Page 42 of Quiet
Isa did his best to keep that from happening, but his friends weren’t helping. Will must have talked to them. Every single one, down to volunteers from other departments, did everything in their power to create opportunities for the two of them to work together. He found himself alone with Briar more than ever.
He couldn’t even get mad about it. Briar never did anything Isa wasn’t straight up gagging for. Other than putting Isa in a position where he couldn’t get away from that voice of his.
“I have to go pick up Sara’s costume.”
Sara ended up getting the all-clear from her doctor and had taken back her role of Benedick, allowing Isa to return to his Jack-of-all-trades job. It was a massive relief. He liked being onstage, but there was too much of a chance someone in his family would come to the play. If Rebecca saw him in a dress . . .
He winced and tried to scramble out of Briar’s lap, but it was pointless. Briar held him firmly in place, and Isa’s traitorous limbs were barely even putting up a struggle.
“I already sent someone to get it,” Emily said as she walked by. “You can knock off for the rest of the day. You’ve earned it. We’re getting two for the price of one from you, after all.”
Briar laughed softly, and Isa felt it stir the hair on the back of his neck. Once Emily left, they were alone. “We can get something to eat if you want,” Briar said as he fixed Isa’s collar. He was always doing that—fixing some small imperfection on Isa’s clothes or hair. Like he was a doll or treasured toy Briar had to keep pristine—no, not an object. He didn’t treat Isa like an object to be adored or discarded on whim. The look in Briar’s eyes was nothing short of devout worship.
“No, th-that’s okay,” Isa said automatically then thought better of it. They were alone right now. Going to get food in public would be a safer option than staying backstage with Briar. “I mean, yes! Let’s go do the food thing. Somewhere not here.” Somewhere filled with people to distract Isa from the outlandish idea that he might actually be someone worth worshiping.
Chapter18
Briar
Alex may have been wrong about needing to dial back his intensity, but he’d been correct about Isa being skittish.
If Briar had listened to his friend, he had no doubt Isa would have vanished forever after his final modeling session. He couldn’t have that.
As much as Briar lived and breathed art, he now needed Isa just as much. So, he wasn’t holding back anymore.
He was done with all of his finals and had stayed up late multiple nights in order to finish the group project early so he could focus on Isa. Bea and Alex had been surprised, but far from upset to find it completed. They both still had several finals to study for.
Normally when he had free time, Briar would call his aunt and have her send him a list of requests from potential clients. He’d comb through them until he found something that resonated.
Right now, Isa was resonating far louder than a project. He needed to find some way past the boy’s defenses. Fortunately for Briar, he had plenty of ammunition to do so.
Isa wanted him, that was obvious from the moment Briar had first kissed him. Something about Briar’s voice turned him from a frightened bunny into a pliant, beautiful mess in Briar’s arms. And it hadn’t escaped his notice that each time he held him, Isa was a little bit slower to pull away, a little slower when he ran.
Very recently, he’d also begun to notice Isa really liked it when Briar smiled. The last time he’d done so, Isa had stared at him awestruck, like Briar was a mythical creature who carried the secrets of the universe in his soul. When he figured out how to maximize on it, he’d use that too.
The only thing he didn’t do was push Isa into going further than the intense make-out sessions they already engaged in. He knew Isa desired him, but Briar wanted more than that. He wanted Isa to need Briar. Even a fraction as much as Briar needed him would be good enough. As obsessed as he was now, Briar knew he’d never be able to bear losing him if they had sex and the boy bolted.
Isa was shivering from the cold night air as he walked by Briar’s side. Not the good kind, where he would allow Briar to do anything he wanted to him. The cold kind.
Briar noticed he often forgot to bring extra clothes to deal with the ever-shifting New England spring weather. He should have a checklist like Briar did. It would save him a lot of trouble.
Briar shrugged off his jacket and dropped it over Isa’s shoulders, noticing the boy stumble in surprise.
When Isa looked up at him with his luminous, starlight eyes, something inside Briar shifted. There was innocence there. There was also longing—something Briar could deeply empathize with. It was why he couldn’t leave Isa alone. If he hadn’t echoed the same need Briar felt for him, it might have been possible to stay away, to not give in to the desire to have the boy anyway he could.
None of this was a surprise to Briar.
The surprise was, this time, Briar recognized something else lurking behind Isa’s eyes. It wasn’t hesitance, or nervousness, like he’d originally thought. It was fear.
Briar frowned. No, it was more than that. Deeper, more primal. Isa was terrified.
Underneath everything Isa had revealed to him, deep down, something about Briar scared the shit out of him.
Briar was at a loss for words. And he wasn’t used to that around Isa. Not anymore.
Had he misread the situation? It was entirely possible. He knew he had a handicap compared to other people who understood how to recognize other people’s emotions and social cues instinctively. Briar had needed to be taught how, and he knew it was still a work in progress.
Had he gotten so lost in what he wanted that he’d somehow painted his own wants and needs on top of Isa? Briar stopped in his tracks.
