Page 28 of Lovesick Titan

“Stay. Put,” Mal ground out through gritted teeth.

“Please…” Danny wanted to touch his foot but also not, because the ice was socold. Willing his powers to life was harder in the cold field. He felt the sparks begin, but the process was slower, making his eyes tear up at how much it hurt without the suit.

“No,” Mal said with a coldness to his tone that made Danny shiver harder than anything the ice was causing. “What happens if I drop the field, Danny? You gonna force me?” He squared his stance but didn’t move any closer, keeping himself safely in the eye of the field while Danny remained at the edge. “You could. Too fast for me to stop normally, especially in close quarters. Would you make me do what you want, since it’s so easy for you to twist me around?”

“No…Mal, I…I s-swear…” Danny dropped to his knees when he’d finally shaken off most of the ice from his foot. The effort had him so drained, he hurt everywhere now. Wrapping his arms around his middle, he could feel the frost over his face and coating his hair.

“Just like that night, right?” Mal spat, cold fire and fury in his eyes. “Pushed all my buttons and still got me to let you touch me. Nowthat…is talent.”

Danny fell forward, dropping his arms just in time to catch himself and keep from collapsing fully. He didn’t want to fight. He’d been fighting for so long, and he didn’t have a right to fight this. He wanted to feel the pain. He deserved to feel it. He’d driven Mal into a panic attack that night, and now he thought he’d done it onpurpose.

“I guess that was all just part of the plan too.”

“No…”

“To break me down. To make mepay.”

“No.”

All at once, warmth enveloped Danny and he sagged in relief. It was like coming in from outside after being caught in a blizzard. Mal had turned off the cold field. Trembling as his body fought to warm itself up, Danny sat back on his ankles with great effort and looked at Mal, whose hand was still frosted over but dropped limply at his side.

“Then tell me, Danny. What are you going to do?”

He was testing him, waiting to see if Danny would prove he was the villain Mal believed him to be. Danny knew he could never make up for what he’d done, especially not after Mal had heard the truth in the worst way possible, but he had to explain, he had to make Mal understand.

Taking in deeper breaths now that it no longer burned his throat, Danny summoned a surge of lightning. He blurred with sparks all throughout his body to melt the remaining traces of ice.

All the while, Mal kept in a ready stance, not giving Danny even an inch, despite having dropped the field. He didn’t trust him. Of course he didn’t. Danny had taken Mal’s trust, a rare trust for anyone to be granted, and shattered it.

Slowly, even though he was mostly okay now save his reddened, aching skin, Danny rose to his feet. “I’m not going to do anything. You left before I finished explaining. You don’t know the whole truth.”

“So tell me,” Mal said, softer, but colder somehow, numb and challenging at the same time. “What would I have heard if I stayed?”

“That I didn’tmeanit.”

Scoffing, Mal laughed as he tilted his head. “That’s it? That’s the best lie you got? After the lengths you went to? Wow, kid. You gotta work on your fallback plans.”

“I’mserious.” The barest motion from him made Mal flinch and start to raise his hand, so Danny stayed where he was. “I did mean it in the beginning, I admit that. I was planning to hurt you, to do all those terrible things you heard me say, but I changed my mind.”

Mal shook his head and backed up another step.

“I wasn’t going to go through with it!”

“Shut up.”

“Mal—”

“I don’t want to hear any more of your lies, Danny!”

“It wasn’t a lie! It wasn’t…all a lie.” Danny felt so weighted down, as if his sins hung heavy from his jacket like the dampness left behind from the cold field. He’d never seen Mal this standoffish, even when they were enemies. Ready for a fight, yes, but not as if hefearedDanny. “Everything you learned about me, all those things I confided in you, that was true.”

“And everything else was bullshit,” Mal snarled, all trace of forced humor lost in his sneer and the tightness of his jaw.

“No.” Danny didn’t try to hide the desperation and grief in his expression. “Not everything. Not every time. When we were together—”

“Which ones were real, Danny?” Mal demanded. “Huh? Which ones were fake?”

“Last night—”

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