Camden stared through the bars of one of the cells to watch one of his friend’s mother glare right back at him. For all Mary Webb’s innocent appearance, she spent a lot of time in that cell. He would’ve laughed at her cute little huff, and her arms crossed over her chest, but he knew the terror that existed in that sweet little brunette.

“Mary, we have to stop doing this.”

Mary placed her tiny hands on the swell of her stomach. The woman kept a lot of distance between her stomach and people, except for her husband, Bear.

“I didn’t do anything. The man tripped, and his face happened to connect with my fist.”

He lost it then. He swore he didn’t know how her new husband put up with her. Bear was a nice guy, and when you saw Mary and Bear together, it was rare not to see Bear having his tiny wife in his arms keeping her close. Marriage and love hadn’t improved her temperament at all and Bear didn’t mind in the least.

It’s something he’d noticed about the couples there in Powers. Like his cousin, Scary, the man was a beast, the biggest asshole around, but when it came to Scary’s husbands, Elijah and Tank, the man was a huge softie. It was odd. His friends, Psycho and Joker, were two of the most fearsome men in town and their husbands couldn’t love them more. His jealousy was truly pathetic.

Everyone reminded him he was the target of Eric and Ellison. They were blond, blue-eyed and beautiful, almost ethereally so, especially Ellison. He was timid and appeared innocent while Eric was anything but. Ellison’s submissive nature drew him, but Eric’s bratty nature was an equal lure. He just didn’t know if he could let his guard down. He’d kept his nature in check for decades while he built a career in law enforcement that he didn’t really like. He surprisingly enjoyed his job as Sheriff. The place was low key, crime rate except for petty things was low, and most nights he got to sleep.

He pulled his dysfunctional brain away from the twins and back to his current repeat offender.

“Where’s Bear?”

She jerked around to face him. “Why you want to know that?”

“Where’s your husband?”

Mary tilted her chin up and tried to stand taller, then did this weird side-eye thing.

“He has nothing to see here, and you’re going to let me out anyway.”

“I am, but you get in more trouble when Bear’s not cuddling you.”

“He gives great cuddles.”

Her cheeks turned pink when he unlocked the cell door, and she stepped out. She still kept plenty of space between them. The abuse Mary suffered at a young age caused her to shy away from everyone except her husband. She came around there a lot, though. He could almost say that they’d become friends even if he had to arrest her quite often.

“You need a ride home?”

“Nope, meeting Sin and Saint.”

Before he could stop himself, he groaned at the mention of the Twin’s names.

“You know those boys really like you.”

“Too—”

“Fuck that too young shit. Sometimes you get one chance. Go for it. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Temporary great sex…people should be so lucky to complain about that shit.”

He didn’t have a chance to say anything as she waved over her shoulder and disappeared up the steps, then he followed after her. She was already gone when he reached the main room. How she still moved that fast with her big stomach shocked him. He walked into his office and closed himself inside shutting the blinds.

He fell back into his desk chair and scrubbed his hands over his face. Even under his fingertips, he could tell the lines in his face were deeper; his goatee and mustache were longer than they should be. He felt older than his forty-five years. Abstinence wasn’t a natural state for him, but he hadn’t had a partner temporary or otherwise in almost five years.

In his previous line of work as an undercover agent, he hadn’t had a guarantee he’d make it home from his assignments. He hadn’t considered that fair to a partner. He’d seen too many significant others left behind. How could he with a good conscience do that to someone he’d claimed to love—he couldn’t. So, he’d remained single, but having someone even temporary was painful. Forcing himself not to become attached—to develop feelings other than an urge to get off.

As Sheriff, he still worked under a cloud of danger but not as much as before. Part of him hadn’t minded the years of being alone besides his team. That changed the day he’d met Eric and Ellison. He lusted, craved, and wanted to possess them. Although they were identical, it was easy to tell them apart.

Ellison had this innocence about him. Perfect creamy complexion with big, blue eyes and pouted pink lips. He carried a softness, slightly chunky and he wanted to find out what that softness felt like against him.

Eric was all slim angles and smart mouth, but with the same complexion, eyes, and lips like his brother. Eric was bratty, but he still possessed the same appearance of innocence as Ellison.

Neither made any secret they’d be a package deal. He couldn’t have one without the other, and he wouldn’t have thought about it anyway. The twins were close. They were rarely seen apart.

Did he want them? Yes. Would he do anything about it? He really didn’t know.

Everyone gave him shit about it, but it was always done with a smile. No disgust or condescension. His cousin made it work with his two men. As far as he could tell, they were insanely happy. Then one of his deputies, Wren Gramble, was married to two men, Hunter and Linus.

It wasn’t like he didn’t have great examples of ménage relationships. Eric and Ellison were just so young. He wasn’t—

A knock took him by surprise.

“Enter.”

The door eased open, and he jumped to his feet when Ellison peeked inside.

“I’m…I’m not disturbing you…am I?”

He felt like an ass for his thought that Ellison’s stutter was cute when he was nervous.

“Not at all, please, come in. Are you okay?”

Ellison’s smiled shyly. “Yes. Mary said you were here alone and you hadn’t eaten, I made extra and thought you might like it.”

Ellison held out a small basket, but still just a step away from the door.

“You can come in.” He took a seat hoping it would put the much smaller man at ease.

“Okay,” Ellison said. Once inside Ellison got to work laying out a large checked napkin and setting the food on top of it. Sitting down, he was almost as tall as Ellison.

Ellison was all nervous energy and shooting him quick peeks, but pretending he wasn’t.

“Are you going to join me?”

“No, no, this is all yours.”

“You’re going to sit down and share with me.”

“Ye…yes, sir.”

“Pull a chair around and sit beside me.”

Ellison nodded and obeyed.

He divided the thick club sandwich, gave Ellison the chips, and stood to grab a few bottles of water from the small fridge in the corner of his office. When he returned to his desk, he handed one to the young man and took a seat. He observed the boy open the chips, then tore the side.

“Are Mary and Eric waiting for you?”

“No. Mary and Sin are doing some shopping, a present for Bear.”

“I don’t want to know.”

He caught the small grin as Ellison tried to conceal it.

“You and Eric behaving?”

“Do you want me to lie?”

“So, you haven’t—”

“No. Sin always gets in trouble. I prefer to stay to myself or take a trip in my plane.”

He’d heard and witnessed Ellison’s skill as a pilot. The boy was a bit of a daredevil as well.

“How did you become a pilot?”

“An old boyfriend of our mama was a pilot. He used to take us out and let me take over. I fell in love with the freedom.”

“Your mother still alive?”

“Yes, she’s on a year-long climbing and base-jumping trip. A lot of hiking and camping too.”

“So you got it naturally.”

“I guess so. Ernie still owns the old airfield out next to your place.”

He nearly rolled his eyes. Ernie spent time in prison for smuggling drugs to Mexico, but as far as he knew, the man had turned his life around. That didn’t mean he didn’t keep a close eye on him since he owned the property next to Ernie’s. He should’ve put two and two together, maybe living there was making him lose his edge.

“He’s clean now.”

“I’m sure he is.”

“He is, he straightened up when he hooked up with Mama. She didn’t put up with his shit. Told him if she caught him going back to his old life he was out.”

“Why aren’t they still together?”

“Oh, Mama gets bored easy. He stuck around for us, but they went their separate ways without hurt feelings. He liked being a dad so he kept us when we couldn’t go with Mama.”

“I was told you two tried modeling for a while.”

Ellison stopped eating and worried the paper napkin between his fingers, tearing it to tiny pieces.

He took Ellison’s hands in one of his. They shook under his larger hand, and he took in the contrast of light to dark.

“Talk.”

“It was more Sin’s thing. I was just along for the ride. They always said I was too fat.”

“There’s nothing fat about you, Ellison.”

Long, pale lashes lifted and Ellison looked at him, there was a small, shy smile on Ellison’s perfect mouth.

“Thank you.”

Eric’s confidence and attitude overshadowed Ellison’s shyness and insecurity, obliterating it to the point that it may never have existed at all. That’s when it hit him, Eric was Ellison’s protector and mask. They were so similar that in casual passing you couldn’t tell one from the other, but not him. He’d studied them both. Even when it appeared he was running—they always had his full attention.

“You’re welcome. Now finish eating.” He waited until Ellison started nibbling at the sandwich again. “I’m surprised Eric isn’t with you, you two are pretty inseparable.”

“We are, except when he has a date, but he always comes home.”

He made a non-committal sound and forced down the last of his dinner.

He didn’t like the sound of Eric dating. Or the nights he’d spent at Brawlers with a barely concealed fury as he watched someone else touch who he secretly considered his. It was an asshole attitude. He knew he couldn’t have them, so he couldn’t be angry when they found someone else. Ellison seemed to avoid the attention though. If Eric wasn’t around, then Ellison used one of the crew as a shield.

He’d heard rumors about the siblings’ unusual closeness. They constantly touched. When parted, they’d search each other out and wouldn’t relax until they spotted their twin. It was joked about, but he didn’t think it was too far from the truth that the two couldn’t exist without the other.

“I should get back to work.”

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“No, that’s—”

“It’s late, and I’m taking you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Finish up while I check to make sure everything is locked up.”

He stood and left the office.

One of the other deputies would check in later since they ran a pretty small crew around there. With a town like Powers, not a lot went down, and all the businesses have his cellphone number if they had trouble. Emergency calls were routed to dispatch at the fire department/EMS, then whoever was on duty was contacted. It had taken some getting used to and being on call twenty-four-seven wasn’t new, but being the Sheriff, he was always on duty.

Wren covered if he needed time off, but it wasn’t usually more than a weekend or a day here and there.

By the time he checked the building and returned to his office, Ellison had cleaned up and was waiting in the same spot he left Ellison. Ellison wore an oversized v-neck that exposed one freckled shoulder. He’d kept his libido in check, but that creamy skin drew him. He hadn’t been able to ignore the sweet scent coming off the small man. The distance he’d kept between him and the twins was the only way to keep them safe from him.

He jerked off most nights to visions of his handprint on their pale skin, his teeth marks marking his territory. He wanted nothing more than to bend Ellison over his desk and fuck the slim body until his boy screamed his name. For years he’d kept his kink in check. The need to control and take care of his partner ate at him. He required submission. He denied himself to the point his sex life, when he had one, was satisfactory at best.

Ellison submissive nature called to him like nothing had before. Eric might be bratty and over-confident, but he sensed the same in Eric. He knew they’d be perfect.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Come on.”

He stepped aside as Ellison surged from the chair and tried to hurry past him. He caught the back of Ellison’s shirt. He wanted to taste the man’s soft lips, but all he did was lean down to brush a kiss on the smoothness of Ellison’s forehead.

“Thank you for dinner.”

“It wasn’t—”

“Thank you for dinner.”

“You’re welcome.”

“That’s better. Am I taking you home or back to the shop?”

“Home. Sin and Mary were just going to get a few things, and then he was going home.”

“You’ll wear my helmet.”

He led Ellison from the building to his parking space out back. He wrapped Ellison in his leather jacket and secured the helmet. Once he was satisfied his—shit, not his—that Ellison was warm and safe for the ride, he mounted and waited for Ellison to climb on behind him. He tried not to tense when slender arms and legs wrapped around him. He really shouldn’t enjoy the slight weight of Ellison behind him. Ellison held himself stiff, and that wouldn’t do. So he brought his arm around to splay his hand on Ellison’s ass and move him forward until there wasn’t an inch of space between them. He couldn’t be sure, but he swore Ellison let out a small squeak.

He smirked as he pulled off. For the first time in a long while, he enjoyed his ride, the roar of the engine, and Ellison plastered against him. He couldn’t get used to it, but he could savor it while he had the opportunity.