Rhythm of Three (Rule of Three) (10 page)

“Fuck,” Chris muttered. “Yeah.”

Dag shrugged. “Sure.”

“It’ll be okay.” She smiled and tried to reassure both guys of that, even though she wasn’t sure herself.

“So? I was right, wasn’t I?” Danielle looked at Kassidy expectantly across the small restaurant table the next day at lunch. “He’s gay.” She sighed. “All the good ones are. Taken or gay.”

Kassidy had to laugh. “Oh, honey. That’s not true.”

“It is. You know it is. Okay, you don’t know, because you found Chris, the last of the heterosexual good ones.”

Oh boy. This was going to be tough to explain. “What looks good?” Kassidy asked, picking up her menu.

“I have to have a salad. I gained five pounds in Europe, eating bread and croissants.”

“I don’t believe you. You look great.”

“Aw. Thanks. Okay, Cobb salad.”

“You know that’s not really low cal, right?”

Danielle’s mouth twisted. “Huh. You’re right. God, I don’t want an egg-white omelet.”

“How about the chicken tenders? The sweet chili ones aren’t breaded and fried, and they’re really good.”

Danielle frowned. “That sauce though…yeah, okay. With a tossed salad, dressing on the side, that’s not bad.”

“I’ll have the same. I love that chicken.”

Their server approached to take their order, and then they were alone.

“Okay, so about Dag,” Kassidy said, looking down at the white tablecloth. Her insides, already in painful knots, tightened more.

“Just rip the Band-Aid off,” Danielle said morosely, picking up her coffee cup in two hands. “Married or gay, which is it?”

“You know he’s not married.”

“Gay. Damn.”

“Well, here’s the thing. He’s not actually gay. More like…bisexual.”

She perked up a little. “Oh.”

“But he is involved with someone.”

Her shoulders slumped again. “Oh.”

“With me.”

Danielle sat there blinking, then shook her head and said, “What?”

“He’s involved with me. And with Chris. With both of us.”

Danielle lowered her chin. “What are you saying, Kass?”

Kassidy rubbed her mouth, looked away, then looked back at Danielle. “Dag’s living with us, because the three of us are in a relationship. We’re polyamorous.”

God. Other than Hailey, this was the first time she’d said it to someone outside of their triad. Her legs shifted under the table and her stomach churned.

“You are shitting me,” Danielle whispered. “Seriously?”

“I’m not kidding.” Kassidy met her friend’s eyes so she’d know she was speaking the truth.

“Holy fucking fuck.” Danielle stared at Kassidy with big eyes and parted lips, then said, “So what does that mean, exactly?”

Kassidy’s eyes shifted one way, then the other. “It means…we’re all sleeping together.”

“So…you and Chris. Obviously. You and Dag…and…” she lifted an eyebrow, “…Dag and Chris?”

Kassidy bit her lip. “Yes.”

She guessed she didn’t have to tell her that much. She could’ve told her it was just Dag and her, and Chris and her. But she’d already told Danielle that Dag liked guys and girls, and…she just wanted it to be out there. She wanted her friend’s honest reaction. Because if Danielle—her best friend who loved her—was going to freak out, what would the rest of the world do?

“That’s hot,” she breathed. “Holy shit. Chris and Dag…holy shit.”

She grinned. “Oh yeah.”

“I think I just had an orgasm,” Danielle said. “A small one.”

Kassidy laughed, some of the tension leaving her tight muscles. “Oh, Dani, I was so worried about telling you this. Not just because I knew you’d be disappointed about Dag, but because…I was afraid you’d hate me. Be disgusted with me.”

Danielle’s forehead creased. “I could never be disgusted with you. And, oh my God, Kass…I am so freakin’ jealous!”

“Yeah well, put a lid on the jealousy because this isn’t all that easy.”

They started talking more, and their server got an earful when he arrived at the table just as Kassidy was saying Chris had never had anal sex before.

Danielle was awesome. All the tension leaked out of Kassidy, and she felt light and a little giddy.
Thank God. Thank God.
She reached a hand across the table and squeezed Danielle’s. “Thank you, hon. I’m so relieved you’re okay with this.”

Danielle nodded, but tipped her head to the side. “I’m okay with it, honestly, Kass, and I get why you were worried, why you’re not telling others. But I think people might accept it better than you think.”

“Really?”

“Our friends anyway.”

“You don’t think some of the guys will be…homophobic?”

“Are you kidding me? You know those guys! Shit, Matt has had threesomes with Cole and Tyra.”

Kassidy choked on her coffee. “What?”

“Oops.” She put her fingers to her lips. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything about that.”

“Shit, Dani! I just told you something confidential! You have to keep this secret!”

She grimaced. “I’ll try.”

“Matt and Cole and Tyra?” Kassidy gave her head a shake. “Whoa.”

“Yes. But there was no sword crossing.”

Kassidy squinted, thought about that, then her eyes went wide as she got it.

Danielle cracked up. “You should see your face!”

Kassidy grinned.

“But see? It goes on all the time.”

Kassidy slid her bottom lip through her teeth. “Um. Not so sure of that… Okay, maybe I am totally naive. The whole world is a big orgy and I’ve been missing out on it.”

“You are kind of buttoned up, sweetie.”

“Ack! Not you too!”

“What?”

“I’m not that girl! That good girl, all prim and proper.”

Danielle grinned. “Well…”

“Dani!”

“Kidding. Sort of. This
is
kind of cool, you being the one involved in something so naughty.”

“Yeah. Cool.” Kassidy rolled her eyes.

“So nobody else knows about this?”

“Well, my sister does.”

“Oh. Wow.”

“She, uh, kinda walked in on us one day. And then…I went to see her when I was having that meltdown, and she talked me through it. She was actually pretty good about it. So I had to tell her how things worked out.” Kassidy explained how she was trying to fix her relationship with Hailey.

“She’s always been jealous of you,” Danielle said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you couldn’t see that.”

Kassidy shoved her hair back from her forehead, leaving her hand there for a moment. “I can’t believe it either. On the other hand, she didn’t know I was jealous of her either. There’s something about siblings…”

“True. My brother is a pain in my ass. Thank God for friends, right?”

“Right. You rock, Dani.”

“I know.”

They grinned at each other.

Chapter Eight

“Oh, that’s the one.”

Kassidy stood in front of Danielle in the dressing room at Nordstrom. It was Friday night and they were shopping for new dresses for Taisha’s wedding, then meeting the girls for dinner and drinks. Danielle had found what she wanted early in the shopping trip, but Kassidy had been more difficult to please. She wanted something different, sexier, because she
felt
sexier, but trying things on she never would have picked out before resulted in a lot of rejections.

“It’s really tight,” she said, turning again in front of the mirror. “And low cut.”

“It’s not that low cut. You’re only showing a little cleavage. It’s sexy. And you have a great body. Show it off.”

The dress was deep blue, heavy lace with tiny sleeves and a V neck, and was super fitted all the way down to where the scalloped hem ended just above the knees.

“How about the back though?” She turned. The dress had an even deeper V in the back that showed quite a bit of skin.

“See, that’s the thing, you can show off your back and it’s sexy, not slutty.”

“Yes,” Kassidy agreed. “I feel sexy in it. I feel like I’m so sexy I’m sleeping with two hot guys.”

Danielle laughed. “Yeah. Work it, girl. With killer heels, that will be amazing. And speaking of two hot guys, which of them are you taking to the wedding?”

Kassidy went very still, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Then she tossed her hair back. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about that.”

Danielle shrugged. “Maybe you should talk to them about it.”

“They know about the wedding.” She frowned. Somehow, she’d pictured herself at the wedding with
both
her hot guys. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Oookay.”

“You’re right,” Kassidy said. “This is the dress. Now the shoe department.”

The dress was three hundred dollars—eep! But it was beautiful. She handed over her credit card and tried not to wince, imagining wearing it for Chris and Dag.

Half an hour later she sat in the shoe department with her narrowed-down choice of two shoes, one in each hand. “I love these,” she said wistfully, holding up the nude-colored peep-toe pump embellished with crystals. “But they’re so impractical.” She lifted the other shoe, a simple pump with a high, spiky heel, also nude. “These I could at least wear to work.”

Danielle nodded. “Go for the glam,” she said. “Buy the impractical shoes for once. They’re fabulous with that dress.”

Kassidy bit her lip. “They are.” She hitched her shoulders, squeezed her eyes shut briefly, then said, “Okay, I’ll take these ones.”

Loaded down with their dress and shoe purchases, she and Danielle walked to the restaurant nearby where they were meeting Sarah and Tyra. After exclaiming over their purchases, they all ordered cocktails.

“It’s fun to have a girl’s night,” Sarah said. “We haven’t done this for a while.”

Conversation flowed, drinks disappeared, dinner arrived. Tyra told them about her visit to the dentist where he’d diagnosed her with TMJ disorder. “I’ve been having headaches,” she explained. “And then my jaw was hurting and I couldn’t open it as wide. So now I’m getting some kind of appliance I have to wear at night. Apparently I grind my teeth in my sleep.”

“Sexy,” Danielle said, with a grin.

“Yeah, but the good thing is, I don’t have to give blow jobs anymore.”

The young busboy who’d stopped at the table to clear it froze. “Uh…I’ll come back,” he said, and vanished.

Kassidy stared at her friend. “That’s a
good
thing?”

Tyra laughed. “What? You
like
giving blow jobs?”

“I do like it,” Kassidy admitted, shocked that Tyra didn’t.

“It’s a good thing you do,” Danielle said. “Seeing as you have two men.”

Kassidy gave Danielle a bug-eyed look. Jesus!

“What?” Sarah asked slowly. “Two men?”

Oh Christ. Kassidy rubbed her forehead.

“Oh…ah…” Danielle covered her mouth. “Oops.”

“Danielle!” Kassidy leaned forward. “I told you—”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. Shit, my stupid big mouth—”

“What?” Tyra and Sarah both demanded at the same time. “What’s going on?”

Kassidy closed her eyes and slumped back in her chair. “Shit.”

“Kassidy has, uh, two boyfriends,” Danielle said. “You guys know Dag’s living with her and Chris… Well…they’re, like…together.”

Stunned silence met this information.

“Are you shitting me?” Sarah breathed. Kassidy opened her eyes to see her openmouthed, wide-eyed expression.

“Shut the fuck up,” Tyra said, wearing an identical look. “You and Dag? And Chris knows about this? And he’s okay with it?”

Kassidy swallowed. “Yeah. He…participates.” That was all she was going to say about that. She was not going to tell them that Chris and Dag were also lovers. She sent Danielle a pointed glance of warning.

“Whoa,” Sarah said. “A threesome. But…every night?”

“Pretty much,” Kassidy admitted.

Sarah blinked. “Holy shit.”

“How long has this been going on?” Tyra asked. “Wait. I
so
need another drink.” She lifted a hand to catch the attention of their server.

“Oh yeah, me too,” Sarah said. “I think we all do. Another round here!”

“You can’t be that shocked,” Kassidy said to Tyra. “I heard you’ve had threesomes too.”

Tyra now turned big eyes on Danielle. “Dani!”

“I’m in trouble tonight, aren’t I?” she said in a small voice. “But, you guys, we shouldn’t have secrets from each other.”

“Some things are personal,” Tyra snapped. Then she sighed. “Well. The truth is I guess I never wanted that known because I thought you’d judge us. But if you’re doing it too…” she grimaced, “…guess not.”

“I didn’t intend to keep it a secret forever,” Kassidy also admitted. “This is new. We’re still figuring things out. I didn’t want you guys to judge me either. But eventually…we want this to be a long-term thing, so I would have told you.”