Page 73 of Quiet
“Who?” The word tore itself from Briar’s lips, raw and angry.
“We don’t have time. We have to go!” Isa grabbed Briar and Will, trying to drag them away.
“Honey, what are you talking about?” Will asked in confusion. His expression froze when he took in Isa’s battered face. “What. The. Fuck?” He hissed.
Shouting came from up ahead as three people pelted toward them, a young woman with chestnut hair in the lead. “Get back here, you little faggot!” Briar recognized the woman as Isa’s sister Rebecca from the protest. As the group grew closer, he recognized Isa’s cousins as well.
“Come on!” Isa pulled harder, his small hand clenched tight around Briar’s wrist.
No. Briar wouldn’t be running right now.
Like they’d rehearsed it, Will stepped in front of Isa while Briar pushed the boy behind his own body, carefully dislodging the hand trapping his wrist. He was going to need it.
“Is this your family, Isa?” Will asked through clenched teeth. Briar noted absently that Will was far steadier on his feet that he’d been moments ago.
“Unfortunately,” Isa said, popping his head out from behind Briar’s back. “Which is why we should go.”
Briar turned slightly and tucked him back where he belonged. Out of danger. “Stay.”
The trio pounded to a stop in front of him. “Hand him over. I’m takingmybrother home.”
“Isa, which one did this to you?” Will asked, ignoring Rebecca.
Briar also wanted to know, but Isa only gave them silence.
“Get out of the way. I’m not going to let you two ruin him any further. It’s going to take months to beat the sickness out of him again. Don’t make it worse.”
Briar felt Isa shudder behind him.
“I won’t let you touch him again.” Briar growled as the words ripped themselves free, rough and untamed.
“Go get him,” Rebecca said to the men on either side of her. “We’re his family, they can’t do anything.”
“I can forgive a lot—okay, that’s a lie. I’m a petty bitch, but a pretty face usually gets a pass for me on most things. You, however, aren’t one. You need moisturizer. Badly.” Will let Isa’s cousins pass him unchallenged but gave them the side eye as if daring them to start something. Apparently, it was up to Briar to do something about them. That suited him fine.
When Briar was younger, angrier, and had fewer coping skills, he’d had to change schools a lot. After an explosive afternoon where both his aunt and mom had nearly come to blows with his school’s guidance counselor, his brother had taken him out to their garage to show him something. He’d set up a punching bag and told him to come here every day after school so Cedar could teach him how to box.
So, when the first cousin tried to push past Briar, he took him down with a single punch to the jaw. Isa’s second cousin backpedaled so fast he tripped and went sprawling to the gravel path. Briar hadn’t even needed to touch him.
“Y-you said queers can’t hit, Becca.” He stammered nervously. He was smaller than the cousin Briar had laid out and scrambled to his feet to move behind Rebecca.
“Well, obviously this one can. It’s probably why my loser brother took to him in the first place. He can’t keep you from us, Isa, you belong to us.”
“You can’t own a person,” Isa said, trying to maneuver around Briar to face his sister. Briar stepped in front of him again. If he saw Isa’s battered face right now, Briar wasn’t certain he’d be able to stop himself from doing something unforgivable.
Will, however, must have caught another eyeful because he rounded on Rebecca, eyes blazing. “Who’s responsible for Isa’s face?”
Briar was glad Will asked again. It was important information.
“I did it. He deserved it, flaunting his sickness where anyone could see. What are you going to do about it?”
“If you think I’m afraid to hit a woman, you are sadly mistaken.”
“You’re an ungodly abomination!”
“Your god can suck my wrinkled left testicle, bitch.” Will snarled and struck Rebecca in the face, forcing her head to snap to the side. A line of blood sprang up on her cheek. One of his nails must have caught on its way by. Will gave a feral grin. “An eye for an eye, right? Now the two of you can match.”
Rebecca held her cheek as furious tears welled in her eyes. Briar noted Will had also managed to leave glitter on her face as well. “No one . . . has ever . . .”
