Page 59 of The Devil and His Sparrow

Finally, my sparrow smiled—a beautiful, glowing grin that made this mostly dark apartment feel as bright as a full moon. “Sounds good.”

I stood to my full height again, ready to leave so she could have a girls night, when something else occurred to me. I placed my hands back on the counter. “By the way …”

She looked up from her phone.

I leaned in until our noses touched. “You eat all the goddamn cake you want.”

She laughed, trying to avert her gaze. “Right. Shrimp linguini, too?”

I saw it the moment her mom’s jab re-entered her mind, and I refused to let that ruin Iyla’s night anymore. I crooked my finger under Iyla’s chin to keep her locked on me. “You’re beautiful, Iyla.” I tilted her head to brush my lips over hers. It was a soft sweep of our lips—softer than I usually did. But it felt right. I pulled back only enough to repeat, “Beautiful.”

Her hazy gaze went from my mouth to my eyes. “I’m beautiful,” she whispered.

I grinned. “Damn right you are.”

I STOOD IN FRONT OF Iyla’s apartment door and shot her a text to warn her I was about to pop in. She didn’t like me lurking in the shadows unannounced, so I figured as long as she had a heads-up, it was cool.

With that text sent, I moved in the darkness, passing through walls and stepping into Iyla’s place. I found her in her bedroom, pulling on a maroon sweater to go with her leggings. Her long hair fell down her back, and she pinned part of it with a black clip.

I appeared then, leaning against her bedroom door frame. She nearly jumped right out of her boots when she spotted me. I laughed at her startled expression before I could stop it, even as she clutched her chest and tried to calm down.

“You jerk!” she shrieked, smacking my arm. “You scared me!”

“So I saw,” I said. I schooled the mirth from my voice. “You ready to go?”

With a quick nod, she grabbed her purse. The two of us made our way downstairs and to her car.

“How was your night with Nahla?” I asked.

“Amazing,” she answered, pulling out of her parking space. “We relaxed and watched a movie she’d been dying to see.”

I watched the passing trees as we drove to Bloomings. “The face masks were cool.”

“They actually were. I—” She stopped, and I looked sideways just in time to see her staring at me with suspicious eyes. “How did you know we were doing face masks?”

The corner of my mouth tipped up, despite myself. “I just wanted to make sure you were having a good time after the shit show you’d had to endure.”

Her narrowed gaze bounced from the road to me, and suddenly, her cheeks turned red. “You don’t do that often, do you? Like, you don’t watch me while I … shower or anything, right?”

No, but that was a great idea. My hardening dick agreed.

“I don’t do that,” I answered. Yet.

She finished telling me about her night with Nahla, and she asked me about how things went in New York. We had a concert up there, some shows to do interviews for, music to record, and I helped with the dance class. It was a busy week, and I loved most of it.

“It all went well,” I finished after walking her though the chaotic schedule.

“Did you finally come around to liking your new song?” she asked.

I lolled my head against the headrest to look over at her. She’d been honest with me about multiple tough subjects, and if we were friends, that had to go both ways. So for the first time in my long life, I opened up a bit.

“No. I still hate it.” I swallowed hard. “The beat feels too repetitive. The words are meaningless dogshit. I don’t feel anything when I hear or sing it. But the guys said it was good enough.”

“But you don’t want to be just ‘good enough,’ I take it?”

“Would you?” I looked at her fingers gripping the steering wheel and decided to push a little on my hunch. “Would you want to play the piano ‘good enough?’”

Her lips parted slightly, and she briefly looked at me. Her fingers tightened on the wheel. She was quiet, and I figured she wasn’t going to answer since it had to do with a very obvious sore subject. So I was surprised when she whispered, “No. No, I wouldn’t.”

---