Page 71 of Quiet
“Did you really expect him to have any shame after what we saw him doing backstage?” Josh asked, disgust dripping from his voice. Isa cried out as his arm was twisted, contorting his body as it pulled against his sister’s grasp and his other cousin’s hold. It was like he was about to be torn into three separate pieces.
“Just get him in the car,” Rebecca snapped. “Father is going to want him after we tell him what happened.”
Part of Isa was shouting for him to give up and get used to their treatment. He’d done it once. He’d borne the brunt of his sister’s rage at his differences. Dealt with having his soul crushed until he acted the way he was told. A handful of months of freedom shouldn’t have dulled his ability to deal with the pain and humiliation. But it had.
His mind offered up the memory of Briar’s gentle but firm hands on his body—an extreme contrast to what was happening now. To the loving way he gazed at Isa like he was Briar’s entire world. It had been too good to be true. Isa knew that, but something in him found the strength to do something insane.
Isa lifted both feet and kicked out at his sister without even thinking.
None of them had been expecting it—not even Isa. He never fought back. Which meant when Rebecca’s ass hit the ground, his cousins were in so much shock, they let Isa fall.
He didn’t hesitate. The second his feet touched the sidewalk, he bolted, kicking hard against the ground for extra speed. He didn’t know where he’d gotten the energy and courage to fight back, but in that moment, all he could think about was the scatter of freckles on Briar’s shoulder, the shine of moonlight on his dark hair, and the soul deep way his green eyes left Isa feeling more seen, more heard, and more accepted than he’d ever felt in his life.
“Get back here, you little freak!” His sister’s enraged shout wasn’t enough to send him into instant obedience like it usually did, but it sent a hard shiver through him and his knees went weak.
He twisted his head to see how much time he had to get away. Josh had stopped to help Rebecca up, but Paul was only steps behind him. This would be the worst time to trip and fall, so Isa ordered his knees to firm up. He’d already done the unforgivable and fought back. Now all he could do was get himself to safety. He didn’t put it past his sister to forget herself and permanently injure him—or worse.
He had speed on his side. He’d spent his entire childhood learning how to be fast. Making himself scarce before an unstable family member found him, hiding his stash of pretty things away when he heard footsteps on the stairs—all of it had helped him be nimble and dexterous when he needed to be.
It was like he’d been training for this exact moment.
Well, he wasn’t going to let Baby Isa down. He’d be damned if he’d survived the trashfire of his childhood to go out like this. Not when happiness was at the tips of his fingers. He had to get away.
Isa darted off the path and used his speed to get him to a narrow space between two trees. If he could make it, it would force his larger cousin to go around the surrounding brush, giving Isa precious seconds that might allow him to lose his pursuers in the dark.
He might be built for speed, but endurance was not his friend, and his reserves were already nonexistent. Losing them now was his only chance. If it was a prolonged race, Isa didn’t stand a chance.
He couldn’t let them take him back.
Isa put everything he had into making it to the trees, and as he squeezed through, he felt fingers brush the back of his jacket and heard the low, frustrated growl of his cousin as he was forced to skid to a stop. Then Isa was free and out the other side.
Now all he had to do was figure out how to use his newly earned thirty-second lead to get him the fuck out of there.
There was an acre of woods he could hide in, but no matter where he went, his cousin would be able to find him. All he had to do was listen, and he’d hear Isa crashing through the underbrush like a drunk baby gorilla. So, instead of heading deeper into the trees, he ducked under a branch and raced for the path on the opposite side. He didn’t need to outrun his cousin forever, he just needed to get to a populated area.
Even Paul wasn’t crazy enough to kidnap Isa in public. His family wouldn’t have waited to corner him alone, otherwise. Once on the path, Isa headed for the closest dorm. It was the end of the year, and all finals were done. You couldn’t swing a cat without finding a party.
Isa focused on the gravel under his feet rather than the sounds of pursuit behind him, so he missed seeing the big ass wall that stopped him dead in his tracks.
No. Not a wall. Walls didn’t usually wear clothes. Isa looked up to see bewildered green eyes staring back down at him.
He’d found Briar.
Chapter27
Briar
Alex hadn’t needed Briar for party setup. That had been clear the moment they’d reached their house, and Alex began grilling Briar on his whereabouts the night before.
“What happened to you? You let Isa drag you off and then ignored your phone the rest of the night. Do you know how close I came to breaking ourno policerule?”
They’d made that rule early on in their friendship. Government officials were anextreme emergency onlysort of thing for Briar.
Briar shrugged and signed, “Sorry.”
“Oh no, I’m going to need more than a tiny-ass token apology here. Where did you go last night? You seemed okay at the play or else I wouldn’t have waited to confront you.”
“I’m fine. I was with Isa,” Briar signed. He didn’t want to be talking to Alex right now, scrabbling for words to explain the clusterfuck of the night before. He wanted to be with Isa, getting as up in his business as the boy would allow and convincing him not to go back home using any means necessary. It was a scratching record in the back of his mind, stuck on repeat. He couldn’t let Isa leave.
