Page 6 of Secret Spark

“Speaking of norms, I met one of my neighbors last night,” she said with a smile.

Mark returned her grin. “And I’m guessing by you telling me, she was attractive and female.”

“She was indeed. She lives across the hall.”

“What’s she like?”

“Pretty adorable. Very colorful. She was wearing purple shoes. Her hair’s red and curled under, like you’d see on an old-time movie star.”

“Cute.”

“Her name’s Sadie.”Sadie Eagan.She grinned at the memory of Sadie saying her name so properly. “She made a joke about a taco emergency. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t meant to be dirty, but it could’ve been construed as very suggestive.”

Mark snickered. “Of course you’d take a joke about a taco emergency that way.”

“I have taco emergencies. They aren’t usually taken care of by women with normal lives. Which reminds me,” she said before her brother could wind up with a retort. “The coffee shop that got hit last night is where she works. I think you got tossed into it by Flight a few months back.”

Mark screwed his eyes up to the ceiling. “Oh, yeah. He knocked me off that sweet ice pyre I built in front of the jeweler.”

“You can’t build a pyre out of ice,” Joan told him for not the first time.

“Myice pyre,” he continued, unbothered. “It was beautiful. Thick and high…”

Joan snorted.

“I like my pyres thick and high, like how you like your tacos to be emergencies.”

She shot a finger gun at him.

“And then Otis had to be all heroic and fly through it to break it up. I gave him a hell of a snow shower.”

“We should take care of the café,” Joan said.

Mark nodded. “God knows Otis and Company won’t.”

The Supers never paid for the damage they created. Otis—well, Flight, as the norms called him—relished all the glory and took the free shit people gave him. Even though he and his crew cost the city more than the supposed Villains ever had.

“So did you ask Cute Neighbor Sadie on this thing the kids call a date?” Mark asked.

“I don’t think the kids call it a date anymore.”

“If she has a funky, old-school vibe, she’d like to be asked on a date.”

“I might,” Joan said.

Sadie seemed nice. Friendly, chatty, open. The sort of woman Joan had always wanted to hang out with. But it was hard to date anyone not into villainy. The women who understood her were part of the criminal element, or else fans of the criminal element who thought it’d be cool to get with Spark. Which meant she had to wear her Spark getup with the facemask and long, dark wig. Which was kind of weird.

She wanted someone to like her for boring old Joanie, not for Spark.

Hmm. Sadie wanted her to stop by Vector City Coffee. Today might be a good day to inspect the damage while also seeing Sadie’s bright smile. Would she be wearing another fitted top that highlighted her ample chest? Dare one dream for a V-neck? Could a lonely lesbian get a little peek of cleavage?

Hell yes, please and thank youflickered through her lower abs.

Perry finally came out of the bathroom. He was dressed for a corporate business meeting in a sharp navy-blue suit that complemented his tan skin and sandy light-brown curls. He took these meetings way too seriously. He took everything way too seriously.

The newspaper tucked under his arm made Joan tease, “You’re really living up to the whole Breeze moniker with how much wind you just broke in there.”

“Joanie, you’ve been making jokes like that since you were sixteen.” Perry looked to Mark. “You two need new material.”

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