Page 68 of Lovesick Titan

Meet me at Pronto at 8AM.

Nerves fluttered in Mal’s stomach, but he could no longer pretend he didn’t want Danny. He didn’t care about the stakes or the unknown disasters that might lie ahead. Danny was worth it. If the kid wanted to keep being a fool and think Mal was worth it too, then Mal wanted to let him.

“Is Momma awake?” the nurse’s voice called softly as she brought in a fussing baby Mai. “Baby’s hungry.”

Carla stirred like she’d only been dozing, and with a weary smile, she reached out as the nurse approached. Mal stood, rubbing his eyes to rouse himself fully.

“Your sister and Mr. Percy are back too. They just went for coffee,” the nurse said, smiling at Mal before she left.

Mal was impressed; Lucy was not usually a morning person. Oz must have gotten her out of bed, eager to return to Carla’s side. Mal had often wondered if maybe baby Mai wasn’t Dunkirk’s, but it wasn’t his place to ask.

He held back from the bed as Carla undid her gown to breastfeed. “I should—”

“You’re fine. Most natural thing in the world.” Carla flicked her eyes to him with a teasing smirk.

A smile came to Mal as he shook his head. Carla had this way about her, more than just reminding him of his mother, that instantly set him at ease. Stepping closer to look at Mai clinging to her momma, he wondered what color eyes she’d have when the fog of baby blue faded.

“Go home, Malcolm,” Carla said with a gentle fondness. “You’ve done enough. I’ll be fine with Oz and Lucy here. Your sister’s more intimidating than you anyway.”

“Oh, that I know.” He shared a look with his friend, brief but full of gratitude that Mal would never, ever believe he deserved. Then he turned for the door.

“And Malcolm?” Carla called. “Go get your boy. It’s what you both want, anyone could see that. You look at him like he’s as much of a miracle as…” She grinned as she glanced at her daughter and didn’t need to say anything more.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mal said with an obedient nod and left the room thinking that he might get to keep a miracle for himself for once.

R

After napping for an hour at home, Mal got ready, showered, and chose just the right outfit to blend in at Pronto. With his hair tied into a loose bun, his cap and glasses were a must. He hadn’t bothered the morning he and Danny first started this adventure, but he was running out of risks he could take. The risks he had left he’d save for Danny,so he left the messenger bag at his apartment. If Danny wanted it back, he’d have to come and get it.

Mal headed to the coffee shop so he arrived exactly on time. As soon as he stepped through the door, Danny waved him over to a table in front of the windows. The sight of the kid smiling wide should have soothed Mal, but there was something different about him from the beaming affection he’d displayed last night.

It seemed fitting to be in Pronto, where everything had started, but unease stirred in Mal’s gut that he never felt without good reason. Danny’s smile wasn’t friendly.

“Hey,” he said when Mal took the seat across from him. Two coffees sat in front of Danny, and he passed one to Mal.

Mal didn’t take it. “Danny. Deal with any new catastrophes last night?”

Danny giggled with a menacing edge. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. I’m glad you came. We have a few things to sort out.”

“Do we now?” Scanning Danny’s face, his posture, Mal tried to read him. Something had happened, something had obviously changed, but what?

Leaning forward on his stool, resting his elbows on the table and toying with the lid of his coffee cup with antsy fingers, Danny appeared just as Mal was used to. Yet there was something amiss, something in the way he held himself, in the tilt to his head, that set Mal on edge.

“See, I have to get my priorities in order,” Danny said. “And while this has been fun and all, I’m back at work on Monday, so…well…” He stretched his grin. “Time to put these games behind us, don’t you think?”

“Games?” Tension ratcheted through Mal’s limbs.

Danny giggled again and bit his lip in a way that once would have made Mal hot beneath the collar. Now he felt queasy. “For a while there I had this whole grand scheme for how I was gonna finally lift the veil and tell you, but honestly it’s getting a bit boring now, so this is better. Wouldn’t have been any fun if I admitted you were right as soon as you caught me, would it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on,” Danny leaned closer across the table, his voice falling hushed and condescending with a wicked smirk, “you didn’t really think I could ever love you, did you?”

Bile choked in Mal’s throat.

“Oh…you did?” Danny laughed—laughed. “Wow. You really are delusional, but then I did make it pretty convincing. Had to draw things out, you know, really sell the performance to keep the upper hand. And my, oh my, how easily you fell for it.”

Mal was hallucinating. He had to be imagining this, after everything they’d been through to convince him this would never happen. It just wasn’tDanny. Was it? Mal had thought it was, believed the worst, but he’d been wrong, hadn’t he? He’d beenwrong.

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