Chapter 3

Soon only Sally and Melinda remained, seated at an angle by my chest so they could face me. It seemed like the time for an explanation had arrived. Melinda stroked my cheek while Sally began speaking.

"That's the gang. We're been together as friends since at least fifth grade. The sex part started in high school. We were all virgins and we were freaked out about STDs and AIDS. Our solution was to keep it all in the family, if you would. We all pledged that we would only have sex with each other. Five have dropped out over the past few years and we'll probably lose more as people take jobs far away or meet others. We all love each other, but only as dear friends."

"It's really kind of strange," she continued, "if you stop to think about it. Fifteen people, all living near each other, affectionate and intimate, but from them, not one couple with a capital C. And then Melinda met you."

I looked at Melinda as Sally's tale unfolded. She had tears in her eyes.

"She flipped over you the day you two met, you know." I hadn't.

"You were polite and gallant, if a little klutzy. I think it was because, even though you both were in the same apartment and one of you naked, you didn't try anything. You were very clear that you wanted to date her, but you had class."

"We had a meeting here, the whole gang, to talk about Melinda and you. We decided that with a clean bill of health and assurance that you could keep it your pants, Melinda could start to sleep with you."

I interrupted Sally. "You investigated me? You gave Melinda permission? Who do you think you are?"

I was annoyed. Of course, I was still tied up with cum leaking from my ass, so that probably impaired my indignation, at least visually.

Melinda answered this time. "Baby, please look at it from the other side. We're talking about herpes and AIDS. Those don't go away with a shot. You were the new star rising on the horizon, my star. I wanted to see if you were the ONE, but I owed it the gang to keep them safe. We'd never brought in anyone new since we started almost ten years ago. The rule was that once you fished in another stream, you were gone."

"We talked and agreed that if you were already healthy and were reliable enough that you would only be having sex with me, that I would have the chance, no, that WE would have the chance to see if we could have that golden wedding anniversary."

"You are reliable. You are a stand-up guy. You know that and so do I. It's not unreasonable to expect the gang to ask some people you know to make sure that their lives were not going to be at risk. Please, don't get upset. Please, let Sally finish."

I was looking in her eyes as she spoke. Her sincerity and love for me were clearly evident and I felt the bubble of anger dissipate and disappear. Sally saw the change and continued.

"Everyone we spoke to said what a wonderful and honest person you are. The vote came ten days after the first meeting. It had to be unanimous and it was. The meeting only took five minutes and no one had anything bad to say. Melinda was ecstatic, hugged us all and ran out to see you. That was when she brought up exchanging STD reports and the rest is history."

The two women seemed to realize, at this point, that I was still restrained. They each loosened a wrist and together released the ropes to the spreader bar and removed the ankle restraints. I straightened my limbs and the women began to massage my stiff limbs.

Sally went on. "Let me tell you more about the gang. Though we'd known each other and been friendly for years, we really came together after a PFLAG-type meeting. We talked about safe sex and none of us was thrilled about condoms. Not a one of us was interested in waiting until after marriage. Finally, Sandy suggested that, if enough of us agreed to be friends with benefits, we would have safety and variety without the heavy emotional baggage that none of us were ready for."

Melinda whispered, "Till now," and kissed the corner of my mouth.

Sally went on. "We were only kids, but we really understood the danger. We made ourselves a closed community. Fifteen of us, one at a time, looked each other in the eyes and swore that he or she would never have any intimate contact with anyone who wasn't in the gang."

"We were all bi-sexual. We all wanted to have fun. All the girls were either on the pill or on the patch and we all made sure that pregnancy wasn't going to be a problem. We took care of each other. We all love each other, but as I said, none of us are in love with any of the others. In that, it's just you and Melinda."

"Tonight was rough for you, we know. Parties aren't like this. It's usually six to eight of us getting together in groups of two to four and switching around until everyone's itch had been scratched. Melinda talked to all of us, one or two at a time, about how to let you know about the gang. There were all sorts of opinions and ideas, but it came down to this. There is no way you could have a successful marriage if one person was having sex with others and the other person wasn't. There is no basis for intimacy there."

"So the real question is, "How open is Jim"? Could you accept that Melinda would be having sex with others? Could you accept yourself having sex with others? Could you accept being in bed with more than one other person at a time? Could you accept Melinda having same-sex relations? I know most guys think it's hot, and it is, but it can be different if it's your wife involved. Would you accept yourself fucking and sucking another guy?"

"One last thing. If you join us, it's OK to say no to someone. But if you're going to say no to someone or something all the time, people are going to get hurt. We're friends here. Yes, friends have disagreements and even fights, but friends make up and get past it, because they're friends. If you can't adjust and come on board, it would be better for everyone if you didn't join in the first place."

"Now, Melinda thought I would say this better than she would. She was such a nervous wreck that I agreed, but I've overstayed my welcome. You two need some time to talk and I'm in the way. Melinda, I'm sleeping in the little bedroom in the back. You two should move to the big room next door. I'll clean this up in the morning. Jim, I think you're a really good person and a wonderful lover. If I get my wish, we'll be seeing each other many times in the future, but that's not my call. Good night, you two." She gave me a sweet kiss as she got off the bed. Melinda walked her to the door, hugged her and then Sally, too, left.

Melinda walked back to me, kneeled and put her cheek against my chest, ignoring the sticky mess.

"I thought and thought about how to introduce you to my friends. I went back and forth and must have changed my mind twenty times a day. You and I talked about gays and lesbians in general so I know you're not homophobic. But there's a big difference between theory and the love of your life. I finally concluded that just talking about this would have been a disaster."

"I love you dearly and always will, but you jump to conclusions, Jim. I wouldn't have gotten in three sentences and you would have already reached a decision. It's a weak point in your personality. It doesn't matter if you never see me again, you do need to change that or you'll never get anywhere in your career. If you think honestly you'll agree that you would have assumed that I wanted to go out in the street and jump any guy that caught my eye."

She paused and waited for me. I closed my eyes and thought over for a minute or so what she'd just said. I opened my eyes and spoke slowly, "You're probably right about both my jumping in without all the facts and what I would have thought about your motives. I wouldn't have given you a fair hearing."

Melinda lifted her head and gave me a weak smile and laid her head back on my chest. It seemed she was more comfortable avoiding eye contact and I was content with that as well.

"It's not really the sex," she said.

She felt me look up at her with a silent, "HUH?" and continued. "I'm not saying I don't enjoying it immensely. But at its core it's what a bunch of friends do when they hang out together. We don't usually meet one on one for a quickie at lunch, although it has been known to happen on the fly."

She struggled for a moment. "This may sound ridiculous, but some people have a quilting bee or work on scrapbooks or discuss the latest best-seller. We screw. I don't know what will be as more and more of us move away or meet others. When there is just a handful left, we'll have to talk and see. I will say without question that when the gang stops having sex together I won't go looking for replacements. From that point on, it will just be one person and I hope it will be you."

"I'm sorry to have done it quite this way. It came very close to kidnapping and rape." I could hear her choking up. "I can't tell you how bad I feel about what happened with you and the bathroom. I'll probably never forgive myself or stop apologizing to you for it. It was necessary, but it shouldn't have caused you all that pain and suffering. I'm so, so sorry."