I sat in disbelief at what my brother was telling me. David actually wanted me to have sex with his wife!
His voice cut through my bewilderment. "We've been trying to make a baby for the last six years man, and when we got the tests back last week, it really knocked the wind out of my sails."
I looked at his face and watched the tears build up in his eyes.
"I'll go get you another drink." I said, glad of the excuse to leave him alone with his pain.
"Thanks."
I inched my way out of the dark booth and went to the bar. "Two double whiskies, lots of ice and a can of Coke please." The bartender's funny look didn't intrude on my thoughts; my brother wanted me to have sex with his wife!
I carried the drinks back to the table, and slid into the booth. The high decorated sides kept us secluded from the rest of the quiet bar. It was four in the afternoon, well before the evening rush.
David poured some Coke into his glass and took a large swig. He winced at the strength of the whisky.
"Doubles?" David asked.
"Yup." I replied simply. I waited for him to continue, but he just kept staring at the ice in the glass.
"The tests?" I asked, trying to regain his train of thought.
He swallowed, then took a deep breath. "The tests." He lifted the glass to the light, as if he was trying to see how clean it was. He looked at me. "The tests say that I've got a very low sperm count; very low." Even in the dim light of the bar, I could still see the tears growing in his eyes again. "In fact, Jack, if sperm was gunpowder, I wouldn't have enough to blow my nose."
I forced a smile at his intended humour. "Can't it be Helen?"
"Naw, Helen's fine." He replied. "She's got all her parts working. It seems that it's just me that can't provide her with the baby she wants."
"Come on Daveβ¦."
"No!" he snapped. "I've got to face it Jack. I've got to come to terms with the whole thing."
I sat and looked at him. David Grant, two years younger, more successful, richer than I would ever be, but here, in the bar, he would have thrown all that away, just in exchange for my sperm count. It was irony come home to roost and it was not lost on me.
I had two ex-wives with two children to each of them. I had child support payments that were taking over half of my income, and here was my successful brother wanting a loan of my dick for a night.
"So why me Dave?" I asked. "Why has it got to be me for this?" As I said the words, I couldn't believe that I was trying to talk myself out of it. After all, Helen was a good looking lady!
"I want it to be a proper 'Grant'."
"What?"
Dave took another heavy mouthful. "Come on Jack, you know how Dad feels about keeping the clan name going!"
"What's that got to do with it?" I thought of Dad's almost maniacal fascination with tracing his name back to Scotland. He even referred to it as 'the old country', even though the family had been American for over four generations.
"You've got four daughters Jack, the name "Grant" will die when they get married. Dad's often said that it was 'up to me to keep the clan name going'."
"How the hell is he going to know? Who's going to tell him?"
"I just want there to be no problems if he does find out. That's all."
I sat in the booth, sipping gently at my whisky, trying to get to grips with the idea that my brother was offering me his wife, and I was trying my hardest to get out of it. "Can we not do it by sperm donation? I could go down to the local clinic and just give some over!"
"Well bro, it's not as simple as that. If it was we'd have done it long ago." He finished his drink, letting the ice rest on his lips. "Helen was diagnosed as having a thin or fragile 'something or other' two months ago. She had an abortion when she was eighteen, long before we met, and they put the blame on that. The doctors have decided that artificial insemination is not an option; it might do more damage."
He got up and inched his way out of the booth. "Same again?"
"Yeah, why not."
As I watched him walk to the bar, I though of Helen. She was only thirty, a good looking brunette, and she had nice figure. She carried a bit more weight than some, but she was curvy in all the right places. I had watched her at family parties since the day she and Dave had got married, and here was I with a chance to get to bed with her. Wasn't life strange.
I finished my whisky as Dave came back with two more.
"So you're set on this then?" I asked.
"If you are." He replied. "Helen is already agreed, and it just takes you to seal the pact."
I took a deep drink from the glass and tried to keep the smug smile from my face. With a sincerity that a saint would have been proud of, I turned to my brother.
"Ok, I'm willing."
There were no smiles, no great shaking of hands, no patting each other on the back wishing each other 'good fortune' in our new venture. David just sank this drink in one go. "Right Jack, we'll be in touch with the details. Keep the afternoons of the 12th, 13th and 14th free."