Page 86 of Lovesick Gods

After pressing ‘play’, with the popcorn in Danny’s lap and a drink for each of them, Mal claimed the end of the sofa, only to find himself cornered as his nemesis snuggled up against him.

Danny stiffened almost immediately and pulled away. “Is this okay?”

Normally no. Normallynever. “You’re fine, Danny,” Mal said and opened his arm in offering.

More than I’ll ever deserve.

ß

Danny was being stupid again. He should have left after the sex. Should have leftbeforethe sex. Should never have gone to Cho’s apartment in the first place, not when he was in such a bad place, the same sort of bad place he’d been in when he almost hurt people. When once…he’d killed someone.

Now he’d hurt Cho.Scared him.Danny knew it wasn’t an act, wasn’t anything planned, not this time. Not with the way Cho had been shaking and lost control of his powers.

But as bad as Danny felt about what he’d done, the rest of the night had turned out so…nice. When the movie was over, Danny didn’t want to leave. They watched Kurt Russell flicks until he almost fell asleep halfway throughEscape from L.A.

“First one’s better anyway,” Cho said before nudging Danny fully awake so he could lie back properly on the sofa. The bedroom wasn’t an option tonight.

Danny knew he shouldn’t stay with Cho again, but he didn’t want to go home. It had been so nice for a while. Pretending. Like they were dating. Like they were normal. Like maybe Danny didn’t hate Cho as much as he’d thought.

A heist here or there, that didn’t bother Danny. He didn’t care about thefts, even as a detective. He cared about people, not property damage. But something would mess it all up someday. Cho. Danny himself. Reality. Cho would let him down again like he had six months ago, and Danny would remember why he’d hated him to begin with.

Maybe Cho would be devastated when Danny left. Maybe Danny would enjoy that devastation. Maybe he wouldn’t. He didn’t know anymore. He didn’t know what he wanted. But he didn’t want any of it to end. Not yet. He wanted Cho for just a little longer.Just a little longer.

He tried to shake those thoughts away when he entered the morgue the next morning, wearing the stealth suit but walking in with the mask off and the rest visible. “Hey, Andre,” he said as he started to gather the clothes he’d left there last night.

Andre was showered and dressed in fresh clothes himself, but he looked like he hadn’t slept. Wearing a frown as he sat in his customary roller chair, he kept his arms crossed until Danny looked at him.

Dannyhadleft his phone behind. Maybe Andre had answered it. Maybe John or Stella had gotten a hold of him some other way. At least Lynn didn’t appear to be around. It was Saturday after all.

“What?” Danny asked, not in the mood to antagonize but not feeling up to defending himself either.

“I forgot to tell you something before you left last night,” Andre said, completely straight-faced, staring Danny down. “Just thought you should know. I already built comms into the suit.” He tilted his head at The Invisible Man.

“Okay.” Danny shrugged, unsure where Andre was going with this. “Great?”

As his arms finally relaxed, Andre looked simultaneously pissed off and disappointed. “And,” he said, emphasizing that the worst was yet to come, “they were on last night.Sparky.”

Chapter20

The blood drained from Danny’s face. Shit.Shit.

“Andre—”

“What thehell, Danny? Cho? You’re screwing Malcolm Cho?!” Andre erupted as if he’d been holding in his emotions since the moment Danny walked in. “After you jumped down my throat for saying you shouldn’t hate him? Whatwasthat? Just to throw me off? Some kind of act?”

“What?No.” Danny surged toward Andre, causing him to wheel back like he didn’t want to be anywhere near Danny right now. “None of it was an act,”except for when I’m with him, “I blew up that night because it touched a nerve, okay? I still thought Ididhate him then.”

“When you were already sleeping together?” Andre wrinkled his nose.

Danny couldn’t deny that; he’d been honest with Andre and Lynn about finding a lover since the start, even if they hadn’t known his identity. “Yes.”

“And now you, what?Don’t? Or you still hate him and just don’t care?”

Danny’s mouth opened only to hang agape, silent. Did he hate Cho? Did he still want to go through with his plan to break the man’s heart? Either way, he couldn’t tell Andre that. He’d just look more disgusted with Danny than he already was.

Because it was awful, wasn’t it? What he planned to do? It was despicable. Cruel…

“Danny?” Andre snapped him back to the moment, looking fervent and desperate, but not angry anymore, not really.

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