Read The Harem for Free Online Page B

I realized quickly that this website was definitely not for me. The people on this site were only looking for partners to engage in acts of sex without commitment, not friendships as the name led me to believe. And they were certainly not looking for long-term relationships. Right before I was about to close the tab, I saw him. Jeremy looked so impossibly handsome in his picture, almost unreal, like a living work of art, a sculpture, with manly features but very warm soulful eyes.
    I immediately recognized him. A few years ago at my church, Jeremy had come with his wife, Debbie, to attend the confirmation of Debbie’s nephew, George, who I taught in Sunday school class. I remember Jeremy was very well dressed and he smelled so good that day. Even after three years the scent has never left my nostrils. He was the most attractive man I’d ever seen in my life. Of course, he was married so I put him out of my mind instantly. I had never seen him again. Then last year George’s family attended a Christmas party at the church and I saw Debbie, but not Jeremy. I discreetly asked a friend of the family about Jeremy and she told me Debbie and Jeremy were in the midst of a divorce. I was shocked. I wondered what went wrong with their marriage.
    Now I saw Jeremy again on the dirty website, looking for a “non-exclusive relationship” with his attractive picture next to his posting. I answered the ad and we chatted over the internet for a few days, though I didn’t reveal who I was yet. I agreed to meet him at this Starbucks on Rockville Pike. I thought I could remind him of our past acquaintance then. I was curious to find out what happened, why he and Debbie got divorced and why he was now interested in only relating to women on a sexual level. I remembered what a nice man he was, with such a warm smile and pleasant demeanor. Perhaps he was traumatized by his divorce? I discovered that I cared for this man and I wanted to help him in some way. I started adding a little prayer for him in my nightly meditation. I thought about him a lot and looked forward to our meeting at Starbucks with great anticipation.
    The day of our meeting finally arrived and I saw him sitting at a table, very sharply dressed, wearing the nice cologne I remembered, sipping a tea and reading the newspaper. He stood up when he saw me, greeted me warmly and bought me a coffee. My heart was racing as I sat down with him. He didn’t recognize me from when we met a few years ago at church. I’m not sure why, but I still didn’t tell him who I was and that I knew about his divorce. Was it deceitful of me? I think it was. I just… I don’t know. I suppose I wanted to spend a little time with him first, and get to know him, before revealing who I was. Maybe I was afraid he wouldn’t want to develop a friendship with anyone associated with the memory of his ex-wife. I know it was dishonest of me not to tell him who I was right away. Usually, I am a very honest person. Why was I acting like such a different person around Jeremy?
    I was extremely nervous and didn’t say much over coffee, but Jeremy chatted away in a soft friendly voice that put me at ease. He told me in a somewhat numb, matter of fact way the story of his divorce and the shocking way in which he discovered the infidelity of his wife. He actually witnessed his wife having adulterous sex with another man! I felt so sorry for him at that moment. I guess you could say I felt love in my heart for him as he told me the story. Even after all these months, he still had a distressed look in his eyes as he remembered the events, burying the pain somewhere deep within him. He went on to explain in a slightly embarrassed manner how he wanted to experiment with an alternative lifestyle, where he wouldn’t become fixated ever again upon any one woman, but would open up to several women at once. He would also give the same freedom to any woman who wished to enter into a mutual non-exclusive relationship with