Page 41 of Someone Like You

As soon as I got my pants on, it all hit me at once.

I was fucking exhausted. My mind had been a nonstop whirlwind of frantic, fear-induced activity that I hadn’t been able to shut off for days. I had come face-to-face with my abuser—no, no. That wasn’t right. Jordan had said it wasn’t him. It was his brother. But he lookedso muchlike him, it had the same emotions from back then come surging to the surface, drowning me in hysteria and despair, helplessness and, ultimately, a cold numbness that had left me empty and paralyzed.

It had been easier to stay there. Like I was trapped beneath the frozen surface of a lake, unwilling to hunt for the hole I’d fallen into. Except, Brody had come. Had broken right through all that ice and thawed me out.

I didn’t know whether to be terrified of the hold he had over me, or grateful that I’d finally found someone I was deeply comfortable with.

I’d known when he soothed me after that first time I’d freaked out on him that he was dangerous. That he had so much power over me. And even though I didn’t think he’d abuse that power, it was hard to shut that small voice in my head up. The one that enjoyed catastrophizing and watching me flounder.

“There’s six left, and about—Isaac?”

I blinked, the room coming back into focus. And there was Brody; strong, reliable Brody. Patient and giving. Making all my worries fly out the window, as if they were nothing but intangible shadows and he was the brightest light, forcing them away.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. “We could split them evenly, but that doesn’t seem fair considering you’re so much bigger than me,” I said.

He huffed, looking me up and down, and said, “Then it’s good I grabbed some bagels and donuts, too. Jamie decided hedoesn’t want carbs anymore, so. Our gain. Come sit on the couch with me.”

I followed him out to the couch, and he laid the food out neatly on the coffee table. Like a buffet. God, he was fucking adorable. He even had napkins and paper plates.

“Oh shit—I completely forgot to tell you, it’s snowing out. A lot,” Brody said.

“What? But it’s almost April…” There weren’t any windows down here except for the one in his room, and that one was tiny and had a little curtain on it, so no wonder I didn’t know.

“Yeah, some kind of freak snowstorm that blew in from New England. Jamie said we’re supposed to get a foot.”

“What!?”

“Yeah. They’ll probably cancel classes, if that’s the case.”

I groaned. “Fuck. Well, at least that gives me time to catch up.”

He eyed me, but didn’t say anything more.

We ate mostly in silence, sneaking glances at each other, and when Brody sat back after throwing our trash away, all I wanted to do was climb onto his lap and rub myself against him.

“I think we should talk,” he said, his tone sedate.

I knew this was coming. Of course it was. But I still said, “Taco ‘bout what?”

Brody raised his eyebrows and said, “Wow. Are you proud of yourself?”

“A little bit.”

“Not even your cringey puns will help you avoid this conversation.”

“I haven’t even gotten to kiss you yet,” I said, even though it was a completely random thought and I was just complaining at this point. Complaining and delaying. But damn it I was dying to taste those lips.

“You can kiss me after we talk.”

He won’t want to kiss me, not after he hears everything.

With a long sigh, I grabbed the ties of my pants for something to fidget with. “Promise me you won’t…that this won’t affect how you, uh. How you look at me.”

“Isaac. I just want to understand what happened so I can help you. And if you don’t want to tell me anything about your past, that’s fine. I just…I care about you, and it kills me to see you hurting. I felt so fucking useless last night, and I had no idea how to help you.”

He sounded really upset about that, too, so I said, “You help me, Brody. A lot. Just by being you.” I looked up at him, hoping he could see the truth on my face. “And…I want to tell you. I do.”

He played with his lip piercing, his eyes boring into mine, then asked, “Isaac…who hurt you?”

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