'We Just Fell on the Floor'

Excellent news: The John Edwards sex tape is in a safe place. Let's all hope it stays there, never to be seen.

Andrew Young, the ex-aide to embattled two-time former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, says he has an alleged sex tape depicting the former senator and his then-mistress Rielle Hunter – and that the tape is in a safe-deposit box.

"We were offered millions for that stupid tape," he tells PEOPLE. He says he and his wife Cheri found the tape in "a box of trash filled with crinkled paper and tapes" left behind by Hunter. He says they never considered selling it: "We couldn't live with ourselves."

Young, 43, served as an aide to Edwards for more than nine years. Just before the 2008 presidential primaries began, he agreed – at Edwards' behest, he says – to publicly claim paternity for the baby being carried by Hunter, 45. Young details the deception in his new tell-all book, The Politician, out today.

On Jan. 21, Edwards – who told PEOPLE on Jan. 27 that he still "deeply cares" about Elizabeth – admitted that he is the father of Hunter's 2-year-old daughter, Frances Quinn.

Young says that when he and Cheri first watched the sex tape – which was marked "special" – "we just fell on the floor. We were agape." Adds Cheri: "It was disappointing to see the person you had such hopes and dreams for be so careless."

Young sounds like a really loyal guy. He won't sell the tape but he'll gladly dish dirt on Edwards to anyone who'll listen.