Page 30 of Lovesick Titan

Danny shook his head, halfway across the floor now, almost back to where he’d been beside the couch, and Mal stuck with him all the way. “I-I don’t…want to be like this.”

Mal was so sick of Danny trying to deny the truth. He had him now, and he wouldn’t give up his power ever again. “Well done, Zeus. You conned a conman. You became everything you claim to hate. Youwon.”

“No…this isn’t what I wanted.” Danny backed into the door. The patch of ice Mal had shot at the wall was still misting.

“Isn’t it?” Mal said, as cold and unfeeling as Danny had been to him. “Isn’t this exactly what you planned? I said ‘I love you’ and youleftmethere.”

“I know…I’msorry…”

Fuck, those eyes and the way they pleaded, but Mal knew it was just another lie. Danny needed to pay. He was going topay.

Mal would have slammed his hand into the door beside Danny’s head, but he didn’t want to get that close—not yet. He held back and stood before Danny, calm and in control. “Do you remember what I said about my father? About the worst part of his abuse?”

The moment when Danny realized what Mal meant was plain on his face.

“I said that the worst part was how even at his nastiest he’d still pretend like he loved us. That’s how I learned love is a lie. And you, Danny, reminded me of that. So thank you for thelesson. Guess I needed to learn it after all.”

“Mal…I don’t want this. I didn’t want this. I wanted to fix it. I came here tofixit!”

Bitterness churned in Mal’s stomach because even now Danny thought he could con him. “You think I’d ever let you touch me again? That I’d listen to a word you say? You are something else. But why not, Danny?” The last thing Mal wanted was to be as close to Danny as he moved now, crowding in on his space against the door, moving into his body that only just last night had moved inside of him like there was something beautiful in the way they connected—but this was the moment that mattered.

This was how he ruined Danny in return.

“Here’s one for the road,” Mal said as he finally pressed his hand to the wall, no longer iced over, and gripped Danny’s waist roughly with the other. “So you know what you’re missing.”

He kissed him. And it was cold and it was angry, nothing sweet or caring about it. The press of his lips and the bite of his teeth as he forced his tongue inside and waited for Danny to respond as he knew he would. And oh how Danny did, how he opened up and kissed back like he was desperate to claim some leverage, to convince Mal in the swirl of their tongues that there was something there to salvage.

But Mal wasn’t anyone’sbitch, and he wasn’t going to bend to Danny Grant. It didn’t matter that for a moment, he did give in and kiss harder and deeper because he wanted to remember this feeling, because he wanted to savor Danny’s body and mouth and skin for just a little longer before he had to let it go. He hated how weak he felt as he lost himself in the ruse because Danny had been right about one thing that first night they shared: no one would ever compare to him—to the version Mal once believed he had. And for that he hated Danny even as part of him loved the broken hero enough to make that sting.

Danny sobbed out of the kiss when Mal pulled back and tried to follow him, tried to reconnect their lips, to tangle his hands in Mal’s sweater and hang on tight. But Mal pushed him off, ripped Danny’s hands away, and wiped his mouth like the kiss hadn’t been a painful goodbye.

“Mal, please…” Danny’s eyes looked golden as they glistened.

No. Never again.

Mal shoved Danny to the side of the door so he could wrench it open. “We’re done. Now get the fuck out of my house.”

While Danny was still finding his feet, Mal thrust him out into the hallway, kicked his shoes out after him, and slammed the door in his face. If he really believed the worst of the kid, he’d half expect him to lightning jump right back inside, but Danny wasn’t going to pummel him to make his point. Oh, he had it in him, but that wasn’t part of the game. It would spoil the lies he told himself about being a hero.

It should have felt good to be rid of him. Mal almost expected a knock, a cry, another plea for him to let Danny in. But nothing came. Just the faint shuffle of feet walking away from the door.

When Mal reached up to wipe his face—not because there were tears there,damn it, he wouldn’t allow tears—he cursed himself for how much his hands shook.

Danny was going to pay. And it was going to be more than worth it to watch him fall. No one tried to bring Malcolm Cho down without bringing themselves down too.

R

The show at Prometheus’s apartment made Hades shiver in anticipation. He’d been waiting for this, for the right moment to play his hand. Tearing Zeus from Prometheus was one thing, but now he had to break the wayward hero down further. Pull him from his family. His friends. His livelihood. Give him no sanctuary or place to run.

Then when he made theswitch, no one would be the wiser.

Watching Prometheus a little longer, he was surprised to see what the man got up to after Zeus left. Hades didn’t need to play his hand after all. Prometheus had his own game he was playing, and it would be an even sweeter way to bring Zeus low.

Hades threw his head back and laughed as Prometheus worked at his computer. They made it soeasy. He barely had to do a thing, and Zeus and Prometheus continued to ruin themselves all on their own.

Chapter7

Danny didn’t remember much about the walk home. He didn’t once lightning jump. He couldn’t find the strength. It wasn’t from the cold field or the blasts of ice, though those had hurt—so much. But as always, Danny healed, wiping away any trace that he’d been hurt except for the pain so potent and deep inside of him he could barely breathe.

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