Page 71 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

It had been exactly a month since Ludgate’s hearing.

The Elemental was still locked away, waiting for his trial.

Danny didn’t think much about it, except when he was needed as Detective Danny Grant or as Zeus to practice his testimony.

The past four weeks had been about recovery, in every sense of the word, and about moving forward.

“You heading out, kiddo?” John came in carrying a stack of folders as Danny turned off his computer and reached for his messenger bag.

“Game night, remember? Sure you don’t want to join us, Dad?”

“Maybe later. I got a few things yet to finish up. But I’ll see you Sunday if I don’t make it tonight. Are you really heading all the way home just to turn around and come back to the morgue?”

“I have some errands to run,” Danny said, watching as his father crossed the room and took up the chair at the desk across from him that no longer stood empty.

This room didn’t need to be a tomb anymore, so even the old fishbowl had some life in it again.

Some of Rick’s things had been filed away or taken home, with a few items remaining or stored on Danny’s desk, like the photo of him and Rick sharing a drink the night they inaugurated the Elemental Task Force next to a recent photo of Danny and John celebrating when it was reinstated.

It helped that a few of the city’s better known Elementals were now acting liaisons to the precinct.

“You have a good night, son,” John said, distracted by the case files he was going through. Life as usual, yet it felt brand new at the same time.

“Thanks, Dad. You too.”

“Grant!” Captain Shan’s voice barked when Danny passed his office a few moments later. As much as he knew deep down that the captain had warmed to him, it didn’t change the way Shan did his job.

“Uh, yes, sir?” Danny cautiously turned around.

Shan poised his hands on his hips. “Heard you talking to your father about picking up your mail earlier. Seems a regular thing now—you picking it up, like you don’t actually live there, yet you haven’t given a new address to payroll from what I hear.”

“Oh…” Danny clutched his messenger bag tighter. He should have expected this would come up when he was surrounded by detectives—or former detectives as the case may be. “Umm…”

“Do I want to know where your new place of residence is?” he fixed Danny with a raised eyebrow.

Danny felt like this was a test. Was it a test? Shan always got on his case about plausible deniability and… oh . Definitely a test. “Probably better if you don’t ask,” he said.

With a grim expression that slowly softened into a smile, Shan nodded. “Get out of here, Grant. Have a good weekend.”

“You too, Captain!” Danny answered brightly.

He was in such high spirits as he headed for the doors that he didn’t notice he was about to run into Lieutenant Liu until seconds before collision.

“Oh! Sorry, I—”

“Grant…hey,” Liu said, looking around warily before leaning in close to whisper, “been meaning to catch you sometime, but Shan insisted Anderson and I steer clear since we’re the only ones who ever saw…you know.” She tilted her head.

Danny blinked, not understanding.

When Liu tilted her head again, more pronounced, an image sprang to mind of Danny and Mal locked in a heated kiss against Mal’s apartment door.

The photo must have seemed a lot less like a fake after a broadcast to the city revealed Zeus was the one locking lips with Prometheus, and considering Ludgate had announced to the world that Zeus’s real identity was…

Shit . Tensing, unsure if he should back away, Danny was surprised to find no malice in the officer’s expression.

“I just wanted to thank you,” she said, “for all the good you do in this city.”

Maybe a time would come when Danny’s secret would be known to the whole world. For now, he could only be grateful that other than Ludgate, the only people who knew his secret were ones he trusted to keep it that way.

Plausible deniability , he thought, so he simply said, “Thank you.”

Liu nodded as she pulled away, but kept her voice low. “And keep that boyfriend out of trouble, huh? I don’t care what he’s got planned this Sunday, a mayoral pardon only gets him off once.”

Danny laughed and couldn’t help muttering to himself, “I remind him of that every day.”

R

It was a beautiful autumn evening when Danny left the precinct, just cool enough to be glad he had a jacket on as he took a different route home than usual so he could pass by the tailor’s.

The shop wasn’t one in Mal’s neighborhood, but Lucy had recommended it as discreet and not too out of the way.

Thanking the tailor profusely once he got a look at the finished product, Danny beamed even wider carrying the large box it had been packaged in as he turned toward home.

Arty was locking up the electronics store when he neared the shop. “Hey, Arty!”

The other man turned with a congenial smile, dressed in a flannel shirt no matter how much Priestly rolled his eyes at his fashion sense. “Danny, hey. What’s that for?” he indicated the box .

“Present for Mal. You and Priestly are coming tonight, right?”

“Why do you think I’m heading home early? Wouldn’t miss it. Might have some new toys for you two to look at soon,” he said with a mischievous smile, “but don’t go telling Hart I spilled the beans. See you in a bit, Danny!”

Continuing toward the corner store, Danny considered sneaking around the back to lightning jump the rest of the way home, if only because Mrs. Pak had a tendency to try to keep him or load him up with food to take home.

She’d taken it on as her personal responsibility to make sure Zeus’s larger than life appetite was taken care of.

He loved the older woman for that, he really did, but sometimes it felt like more than he deserved, even if he did help keep the neighborhood—and the city—safe.

Deciding to risk walking past the store anyway, he hoped Mrs. Pak refrained once she saw how encumbered he was with Mal’s package.

“Hey, skinny boy!” she called, peeking her head out of the shop.

Danny turned, expecting to be laden down with some additional bit of food only to find the woman standing with her hands on her hips a little too reminiscent of Captain Shan. “Yes, Mrs. Pak?”

“I put you and Mickey to work. You want equal trade for food?” Danny had said a little too often that he would prefer to do more for her in return. “Fine. You help repair shop tomorrow. Need new shelves. Real labor be good for you,” she pointed her finger at him.

“Of course, Mrs. Pak. Whatever you need. We’ll stop by tomorrow morning.”

“Good, good,” she nodded, then wagged her finger at him again. “You give Mickey kiss from me, yes? Sweet boy. Needs sunny boyfriend to keep from going sour.”

“Yes, Mrs. Pak,” Danny chuckled.

As she gave him leave to head off without adding to his burden, he felt his cheeks starting to hurt from having such a good day, such a fulfilling week.

A month ago he might have expected this feeling to come with a hint of impending doom, because good times couldn’t last; something was bound to go wrong eventually.

But Danny wouldn’t let himself think like that anymore. Bad times would come again. Bad days. He just had to enjoy the good while he had it and get through the hard times when they turned up too .

“Danny!” Janey bounded down the sidewalk with her own large box in hand—the leftover donuts she brought to the abuse shelter.

Smiling back at her since neither of them could really wave, Danny met Janey on the sidewalk in front of the bakery.

“Ready for Sunday?” she asked.

“You bet. Mal’s really excited, not that he’d admit it.

It’ll be his first real press event as Prometheus since the pardon.

And for a good cause. If there’s anyone left in this city who doesn’t believe he’s a good man, being the spokesperson for the shelter’s fundraiser will make a huge difference. ”

“I still can’t believe you convinced him to use his…

well… popularity to get more attention on the fundraiser.

He’s usually so private, always gave his own donations quietly, under the radar, you know?

I hear Zeus might even drop by,” she said with a knowing slide of her eyes.

Janey didn’t only deliver leftover baked goods for the men, women, and children at the shelter; she volunteered several days a week too.

“Funny. I heard the same thing,” Danny winked. “See you Sunday,” he called cheerfully as she hurried past him toward the shelter.

Sometimes it amazed Danny how quickly this neighborhood had started to feel like home, but then he thought about the people, simple genuinely good people just trying to live their lives, and it didn’t seem so strange.

He even waved to Rashid—well, lifted his chin and gestured with the box as best he could—when Rashid caught his attention from inside the convenience store.

Simple genuinely good people just trying to live their lives—like Danny. And Mal. Like all of Team Zeus and the Titans. Even if they did have interesting night jobs.

Danny braced himself as he moved up to the second floor of the apartment building, too familiar with the coming routine to be caught off guard, especially when he had a rather large box in his hands that he did not want to disrupt.

As soon as he got close to Carla’s door, he expected the way it burst open and an excited ten-year-old stood poised to ambush him.

“Freeze!” Michael called, holding his Prometheus doll out as if he were holding a gun .

Danny stiffened dramatically, surprised expression frozen in place, until Michael giggled and lowered the doll. “Takes a while for that ice to thaw, Michael,” Danny said rigidly. “I might need a minute.”

Michael giggled harder as he came out of his apartment with a curious tilt of his head. “Donuts?”

“Not this time, pal,” Danny relaxed. “This is for Mal. Not food,” he assured the young boy’s pout.