Page 78 of Quiet
“Let’s do it with pants on?”
Isa’s hands went to his boxer-clad legs, and he gave a weak laugh. “Shirts too, maybe.” He slapped Briar’s bare chest lightly. There was more color in his cheeks now.
Isa was going to be okay.
The itchy spot in Briar’s mind transformed into a happy little hum.
Chapter29
Isa
“You put a spell on Briar. He wants to know more.”
Properly attired in borrowed, baggy clothes, Isa sat stiffly on a well-worn couch with Briar in a sitting room down the hallway from Briar’s room. They were facing off against two formidable, red-haired women, who had Isa shaking in his socks.
Only it wasn’t a faceoff, so much as being offered tea and coffee cake by two warm, caring women who kept poking each other and giggling every time he and Briar breathed near one another.
It was their height that was intimidating Isa. Both towered over him like Briar. Like Rebecca.
No, he wasn’t going to think about her. He was doing something more important right now.
“How do you know about the spell? We never told anyone.” Briar’s mother traded worried glances with her sister.
“Mrs . . . miss . . .” Oh god no. Isa didn’t know Briar’s last name! How in the love of little green apples had he not asked? They’d slept together!
“Call me Marie, dear.”
“Umm.” Isa was too busy rebooting to remember what they were talking about. “I’m sorry, what?”
Briar cleared his throat, dragging Isa’s attention back to him. Right. Briar had told him he was used to being able to talk to his parents as easily as he did Isa. It must be horrible for him to be cut off from communicating. Confining, constricting, trapped like an animal . . .
Isa jerked himself away from Briar. He’d almost gotten lost in Briar’s thoughts. That was new.
Everyone in the room looked at Isa in various forms of surprise. Briar’s gaze had a tinge of hurt to it.
Isa touched shoulders with him and ran a hand down Briar’s arm. He laced their fingers together and gave him a comforting squeeze. “Sorry, this fairy spell takes some getting used to.”
Marie turned to her sister and gave her a look that must have meant something to them because her sister nodded. He used to envy silent communication between two people who’d know each other for far too long. Isa gave a quiet laugh.
I guess I do that with Briar now. We didn’t even need years to manage it.
“Fiona and I need to talk for a minute. We’ll be right back.”
They both stood with serious expressions, heads together and whispering before they even left the room.
Isa rounded on Briar with a hiss. “You need to tell me your last name right now. I nearly had a stroke!”
A snort escaped Briar. Then another. Soon he was holding his stomach and laughing so hard, he was doubled over.
It was the best sound Isa had ever heard
“It’s not funny! I should know your last name! You’ve had your fingers in my . . . never mind.” Oh, Isa really needed to be anywhere but here right now. At the bottom of the ocean sounded promising. What if Briar’s parents were listening at the door instead of talking?
Briar sat up and planted a kiss square on Isa’s mouth. “I plan on doing it again, too.”
“You can’t kiss me here! What if they come back in?”
“Let them.” But Briar allowed Isa to push him away. “It’s O’Connor. My last name, I mean.”
