Danny’s stomach sank at the sorrowful look in John’s eyes—thepityinglook. He was excluded because he’d excluded himself, made himself too much of a burden to deal with, so John hadn’t even bothered.
“And that’s just it, right?” Joey pushed from the table too. “Danny gets a free pass no matter what he does, because he’s yourrealson. You swear up and down that you were never treated differently,” he spun to face Stella, “but Danny bails and bails andbailson us, and his mind’s just elsewhere? Why does he even still live here?”
“Joey, you don’t understand—” John tried.
“No, I don’t!” The boy whirled on Danny again, glaring with all the hatred Danny felt toward himself. “You got to have both parents until you were twice my age, and you wallow around like the only thing in the universe is you. You’re not the only person who lost a mom that night! I can’t believeZeusand someone as selfish as you can exist in the same city.”
Danny barked a laugh. Because it was too funny. Fuckinghilariousthat Danny Grant was the worst of this city and Zeuswas the best, and somehow Danny was both. It made so much sense why he was torn up inside—because he was too halves that didn’t go together, maybe never would, and that…thatwas funny.
So he laughed. He laughed until the others were all staring at him. “Oh, come on!” he said, near hysterics when none of them joined him; of course they didn’t. “It’s funny, right? Isn’t itfunny, Stella? Because you wanted me to tell him. Well, I think he’s in for a rude awakening.”
“Danny, stop…” Stella looked at him like she was fractured inside too. But that was normal, wasn’t it? It was normal for Danny to hurt the people he loved.
“Zeus couldn’t save either of our mothers,” Danny grit out at Joey. “It’s unfair that my mother died. It’sunfairthat yours did too. I wish I could erase myself from everyone’s lives so none of it hurt anymore, but even that wouldn’t change what happened. You can blame me anyway though, Joey, go right ahead.Ido. It is my fault.”
“Danny—” Stella reached for him.
“Don’t. Touch me.” He backed away, and his clenched fists shook and shook and…sparkedin his fury, making Joey’s eyes, makingall of their eyeswiden. “I don’t want to be your charity case anymore, Stella. You think you need to be kind because it’s sad, because helping is the right thing, but you didn’t choose to be my friend, you had to be because we’re family. No one would everchooseme.
“Even you didn’t choose me, Dad,” he turned his words on his father, who looked anguished and speechless, but only because he was a good man who deserved better than Danny for a son, “you chosethem. Me you were just stuck with. If you didn’t feel obligated to love me, you’d hate me for what I let happen. The best you can muster is pitying me. You’re pitying me right now.But you don’t need to feel obligated to love me anymore, Dad. You get to start over with Joey.”
“Danny—”
“Have a nice night.”
Joey stood in Danny’s path when he turned for the door, but the boy backed into Stella as if Danny carried a plague in his wake.
“Danny, get back here.Danny!” John called after him. “You promised you wouldn’t run!”
Coldly, Danny looked over his shoulder and saw how stunned and terrified they all were, even John, who didn’t know what to do because there was nothing to do. Danny couldn’t be fixed.
“I know. But running’s the only thing I’m good at anymore,” he said before he turned on his heels and lightning jumped straight to the precinct.
He didn’t tell Andre anything about what he’d left behind when he arrived at the morgue. Tossing his phone aside, he couldn’t have cared less if John or Stella called him and focused on letting his lightning run free. When it was clear that Andre had succeeded and Danny could use the new suit to his heart’s content without it becoming visible, he told Andre he was taking it on a trial run through the city and not to expect him back until morning.
Danny knew exactly who to test the suit out on first.
Chapter19
Mal stared at his Netflix screen. Nothing sounded appealing. Tapping the remote against the cushion beside him like a metronome, he was clearly bored, and not the kind of bored that an old show or favorite movie could squelch.
There was nothing more to be done in preparation for the heist until the day of. He could fiddle with his amplifier, but he already understood the inner workings of the cold field and didn’t want to risk throwing something off. Besides, taking out his new toy to tinker with in his home could get risky if Danny showed up.
Not that Mal was holding out for Danny to come over. Kid had ‘family dinner night’ to attend to and had only mentioned offhandedly that he might be able to stop by if things ended early. Mal did not wait by the phone for some pretty young thing to give him the time of day. If he didn’t see Danny tonight, he’d see him tomorrow. After that, the heist might even prove to be a kind of foreplay between them. Danny might enjoy the chance for something normal after all this mess with Ludgate, and Mal didn’t mind providing a challenge that neither of them could win or lose.
Zeus could still look like a hero saving the security guard from unknown tortures—even if he’d just be passed out on the floor. There could be a win-win in there somewhere as long as Mal still made off with the diamond and didn’t see any jail time. That was part of their deal.
But that was Monday. Today was Friday, and right now, Mal had no new messages from Danny and nothing else to occupy his time.
MaybeBig Trouble in Little China. It never failed to amuse Mal when Kurt Russell got knocked out by falling ceiling debris at the start of the final battle and only really contributed at the very end.
A gust of wind made him shiver.
Wait. Gust of wind?
Bolting off the couch, Mal whirled around to take in his apartment. No one. Everything in its place. The door was still closed, but—there. The rug. It was folded up as if someone had just walked over it.
“Sparky?” Mal called, relaxing marginally, but a little on edge since he couldn’t see Danny and wondered where he could be hiding. Maybe he was feeling coy and had lightning jumped upstairs to undress and wait for Mal on the bed. Mal didn’t care for surprises, but he wouldn’t turn his nose up at a gift like that.
