Man's Best Friend Ch. 07

When Alice arrived, she found him distracted and uncharacteristically moody. She tried to draw him out, but he was unwilling to burden her with his problems - she had enough of her own to cope with, and he was determined to protect her and not add to them. He simply said that he was just feeling a bit down, and that she should pay him no mind. Puzzled, Alice restricted herself to small talk as they drank coffee in the kitchen, but she could tell that he wasn't really listening.

She got up, went over to him and put her arms around him, hugging him and drawing him into a kiss. He smiled gratefully at her and held her close. She murmured in his ear.

"Take me upstairs and I'll make it all better."

In the bedroom, she slowly undressed him, then herself, the way she knew he loved. Sure enough, his eyes were glued to her as she teasingly revealed her body to him, but there was a sadness in them that she hadn't seen before. She wondered whether he was thinking about his dead wife, and her old fears began to creep up on her again. She tried to shake them off, making Greg lie back on the bed while she ministered to him the way he'd taught her, stroking and planting little kisses all over his body, licking and nibbling.

Nothing.

Greg was mortified. This had never happened before with Alice. His body was simply refusing to co-operate, even when she took him into her hot mouth, something which he always found utterly irresistible. A brief twitch, but his penis remained stubbornly limp, small and forlorn.

He pushed her head away, a little more roughly than he intended.

"It's no good, Alice."

She was definitely worried now. What was she doing wrong? Didn't he find her attractive any more? She scooted up next to him and managed to find some reassuring words.

"It's OK, darling, it doesn't matter. It happens to everyone sometimes. We'll try again later."

His laugh was bitter and mirthless.

"It does matter. I'm too old for you, Alice, I can't even get it up any more."

She'd never heard him sound so unhappy, and terror struck deep in her heart. It was her. He'd had enough of her. He was going to abandon her, just as everybody else had. She fought back tears.

"You're not too old, darling. It'll be all right."

"No, it won't. You should find someone else, someone your own age who can look after you properly."

She couldn't bear it. Couldn't bear to stick around and hear him tell her that he was breaking up with her. That it was all over. Her eyes streaming, her heart breaking, she got out of bed and started to throw on her clothes.

"I've got to go."

Too late, he stopped feeling sorry for himself and sat up, saying urgently,

"No, Alice, I didn't mean ..."

"Goodbye, Greg. Thank you for everything."

"Alice! No! I love you, come back! Please!"

She wasn't listening, she couldn't hear anything other than that hateful, mocking voice in her head, sneering at her for being a complete idiot, for believing that she could ever make another person truly happy, let alone be happy herself. She was a complete fuck up, and he'd be better off with her out of his life.

The front door slammed, and he sat there on the bed for a few seconds, stunned, with a growing sense of dread gnawing away inside. Tears sprang to his eyes. It wasn't meant to be like this. Horrified, he leapt to the open window, oblivious to the fact that he was stark naked, and yelled,

"Alice!!!"

Too late. Her car was pulling away, too fast, too erratic as it disappeared round the corner.

What had he done?