Page 59 of Someone Like You

“I canpretendto be surprised,” he argued, and I heard the pout in his voice. Saw it on his face when I glanced at him. He looked so fucking adorable that I couldn’t help but laugh and drag him into my arms. Couldn’t help but kiss that pout right off his face until he was moaning. Until we were both hard and panting and wishing we weren’t in a public parking lot.

“Come on,” I said, dragging him toward the truck. “Now I really need to give you your surprise.”

“Oh my god, it’s your dick, isn’t it? Oh mygod! Is it gonna be your dick in a box? Brody, say no more. Let’s go. Hurry up, you’re really dragging your feet, I swear you were practically sprinting two seconds ago,” he said, trying to pull me along faster. I was laughing so hard I could barely see in front of me.

My whole life, all I’d ever wanted was to find someone special. Someone who felt like they were made just for me. Not once did I picture a beautiful little spitfire with so many different layers and levels that I’d never get tired of being with him. Not once did I imagine someone so strong and enduring and brave. Not once did I think I’d ever get as close as I’d gotten to Isaac in the short time I’d known him. It was spine-tingling. Hair-raising. Being with him constantly felt like that moment right before lightning was about to strike. He made me feelalive.

Finding him felt like kismet. That was Bri’s favorite word, and now, it was mine.

I was head over heels, ass to the pavement, flat on my back, irrevocably and undeniably in love with him. I wanted to give him fuckingeverything.I wanted to carve the heart from my chest, stick it in a box, don it with a bow and give it to him for safe keeping. Forever.

But it seemed he’d prefer my dick for right now, so…I guess I could compromise.

“You bring a change of clothes like I told you to?”

He eyed me as he slid his seatbelt into the buckle, then eyed the backpack at his feet, then returned his gaze to mine and lifted an eyebrow. “What do you think’s in the bag, babe? Did you think I brought homework? On a date?”

My heart started pounding at the endearment. It was the first time he’d ever used it, and it had to mean something. Ever since I’d dropped him off a week and a half ago, I’d felt like a part of me was missing. It wasn’t the same, not having him in my space anymore. Not waking up with him wrapped around me.Not getting to hear him talk about anything and everything, or feel his eyes on me, or smell his scent that was uniquely his. I’d missed him. Well and trulymissedhim.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked softly.

“I just…missed you,” I admitted. Then I started the truck and focused on getting us back to my place, willing myself to keep those three little words tucked safely in my chest. I didn’t think he was ready for that. Not yet. But I had a lot of hope that he would be, one day. That maybe he’d return the sentiment in kind. God, I hoped he did.

He was quiet for a few minutes, and then I felt his fingers tugging my right hand from my lap, slipping through mine. “I missed you too,” he whispered. I almost didn’t hear him over the sound of the engine, but when I did, my heart began to beat double-time. I tried to take a few breaths to calm it down, tried to focus on just getting home.

Isaac’s knee started bouncing at the halfway point. He was staring out the window, his hand squeezing mine, his other hand drumming nervous fingers on his bouncing thigh. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

He turned his head to look at me, teeth digging into his bottom lip. “Hm? What do you mean?”

“Is something bothering you? What have you been thinking about?”

All movement ceased, as if he’d just realized he was doing anything at all, and he wiped his open palm over his knee. “Oh—uh, I was just…thinking about a lot of things, I guess.”

“Like…?”

A resigned sigh. “I talked with Sam the other day. We sat down and…well, it was a really good conversation, actually. With Jordan eavesdropping around the corner the entire time,” he said, his tone laced with affectionate annoyance.

“How did that go?” I asked. I didn’t know he’d spoken with Sam. Isaac and I had been talking on the phone every night and texting almost all day long, when we weren’t in class or working. He hadn’t mentioned it at all, though that was probably because he was taking time to process it. The whole situation was a lot for him, and he told me he’d been seeing his therapist twice a week to try and get things settled in his own mind. I was proud of him.

“I mean, Sam is…he’s his own person, that’s for sure. And although they look similar, it’s the difference in character that sets him apart from his brother. But I can’t turn my brain off about it, because it sees the blond hair and blue eyes, the dimple in the chin, and says, ‘There’s the person that hurt you, run!’ So I stared at his neck a lot, honestly, but Jesus, Brody, he’s really broken up about what happened. Like, itreallyshattered something in his mind, to walk in on what he did. And now he’s battling against his entire family to get justice for that poor guy. For—for me, and all the other people Ethan’s hurt.” His fingers flexed in my grip. “He told me that the trial is going on right now and that it’s looking like Ethan will get twenty years. Twenty fuckingyears. I wished they would put people like him away for life. But, you know, it’s better than him being out, destroying other people’s lives. I thanked Sam. For what he did. Anyway, I’ve been talking about it with Dr. Varu and she’s been helping me process everything. Slowly. Because that’s just how I do it.”

He turned back toward the window now, tapping his foot against his bag, so I said, “I’m really proud of you, Isaac. Really fucking proud. It doesn’t matter how slow you need to take it, it’s the fact that you’re choosing to do these things at all that makes you fucking incredible. Not a lot of people would be able to do what you’ve done, had they been in your shoes. So you should be proud of yourself, too. I hope you are.”

He was quiet for so long, I thought that might be the end of the conversation. But when he turned to me again, his eyes wereglistening and he had a small smile I wanted to nibble gently on. “I’m getting there,” he said.

That was all we could hope for. My chest felt close to bursting with tenderness for this beautiful man, and I brought his hand to my lips and pressed a delicate kiss to the back of it.

When we pulled up to the house, he’d completely compartmentalized his pain and slid a wry—fucking sexy—look my way. “This better be an amazing surprise, Brody. You better blow my mind.”

“I guess you better come judge it for yourself.” I really hoped he liked it. I had a feeling he would, but knowing everything he’d been through, I figured there might be some apprehension involved as well.

We only separated our hands long enough to get out of the car, and then joined them again as we walked into the house. I had Isaac’s bag slung over my shoulder and a rising sense of anticipation as we made our way downstairs. I locked the door behind us, and he just raised one blond brow at that.

“Come on,” I said, tugging him into the bedroom. “Go sit on the bed.”

He slipped his shoes off and lowered himself onto the bed, and that feeling of rightness—of having him back where he belonged—returned. I set his bag down by the dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out two boxes. Isaac was watching me expectantly when I turned to face him, and then his gaze slid down to the boxes in my hands, and his expression changed to confusion.

“What’s that?”

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