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Both guys stopped in their tracks, and their hands flew up to cover their eyes. In unison, they yelped, “No, no, no! Don’t do that!”

“It’s okay,” Aubrey whispered to me, and I covered my manly parts with the blanket again, but I was dead ready to wrassle both their twiggy asses to the ground. Was this a home invasion? I figured the shotgun rack in the back window of my truck would deter that kind of thing. It was parked right in front of Aubrey’s house.

One guy reached and fumbled around with one hand until he found the other’s head, and then he whacked his friend on the back of his noggin. “I told you we shoulda called her before we left, idiot!”

“I did call!” the second guy said in a pissed-off voice, swinging his arm aimlessly toward Aubrey. “Apparently,shewas too busy to answer.”

The first guy whimpered and said, “I’m scarred for life, Ma,” still with his hand over his eyes, like if he removed it, he’d be shocked to death.

In the most mortified voice I’d ever heard, Aubrey said, “Boys, what’re you doin’ here?”

“Stay here. Please?”Aubrey pleaded as she hit the switch on her bedroom wall, and a too-bright light flooded the room. “I’m so sorry. Just give me a few minutes?”

“Yeah, Spitfire. Whatever you need,” I said, and I watched as she tore through her closet for fresh clothes. When she was fully covered in jeans and a sweatshirt with a picture of a stack of books that said, “I have no shelf control,” she tossed me a sorry smile and dashed from the room.

Figuring I’d better get dressed, too, I found my clothes on the floor and pulled them on, but I heard the twins going at Aubrey in her kitchen.

“What the hell, Ma?” one demanded.

The second backed him up. “Yeah. Who the fuck is that guy?”

“Boys, I’m only gonna say this once, so listen up. Don’t you speak to me like that. If you want answers to your questions, ask them respectfully.”

“Okay,” the first twin said. “Who the fuck is that guy,please.”

I snorted. It was funny, but I really didn’t like his tone.

I had no clue which twin was which ’cause they were nearly identical, and when they’d barged in on us, it was dark. I hadn’t seen them in several years, and we’d never been properly introduced.

“Benji, that doesnotcount as respectful. Try again.”

Ah, so the softer voice came from Micah, and Benji was the balls-to-the-wall twin.

“Mama,” Micah said, “was he hurtin’ you?”

Aubrey’s soft, awkward laugh floated down the hall. “No, Micah. That’s Rye, and I’m pretty sure you already know what we were doin’. We were havin’… sex.”

All kinds of groaning reached my ears.

“Dammit, Ma,” Benji whined. “You’re not supposed to do that. You’re our ma!”

“Yeah,” Micah added. “And he ain’t our dad.”

I scoffed out loud. “Oh, come on.”

I’d heard enough. Aubrey didn’t deserve ridicule from the two people in this world who were supposed to love her the most.

After stomping my feet into my boots, I adjusted my still half-hard dick under my jeans and walked out into World War III.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

AUBREY

I heardRye’s boots behind me in the hallway, and I braced for impact.

“That’s enough now,” Rye rumbled in his deep voice.

Micah puffed up his chest and stepped up to Rye, who was a good five inches taller and twice as wide and muscled. “Who do you think you are?”