Page 70 of Lovesick Titan

“Yeah. Zeus,” Mal said, which made Dom’s lip curl into a harsher sneer, “…or so someone wants me to believe.”

The whiskey might be burning a hole in Mal’s gut, but he wasn’t looking to get lost or drunk or stupid. He wouldn’t be fooled again. “If I’m right, Zeus isn’t the one you’ll be frying, Dom. My money’s on Ludgate. He got to Zeus somehow, playing his strings, messing with his head, I don’t know what, but Zeus himself…” Mal held Dom’s gaze with every ounce of fierceness in him. “Him you don’t touch. Even if it looks like he’s the enemy.”

Mal readied himself for Dom to scoff, bark back, raise her voice in ire, but the unexpected happened. She grew quiet, contemplative, as her brow smoothed out and she sat back with a huff. Not anger, just disgruntled concern.

“Listen, pal…”

Oh no, Mal would not be patronized.

“…this kid’s got yer head turned around.”

“Dom—”

“Heruns offon you. Pulls some stunt you won’t tell me about that has you ready to bring him to his knees, an absolute wreck, now he’sgot you shootin’ whiskey before noon, and yer tryin’ to tell me he’s off limits?”

“You don’t know—”

“So fuckin’ tell me already!” Dom slammed a fist down on the tabletop, making Mal flinch from the threat of the fight he’d been expecting earlier. He met Dom’s stare evenly but saw in his friend’s eyes that she would not back down first, not with this.

Mal had known it was likely too much to ask that she’d go along without demanding answers. Before that morning, he’d intended to tell her everything, but now it was a race, and while taking those shots was part of the ruse, the clock was against them.

“There isn’t time for that.”

“Then you can handle damage control by your own damn self.”

“Dom.” Reaching across the table, Mal grabbed his friend’s wrist before she could stand and felt the muscles in her forearm ripple with tension, ready to jerk away or turn this more physical than they could afford. So Mal didn’t fight. He loosened his hold but didn’t pull away either. “He was using me, okay? That’s what happened, that’s what I found out. But thingschanged.”

Dom huffed again, but with the release of air, so too deflated her anger, and she relaxed back into the booth. Pulling her arm out of Mal’s grip, there was frustration in her expression, but mixed with pity and rare sympathy. Mal could have counted on one hand how seldom she’d looked at him like that over the years.

He fell back into the booth too. “Everything he’s done since then, everything he’s tried to do, there’s no way he meant to sucker me a second time. Should have known something was wrong when he disappeared last night. With Ludgate skulking around…Ifeltit, knew something was off, but like arookie, I ignored my instincts. Knew better when I saw him this morning. Something happened. Ludgate did something to him.”

“Ludgate did, huh?” Dom eyed Mal skeptically.

“I’ve told you what he can do. And we don’t even know the half of it. Zeus is being used.”

“Instead of him just using you again.”

“It’s not like that,” Mal slammed his own fist on the table, then took a breath to quiet the lack of control that had stirred within him, choosingto blame it on the liquor. “I believe him, Dom. The him that tried to make me see the truth at the heist, who stood there and let you burn him just to prove a point, and who’s been trying ever since to talk things out. I have to believe him. He believed in me. Thinks I’m more than…this.”

Gesturing weakly at himself, at the pathetic picture he painted with flushed cheeks from the whiskey, he tore the hat from his head and threw it into the booth.

“You wanna think he’s making me soft, go ahead, but I’m not an idiot. I won’t give up on him, Dom. Not again.”

Her brow was tight, lips pursed, but her eyes betrayed a crinkle of wavering. “And what if yer wrong? Huh? What then? What if he’s usin’ you another way now, and yer too lovesick to see it?Thendo I get to fry ‘im?”

Laughter bubbled out of Mal, and the lines smoothed from Dom’s forehead with a tease of a grin. She was with him, from here to the end. “If I’m wrong? Doubt you’ll manage much of anything before Iicehim.” Anxious to get started, Mal grinned back at his friend. “Ready to get to work?”

R

Dom’s first task was to go to Andrew Electronics to pick up Priestly while Mal brought in Lucy and Oz. It was finally time to call in that favor Hermes owed him.

They met up at a safe house Mal hadn’t used in over a month—which made it less likely Ludgate knew about it. There was always the chance that Mal was being watched, that all of them were, so the most they could do was avoid windows and mirrors and anything else obviously reflective and hope for the best.

It had been a risk to go to Haven, but that had been deliberate; if Ludgate was watching, Mal wanted him to think he was wrecked and acting out. He even played it up when he and Dom left that he was wobbly on his feet. When he got out of the neighborhood and hit an alley with brick buildings and no windows, he took off at a brisker pace.

Mal knew his city. Knew how to avoid reflections as much as anyone could. He hoped Ludgate was too preoccupied with Danny to be watching him, but he had to be careful. He couldn’t risk going home. Not until this was over.

“Got your gear,” Oz said when he blinked into existence. Mal barely flinched as he finished something on the safe house computer and turned to face the teleporter. “Plus essentials,” Oz added, dropping a couple duffle bags at Mal’s feet.

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