by Lynn Stark
It was bold, erotic, and fed the fires of Ellen’s desire and passion. Who knew? Jerry, Mitch, and she had been adventurous in bed, but there had been obvious limits because they weren’t bisexual. The only time they touched was by accident.
There were no such boundaries with Kane, Chase, and Chance. They were as free with their imaginations as they were with their bodies. Making love with them, or just having down-and-dirty sex, would never be boring. Never.
Leaning down, Chase’s leaking cock trapped between her breasts, Ellen nibbled on the inside of his thighs, grinning when he began to tremble uncontrollably. Chance wasn’t in a much better state than their lover. Whatever Chase was doing to him was causing Chance to fuck her in a jerky, uncoordinated manner. It still felt good, but it made her want to laugh.
That desire deserted Ellen when fingers found her clitoris and began to stroke, pinch, and pull at it. Crying out, she pushed back to meet Chance’s every thrust, as she concentrated on a second orgasm. For long, tortuous seconds it was like reaching out and snagging the brass ring on a merry-go-round. It was just out of reach. She was there, reaching, straining, near tears when it continued to elude her.
A bump of something blunt against Ellen’s lips caused her eyes to snap open. Kane was there, straddling Chase’s long legs, and offering her his cock. Ellen inhaled his musky scent. It blended with the other scents in the room. It hung heavy in the air. Opening her mouth, she took the head of Kane’s cock into her mouth, taking it easily as it slid forward, toward the back of her throat. Breathing through her nose, she concaved her cheeks as she began sucking on the thick shaft of flesh.
Being fucked from both front and back was a thrill. Chase’s erection rubbing between her breasts, as he sought his own orgasm, was a bonus.
Their moans and grunts blended as they began to fuck and suck their way into oblivion. Sweat beaded on Ellen’s skin, on their skin. Droplets were falling on her ass. Damp, hair-roughened skin rubbed against hers. Strong fingers, now wound through her hair, tightened. They held her head firmly in place as Kane began to fuck her mouth. Chance was fucking her pussy as if possessed and Chase was jerking his cock hard against her stomach.
Within moments Ellen had cum pumping into her body and onto her skin. Her orgasm hit her like a freight train. She wanted to scream, but settled for a muffled whimper. Her pussy clamped hard around Chance’s cock as it hardened and throbbed within her tight channel, sending shockwaves throughout her body. Kane’s cum shot over her tongue. She swallowed as much as she could, but some trickled from her lips and over her chin. Hot liquid sprayed over her breasts and stomach.
After that, weakened muscles gave out. Kane’s softening cock slipped from between her lips and he moved off to the side. Ellen collapsed onto Chase’s legs as she licked the cum coating her lips and chin.
A smile curved her mouth as she lay there with her eyes closed. She was boneless once more. Her heartbeat was slowing.
Ellen fell asleep, completely satisfied with that moment in her life.
* * * *
A week after spending an amazing New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with Kane, Chance, and Chase, Ellen was back to her normal routine. It was boring in comparison, but few things could compare to the time she spent with them. She found herself thinking about the three men at the oddest moments, mostly when she should be concentrating on her job as housekeeper for Redford Manor.
She was in a pleasant little cloud as she walked downtown to do some shopping, when she was stopped by a boy of about twelve asking for money. Her gaze swept over him. She had seen him a few times before, once with a man and woman, and the others with an older boy. Each time her immediate reaction was to feel sorry for him and his brother. She loved children and she felt a need to take care of them all.
However, Ellen was no one’s fool. As she looked down into the huge blue eyes, she saw the pleading, the sadness in them, and wondered what the story was behind them. There could also be an ulterior motive. She knew it. Ellen had never known one person of any age, let alone a child, to beg on the streets of Silver. It didn’t happen, because there were so many resources.
Although she had seen the child before, she didn’t believe he and his family were from Silver. A movement out of the corner of her eye told her the sheriff was heading in their direction.
“What do you need money for?” Ellen asked, rethinking her first impression. This just wasn’t an attempt at a scam. The boy appeared thin. His color was off, too. She saw a fading bruise and a cut on his lower lip, neither of which could mean anything beyond a boy’s roughhousing with a sibling or friend. His clothes were worn. She saw him shiver and knew that the coat he was wearing wasn’t nearly thick enough to ward off the icy wind sweeping through the town.
“I’m hungry,” the boy said in a quivering voice.
That she believed. Ellen, however, needed to know the hows and whys of the boy’s situation. She wondered if she would get her answers when Sheriff Grayson Evan’s huge hands settled on the boy’s narrow shoulders. Any attempt to escape was prevented by Grayson. The small, wriggling body twisted this way and that. Ellen winced when the heel of a worn sneaker connected with Grayson’s shin.
“Enough!” Grayson bellowed. Ellen saw the pure terror in the boy’s blue eyes. When the sheriff turned the child, she was given an opportunity for a closer inspection. The back of the coat he was wearing was ripped and stained. The pocket of his jeans was missing. She also waited for Grayson to begin questioning. “I’ve had several phone calls to tell me someone is begging for money. I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?”
The fight was on once again. Ellen admired the little guy’s feisty attitude. He had spirit. There was fear, too. She didn’t like that so much. Reaching out, she took hold of a small dirty hand as it pounded ineffectively on Grayson’s wide chest.
The fighting stopped. Grayson lowered the child to his feet. “Come on. Let’s go in where’s it’s warm. You said you were hungry,” Ellen reminded the nameless boy when he appeared as though he would begin fighting again. “If you weren’t lying to me, then you’ll get something to eat as we talk. What’s it to be?”
There was a spark in the blue eyes and a hint of respect. The shaggy head finally nodded and Grayson steered the boy toward the door of the nearest restaurant.
Neither Ellen nor Grayson even considered withholding food from the hungry child. They let him choose what he wanted off the menu, and then watched him eat. Once he was finished, he pointedly ignored Grayson, his gaze fixing on Ellen.
“What’s your name?” she asked in a gentle voice.
“Derek. What’s yours?” His head tipped to the side as he looked at her.
She thought it was cute. With his shaggy hair, he reminded her of a curious puppy.
“Ellen. I don’t remember seeing you before. Do you live in Silver?”
Thin shoulders shrugged. “Just passing through.”
“Where are your parents?”
“Somewhere. I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since last night. I walked to town with my brother Dirk. We were hungry.”
“And where is he at?”
The radio attached to Grayson’s belt buzzed. He gave Ellen an apologetic look before he answered the call. Derek tried to make a break for it when Grayson was told that they had an attempted theft by a young unknown male at the drug store, but Grayson was too fast for him. He caught hold of a thin wrist, causing the small body to jerk to a halt, his feet nearly going out from under him.
Grayson stood and pulled out the handcuffs. “This is for your own good,” the sheriff told him as he secured the cuffs. “Now, don’t try to get out of them. Let’s go see if this ‘unknown male’ is your missing brother Dirk.”
“Dirk wouldn’t steal anything,” Derek insisted vehemently as they walked toward the counter near the door. “We don’t steal!”
Ellen kept a hand on Derek’s shoulder as they waited for Grayson to pay for the food. When she felt muscle
s tense, she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Do yourself a favor and don’t cause any trouble. The sheriff is a good guy. If you’re honest with him, he’ll be your best friend. Tell him a lie or cause trouble, and you will really wish you hadn’t.”
She didn’t want to scare the boy, but she believed he needed to know what he was up against. She had seen the spark of rebellion in his blue eyes. As she had told him, however, Grayson Evans was no one to mess with. Grayson really was one of the nicest, fairest men she had ever met. Ellen had even dated Grayson and his then-partner Roarke O’Malley, before they had met their future wife Marley Jacobson. They were great guys and she probably would have considered them husband material herself had there been a spark between the three of them. There hadn’t been, not even a fizzle, and they remained friends.
“I want to go home,” Derek said as they made their way quickly along the sidewalk until they reached the drug store. “My dad is probably worried.”
Somehow Ellen doubted that. A parent that went absent, leaving children alone in a strange place, wasn’t likely too concerned with their whereabouts. Still, she would withhold her judgment until she had all the facts.
“He probably is,” Ellen agreed without voicing her opinion to the child. “You shouldn’t be wandering around in a strange place.”
“We were hungry,” Derek repeated.
Grayson opened the door to the store. Derek went in first, followed by Ellen. She grimaced when she heard the shouting at the rear of the store. Grayson’s long legs carried him ahead. Derek tried to follow, but Ellen kept him back.
When they reached the rear of the store near the pharmacy, Ellen saw the boy she had seen before with Derek. He was very similar in looks. Yes, he was definitely an older version of Derek, right down to the worn, ill-fitting clothes.
Unlike Derek’s relative openness when questioned, Dirk wasn’t giving up anything. He was scared, angry, and mutinously silent now that the law was there.
Stepping up to stand beside Grayson, Ellen examined the items Dirk had attempted to steal. They were all over the counter for pain, cough, and cold. “Who’s sick?” Grayson asked, turning to look at Dirk.
When Dirk only lowered his head and hunched his shoulders, his hands jammed into the pockets of his thin coat, Derek gave the answer. “I coughed a lot last night. Dirk was worried about me.”
“Did you know he was going to steal these things?” Ellen asked.
“No. I told you, we don’t steal.”
“It’s a good thing. You’re not very good at it.” Grayson sighed, lifted his hat from his head to run his fingers through his hair, before settling it back in place again. “Now, the question we have to answer, is where are your parents? Where did you stay last night?”
“At a motel— ”
“Shut up, Derek!” Dirk shouted angrily. “You’re not supposed to spill your guts just because they ask a question.”
Derek shrugged. He looked hurt by his brother’s verbal attack, but he was more forthcoming with information. “They gave me something to eat. That’s more than Dad and his lousy girlfriend have done in days. One box of crackers to share really sucks.”
“What motel?” Grayson asked in firm but quiet voice.
Considering their lack of winter gear, they couldn’t have walked too far, Ellen thought. That significantly reduced the number of possibilities. If the family had limited funds, that left fewer options.
“It’s out on the highway,” Dirk finally supplied, a grudging note in his voice. “We hitchhiked into town.”
“That’s not safe. Some creep could have picked you up.” Grayson was blunt, as always. “I don’t want you to do that again. Now, let’s see if we can find your father. Has he ever left you alone before?”
Derek shook his head vigorously. “No, never. This is the very first time. I was kind of scared, but I knew Dirk would take care of me.” He gave his brother a smile filled with love. Dirk returned it, but his gaze dropped to Derek’s bound wrists.
“Am I going to be arrested?” Dirk asked curiously. “Why is Derek wearing handcuffs? Take them off him.”
“I am. I believe we can trust him now.” Grayson stared hard at Dirk. “I’m not going to put cuffs on you. I’ll trust you not to cause trouble. Now, let’s go over to my office and wait while a deputy goes to find your father. Ellen, would you mind coming with us? I need you to fill out a statement on how your encountered our friend Derek.”
Ellen nodded. “I can do that. We’ll order food to be sent over to the station for them. I bet Derek has room for more.” The boy grinned and reached for her hand.
She needed to see them eat. She would also like to see them get a bath and to have clean clothes. When she reminded herself that it wasn’t any of her business, she couldn’t quite suppress the motherly instincts that had come roaring to the surface upon meeting Derek. Now Dirk reinforced the need to care for them.
A soft chuckle escaped Ellen. Raising children was second nature to her. Although her children were grown and had children of their own, she was fully capable of helping a child, or children, reach adulthood. She was still feeling the need to nurture. It hadn’t left her, it seemed. That fact made a future with Kane, Chase, and Chance a stronger possibility. There were a lot of children who needed homes. Especially those children seemingly lost in the system, kept there by their age or a mental or physical challenge.
Both boys were quiet as the four of them crossed the square to the sheriff’s station. She teased Grayson about jaywalking and asked if she was allowed to write out a ticket. Grayson was all about laws and following them to the letter. Despite people occasionally running for the office, he was elected by a landslide every time.
Her friend threw her an amused glance and laughed. “I guess I’m getting lenient in my old age,” he joked, grinning.
“Nice to know.”
After Dirk supplied names, and the type of vehicle being used, two deputies were sent out to search for Derek’s and Dirk’s father, as well as the man’s girlfriend. Grayson made calls to the two motels closest to Silver, quickly discovering which had been used. He learned the couple had checked out. Ellen watched the change come over Grayson as she overheard the motel clerk give him this information. Gone was the laughing jaywalker. In his place was the sheriff whom nobody with half a brain fucked with.
“Come on, guys. The food is probably here by now.”
Ellen didn’t want them to hear what Grayson needed to tell his deputies. While the boys’ father could be in Silver searching for them, she somehow doubted it. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did.
Two hours passed before Grayson found Ellen and the two boys in the room beside the break room. Dirk and Derek had fallen asleep on cots, after eating their fill of the food that had been brought for them. Several of the deputies and support staff at the station bought small snacks and sodas for them, although they didn’t eat much of it. Ellen hadn’t had the heart to stop them. The disbelieving expressions on their faces when they had seen all the offerings were enough to break a person’s heart. Hers certainly wasn’t tough enough to withstand the knowledge that the two boys had been neglected and probably for a long time.
“Ellen, can I speak with you out here?” Grayson asked quietly, his gaze moving over the sleeping boys.
Nodding, Ellen got up and walked out, closing the door behind her. “Did you find their father?”
“Not yet.” Grayson’s mouth tightened. “Considering that their father and his girlfriend took off sometime before the boys woke up this morning, they could be a few states away. I ran a background check and discovered that they’re from Butte. Their mother passed away three years ago. Since then, it has been one investigation after another into the welfare of the boys, until the family moved away a few months ago. No one knows where they’ve been.” Grayson sighed. “I’ve contacted Judge Milford. Dirk and Derek will be kept here until their parents are found. Emily and James Ross are coming into town to pick them up.”<
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Filled with conflicting emotions, Ellen nodded. “Emily and James are good people.”
It was a horrible situation for the boys to be in. They had to be cared for by strangers, but she didn’t have to like it. She was a stranger, too. She didn’t have the right to butt into Derek’s and Dirk’s lives, no matter how much she wanted to.
Yet she couldn’t just leave. If she did, she would feel as if she was abandoning the two boys. It was something she didn’t want to make them feel, either. She would stay until Emily and James arrived and were introduced to Dirk and Derek. The Rosses were wonderful people. They were an older couple in their early sixties, and had raised a large family of their own, as well as more than twenty foster children during the past thirty years. They had huge hearts and enough love to add two more to their brood.
Dirk and Derek were awake by the time Emily and James arrived. It was sad when neither boy even blinked when they were told that their father hadn’t been found and that they would have to stay with the Rosses.
Ellen’s heart ached when Derek, without warning, threw himself against her to give her a tight hug around her waist. She returned the hug, kissing the top of his head.
“It will be okay, kiddo.”
It was the best and only promise Ellen could make. There was no better person than Sheriff Grayson Evans to see that they were taken care of. He now had a personal interest and he would do everything within his power to see that their needs were met. If that wasn’t enough, he had friends in powerful places to back him up.
Ellen left the sheriff’s office a few minutes later, wishing she could do more, but she knew there was nothing she could do yet. The process had begun, but it was a long way from being settled.
It was reflected in her own life at the moment. Her relationships with Kane, Chase, and Chance had begun, but nothing was settled. They had discussed marriage, children, and their individual hopes for the future, all of which were remarkably similar. Yes, they clicked. So far everything was wonderful between them. They were still in the process of learning about one another, however. She knew that none of them wanted to rush and make a mistake that could ruin everything for them.
