I nodded. “Yes. I wouldn’t miss it. I’m not letting my family ruin another good thing in my life.”
He hesitated, but when I met his gaze with steady determination, he nodded. “Okay. I gotta pick him up, but I’ll see you soon.”
We climbed to our feet carefully, Creek grabbing his crutches, and then he pulled me in for one last kiss. I hummed against his lips, happy and content, and the shit from the phone call faded into the background. I watched as he climbed back into his car, and I swear I didn’t blink until he was gone.
I didn’t quite feel better, but I could breathe again, and that made all the difference in the world.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CREEK
Forest was only eight years old when my father decided to throw his life away because of a bar fight. Since we’d been dead broke, he never made bail, and I didn’t see him until his court date.
I’d never seen him scared before, but he sure as fuck had been terrified then. You could see it in his eyes, in his pale face, and the tightness of his jaw. I’d learned to read him like a book from a young age because he’d been so damn unpredictable, and I’d had no trouble recognizing the fear.
When he got sentenced, he broke down, but I didn’t shed a tear. I’d long since lost any respect for that asshole. As far as I was concerned, he deserved it, and harsh as it might sound, it’d been good riddance. My mom would’ve never divorced him, so that was the only way we’d have ever been rid of him.
No, my siblings had been my main worry. Meadow—don’t ask me why we all have these weird-ass names. My mom must’ve been high when she named us ’cause it sure as fuck wasn’t my dad who picked them—was ten at the time, and I was the oldest at fourteen.
My mom never had to tell me I was now the man of the house. That had been obvious to me, even at that age. It would have to be me because there was no one else. Mom didn’t havefamily left, and my dad’s family was either dead, in prison, or drunk. So I’d done what I had to do and stepped up.
Meadow, like me, had all but celebrated our dad’s departure. She’d been old enough to know what he was like, and she’d been on the receiving end of his temper a few times. But Forest had been this sweet, sensitive kid, and he’d taken it all hard. Not because he’d been that fond of our old man but because he hated seeing my mom sad, and she shed a lot of tears those first months.
But we survived, and after a few months, we’d all but forgotten about him. In the beginning, my mom made a few attempts to get me to visit him, but I’d flat-out refused, and she had never tried again. She was still married to him, as far as I knew, but she hadn’t been to visit him in over ten years.
As a result, Forest and I became close since I was sort of his dad and big brother at the same time. The older he got, the more we became brothers again, and throughout my Army career, we stayed close, even when we sometimes didn’t see each other for a year or longer.
So when Forest told me he would be in town and wanted to stop by, I’d been over the moon. I hadn’t seen him since I’d been in the hospital after the accident, drugged up on painkillers and barely able to talk. Of course, I wanted to introduce him to Heath, but before I could do that, we needed to have a conversation. I hadn’t come out to him since that was something I’d wanted to do in person, and now I’d have the chance.
I picked him up from the airport, waving as soon as I spotted him come through the doors. He took after my mom in his build, which was slender and elegant. I guess he was a twink—a term I’d learned from Nash.
He hugged me tightly. “I’m so, so happy to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too. I missed you.”
When I finally let go, he took a step back and looked at me quizzically. “You okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“’Cause you’ve never told me you missed me before.”
He’d always worn his emotions on his sleeve, but I hadn’t. Had Heath rubbed off on me already? The thought made me smile.
“Okay, now you’re scaring me. You’re smiling, Creek. What the fuck is going on with you?”
I couldn’t help it. I had to laugh because, seriously, how had Forest picked up on it so quickly? “I’ll tell you all about it, okay? Let’s head to my place.”
We chatted in the car, catching up on Forest’s job—he was a youth mental health counselor who worked for several school districts—and my recovery progress. No one else was home, thankfully. Nash had a dentist appointment, Bean was at the clinic for his TBI therapy, and Tameron was with his ASL teacher. I made us some coffee, and then we settled in the kitchen.
“Now can you tell me what’s going on?” Forest asked. He’d never been patient, even as a kid.
I could tease him and keep him in suspense a little longer, but I was way too excited to tell him. “I met someone.”
“Holy shit!” Forest’s eyes were as big as saucers. “For real? Tell me about them.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again as a frown creased my forehead. Them? Why had Forest used a gender-neutral term? As far as he knew, I was straight. “Them?”
Forest shrugged. “I’ve trained myself to be gender-inclusive since you never know. Even with you.”
