Page 39 of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

“Nasir’s told me a lot about it,” Feyi replied, not letting her eyes drift up to his face. It was surprisingly easy to push down the crush she had on him if she just avoided those eyes of his, the pigment of his lips, the half smile that pulled lines into his skin. All she had to do was not look. She climbed into the passenger seat as Nasir gave his father a hug.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Nasir was saying.

Alim nodded and raised a graceful hand, watching them silently as Nasir started the car and pulled out of the compound. Feyi stole a look before Alim disappeared from view, and he was still standing there, the hem of his robe fluttering around his legs, his face turned up to the sky. Behind him, the albino peacock spread out its tail in a fan of brilliant white. The whole scene looked like something she could paint, if she let herself. Feyi tore her eyes away and checked her phone.

“What are we doing for breakfast?” she asked.

Nasir grimaced. “Lorraine said she’d cook.”

“Okay … why you make that sound like a bad thing?”

“Shit, I’ve seen that girl burn a boiled egg. Hopefully Dad’s given her some lessons since, or we might have to pick up some patties on the way to the museum.” He slowed down to let an approaching car through a tight spot in the road. “I’m hype for you to see the house, though. It’s not as fancy as Dad’s place, but Lorraine and I had the best childhood there. At least, while we could.” A thread of sadness snagged on his last few words, and Feyi watched the grief move in a slow wave through his eyes.

“Isn’t it painful for Lorraine to live there?” she asked. “After Jonah, I couldn’t even—I had to move out of our apartment.”

Nasir looked thoughtful. “I mean, we had a lot of years there with Dad, so we got used to it, you know? And Lorraine doesn’t look it, but she’s sentimental as hell. Dad says she’s addicted to nostalgia. But yeah, no, she loves living there. Says the best thing was the two of us moving out so she could have the place to herself.”

Feyi laughed. “That’s cold.”

“That’s Lorraine for you. Brutal honesty whether you need it or not.”

“Does she usually get along with the friends you bring down to visit? Like, eventually?”

Nasir’s eyes flickered guiltily. “Well, yeah, but …”

“But what?”

He grimaced again. “They’ve all been guys.”

It took a minute for it to click for Feyi. “Wait, wait, wait. You said your dad flies you and your friends down here all the time!”

“He does! You’re just the first … girl I’ve invited.”

Feyi smacked his arm. “Nasir! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Aw, man, I didn’t want you thinking it was a whole thing.”

“Well, is it a whole thing?”

He slid her a look that was unrepentant, hungry, and patient all at once. “Let’s get through your show, then we’ll talk,” he said. “We’re friends first, right?”

Feyi nodded, trying to figure out how the curling emotion his hunger called up in her had shifted from a mirrored desire to a sick unease in just a week or two. They weren’t doing anything and still it felt too fast, like she was being smothered, like she needed to retreat.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” she replied, her tongue clumsy against her teeth. Would a friend feel the way she did about Alim? Hug him in a private sunrise, hold his secrets from his son?

“So it’s all good,” he continued. “I just want you to kill it at this thing, blow all those bitches out the water.”

“I mean, I’ll give it my best shot.”

Nasir glanced over and smiled at her. “Bet. They not ready.”

His belief was sweet. They drove for a little while more before he turned into a compound filled with yellow and red hibiscus bushes, gravel rattling beneath their tires. A large bungalow sprawled in front of them, painted a pale green, with a porch swing on the veranda.

“Here we are,” Nasir announced, turning off the engine. Feyi grabbed her backpack, and Nasir let them into the house with a brass key from his key chain. Feyi frowned at it.

“Don’t you have that key when you’re in New York, too?”

He grinned. “Yeah, I like to feel like there’s a piece of home with me all the time.”