Rule of Three

Kassidy sighed again. “Maybe we could just go over there and do a nice di

“Seafood on the barbecue,” Chris suggested.

“Yeah. That sounds good. I should call Dad and see what he thinks.”

Her hand hovered over the phone and he knew what she was thinking—had Hailey said anything to her parents? How would this phone conversation go? Then she picked up the phone and Chris listened to her side of the conversation along with the baseball game on the television, his muscles tightening. Dag sprawled in a chair across from him, looking relaxed and all at home, his stuff in the spare room, but Chris noticed Dag’s fingers tapping against the arm of the chair, the slight tightness of his mouth.

“He says that’s fine.” Kassidy set the phone on the table beside the couch. She swallowed and sank back into the couch, closing her eyes briefly. “He says not to invite lots of people though, Mom’s still really tired all the time. Still in quite a bit of pain.”

“Just us then,” Chris said, muscles relaxing.

“I guess I’ll invite Hailey too.”

Chris reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry, Kass,” he said. “I should have tried harder to stop her from walking in like that.”

“It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t. She was obviously disturbed by it and had been distracted all day. Was she going to have second thoughts about what they were doing? Chris cast a glance at Dag. He too watched Kassidy with a faint frown.

She blinked and met Chris’s eyes. He smiled at her. “I love you, Kass.”

She huffed out a breath, almost a laugh. “I love you too.” Chris tugged her into his arms, and then remembered Dag sitting across from them. When he lifted his eyes to his friend, the look on Dag’s face had Chris’s gut clenching. Hell. Yeah, he and Kassidy were a couple. Dag was their third. The intense longing in Dag’s eyes caught at Chris and made him wonder. Maybe they were headed for trouble doing this. Maybe it was a huge fucking mistake. It might be short-term gain for long-term pain. It might be instant gratification…but delayed suffering.

But as usual, he had no problem pushing away troubling thoughts to the backside of his brain, and all three of them slept together that night, and every night that week.

Thursday was Chris’s turn for stress at work. He’d had to personally tell five people they were losing their jobs.

On the drive home, he was stubbornly silent, not wanting to talk about it, Kassidy’s sideways glances swiping over him, her frustration at his bad mood palpable.

He disappeared into the bedroom to change without a word, shedding his clothes. When he went to walk into their closet, he nearly tripped over a pair of high-heeled pumps. Jesus, she had too many fucking shoes. He kicked the shoes out of his way, sending them flying into the back of the closet.

He changed into a pair of baggy shorts and a ratty old T-shirt, emerged from the bedroom to see Kassidy and Dag watching him cautiously.

“What?” he snapped, crossing the living room to the kitchen to search out a beer.

He saw them exchange serious eye contact.

“You okay, man?” Dag asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I like firing people.”

He yanked open the fridge door and stared inside, searching with his eyes. “Don’t we have any goddamn beer?” He lifted a head to glare at Dag.

“I…uh…mighta drank the last one.”

“Shit.” He slammed the door shut.

“Chris.” Kassidy’s soft voice held a note of censure that pissed him off even more.

He ran a hand through his hair. Blew out a breath.

“What do you want to do?” Dag asked.

One corner of Chris’s mouth pushed in. “What do you mean?”

Dag hitched a shoulder, leaned against the kitchen counter. “I mean, d’you wa

Chris stared back at him. “Yeah. Hell yeah,” he said slowly. “Punching a bag sounds good.” He hadn’t been to the gym in a couple of weeks. He eyed Dag. How’d Dag remember he used to do that all the time? More importantly, how’d he know that was exactly what Chris needed right then?

Dag gri

“Yeah. Double Tiger Kickboxing.”

Dag lifted a brow. “Martial arts?”

“Yeah, but they have equipment there too.”

Chris looked at Kassidy. Her head tipped to one side and she gave him a wry smile. “Go on,” she said. “If that’s what you want to do.”

Taking out his frustrations with some intense physical activity was exactly what he needed. And maybe some sex. They could do that later. He gri

“Okay, buddy, let’s go see what you got.”

“You can buy me a beer after.”

“Ha! You’re the one who’s loaded. You’ll buy the beer.”

While they punched and kicked the crap out of a couple of bags, Chris told Dag in between panting breaths about his shitty day, about the guy who’d told him to fuck off and die when he’d told him he was being turned loose, and the other one who’d cried. Dag didn’t say much, just listened, and Chris liked that. They picked up fried chicken and beer on the way home, which Kassidy shared with them, and then the three of them had hot, intensely physical sex.

It was good.

Kassidy worked up her nerve and called Hailey about the party she was pla

Friday night Kassidy went shopping for the food. The only good thing about Hailey catching them like that was that she’d completely distracted Kassidy from the troubling feelings she’d been struggling with. Focusing on the shopping she had to do was another welcome distraction, but as she pushed the cart up and down the aisle in the grocery shop she felt a weird out-of-body sensation, as if she were a different person, living a different life, a life that had changed stu

She walked in the door of the condo, home sooner than she’d expected to be, and heard sounds from the television in the living room. The guys were no doubt watching sports—again.

She smiled as she dropped the bags to the floor and walked in. The guys. Her guys. Weird.

The living room was nearly dark and apparently they hadn’t heard her come in because the image on the big screen television had her stopping short. A naked woman was centered between two men, holding two erect cocks. They were watching porn!

Kassidy’s mouth dropped open and she stared at the TV. She blinked. “Uh…what are you guys doing?” she finally asked. They both jumped, seated side by side on the couch. The guilty look on their faces almost made her laugh, but she could also see they both had hard-ons and flushed cheeks.

What had she interrupted?

She swallowed.

“Kassidy.” Chris jumped to his feet and Dag reached for the remote. “You’re home already.”

She walked in farther, the groceries forgotten, her gaze riveted to the screen. “What are you watching?”

“Uh…” Dag fumbled to stop the movie.

“No, no, don’t stop it,” she said. “I want to see this.”

“Kassidy…” Chris followed her to the couch where she lowered herself beside Dag. She sent him an amused glance. “Geez, you guys. You aren’t getting enough kinky sex, you need to watch porn movies?”