Page 50 of Lovesick Titan

It stung to imagine being without Mal, even though Danny doubted he could have him back in his life. He wanted to prove to Lynn that Mal was worth loving, worth forgiving, but he knew she was just trying to protect him.

She held him and again he thought of his mother because the center of his lowest points had always revolved around losing her and Rick. Danny clung to Lynn until his sobs stilled and his chest didn’t feel as tight.

“I promise I won’t,” he said softly. “Iwon’t. It’s just that…sometimes…”

“I know, Danny. Believe me,” she pulled back enough to meet his gaze, her eyes holding as much dampness as his own, “I know. I lost the love of my life. Iknow. But killing yourself isn’t the answer, and letting yourself die without a fight is no different. We can beat this another way. You deserve the chance to be happy again.” She smiled sadly, and Danny knew she meant it as more than simple empathy but comradery in that feeling of having no way out.

He was glad she hadn’t minced words but called out what he sometimes wanted to do as exactly what it was. He’d sought destruction at his lowest; Lynn buried herself in work. But it gave him strength that she smiled now, when once upon a time the loss of her husband had made her the woman who never smiled.

“You should sleep,” she said, an ease between them with everything out in the open and no more tears to be shed—for now. “You need rest. I’ll stay tonight too so you aren’t alone. Is there anything else I can do?”

There was a weight gone from Danny’s chest that had never quite lifted before. Almost with Mal, many times, but this had been the last secret he hadn’t been able to share with anyone. Sharing it with Lynn felt more freeing than he expected. It made him wish he could tell Mal too, without seeming like he was trying to garner sympathy.

What he really needed was to figure out how to protect himself and Mal from the perils they still faced. Ludgate. Each other. The investigation looming over Danny that he wasn’t so sure he shouldn’t fight anymore. There was more he could do. There was so much he could do rather than stand still and let life happen.

And there was one person he’d still been hiding from, who he’d avoided tonight and left in the dark—his father, alone in that house with Joey when Ludgate could be watching them right now. Danny owed John the truth. If he’d been able to admit all this to Lynn, even the darkest parts, and come out feeling lighter, maybe the same could be true with his family.

“This is good,” Danny said, looking at Lynn, the two of them sitting in the hallway with dozens of pills littering the floor. He reached for the cell phone that had slipped from his fingers. “But I think there’s one more person I need to talk to tonight.”

“Okay. I’ll be in the lounge when you’re ready,” she said and, with a supportive smile, slowly stood to move out of the hallway. When shepaused to look at the pills, Danny shook his head. He’d clean them up himself. It was his mess. And it was time he tried fixing things without running.

Taking a breath as he sat back against the wall, Danny dialed a familiar number.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Dad. No, I’m fine, I just went to the morgue for a while. I know it’s strange to call like this and it’s late but…can we talk?”

Chapter12

Mal shouldn’t be out in the open. Not with an IA investigation going on that could likely lead the officers looking into Danny—and looking into Mal’s comms—right to his neighborhood, but he didn’t care. He’d taken the precaution to wear his cap and glasses, to carry himself with that slightly altered gait that made people disregard him. He just needed to be out. Anywhere but stuck in his apartment.

Today was a good day to check on his investments to be certain everyone in the neighborhood had what they needed and weren’t being given any trouble. Mal also wanted to be sure Dunkirk hadn’t gotten out of holding too quickly and was lurking about his streets again.

Unlikely though—having Zeus gift-wrap a wanted criminal and set him on OCPD’s doorstep carried a little more weight than usual, and Daddy Dunkirk didn’t seem as eager to help his son out this time around. Good riddance.

Today, Mal had started his rounds backwards from his apartment. He was on his way to Rashid’s shop next, then the bakery, a handful of others along the way to Mrs. Pak’s, then finally the electronics store before ending at Haven. He needed to warn Priestly about the comms. He’d been too preoccupied with his revenge plan against Danny to give the young genius a head’s up. IA wouldn’t put priority on a piece of evidence for an internal case, not when it was connected to a heist that already had a suspect. Mal had another couple days, but he needed to be ready.

In keeping with his low-key presence around the neighborhood, he snuck in through the back of Rashid’s shop. He’d have to be cautious,call out before he was directly in view, in case Rashid was feeling trigger happy again. The jingle of the bell above the door announced a customer, so Mal held back to wait.

“Ah, you! Always welcome here. How can I help?” Rashid greeted whoever had entered much more genially than Mal was used to.

“Hi!” a bright,familiarvoice answered, stopping Mal in his tracks. “I don’t mean to be any trouble, I just wanted to, umm…well…to give you a head’s up about some police that might come through in the next few days. They might ask about me, and I don’t want to get Mr. Cho into any trouble.”

Mal’s throat went dry. Was Danny searching for angles? No. Mal didn’t believe that anymore. But then what?

“No trouble,” Rashid said. “I know nothing. Never seen you before. And Mr. Cho? Please. Nothing important ever happens here. Now, you interested in some menthols?”

Danny chuckled lightly, and it was so endearingly sweet, so like Mal was used to hearing from when Danny was just his adorable, fumbling self, the person Mal had first fallen in lo…

He shook his head, struggling not to clear his throat and give himself away.

“Thanks. Rashid, right? Thank you. You probably have all of this down by now and I’m just making a fool of myself.”

No feat there.

“But all the same, if anyone comes looking…well, just be yourself.”

“Of course,” Rashid said warmly. “You want anything from store, you help yourself. Or take something for Mr. Cho. Here…” Shuffling signaled that Rashid was moving, possibly to come into the back, which made Mal tense at being caught, but Danny called after him.

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