Page 29 of Quiet
The entire situation had gone south so quickly. Isa shook his head and patted one of Briar’s arms at an awkward angle. His arms were half trapped under Briar’s. “It’s okay, Alex. We’ve just had a misunderstanding, that’s all.”
Briar relaxed a hair.
Alex nodded slowly. “Okaaaay. Still, if Isa asked you to let him go, you need to listen. Consent is important.”
Briar’s body jerked like Alex’s words had physical weight. His hands dropped to his sides.
Isa was free. He could go now.
He didn’t feel free.
He felt like if he pulled away from Briar right now, he’d be leaving a piece of himself behind.
He closed his eyes and imagined what his father would say to Briar if he were here right now. Anything Isa could come up with would pale in comparison to what the man would actually say if he’d witnessed what his only son had just done.
Isa shuddered and stepped forward.
* * *
BRIAR
Consent.
Briar understood consent. But when Isa’s body told him the opposite of what his words said, things got confusing.
Isa wanted him, but he was lying about it.
Briar didn’t know why he was lying or what he was so scared of, but he wanted Isa to trust him enough to tell him. That meant Briar had to be trustworthy.
He released Isa, but the boy didn’t move right away. Instead, he shivered like a newborn calf. Briar could feel his heartbeat racing.
Finally, Isa stepped forward, facing away from Briar as he said, “I’d better go. I need to feed the duck.” He didn’t run exactly, but he was past Alex and down the stairs faster than Briar was expecting.
“Isa.”
Briar’s voice stopped the boy in his tracks. “Yes?”
“We’ll talk later.”
Isa jerked his head in acknowledgement and bolted for the door at the bottom of the stairs. Briar felt like he’d held a star in his hand and now it was slipping from his grasp. There was nothing he could do to stop it.
The sound of the door slamming behind Isa seemed to wake Alex from a trance. “What the hell was that? You and Isa?”
Briar narrowed his eyes and nodded sharply. He wasn’t a fan of being interrupted. If it had been anyone but Alex, Briar would have had trouble resisting the urge he had to shove him down the stairs.
“I didn’t know you felt that way about him. I mean, I knew there was something about him that had your interest, but I thought it was a Briar-art thing.”
Briar huffed. He’d thought that too at first. But now he knew better. It didn’t matter how many times he sketched Isa, the driving urge to uncover his secrets wasn’t going to go away. He wanted so much more than to capture the essence of the boy on canvas.
He wanted to touch him, explore every inch of his body—to possess him in any way he could. Briarwanted.
“Whoa. The look on your face right now is giving me chills. Take a breath.”
Briar gave Alex a dirty look.
“No seriously. If you really want Isa, you need to dial it back by at least fifty percent. The boy is friendly, but skittish as hell.”
Briar snorted and signed, “No shit?”
