Stranded(30)

Grant closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. “Like Rafe said, it’s a complicated situation and you’re right, the lifestyle the two of us chose is unusual, but it stems from years of friendship and similar trials we’ve faced. To be honest, we’ve only discovered we like sharing the same woman within the last couple years.”

India tried to listen with an open mind, but she couldn’t help interrupting. “What happened to precipitate it? Was it one drunken night at some party?”

“You’re partially right,” Rafe answered. “Alcohol was involved but it’s not responsible for what we did. You see, the woman we shared was my wife.”

India gasped. This made things weirder still. “Your wife? Are you kidding me? Was it her idea or yours? Is that the reason she divorced you? Because she could no longer handle the circumstances?”

“No. She liked what we did just fine. I was the one to file the petition for divorce. In fact, Grant and I booked this vacation to celebrate it becoming official. Angie and I had been married for a couple years and it was rocky at best. In hindsight, I never should have married her, but I was stupid and the sex was good. Anyway, Angie wasn’t happy about my friendship with Grant. You see, she dated him before we were married and I think it annoyed her that I would still be friends with him. She claimed we spent too much time together. It was a bone of contention between us from the beginning even though we had other problems. That, however, seemed to be an issue that neither of us were willing to back down on. She wanted Grant out of my life and I wasn’t going to tell my best friend of over twenty years to go away. It might sound cruel to you that I would choose my best friend over my wife, but it wasn’t like that. I was willing to put her first in my life, even going as far as to only see Grant at work and the occasional outing to a sporting event, but Angie begrudged even that little bit of time.”

From the short time she’d been with them, India could tell Grant and Rafe’s bond was deeper than anything she’d ever witnessed between two non-related men. She could understand why it would have been difficult for Rafe to sever all ties with someone he’d been friends with for so long. “It sounds like she didn’t want to be reasonable.”

Rafe grimaced. “Not a bit. And because I wasn’t willing to toe the line, the arguments grew worse. I think the last time I indulged in an argument with her, she slapped me. Believe me, I think I was very close to strangling her in that moment. My Latin temper got the better of me, and I remember shaking her, I was so enraged. I think if the phone hadn’t rung, I may have ended up hurting her. I stormed out of the house and from that point on I stayed away, in some cases days at a time. I was never unfaithful to her, but the last thing I wanted was to come home to bickering after a hard day’s work. One night Grant and I got smashed. He was in better shape than I was, so he drove me home. Angie was waiting. She’d been drinking as well and there were angry accusations, one of them about our sexuality.”

India raised a brow in question. It was obvious they liked women, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t be bi. “You two aren’t—”

A faint smile touched Rafe’s lips. “We’re many things, but not that. Both of us are one hundred percent hetero. Getting back to the story, when Angie accused Grant and I of being lovers, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. To say I was furious is an understatement, so I pushed her against the wall and started kissing and ripping her clothes off. Grant was there and before any of us could make heads or tails of what was happening, the two of us were fucking her bowlegged. I don’t know if it was the alcohol, or something that would have eventually happened with the three us anyway, but it did. And from then on, there was no going back.”

“Why did it end? I mean why the divorce if you were satisfied sexually?”

The corners of Rafe’s mouth twitched into a humorless smile. “Marriage is more than just sex. Outside of the bedroom there was no communication. Besides that, my ex was a manipulator. Even from the beginning of the relationship she tried to pit Grant and me against each other. The new, exciting sex life only held us together for a little while. The deal breaker was discovering she’d been with other men, but I think divorce was inevitable without the cheating. Hell, if I’m being honest, all there ever was between us was the sex.”

“And you two decided that you liked what you did?” she wondered aloud.

“It was much more than that,” Grant spoke up. “Angie did her best to undermine our friendship and nearly succeeded. Rafe and I have been through too much, suffered too greatly to allow that to happen again. It was more than just sex for us. Sharing a woman brought us closer together and strengthened our relationship after it had been rocked from its foundation. We’re both hot-blooded men who love sex, but we’re also past the age of sleeping around. We want to settle down with someone who will not only accept the friendship Rafe and I share, but be our woman, share in our lives as our partner, and live with us in a committed relationship.”