“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated?” She flared with rare fury, and Mal instantly regretted his choice of words. “Why? Coz he didn’t mean it? Coz you deserved it? Or just coz you made himmad?”
The same questions from a dozen—hundreds—of episodes with their father over the years made Mal’s insides twist. “That’s not what this is,” he said and held her gaze until she relaxed, marginally, into the cushion behind her. “You think I’d go for that bullshit?”
“I’d sure as hell hope not. So,” she said, shifting until they sat side by side and their shoulders brushed, “what did happen?”
Mal wished he’d had more time to himself to think all this over before confessing the dirty truth to her, but another hour, another day, another week, wouldn’t change any of the facts. So he told her—sans Danny’s real name—all about how they’d gotten involved. About Ludgate. About last night. He didn’t sugarcoat how Dannyhadmeant to inflict some of his current bruises, but when all was said and done, the flash of murderous intent in Lucy’s eyes was quelled.
There was more to Danny Grant than his mistakes. There had to be if Mal was supposed to believe the same about himself.
“So Ludgate knows Zeus’s identity,” Lucy said, tapping her fingers over to his knee until he grasped her hand to remind her that she didn’t need to tiptoe around him like the rest of the world. “AndIdon’t even get to know? That’s low, Mickey. I said if he’s cute and you screw him more than once, I get a name.”
“You have a name. It’s Zeus.”
“Real funny.”
Mal ran his thumb over the top of her hand. “For all I know, Ludgate has all of that footage at the papers already. Maybe he doesn’t. Either way, I’ll have to lay low for a while.”
“Mickey…”
“What?”
Her warm brown eyes made him squeeze her hand tighter. “This isn’t just playing around. Always knew you had it bad for Zeus’s tight little body in that suit, but this…” The faint smirk on her face had an edge of seriousness to it.
He couldn’t let her say it, couldn’t say it himself yet, but he couldn’t deny it either. So he just said, “I know.” They sat a moment longer before he cleared his throat. “What about you?”
“Whataboutme?”
“Andrecalled.”
“Figured he would. I Facebooked him before. He messaged me last night. We talked. Told me how fucked up scary this whole thing is with Ludgate. Eventually I gave him your number.”
“That easily, huh?”
“Trust me,” she said with a flicker of a smile that looked far too much like the little girl’s he’d once known, “it wasn’t easy.”
“You get any loot out?”
“Zeus didn’t exactly check my pockets. Dom’s pissed she didn’t get to torch the paintings though.”
“I’ll make it up to her.” Sighing as he let Lucy’s hand go, Mal leaned forward on his thighs. He couldn’t sulk all day. He had to plan. Had to fix this. “Ludgate has the diamond. That I intend to reclaim. But first I gotta pay a visit to our resident tech genius.” He glanced at his sister, who sat forward to match him. “Care to join me?”
“Sounds fun. Plus, you need me today.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” She grimaced when she looked him over more closely. “Go alone and you’re likely to scare poor Priestly straight.”
Mal laughed so hard he hissed at how it stretched his split lip. “Ow,” he said pointedly and glared at her for good measure. “Brat.”
“Jerk.” Leaning forward, she gently pecked his forehead.
It soothed Mal like touch from so few people could. In fact, maybe only touch from her…and Danny could. Dom wasn’t exactly a hugger. And Mal didn’t trust many others. Enjoying the way someone’s touch felt against your skin gave them power over you that could so easily be turned into something cruel.
Grabbing his coat, Mal put on glasses since he’d never bothered with contacts today and slid a ball cap onto his head to better hide his injuries and identity. He brought his amplifier along, just in case Ludgate or anyone else tried to take advantage of his condition, then locked his apartment behind him as they left.
It felt good to be out, to get coffee and a cruller at the bakery. The sun was shining outside, the wind a light cooling breeze, but even though the neighborhood was safe for the moment, the liveliness of the people hurrying about their day was tinged with fear. The newspaper already had a story about the diamond heist and the brutal death of the guard. Ludgate was mentioned as a suspect, the police still looking for him but unable to connect him to the previous heists. It was on record that he was Light leaning, so the news story speculated he was actually a Light Elemental in hiding with deadly, unknown powers. If left unchecked, he could turn out to be far worse than the Dark reign of Thanatos.
