“I’m fine,” he said dismissively, letting me go and he turned to walk away.
“Forest, what's wrong?” I grabbed his hand to stop him.
“Nothing,” he said quickly, not looking at me.
I didn’t believe his answer, but I didn’t want to force him to spill his guts if he didn’t want to. Something just didn't feel right.
“Did you have enough to eat?” I asked, leading him into the kitchen that was thankfully empty.
He nodded as I grabbed the refills I needed.
“Need a drink?” I asked, holding up a beer from the fridge.
Forest was looking out the window at the cold landscape. It had snowed a little this morning and it looked like it might snow again today. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he looked heartbroken. I set the beer on the counter.
“What happened?” I asked, hugging him. “You don’t have to tell me, but if I can ease the burden on your mind, let me.”
He sighed and it felt like he was carrying the world on his shoulders.
“I’m ok,” he said, turning around, finally putting his arms around me, hugging me tightly.
I sighed in his warm embrace, wishing?—
“Did I miss the call for a group hug?” Sam said, hugging Forest from behind.
It’s almost like he knew Forest was the one who needed the attention. Forest chuckled as we squeezed him a little tighter. I kissed his neck, enjoying his closeness after trying to keep my distance. It was a stupid thing to do, but sometimes I felt like a needy little gremlin and I had never been around people like this.
“There are children in this house!” Theo called out and I laughed.
“Oh, calm yourself!” Sam yelled back.
“Ugh, they’ve been teasing me,” I murmured against Forest's chest.
Sam chuckled. “Uh, your family is the poster child for poly families.”
Forest finally laughed. “I don’t know if they’re exactly poly, but I get what you mean.”
“They are talking about sex and placing us into categories, and I found out way too much about my brother Luke than I wanted,” I said shivering.
“Luke gets on his knees a hundred percent for his women, no doubt about it,” Sam said quickly.
“What do they say, if a white man is getting yelled at by his latina wife, he’s there because he wants to be,” Forest chuckled, holding me tightly and kissing my forehead.
I laughed, my worry fading away now that Forest was talking.
“Luke won the women jackpot.” Sam nodded. “I’m not into whips and chains, but they could make me excited for them.”
“I’m sure I could arrange that.” Forest’s voice deepened.
“Oh, hell yess, Daddy,” I whimpered. “I wanna see.”
“I think we’ve socialized enough.” Sam grabbed our hands, pulling us to the door.
“Bye! Thanks for inviting us!” Sam yelled.
I laughed as Forest threw my jacket at me.
“Don’t be late for breakfast tomorrow!” Luke yelled.
