Excerpt – The Theory of Deviance

The Theory of Deviance © 2016 Rebecca Grace Allen

 

“What’s your favorite sex act?” he asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him, her cheeks going hot. “Can I veto this question?”

Rafe chuckled. “No.”

She glared at him, but what the hell? This wasn’t the worst thing she had to admit by far. “Being fingered. I’m boring, I guess.”

Mikey cleared his throat, then shifted so his knee nudged hers. “You couldn’t be boring if you tried.”

The small touch made her shiver, the compliment making her face flare even hotter.

“Awww,” Rafe said. “You guys are so cute.”

He nudged her other knee, prodding her closer to Mikey, and the double points of contact made her skin tingle. The fantasy that had driven her over the edge last night came flooding back, and Krissy had to clench her hands into fists to stave off the torrent of images, old ones and new: Them touching her. Her touching them.

Them touching each other.

Her next move gave her a chance to ask Mikey another question, but she couldn’t think clearly. “Can I pass?”

“No way,” Rafe said. “We’ll default to a version of the last inquiry.” His grin was pure evil when he turned to Mikey. “So, Mr. Pelletier. What’s your favorite sexual position?”

Shit. “You don’t have to answer that,” Krissy assured him.

“Yeah he does. Rules are rules.”

The look Krissy threw Rafe’s way clearly said shut up, but he wasn’t backing down.

“Come on, Mikey. Fess up. Krissy won’t care if it’s dirty. But remember, you’ve gotta tell the truth.”

Mikey’s voice was low when he said, “I don’t have a favorite, because I haven’t done it.”

It wasn’t often that Rafe was stunned into silence, but that did the trick.

“Oh…damn.” He let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, Mikey. Didn’t mean to put you on the spot there.”

Mikey didn’t answer. Krissy turned the tables on her roommate.

“What about you?” she asked, arms crossed in a challenge. She knew Rafe’s sensitive spots, but since actual intercourse was sexuala-non-grata, this was information that had eluded her.

“I’m not the one who lost their turn,” he said. “You don’t get to ask me a question.”

“Don’t care. Answer it anyway.”

He smiled broadly, then conceded. “It depends on who I’m with. With girls I like to be on top. With guys, I prefer bottoming.”

“Wait, so you’re…” Mikey started, his eyes wide.

“Bi.” Rafe’s verification came out so matter-of-factly, typical of an actor who was confident in his sexuality and his looks. It was not typical, however, of someone who’d been through what he had. “Krissy didn’t tell you?”

“No,” Mikey replied stiffly, and Krissy reached for her pawns. Rafe’s intentions with the game were finally clear. He was going to use it to worm out the truth and broadcast it like a billboard in Times Square.

“This is a dumb game,” she said. “Let’s play something else.”

Rafe threw an arm out to stop her. “You’re just saying that because you’re losing.”

He reached for a card, and his move bumped her last piece backward. He flicked the card a few times before dropping it in the pile.

“What was that fantasy you told me about? The one involving Mikey.”

Even with only their knees touching, Krissy felt Mikey go rigid. She was pretty sure he could feel the same from her.

“You know the answer to that,” she said, but there wasn’t the same mirth in her tone as there had been when Rafe had said it.

“Mikey doesn’t.”

Krissy crossed her arms. Stared up at the ceiling, then at her lap. She wanted to lie, desperate to cover up the truth, but there was that burning, hungry part of her that didn’t want to hide, and Rafe probably wouldn’t let her anyway.

“Having a threesome,” she admitted quietly. “With both of you.”

Rafe sat back on the couch and slinked an arm around her. “What do you say, Mikey? Want to help me make Krissy’s fantasy a reality?”

Oh God. Rafe was doing this. He was actually doing this. Krissy braced herself for Mikey’s response, waiting for him to completely freak out, the endgame she’d expected all along when he found out the truth.

“Help you?” he sputtered.

“Sure.” Rafe twirled one of her pigtails around his finger. “You two obviously don’t know how to get things started on your own, and I’m getting bored watching. Someone needs to get the ball rolling.”

Mikey’s mouth dropped open. There was so much insecurity in his eyes. “So, you two are together.”

“No,” she said quickly. “Not in the way you think.”

“What way, then?”

Krissy couldn’t speak, couldn’t figure out any way to tell him that didn’t sound one hundred percent certifiably nuts.

Please don’t think I’m crazy.

“We have a sexual relationship,” Rafe answered for her, “but are strictly platonic otherwise.”

It hurt to hear him say it out loud, but not as much as the look on Mikey’s face as his gaze darted between them. “I don’t understand.”

“We’re not sleeping together,” Krissy said. “We just…fool around.”

His silence dragged on for several seconds. Or years. Krissy twisted her shirt in her hands and gave Mikey an imploring look, hoping he could see the apology in her eyes.

“Then you’re not a couple,” he finally said.

“Nope,” Rafe confirmed, then winked at Mikey. “I sway a little more the other way.”

Mikey exhaled in what could’ve been a laugh but wasn’t, not really, and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Krissy found the courage to brush her fingers against his. By some miracle, he didn’t wrench away.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know how.”

“And you still…” Mikey made a tentative sweep of his pinky along hers. “Want me?”

“Oh, she wants you, all right,” Rafe interjected. “She’s got a dirty little mind, this one. You should hear the stuff she’s thought of about you.” He shifted her on the couch until she faced Mikey and hooked his chin over her shoulder, positioning her like an offering. “So what do you say? Interested?”

Krissy’s heart was pounding. Mikey swallowed, looked hard at her, and whispered, “You want this?”

She wanted to forge something real with Mikey. To trust him with her mind, body, and heart. But right now a haze of lust was clouding her mind, and all she wanted was to be sandwiched between them, a helpless prisoner while they did all sorts of delicious things to her, then to see if she had the skills to please them both at once.

“Yes,” she answered. “I want this.”

Another swallow. He nodded at her, then at Rafe. “Okay.”

Krissy felt the shape of Rafe’s smile, his breath hot on her cheek. “It’s your show now, sweetheart. What do you want to do?”

She arched against him, then reached for Mikey, tangling their fingers together.

“Bedroom,” she managed, her body alive with the need to kiss and touch and come, to act out the real-life version of what she’d only played at onstage. “I want you both in the bedroom.”