place. Dinner. 1 hour.

Mal was through with being patient. It had been four days.

Four days. He could have lasted longer without seeing Danny if the kid had actually responded to his texts with more than a handful of clipped words.

Staying focused on Ludgate with his messages had only resulted in Danny saying he needed more time.

Mal had switched tactics to outright flirting yesterday, but the most that had garnered him was one hastily sent message in all caps.

OMG IN PRECINCT MEETING STOP!!!

To be fair, Mal had gotten a little overly detailed with his descriptions about what he’d like to do to Danny the next time he saw him.

He wouldn’t have pushed like that, but at this point he feared it was the only way to get a reaction.

If Danny was through with him, then Mal wanted him to look him in the eyes when he ended it.

His stomach roiled at the thought as he reached his apartment, carrying a bag of groceries on one arm while he finished texting Danny with his other hand.

He’d nearly tripped up the stairs trying to juggle both.

While he waited for Danny’s response, he switched out his phone for his keys and slipped into his apartment.

Mal didn’t get nervous like this. Over some guy. A good lay. A fun time.

A kind ear …

Danny was so much more than all of that, and a challenge to boot.

Mal had been certain they were on the same page when he discovered Danny disposing of evidence for him.

Not that he’d ever ask Danny to compromise himself like that—beyond their original deal that Danny never turn Mal over to the police as long as he kept the identity of Zeus secret.

This though, it meant something that Mal hadn’t asked and Danny had still thought to protect him.

But then Mal’s messages kept going unanswered or answered with choppy deflection. He felt the end coming and couldn’t accept it. He was nervous. And planning to make dinner to freaking woo Zeus, leaving himself far too vulnerable to be torn down.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he set the bag on the kitchen counter next to the toaster.

He’d uncovered all the reflective surfaces from Danny’s careful work days ago.

Mal couldn’t live like that. If Ludgate was watching him, so be it.

The Elemental had more than enough ammunition against Mal; he couldn’t learn anything more incriminating than what he already knew.

Okay. 1 hour.

Excitement and anxiety fluttered inside of Mal like dueling combatants. Finally. He didn’t care if they didn’t have a plan for Ludgate yet. He just needed to know where he and Danny stood.

The uncertainty had robbed Mal of his appetite, but he still planned to make dinner. His hands shook as he set his phone aside and took everything out of the bag, his throat dry and tight.

“Get a grip,” he growled at himself, clutching the edge of the kitchen island and taking in a long, slow breath. His bruises were fading little by little, his lip only sporting a slim cut now, perfectly accessible for whatever he and Danny might get up to later.

Mal missed the way Danny felt beneath his fingers, craved him like an addiction—the connection, the way Danny pushed away the loneliness Mal found around every corner.

Danny knew him and didn’t care about the parts that were broken.

Didn’t care that Mal was a scoundrel and a thief.

Believed Mal could be more when no one else had ever…

Pushing away from the counter and turning toward his liquor cabinet, Mal debated taking a shot to ease his nerves.

If Ludgate was the only reason he and Danny couldn’t pick up where they left off, Mal would ice the man himself.

The sex, the quiet evenings in, the boisterous evenings out at odds—but not really, never really—like they’d had before Ludgate had to ruin their Monday night.

Mal wanted that, all of it. It wasn’t a fairytale ending, but it was a fitting one for nemeses.

Better than he ever would have hoped for himself.

Why couldn’t they have that, if they both wanted it? If Danny wanted it?

Turning back to his groceries, Mal finished emptying the bag but scowled at the contents.

Where was the bread? He’d taken it out first, hadn’t he?

But nothing was there and the bag was empty.

He really was preoccupied with Danny if he could be so up in his head that he forgot what he’d bought.

The receipt mentioned the bread. Had he left it at the store?

Fuck it. Mal needed the distraction, and he didn’t need the full hour to make dinner. Glancing over the counter for anything else he might be forgetting, he threw the necessary items in the refrigerator and headed back out for Mrs. Pak’s corner store to get another loaf.

As he left, he failed to notice that he didn’t have his cell phone.

R

Hades smirked as he scrolled through Prometheus’s string of text messages to Zeus.

Much simpler than trying to steal glimpses over Zeus’s shoulder at the precinct.

Snagging Prometheus’s phone from the counter through the toaster’s reflection had been too easy.

As well as the bread, ensuring that Prometheus left his apartment again so Dunkirk could sneak inside.

Make it half an hour, Hades texted Zeus.

You’re pushing it, Mal.

You like when I push.

So you think. I’ll be there.

Too easy indeed. Hades deleted the extra messages, then reached through the reflection to replace the phone and set it in plain sight where Prometheus would think he’d simply forgotten it. How quickly four days and a false sense of security made them complacent to the reflections around them.