She snatched it away from him. “That needs to go in the laundry,” she snapped. “Chris. What’s going on?”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

She balled up the damp towel in her fists. “Yes, you do.” Then she smacked his chest. “What did you say to him?”

He continued to avoid her eyes. “What happened last night shouldn’t have. We just…both agreed to that. And that it was best if he go.”

Kassidy’s face felt tight and hot, her stomach cramped. “I’m trying to understand,” she said slowly, her throat aching. “Help me understand.”

Finally he looked her in the eye. Briefly. “Kassidy. You know what…fuck.” He rubbed his face. “I can’t even talk about this. You know what he did last night. He can’t do that. We can’t do that.”

“You loved it!” She stared at him. “You came like a volcano! If you hated it that much, why didn’t you stop him?”

“I tried! I was…”

“Bullshit!” She sucked in air in quick, shallow breaths. “Bullshit, Chris. What’s so wrong if it felt good?”

He stared at her, his mouth pressed into a grim line. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe you just said that. It’s okay for me to sleep with two guys? For me to have two cocks inside me? For me to do all the wild and wicked things we’ve done? It’s okay for you to share your girlfriend with your best friend, which you’ve done many times I might add, but it’s not okay for two men to touch each other?”

He closed his eyes and turned away. “That about sums it up, yeah.”

“Oh, for… Chris.” She stretched a hand out to touch his shoulder. “Tell me. Is it that repulsive to you that Dag touched you like that?”

“Jesus Christ!” He shrugged her hand off and she took a step back, feeling a knife twisting inside her. “I just…can’t do that.”

She just gazed at his back, the old, well-washed gray T-shirt hanging from his wide shoulders, tensed up almost level with his ears. “I don’t know what to say. I just don’t.”

“Look. Yes, Dag and I have had threesomes in the past. But it was never for him and me–it was about the girls. Both of us sharing and enjoying her and giving her two times the pleasure.”

“Because you’re both such studs,” she added with a touch of bitterness.

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

“You know what?” She fixed her gaze on him. “I don’t totally buy that. That it’s not for you and him. You two get something out of doing that–I know you like to watch, but it’s more than that.” She paused. “You and Dag have feelings for each other.”

Chris’s narrowed to slits. “We’re friends.”

“Yeah. Friends.” She shook her head. She eyed him. How far should she push him? He was on the edge as it was, body tense, jaw locked. Her heart felt full and heavy. “I’ve never been totally able to get my head around this whole thing. It confuses me. I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore. But I do know one thing. Yesterday I felt lucky to have both of you, but it wasn’t because of the sex. It was because you guys both looked out for me yesterday. No, not just yesterday—every day. You both care about me. Both of you. You wanted to make me feel better, to look after me. That meant—” She had to stop and swallow, her throat thick with tears. “That meant so much to me.”

“Jesus Christ.” Chris whirled around. “Are you in love with Dag?”

Her chest ached so much she could hardly breath, almost couldn’t speak. “I-I don’t know.”

“Fuck me! You have got to be kidding me! This wasn’t supposed to turn out like this!”

“Chris, wait. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. But I care about Dag. I can’t deny that. I couldn’t sleep with him and do the things we’ve done with him if I didn’t care about him. You should know that. You should be happy about that.”

He gazed back at her, confusing swirling in his eyes.

“I love you, Chris. You know I do.”

“Yeah.” His voice was low and tight. “I know it. And I love you too, sweetheart.” He put out his arms and she moved into them, against his big, warm body, got folded up in his embrace. “God, Kassidy, you scared the crap out of me.” They stood there holding each other for a long moment, and then he said, “So we’re good?”

Slowly she drew her head back. “No. No, Chris. We’re not good.” She met his eyes. “I need to know what happened with Dag.”

She walked through the lobby of the hotel where she and Dag and Chris had had dinner weeks ago. Dag hadn’t answered his cell phone, but when she’d called the hotel they’d put her through to his room, and without caller ID, he’d picked up. He sounded different—fractured, distant—but he gave her his room number even though he tried to tell her not to come.

She didn’t listen to him. Chris wouldn’t talk to her, wouldn’t tell her what had happened and once again, even though Chris said Dag would be fine, Dag was always fine, even though Dag was a tough bad boy who apparently didn’t need anyone, she couldn’t bear the thought of him being hurt.

Her heart strained in her chest with hard, painful beats as she rode the elevator to the tenth floor. Room 1010. Easy to remember. She rubbed her lips together and pressed her hand to her stomach.

She stepped off the elevator, and as she stood in front of the door of room 1010, she knew her life was about to change. If she knocked on that door, she had to deal with whatever happened, and a feeling grew inside her, intuition, premonition, she didn’t know, but she did know this was going to rock her world forever. Since Dag had come back, their lives had taken a sharp turn into craziness, although as time went on, what they were doing felt more and more natural and comfortable and right. But the fear had been there all along, simmering underneath everything and now she knew why. Because their lives were going to blow up. It was happening now, right now, right this minute, and she didn’t know if they were all going to live through it, or if they did, if they’d ever be the same.

She knocked on the door, bowed her head as she waited for Dag to answer. He took so long, she was afraid he’d left after her call, and she sank her teeth into her bottom lip and lifted her head just as the door opened.

Oh hell. She thought Chris had looked bad. Dag’s hair was all over the place, he hadn’t shaved for a couple of days, which yesterday had looked sexy and stubbly, today looked…rough. Dangerous. But his eyes were the most dangerous of all, because for once he couldn’t hide the pain and vulnerability beneath that badass attitude.

“Kassidy. I was hoping you’d change your mind and not come.”

“Sorry.” She slipped past him and into the room, inhaling his scent as she brushed against his body.

It was only noon, but Dag had opened the mini bar and several small bottles of Scotch sat on the dark wood dresser. The room was bare otherwise, his bags tossed in the closet, nothing unpacked, an impersonal, anonymous hotel room. He wore the beige cargo shorts he’d worn yesterday with a white T-shirt, and he crossed the carpet on his big bare feet toward her where she stood by the window.

“Chris won’t tell me what happened,” she said without any preamble. “So I came to find out from you.”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you?”

“You will.”

His mouth tightened. “If Chris doesn’t want you to know, then I’m not going to tell you.”

“Yes, you are.”

He gave a bark of laughter and rubbed his hand over his forehead. “Kassidy. Go back to your boyfriend. This was all a fucking big mistake. Let’s just let it go before things get worse.”

“How can things get any worse?” Her heart ached and she took a step toward him. “You and Chris are both dying. And…so am I. I care about you, Dag. About both of you.”

It was daring, saying that. She hadn’t told him she loved him, but he had to know she cared, that’s why she was there. Something flickered in his eyes.

“I just want to understand,” she whispered. She clasped her hands in front of her. “Please. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe we can never go back…but I want to understand. I need to.”