Page 67 of Quiet
Isa snapped free from his trance before he lost himself completely. Will would be back soon, and Isa didn’t want him seeing any more than he already had. He let Briar continue dressing him until he was satisfied.
“You two are being a little too quiet in there, I don’t need to break up your fun again, do I?” Will said halfway through Briar getting dressed. His sing-song voice grated against Isa’s nerves. He was enjoying himself far too much.
“We’re just getting dressed,” Isa called out, though the process felt nearly as intimate as having sex had. Was that normal?
“You’ve got one minute, and then I’m coming back in.”
Instead of using the time to make himself look perfect, Briar finished pulling his own shirt on, then proceeded to smooth down Isa’s collar and roll up his sleeves until they showed off Isa’s forearms. It was like grooming Isa mattered far more than grooming himself—not that Briar needed to do anything to make himself look sexy. The casually tousled look was really working for him.
When Will opened the door, Briar was tucking a strand of Isa’s hair behind one ear as he finger-combed it to his satisfaction. It was so soothing Isa was afraid he might have purred during the process.
Will’s face went uncharacteristically blank for a second before settling into his usual devil-may-care expression. Isa thought he saw a hint of wistfulness in the transition, but it might have been his imagination.
“Now that you’re tragically decent, I’ve come to steal you, Isa.”
Briar’s hand clutched Isa’s shirt.
“Briar thinks you’re serious, Will. Can you elaborate?” Isa stroked Briar’s back reassuringly. Like anyone had a chance of dragging him away from Briar. A literal fairy—magic and all—had approved their match. The guy was kind of an asshole, but it was enough of a sign for Isa to believe they were meant to be.
Again, a hint of wistfulness crossed Will’s features. “Sara’s in the hospital, love. We need you to be Benedick tonight.”
There was a flutter of nervous excitement in Isa’s chest, and he tamped it down. Being the lead in the play was cool as heck, but he needed to look at the bigger picture here. “Is she okay? What happened?”
“It looks like it was her appendix after all, she’s getting operated on right now, which you’d know if you’d bothered to check your phone in the past twelve hours.”
“Ah . . .” Isa’s ears got hot as he glanced guiltily at the corner of the room where Briar had thrown his wrinkled pants. In his exhaustion last night, his phone had been abandoned along with his pants without a single afterthought.
“You clearly had important business to attend to,” Will said, waggling his eyebrows.
“Wait, who’s going to interpret for the show?” They couldn’t just drop Isa’s job, they’d advertised the show as barrier-free for weeks. It would be a terrible thing to drop it at the last minute.
“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know if we can find anyone on no notice.”
Briar held up a finger and pulled out his phone. After a few seconds he signed, “Alex will do it.”
“Oh, thank god. Will, Alex can do it.”
“Yay! I’ll send him a dirty gift basket tomorrow.” Will clapped his hands together happily. “I can’t wait, I’m going to make you so pretty, Isa. Buckle up, Briar, once the school sees him, you’ll have to sleep with one eye open if you don’t want someone to snatch him away from you.”
Briar narrowed his eyes and shot a look at Isa. His face softened, and he touched a spot along Isa’s jawline. It throbbed faintly, reminding Isa of the attention Briar had given to the mark on his neck earlier. Had he left a mark on his jaw too? Briar smiled faintly before turning to stare Will down as he continued to stroke Isa’s jaw.
Isa didn’t need to translate for Briar this time. His message was clear. Isa was his, and anyone who tried to take him would live to regret it.
“You two are so painfully, unfairly hot. Think of the rest of us poor, unlaid mortals who have to be around you. You’re either going to have to tone it down or sell tickets.” Will backed up a step when Briar growled at him and cried, “Hey, I don’t make the rules.” Shamelessly ignoring that he had, in fact, just made up said rule.
Isa batted Briar’s hand away, or at least tried to make it look like he was. It didn’t help that all he wanted to do was lean into the touch and banish Will far, far away. It could be a nice place. Somewhere Will would enjoy—with cabana boys perhaps. Some form of oil could be involved. Will would like that. And then Isa would be free to—
“The play!” Isa smacked himself on the cheek several times, causing Briar to look at him in alarm. “When is the dress rehearsal? Did I miss it?”
“They’re starting now, so we’ll have to squeeze you into your corset and shove you onstage ASAP.” Will made to grab Isa’s arm then stopped and wrinkled his nose. “You, ah, might want a quick shower first though. Because reasons.”
Isa’s face burned at the implication, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything before Briar grabbed Will by the back of the neck and shoved him out the door.
“No having sex in the shower! Unless you invite me!” Isa heard Will call through the door.
“You could kill a person with that glare.” Isa caught Briar’s arm to stop him from chasing after Will. “He’s not serious.”
“He sounds serious.”
