"I'm going to be away next week. I need you to do me a favor -- shag Rachel."
I blinked. When he called earlier to confirm our Sunday afternoon tennis game, Eli said he would ask a special favor after the match, but it's not every day that your best friend asks for such an unusual favor.
"So you want me to service your wife," I responded with a grin, taking it as a somewhat lame joke, as I packed away my racket.
Eli shrugged. "The operative word is not 'want.' I'm just being realistic. I'm going to be away the entire week. She'd never last -- has to get it every three or four days at most, if not from me, then from someone else. I prefer it be from someone I like who is bug-free, which I'm pretty sure you are," he added, with a smirk.
"You're not serious about this?" I asked, incredulous. Well, maybe not incredulous, since neither Eli nor Rachel were Puritans, but even so this was a stretch.
"And you must be getting pretty desperate yourself around now." Eli wrapped his hand around the shaft of his tennis racket and pumped it up and down.
He was right about that. It had been a week since Lila had flown to California to visit her sister. With my girlfriend gone so long I was indeed feeling the pressure.
"Yeah, I can appreciate what Rachel will soon be going through," I admitted. "but this is still an unusual request."
Eli was usually available to provide the services Rachel demanded on a regular basis. In his faculty position at a university a hundred miles away, he was able to schedule classes and other duties into long three-day work weeks, bunking at the apartment of another instructor. The rest of his week was usually passed with Rachel at their home, which was near Lila's and mine in a rural area. Occasionally, however, his presence was required on additional days of the week.
While Rachel faced sexual deprivation during his absences, Eli need not. Relief was waiting in the form of one or more attractive co-eds who needed extra help to pass his courses and to show gratitude were willing to provide a few "favors" of their own on a foldout couch in his office. Rachel knew about Eli's extra-curricular activities. Eli often joked about his "students so eager to learn," and Rachel laughed along with Lila and I. He said his stories served to "juice" Rachel, spicing up their love life rather than putting it on ice. They both preached modern attitudes and "open" relationships. But while Rachel seemed tolerant of Eli's sexual wanderings, he was less comfortable when she did the same.
"It's not so much that I object to her fucking someone," Eli said. "I just don't want her picking some dork who doesn't know a condom from a water balloon and would invite the rest of the biker gang to the party. She doesn't realize how good looking she is, and she's a bad judge of character. She might get in over her head." After a pause, he added, "Or she might call up some old boyfriend stiff who would be almost as bad as the Hell's Angels."
He was probably referring to Mike, who lived in a small town close to us. Rachel had spent a night or two hundred with him in days gone by. I did not consider Mike to be a particularly bad guy, but Eli could not stand him, probably because they had been arch rivals before Eli and Rachel married, and he suspected Mike was still an occasional factor in her life. Romantic triangles have some sharp points that produce lasting pain.
"I'm going to wear her out tonight before I leave, and don't need you to be there every night," Eli said, "but just drop over Wednesday or Thursday, when she's likely to be pretty horny again, and if she needs anything, take care of it."
I was still dubious, asking, "Who knows if Rachel even wants me to provide stud service?"
He smiled. "Oh, I don't think we have to wonder about that. You two often scope each other out, and with Lila away so long she knows you have to be pretty horny by now. She'll think it perfectly natural if you come on to her."
Admittedly, more than once there had been suggestive body language from Rachel. Her shapely boobs and butt sometimes brushed against me, often followed by a smile and full length eyeball appraisal, which stoked my ego and occasionally caused some stiffening between my legs, as was happening now just talking and thinking about this situation. Beautiful Rachel exuded sensuality, and I had fantasized about coupling with her several times.
The fantasy almost played out once at their house. Eli had gone to sleep early, while Rachel and I stayed up talking, and wound up in a brief clinch featuring passionate tongue interplay and wandering hands. But I broke away, my conscience getting the better of my libido. Eli was my best friend, I told her. She countered that because of that he would cut us some slack. But I still said goodnight and went home to Lila, who remarked afterward I was "extra hot" that night.
After I left, Rachel jumped Eli's bones to work out her own frustration. I know that because I felt bad enough at having made out with Rachel to make a confession to Eli a few days later, taking full blame while emphasizing it was a minor offense. He already knew. Rachel had told him about it. He said she was disappointed I had not provided full service, but thanked me for priming her, saying it led to great sex. He was not at all annoyed. I was relieved, and realized Rachel had been right. I did have some slack, and they really did have an open marriage.
"You certainly can't consider this favor too odious," Eli said, bringing me back to the present unusual situation.
"It won't affect our friendship if you know I hooked up with your woman?"
"I told you, I'd rather it be you than some stranger, or some asshole I don't like," Eli responded. "In fact, it might even be a turn-on. She loves to talk about her past liaisons -- in detail -- often while I'm inside her pounding away. It spices up our love life."
By this time, I was fully hard. "Okay, you sick prick. I'll drop over there, and see how it plays. If she's in heat and willing, then..." I shrugged.
"She'll be glad to see you." He smiled.
"I'll get a pack of condoms," I volunteered.
"You don't need to. You're clean, and she's on the pill and been well behaved since her last STD tests." After a moment, he added, "It could even be a rush knowing some of your stuff might still be in there next time I'm injecting her."
"You're even kinkier than I thought," I told him.
* * *
There was no way I would have lasted until mid-week. In fact, after that conversation, and handicapped as I was by my absent girlfriend, I felt the need to relieve myself in the shower upon getting home. Thinking about the potential rendezvous, I relieved myself again Tuesday night. It was almost a prerequisite considering how excited I was at the prospect of banging Rachel. I try to be adequately prepared the first time with a new woman. There is no greater disappointment than premature ejaculation, unless it is a limp banana.
I have a great deal of flextime in my job, and Wednesday was a light day. Driving over to their house with a semi-stiffy, I resolved to tamp down my expectations in case Rachel was not receptive. I had concocted a small untruth as an excuse for being there, and to give both of us a way out of the situation if the vibes were not right. I had thought to dress in tennis gear with my racket in the car.
When I pulled in the driveway, she was outside working in her flower garden, looking very fit in a tight short skirt and halter top that complimented her ample bosom.
"Eli asked me to check if you needed anything while he was gone. How about a tennis game?" I asked innocently.
"I'm fine, and can't keep up with you on the court, but as long as you're here, I could use a hand with the gardening," she said, smiling. "I was wondering how I was going to get that peat over here." She indicated some large bales by the garage.
I stripped off my tennis shirt and hauled over the dusty bales, broke them up, and volunteered to dig and hoe at her direction. As I worked, Rachel knelt on the ground, putting in plants, affording me a nice view of her barely constrained boobs. When she changed position, standing and then stooping over to firm soil around a plant, there was another treat -- a scenic view of her booty as it peered out from the short skirt. A couple of times I caught her glancing at me, male ego whispering that she was admiring my arm muscles and washboard middle, and maybe the slight prominence in my tight tennis shorts.
After an hour or so we had things wrapped up to her satisfaction. "Pfew, it is so hot -- that's enough for today," she said, wiping sweat from her pretty brow and smoothing some damp wet blonde strands back into place. "Want a beer?"
"Won't say no," I replied. In fact, I was thinking how nice it would be to cool off. "How about we take a couple down to the river, and maybe dip in?"