Rule of Three

Chapter Fifteen

Kassidy sat forward, eyes huge, and watched as her sister began removing clothing. “Oh my god!” She slapped her hands over her eyes and bent forward. “Turn it off, turn it off!”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

The movie kept rolling amid a thick silence in the living room. Kassidy peeked at Dag between her fingers and saw him staring open mouthed at the television. She grabbed for the remote and he let her take it. She prodded around for the power button and the television went dark.

The only sound was their breathing, all three of them dragging air into lungs stiffened with shock.

“That couldn’t be my sister,” she finally managed to choke out.

“Uh…” Again Chris had no words. “It sort of looked like her.”

She had to see it again. To convince herself. Because it was just too mind-blowing. But she did not want to watch her sister naked and having sex.

“You look.” She handed the remote to Chris then snatched it back. “No, you look.” She passed it to Dag. They exchanged a look.

“Kassidy…”

“Please. Just make sure it’s her. So when I go kick her ass I’m not doing it for nothing.”

Dag clicked on the television, and the pay-per-view movie resumed. She stared at her feet on the carpet, her chest tight, stomach clenched as she heard Hailey’s voice moaning and saying, “Oh yeah, fuck me harder.”

She wanted to cry. Hailey was having sex with strangers for money. It was the lowest low she could have fallen to, and even though she disapproved of many things about Hailey’s life, she would never have imagined that she would do something like this.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” She still focused on her pink toenails.

“Yup.” Chris and Dag both said it at the same time, and Dag stopped the movie again.

“Oh my god. How could she do that?”

“It’s not the end of the world,” Dag said, voice rough.

She made a strangled sound in her throat and covered her face again.

“You don’t think she’s wondering that same thing about you, right now?” Dag asked quietly.

Her head shot up and she glared at him.

“I’m just saying…”

“That is entirely different than what we’re doing!” she snapped at him.

“Kassidy.” Chris rubbed her arm. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay! That’s my sister! My sister the porn star! God! No wonder she has money all the time. I could never figure out…” Her voice trailed off. “Oh, this is awful. My parents…”

“You’re not going to tell them.” Chris’s voice held a note of authority. She turned to look at him. He shook his head. “No. You’re not.”

“But…”

“You don’t want her to tell them about us.”

She stared at him. Then she started laughing. “Well. This is funny.”

“Har,” Dag said. She shot him a frosty glance.

Why was she angry at both of them? This wasn’t their fault. They’d just been watching a dirty movie and had no idea it was going to turn out like this. She sighed and pressed shaky fingers to her eyes. “I can’t believe this.”

Was Hailey wondering that about her? Was there a difference between what Hailey was doing and what she was doing? Her mind spun all over the place, her stomach tight and hurting.

That night when the three of them went to bed, Kassidy didn’t want to have sex.

Kassidy and Chris were about to leave for her parents’ place, their car loaded up with food and drink, when Kassidy turned to Dag where he slouched on the sofa and said, “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“To leave. For the party.” She grimaced. “Such as it is.”

“Uh…I didn’t plan to go.”

Her eyes widened. “Why not?”

“It’s your family, Kassidy. And I’m not family.”

She stared at him, lips parted. “But…yes, you are.”

Whatever their relationship was, it wasn’t family. It was weird, unconventional, even kinky—but not family.

“You have to come,” she said, her eyebrows meeting over her small nose.

Dag looked to Chris for guidance. Chris nodded, his face completely open, looking almost confused by the fact that Dag wasn’t going to join them. And once again, even though Chris had once rejected him in the worst way possible without even knowing it, Dag only felt acceptance and inclusion from him.

Warmth spread inside him, but he shrugged carelessly. “Well, okay, if you’re sure. I don’t really know your parents, but…”

“You stayed with Mom that day, and you’ve met my Dad. You’re staying with us; of course they’d expect you to come.”

He was tempted to make a comment about a boring family barbecue but somehow knew it wasn’t going to come out sounding the way he wanted it to—it would only sound hurtful, and even though he only wanted to cover up how much it meant to him to be included with his usual cynicism and jokes, he couldn’t do it.

“I’ll just go change. Sorry to hold you up.”

In the spare room where he kept his things, he changed from baggy athletic shorts and T-shirt into a pair of beige cargo shorts and a white shirt that he wore loose over them, the sleeves rolled up. He didn’t know why he wanted to go with them—it was going to be a boring family barbecue, with just Kassidy’s parents and them, possibly Hailey. That at least would likely add a little spice to the evening, but then again, he hated the thought of Kassidy being upset by her sister. She’d been pretty freaked out by the whole porn movie thing, had been distracted and brooding ever since.

But he did want to go, strangely felt himself looking forward to it as he quickly changed.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said as he emerged from the bedroom.

Kassidy smiled at him. She looked pretty in a flowered orange and yellow sundress, the bodice two tiny triangles over her breasts, held up with equally tiny straps, showing a lot of smooth, golden skin including some nice cleavage. Chris looked good too, as usual, in a pair of plaid shorts and a pink—pink!—polo shirt that only he, with his wide shoulders and muscled arms, could pull off.

“Nice shirt, man,” he said, raising a brow. “You borrow that from Kassidy?”

Chris laughed. “Fuck off. Grab that case of beer and let’s go.”

They got Mrs. Langdon settled on the deck in a comfortably cushioned chair in the shade. The backyard swimming pool shimmered turquoise and aqua in the late-afternoon sun and colorful flowers and greenery spilled out of pots arranged around the deck. It was so far from how Dag had grown up, it made his skin itch. Chris and Kassidy had both had completely different lives than he had. And yet, from the moment he’d met Chris he had never felt inferior or any less. And Kassidy had been the same. Dag’s chest tightened at those thoughts, which he pushed away as he directed his best smile at Kassidy’s mom.

“How’re you doing, Mrs. L.?” he asked.

“I told you, Dag, call me Hope.”

“Oh yeah.” He winked at her. “Hope. How’s the pelvis?”

She made a face. “I suppose it’s getting better. It’s driving me crazy, though, to sit around and do nothing all this time.”

“Good thing it’s summer holidays and you’re not missing work.” He’d learned she was an elementary school principal the day he’d spent with her, a day that once again had been surprisingly enjoyable.

She sighed. “Yes, if there was anything good about this whole thing, it’s that. I should be more mobile by the end of the summer.”

“Do you need a drink?”

“I’d love some iced tea.”

“I’ll get it for you then.” He flashed another smile and returned to the kitchen where Kassidy was unloading the bags of food they’d brought. Chris and Mr. Langdon were already opening beers and talking about the Cubs.

“Dag, good to see you again,” Mr. Langdon said, reaching to shake his hand.

“Thanks for having me.”

He found iced tea for Hope and a beer for himself, and the men wandered back out onto the deck. It wasn’t a wild party, that’s for sure, but Dag found himself feeling remarkably relaxed and comfortable, sitting there in the warm sun, drinking beer and talking to Chris and Kassidy’s parents. They clearly loved Chris, and a pang of envy twinged in Dag’s chest at that. Not that he was jealous of Chris, but Dag had never experienced that easy acceptance by the parents of any of his dates—they were more likely to look at him, sense the badass inside him and try to discourage their daughters from having anything to do with him.

Mr. Langdon was interested in Dag’s work and had a lot of questions, smart and knowledgeable, absorbing him in conversation, and then Dag also felt a stab of guilt at the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Langdon were just as accepting of him as Chris and Kassidy, even though he was totally corrupting their sweet daughter.

After a while, Kassidy emerged with a tray loaded with food—bowls of chips and salsa, a layered dip and some stuffed jalapeno peppers she’d made earlier. She laid things out on the table.

“Looks good, Kassie,” her dad said to her.

“Thank you for doing this,” Hope added. “It wasn’t necessary.”

“You know we’ll take you out for a special dinner when you’re feeling up to it,” Kassidy said to her mom. “This isn’t much, really. But thirty years is something to celebrate. I even brought a bottle of champagne for later.”

“You’re such a sweetheart,” Hope said. Kassidy’s cheeks got a little pinker.

The business conversation continued, turning to talk of government bailouts for struggling companies.

“You’re opposed to that?” Dave Langdon asked Dag, picking up a chip.

“Absolutely.”

“Dag’s a laissez-faire capitalist,” Chris put in with a smile. “Dog-eat-dog Darwinist capitalist.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Dag responded. “But a capitalist, yeah. If those businesses can’t survive on their own, why should the taxpayers be bailing them out? A business has to make it or break on its own merits. If it can’t be financially viable, then what’s the reason for its existence?”

“How about to provide jobs to thousands of people,” Kassidy spoke up. Dag looked at her. “That’s important,” she continued. “Some of those businesses are so big they’re the backbone of the entire economy. If that many people lose their jobs, think how many other business will suffer because of it—because nobody has money to spend.”

“A simplified point, but true,” Dag acknowledged. He loved talking about stuff like this—it revved his motor. “I just hate to think of people getting handouts, when some of us…” Yeah it was personal, he fully admitted it. “Had to work our asses off for everything we have. That’s the way things should work. You work for what you want.”

“You sure taught me that,” Chris said. Dag’s head whipped around and he stared at Chris.

“Taught you what?”

“That I had to work.” Chris gave a rueful smile. “I cruised through high school. My parents had the dough to send me to a good university. You were there on a scholarship that you busted your… I mean…” He shot a glance at Hope. “I mean you had to work hard to get there while I just walked in. And I probably would have just kept walking right out if it hadn’t been for you.”

Dag clenched his jaw to keep his mouth from falling open in astonishment, reined in his emotions to keep his face neutral.

“Yeah, you were a slacker, all right,” he said, forcing a laugh. He couldn’t believe Chris actually realized how much he’d changed while they’d gone to school. The fact, that he, Dag, had actually had some kind of positive influence on someone gave him a weird aching feeling inside.

“And the truth is, I wouldn’t be where I am now at RBM if it wasn’t for that.”

Dag’s chest constricted. Jesus, the guy was killing him here. He lifted his beer and caught Kassidy’s warm gaze on him. She’d thought he was the slacker, but now admiration gleamed in her eyes. For him. Jesus. “See. I knew I’d suck you into my philosophy—living by your own effort. Getting what you deserve rather than getting something you didn’t work for. Achievement. Happiness.”

“Sounds like you’re a follower of Ayn Rand,” Dave said.

Dag looked at him with surprise. “Yeah. To a certain extent.

“You’re an Objectivist?”

“Again, to a certain extent. Laissez-faire capitalism, limited government protecting individual rights to life, liberty and property.”

“Entrepreneurs who create by building businesses.”

“Yeah.” Dag grinned. “That’s me. But so is Chris. He invents new technologies.”

Chris grinned. “I’ll admit I share your views on some things.”

“Well, I don’t,” Kassidy said. She lifted her chin, but her smile told Dag she was prepared to hold a different view but not hold a grudge. He respected that. “Don’t Objectivists believe the purpose of life is the pursuit of one’s own happiness?”

“Yeah.” Now it was her turn to get a surprised glance from him.

“Well, I can’t agree. Instead of Darwinist capitalism, how about conscious capitalism?”

Dag’s lips quirked. “Wow, Kassidy. Idealistic much?”

She shrugged. “Call me idealistic if you want. I’ve heard it before. But I believe in it.”

“Of course you do—” He bit his tongue. He’d almost called her “baby” in front of her parents. “Tell me more about that.”

“Every business should have a deeper purpose than just maximizing profits. People want business to do more than just make money. And conscious leaders work toward that deeper purpose. It’s not just about delivering value to stakeholders, and it’s not just about personal gain.”

“Well, pursuit of one’s personal gain, or one’s own happiness, doesn’t mean at the expense of others,” Dag replied. “You have to have respect for facts, for reality, and you have to live by objective principles, which includes respecting the rights of others. So it’s not necessarily selfish. And…” His grin spread and he watched Kassidy’s face. “If you can’t be happy yourself, how can you make someone else happy?”

She met his gaze head on and smiled too. “Okay, I get that. Kind of like, if you can’t love yourself, how do you expect anyone else to love you.” She lifted a brow and their gazes locked. And held.

Christ, she was smart.

“Hey, everyone.”

They all turned at the sound of the voice from the sliding doors. Hailey stood there, dressed in a skintight, short black dress. Dag thought he saw a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes as she surveyed the group talking and laughing, all at ease with each other there in the sunshine. And at that moment he realized that Hailey’s cocked hip and slightly mocking smile covered up something—something like what he often felt inside when he used that bad-boy attitude. Interesting.

“Hailey! You came.” Hope sounded genuinely pleased about that.

“Sure. I have to work tonight, but not until eight, so I can stay for a while.”

“That’s great!”

“Would you like a drink?” Kassidy offered, and Dag noted the coolness in her demeanor as she spoke to her sister, the stiffness in her spine. “I’m having wine, but we have beer and iced tea.”

“A beer would be great.”

“I’ll bring it out.” Kassidy disappeared back into the kitchen like the hostess of the party, which she was.

Dag felt Hailey’s knowing gaze on him and he lifted his chin, arched an eyebrow and held her gaze challengingly. Go ahead, make my day and spill it, he messaged her. Just try it. She might think she was tough, but he was tougher, especially when it came to protecting Chris and Kassidy. Hailey’s glance slid away as she talked to her parents.

Kassidy returned moments later carrying a wineglass and a tall glass of sparkling amber beer. Dag watched her. Her pretty mouth was tense, her eyes blinked rapidly even though she smiled and appeared to chat normally with Hailey. He could feel how the entire atmosphere had changed though, although Dave and Hope didn’t seem to notice. Dag could see the worry shading Chris’s eyes, knew how he felt because he felt exactly the same—protective of Kassidy.

He didn’t give a shit if Hailey wanted to spill her guts and rat him out—if Hope and Dave hated him, so what, he’d be gone and never see them again. It was Kassidy he worried about, worried too because he knew how disturbed she was by what her sister was doing.

And he didn’t even want to let his mind drift toward the thought that he’d seen Hailey naked with another man’s cock in her mouth—Jesus H. Christ.

After a while of drinking and munching on snacks, and conversation that had turned brittle and superficial, Kassidy stood. “We should start cooking,” she said brightly. “Dad, can you start up the grill?”

“You bet, Kassie.”

Dave went over to the deluxe stainless steel barbecue on the side of the deck. Dag followed Kassidy into the kitchen.

“You okay?”

She paused, hands resting on the island countertop. He wanted to put his arms around her and hug her but resisted the urge, given…everything.

“Yeah.” She blew out a breath then met his eyes. “I have to talk to her.”

He nodded. He would have been perfectly fine just forgetting the whole thing, never letting Hailey know they knew. He could be good at pretending. He’d been pretending most of his life. But he understood that Kassidy was concerned about Hailey.

He grabbed another beer. “I’ll send her in.”

“Dag. Wait.”

He turned and looked over his shoulder.

“I was wrong about you. When we first met.”

He smiled crookedly at her. “Yeah. You were.”

They exchanged a long, weighty look and then he turned and went back outside.

Chris watched Hailey disappear through the sliding doors into the kitchen where Kassidy was. He looked at Dag, who met his gaze and lifted a brow. Dag’s mouth was firm and straight, and Chris’s gut clenched. He went to stand, and Dag gave a brief shake of his head. Chris subsided back into the cushioned wicker chair and lifted his beer to his mouth.

Damn. He didn’t know what Kassidy was going to say, but he really wanted to be in there. And he could tell, so did Dag. Dag didn’t sit back down in his chair but perched on the deck railing beside Chris, listening to Hope and Dave talk. Then he felt Dag’s hand on his shoulder, a brief squeeze. He didn’t look at Dag, wanted to reach up and cover Dag’s hand with his own, but the touch was fleeting. He nodded, smiled at Kassidy’s parents, not even hearing what they were saying. Only good thing about this whole mess was that the three of them shared it, which was weird but somehow comforting. Together he and Kassidy were a couple and he’d always felt they made a good team–her, soft and sweet and sensitive, him, tough, aggressive, maybe a little stubborn. Okay, a lot stubborn. But having Dag with them, on their side, just made him feel even stronger.

How did life get so fucking complicated?

“Dag said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yes.” Kassidy set her trembling hands on the counter and faced her sister.

Hailey met her gaze with raised eyebrows.

“Hailey. We saw you…in a movie the other night.”

Hailey blinked.

“A porn movie.”

Several beats of silence passed. “You were watching porn?” Hailey gave a tight laugh. “This gets better and better. Little angel Kassidy is turning into such a naughty girl!”

Kassidy wasn’t going to get caught up in that. She recognized exactly what Hailey was doing. “Never mind me,” she said firmly. “I’m worried about you, Hailey. Why are you doing that?”

“Why do you think?” Hailey reached for a pretzel in a bowl on the counter and popped it into her mouth.

“Well, I’m guessing it’s for the money, but god! Hailey, how can you demean yourself like that? You’re so smart and you have so much going for you! If you need more money, go back to college, finish your degree, get a better job than bartending!”

“Why do you think it’s demeaning?” Hailey asked coolly.

“Hailey! The things you do…with men you don’t even know…how can you do that?”

“You’re not exactly in a position to be judging me, big sister.” Hailey crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. “With what I saw the other day…”

“This isn’t about me!” Kassidy’s fingers tightened on the cool granite counter. She took a breath. “And you’re right. I’m not judging you. I’m just…worried about you. Truly.”

“Well, don’t. I’m fine. I enjoy what I do. I’m having fun. I’m professional, respected, well paid…it’s not big deal. And I don’t see what’s so different about it than what you’re doing.”

“There’s a huge difference. What I’m doing….isn’t…” She stopped, at a loss to try to explain the difference. She could feel it inside her, the powerful difference, but putting it into words was hard. “What I’m doing is about love,” she finally said.

Hailey gave a shout of laughter. “You’re telling me you’re in love with two men?”

Kassidy bit her lower lip. Her stomach churned and she pressed a hand there. She’d been trying to avoid thinking about that, but when Hailey said the words, she knew it was true. She’d come to care for Dag. A lot. She wasn’t sure if she’d say she was in love with him–but she definitely cared for him. “We’re not hurting anyone,” she choked out. “We’re all mature, consenting adults.”

“Well, I’m not hurting anyone either,” Hailey said, straightening. She smiled. “And we’re all mature consenting adults making adult movies. And I don’t feel demeaned by it. So what’s the problem?”

“Mom and Dad would die if they knew.”

Hailey’s eyes narrowed and her gaze zoomed in on Kassidy. But she gave a negligent shrug. “You won’t tell them.”

Kassidy stared back at her and lifted her chin. “What makes you think that?”

Hailey laughed. “I don’t actually give a shit if they find out. But I know you won’t tell them because you’re such a soft-hearted little angel. You wouldn’t want to hurt them.”

Kassidy gritted her teeth. “Fine. I won’t tell them about you if you won’t tell them about me.”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “God, are we five years old again?” And she turned and walked out of the kitchen, back onto the deck.

She couldn’t go back out there. Her whole body was shaking, her stomach hurting, her chest squeezing. She closed her eyes and set her elbows on the counter, rested her head in her hands.

Maybe she was making too big a deal of this. It just seemed so…awful, what Hailey was doing. Whereas she…what she was doing was…not. It wasn’t.

Who was she to judge her? She couldn’t judge anyone for choices they made. Much as she tried to defend what she and Chris and Dag were doing, most people would think it was wrong. Sinful. Depraved.

But she didn’t care and she supposed she could understand that Hailey felt the same way.

“Hey.” She felt a gentle hand on her back. Dag’s voice stroked over her. “You okay?”

“Yes.” She straightened, pushed her hair back and smiled at him, although her lips felt tight. “I’m fine.”

“Hailey’s gone. She decided she couldn’t stay for dinner after all.”

“Shit.” Hailey’d finally shown up at a family event and Kassidy had ruined it. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked rapidly. “That probably hurt Mom and Dad’s feelings.”

“Yeah, a little, I think.”

He studied her, and the concern she saw there told her one important thing—Dag cared for her too.