Page 45 of Quiet
“Not often.”
“And they know where you live.”
“Yes, but I’m staying with Will right now.” Isa eeped and grabbed his seatbelt. “That was a red light . . .”
“Sorry,” Briar said in chagrin. He’d gotten distracted. Isa staying with Will wasn’t much better than staying alone—for different reasons. “Do you really think Will can keep you safe?”
“I’ve seen Will stab someone with a high heel before. I think he can keep me safe.” Isa’s face went a bit shifty.
“But would you let him keep you safe?”
Isa didn’t say anything, which spoke volumes. If he was with Briar, he’d stay safe whether he wanted it or not. Which in Briar’s mind meant the matter was settled.
“Fine. Fine. But only for tonight and I’m sleeping on the floor.”
“Why?” The floor was incredibly uncomfortable. Briar should know, he’d fallen asleep there many times while lost in a project.
“Why? Because, because . . .” Isa began to play with his fingers awkwardly. “Um, because reasons.”
“You can sleep in a bed.” There were more than enough to choose from.
“I’m not sleeping in your bed!”
Briar froze. He hadn’t been thinking of Isa in his bed. He’d been thinking of Isa using one of the many spare rooms in his house.
Nowhe was thinking of Isa in his bed and wishing he had a much smaller house.
Maybe he could turn around and suggest they stay at Isa’s room instead? No. Playing with Isa wasn’t the point right now. Keeping Isa safe was. The first thing he needed to do was get him to Briar’s house. Then he could figure out how to keep him there.
“You can have your own room,” Briar said with only a touch of petulance. Besides, he could put Isa in the room next to his. It was empty. All the rooms on his floor were empty. He needed it as a buffer between him and his other housemates. There was also a large, empty room right below his, so he didn’t have to worry about noise keeping him awake—or his noise keeping anyone else awake. It was usually Briar making the noise. His projects tended to be big and scraped loudly across the floor when he needed to move them.
“I need a toothbrush.” Isa barely put any heat in his words. It looked like he was beginning to come to terms with his relocation. Good. This was good. Briar needed to build on that.
“I have many toothbrushes.” Briar had a lot of everything. His aunt made sure to stock his house every time she visited to discuss a new commission. It was one of the perks of having a family member be his agent.
He didn’t have clothes that would fit Isa, but one of his roommates might. No. Briar didn’t want to see their clothes on Isa. What they had was too tenuous for him to be able to deal with Isa wearing something belonging to someone else. Maybe he had something from before his last growth spurt that might not fall off the moment Isa put it on?
He pulled into the garage and pushed the button to close the garage door. If Isa really wanted to leave, Briar wouldn’t stop him—at least, he didn’t think he would stop him—but there was no point in making it easy for him to run.
Briar went around to Isa’s side and opened the door, offering his hand to help him out. Isa accepted it, and Briar cherished the soft slide of skin on skin as his small hand fit into Briar’s.
“You live off campus?” Isa asked as Briar lead him inside. “I thought you had a dorm room.”
“I did last year. I didn’t like it.”
“So, you rented a house with friends?”
“Bought it.”
“You and your friends bought a house? How old are you?”
“Just turned twenty.”
“Who cosigns for a twenty-year-old buying a house?”
“No one.” His mom probably would have if he’d asked.
“Then how did you get it?”
