“No,” Sascha replied. “The opposite. Our date meant a lot to me, all of our dates did. That’s the problem. I assumed that I would enjoy each of you, but one of you would really stand out and that’s the one I would pick. That’s not what happened. Each of you showed me sides of yourselves I wasn’t expecting and it made me even crazier about each of you. I can’t choose between you, so if you aren’t comfortable sharing me, then it’s best to just let me go. So we can all move on.”
“Share? As in…?” I started. The idea of seeing more of Carson and Ryland than I was hoping for made me a little uncomfortable.
“As in share,” Sascha said. “The same way you did this time. I divide my time among you and sometimes we’ll all be together. That’s the only way this will work.”
I looked at Ryland and Carson, but they were just as speechless as I was. We were collectively stumped. None of us had planned for the possibility that she wouldn’t choose because she liked us all too much. That was entirely unexpected.
“I think we need a little bit of time to think it over,” Carson said.
Both Ryland and I looked at him with wide eyes. Was he actually considering it? “We do?” I asked.
“Let’s part ways for now, think it over, and meet later at my place and see what conclusion we can come to,” Carson announced with a completely level head. He must be head over for her too for him not to be freaking out at the thought of sharing a woman after everything he’d been through.
“That works for me,” Ryland said.
“Me too,” Sascha agreed. “I’m sorry to put you guys in this position, but to be fair, it’s your fault for being so amazing.”
“Ian?” Carson asked.
I was still a little in shock. I looked at Ryland and I looked at Carson, but then I looked at Sascha. She was so simply dressed wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, but she still looked good enough to eat. On top of that, my mind kept traveling back to our delightful dinner. The wonderful conversation and getting to know her; it wasn’t just that she was beautiful, she was intelligent and interesting too. A rare find. She looked back at me with an expression of understanding on her face; I knew no matter what I decided she wouldn’t hold it against me.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “Let’s reconvene a little later. I think that’s good.”
Everyone agreed, collected their own drinks and parted ways.
For the rest of the morning, I still couldn’t get my mind around what Sascha had suggested. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it meant for me. Did I just have a regular relationship with this woman I really liked, knowing she was also sharing the time with someone else? Could I stomach that? The more my feelings grew for her, the more I was going to want her all to myself.
I couldn’t do it. As much as it was going to suck, I was going to have to pull myself from the proposed arrangement. I would never be able to deal with that.
In order to help cement my decision and try and get Sascha off of my mind, I decided to go to the gym. It was a two-fold plan. First, exercising would help me clear my mind. I was already so disappointed at the idea of giving Sascha up, that the gym would help me recover a little bit. Second, my gym specifically was notorious for beautiful women who believed that the less clothes they were wearing, the better their workouts would be; hopefully that would help me get over Sascha too.
The gym didn’t disappoint. It was almost as if the men who go to my gym knew that I needed to be surrounded by beautiful women. As I entered, several women stopped and eyed me and I smiled and waved, hoping that one of them, any of them, would give me the time of day. Enough to help me put Sascha out of my mind. I headed for the weights, where I could most show off my skills.
I entered the area and immediately noticed the clinking of other weights somewhere nearby. I thought I was going to have to compete with another man, but I was excited to see a woman. She had an impressive bust and ass, and was wearing form gripping shorts and a sports bra to work out in only. Her pristine, chocolate skin and long brown hair were absolutely stunning, and I willed my body to step up to her and start a conversation, but my feet didn’t move. I watched as she lifted an impressive weight amount, more than I ever could, and the sweat glistening on her body should have been driving me crazy, but it wasn’t. I found myself comparing her to Sascha, and in the end, there was no comparison. I wasn’t attracted to that woman at all. She wasn’t Sascha, so I didn’t care.