Page 23 of Lovesick Titan

Mal couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey, buddy, whatever makes ya happy.”

Chapter5

Danny had told himself that if Cho ever said he loved him, that would be the end of it, that would be the moment he broke the man’s heart. Then it happened. And Danny lost it. He ran—again.

He was such a fucking coward.

He’d had his con thrown back in his face, and instead of coming clean in that moment, Danny had left Cho naked and alone on his bed. He hadn’t slept at all that night. Now that it was morning, he didn’t want to get out of bed, even though he had promised to meet Andre at the precinct.

John called him for breakfast. Even Joey peeked his head in. But Danny said he wanted to be lazy today and sleep a little longer.

“Save me some breakfast, okay? Just been a long week.”

Bundled in his covers, he lay there staring at his reflection in his closet mirrors. He didn’t know how to fix this. His life was a joke. A shambled wreck. And he’d made the mess all on his own.

A flicker of black in Danny’s eyes made him jolt upright in bed. But as he stared harder at his reflection, he didn’t see it again. Either Ludgate was messing with him or he was losing his mind. Losing himself…

He clenched his eyes shut. “Reflections aren’t real.Ludgateis real. Just Ludgate. The rest is only in my head.”

“You so sure about that, Danny?”

A jolt of fear shot through Danny as his eyes sprung open. His reflection looked normal, but that had definitely been his voice.

Climbing off the bed, he walked slowly toward the mirrors with a fierce glare. “I know that’s you, Ludgate.Hades. You can’t fool me. Youwant to fight, then fight me.Kill me. But I won’t let you into my head again. I am not that reflection. I’mnot.”

The only warning he got was the way his reflection suddenly smirked.

Danny surged backwards.

“Oh really?” his reflection said, dressed in the same underwear and T-shirt. “Well if you’re not like me, then how come you didn’t tell Cho the truth last night? Afraid it’ll tarnish yourperfectimage if your villain finds out you play dirtier than he does?”

Stomach twisting, Danny willed himself to be angry instead of afraid and stood his ground.

“You haven’t even confessed the truth to your friends and family,” his own voice from his own sneering face continued. “They all defend you because they don’t know how low you’ve sunk. WouldAndrestill pat you on the back and tell you you’re nothing like Thanatos if he knew the truth?”

“Shut up.” Danny clenched his fists tighter. “I know I was wrong about Cho. I know that. And I’m going to fix it.”

“Yes. You definitely seem to be leaping to the task, don’t you?” His reflection eyed him up and down. “You’re already amurderer, so what’s a little heartbreak compared to killing Thanatos in cold blood?”

“Shutup.”

“Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe your friends will band together to help you win Cho’s heart. Oh that’s right,” he grinned as he tilted his head at Danny, “you already won it. You just decided to crush it into the dirt.”

“Shut up!”

“Danny?”

Spinning toward the door, Danny was petrified to see John standing there when Ludgate could attack at any moment—

But when he swung back around to look in the mirror, his reflection was just him. No distortion or change. Justhim.

“Everything okay?” John asked more seriously as he entered the room.

Danny honestly didn’t know. It had to be Ludgate.It had to be Ludgate. He wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t turning into his reflection. That he even needed to say that to himself sounded so insane. But if it wasLudgate and he knew everything about Danny’s plan against Choandthe truth about what happened with Thanatos…what was he going to do with that information? He had to be setting Danny up, but for what?

Danny needed to talk to Andre. He was the only other person who knew almost everything, the only one who would understand. He’d vouched for Cho. He’d know what to do.

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