She Never Came Home

Danny stood and placed his hands on the sink. He stared at the raindrops as they meandered down the window glass. "I don't know why you hide from me. We dated for years before we were married. We've been married for six years now. How many times have you given me oral sex? Tell me how many times?

"None."

"And you're okay with that?" Danny asked.

"If I were to give you head, then that's all you'd want all the time."

"No I wouldn't."

"We know better, don't we? Danny, what would be so wrong if some rainy night we were to simply sit on our sofa and make out like we used to when we were younger? You have no idea how much I'd love to have you simply stroke my hair and kiss my breasts without ending up fighting about sex. I want you to make me feel like the woman you love instead of a come catcher."

Danny lowered his head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded," Alice said.

"You think I'm some kind of pervert? Is it wrong that I happen to like sex with my wife? I have never run around on you. Never!"

"You're changing the subject. And Sally? What do you call that?"

"Revenge. And... A mistake..."

Alice paused as that "revenge" hit home, then continued. "I need a man that will romance my clothes off. Make me feel so utterly desirable that I can't help making love to him. I want, no make that I need, a husband that will ask me to be together with him. I want him to place sexy things of mine across our bed with a note telling me that I'm all he'll be thinking about all day long. I want a man that will slowly undress me even if it takes all night to do so. Danny, I never said I didn't love you. I do want to be married to the man you are. You're a strong firefighter, and there's no one better than you. When we were dating there was a gentle side to you, but I haven't seen him in... I don't know how long. I'm starving from the lack of romance in our marriage."

Danny curled his fingers into a ball and looked at Alice. His eyes were red; tears slowly rolled down his cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me this before instead of running off with another man?"

"Ah, Danny, don't cry for me. I want to move on."

"With your friend from the elevator?"

"I'm not sure right now. He makes me feel wanted. He tells me the words you don't say. He takes his time with me."

Danny stuck his fingers into his shirt pocket and pulled out Alice's wedding ring. He pushed it along the tabletop until it was in front of Alice.

"I had hoped, I had planned, on talking you into coming back with me. I'll go to a counselor if you go with me."

Alice pushed the ring back. "Danny, we are way past a counselor."

"Is your mind made up?"

"I think so, I don't know," Alice said as she stood from the table.

Danny picked the ring from the table, placed it in Alice's hand, and gently closed her fingers around it. "All I wanted from life was to be as good a firefighter as my Dad, have a wife who loved me, and a place of our own to raise our kids."

Alice wiped her eyes dry with the back of her arm. "Damn you, don't do this to me."

Danny patted Alice's hands. "If you need anything. Anything at all. You know where you can find me."

Danny took a few steps then stopped. He came back and wrapped his arms around Alice. "I love you, Alice. I always have and God help me, I guess I always will. Can't we give us one last try?"

He walked to the front door, and without another word, opened the door and walked down the steps into the rain. He slipped his hands into his pockets. Alice watched until the rain seemed to swallow him in the shadows. She closed the door, sat on the sofa, pulled her knees up and let the tears come.

Candice came over and wrapped a comforter around Alice.

"You did the right thing." Candice said.

"Did I? He's a good man. We have some issues about our sex life. Tell me what marriage doesn't have a few problems when it comes to sex."

Alice used her arm to wipe away more tears. "Perhaps it's me? I got married, and I never sat down with him and talked about my needs. I thought men always knew what to do. What I wanted in my marriage."

"What do you want, Alice?"

"Right now, I don't know. God, I love him so much... He saved my life."

"Every man I've been with has sex issues. Seems they all have a fetish or an issue or two or three. I say good riddance to him and move on. This doctor fellow you've been seeing. He's got money, he has a nice townhouse apartment up town, and he's not bad looking."

"Don't forget one important item."

"What's that?"

"He's married. Also, he's nearly twenty years older than me."

"So what's the big deal? You're going to divorce Danny, and this guy told you he would divorce his old lady. Danny will be a warm memory on a rainy afternoon, and your new man won't have a clue as to why you're smiling. You'll have the doctor and a new life. It's a win-win for everyone."

"Danny told me just a little while ago that Sally didn't mean anything to him."

"Well what the hell did you expect him to say? Come on sis."

"Danny told me he never felt love between him and Sally. It was just sex. That's all it was. I can understand that. I don't feel... What I'm saying is I don't have those feeling yet for this man. I don't know if I love him or if he loves me. What if I'm nothing more than Doctor Anthony Farhan's personal Sally?"

***********Chapter Nine*******

At last Alice had the stitches removed from her scalp. Doctor Farhan had been calling her for weeks. Alice preened in front of the hallway mirror, looking at herself from the front and then turning sideways to check that view. She decided that she liked the way she looked. Her black pants had crisp seams down each leg, so sharp you could almost have shaved with them, and her four-inch heels would certainly hold Farhan's attention. A smiled formed on her lips. Candice was right. All men had fetishes; for Farhan it was high heels. He supplied them and all Alice had to do was model his latest purchase.

Alice unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse. She pushed back the material a bit to give the illusion of having more on top. Her heart was beating a zillion times a second. Alice eyed the clock every other minute. She certainly didn't want to be late. To be late was a sin in Farhan's eyes.

Alice pulled a hairbrush though her short hair. This would be the first time she had seen the good doctor since Sally's attack. Before the attack, that was an entirely different matter. She and Farhan would meet at expensive restaurants and after a light supper, they'd end up in his townhouse. There she would parade back and forth in front of Farhan usually wearing not much more than a smile. For some reason, Alice stopped brushing her hair and sat on the hall chair. She put the brush down and looked at her reflection once more, trying to sort out her thoughts. Why did she let Farhan have his way with her, and at the same time deny her husband the very same thing? Maybe all of Alice's problems were hers?

**********

Alice ordered coffee and waited for Doctor Anthony Farhan, Tony to his close friends. She didn't have to wait long.

"I almost didn't recognize you," Tony said, "with your hair cut so short."

"It was an accident."

"Ah yes, I remember reading about that in the papers. A crazy woman attacked you."

"Yeah, that's the gist of it. My estranged husband save my life that day."

"I do recall you mentioned at one time he was a firefighter here in the city?"

"That's right. Firefighting runs in his family. His dad was killed when Tower One came down."

"That was a shame about the towers. However, those men are paid, and paid well, to do what they do. Your husband didn't really go out of his way to save you, he did what he was trained and paid to do."

Alice let out a puff of air loudly enough so Tony could hear it. "My husband's father would have ran into that tower even if he wasn't paid, and Danny would have been right beside him. It takes a special type of man to run into a burning building while everyone else is running out. You could never be that much man."

Tony placed a cup to his lips, took a sip, and said, "Do I detect a flicker of flame between you and him?"

"Respecting someone and loving them are two different things. I'm going to divorce my husband so we can be together once you divorce your wife."

Tony returned his cup to the table with exaggerated care. He dried his lips with a napkin. "What did you say?"

"I plan on divorcing Danny so you and I can be married."

Tony smiled and then half-heartedly laughed. "I'm not going to divorce my wife. What gave you that idea?"

"You said that. One night in your apartment while we were making love, you told me that."

"I say many things to many women."

"You said that you loved me. I recall it as clearly as my own name," Alice said.

"I have three children, and I have no intention of paying child support for the next ten years."

"You mean you're not going to leave her?"

"Never planned to. Besides why would I? Anna is well aware of my attraction to young women. My wife has a fantastic lifestyle, so why would Anna throw it away because I enjoy having sex with attractive younger women. Anna's no fool. So I screw around, it's no big deal."

"I'll tell her about you and me!"

"Like I just said, my wife knows. She knows about you. Alice, you're not the first woman that's come to my bed while I am still married to my wife."

Alice fell back into her chair, and like a balloon with an air leak she struggled to catch her breath. She stared at Tony.

"And what about me?" Alice asked, "I gave you head. How personal can two people get by doing that? How many times did I do that to you? How many times did you get sucked off in a taxi? I've never done that to my husband."

"What about you? You were fun; I'll give you that. You suck a mean cock. Too bad your husband never got to enjoy it as much as I did. I'll never forget how you'd do your little dance in front of me as your clothing fell to the floor. Alice, your time is up. I certainly don't like your short hair. I got what I wanted from you and frankly I've grown bored with you. You got what you wanted from me and it's time we both moved on."

"What I got? Tell me what did I get from you?" Alice asked.

"The jewelry and other gifts. You may certainly keep all of those."

"And me? What about me? What have I given away because of you?"

"What about Alice? Do you think I really cared about you and your insignificant issues with your husband?" Doctor Anthony Farhan checked his watch, and then looked around the restaurant. "Ah there she is and right one time."

She was a buxom blonde with legs that went on for miles, and the Christian Louboutin stilettos she wore certainly didn't hurt.

Doctor Anthony Farhan stood as the young woman walked over to him; she kissed him on the cheek and then said, "I'm wearing the gift you sent me." Her foot rose and she twirled her ankle about. "Aren't they the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"Yes they are. Daisy, would you take a seat at the bar? I'll be with you in a few."

The doctor came around and stood behind Alice. He placed his palms on the table and leaned down over Alice's right side and whispered in her ear.

"Alice, that is Daisy, your replacement."

"You pig."

"Perhaps. Now before that tiny mind of yours decides to make a scene, remember if you do, I'll make your life a living hell. You know I can. Remember the photos I took?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me!"

"So, all those words you said to me. All those things you promised. They were nothing but lies?" Alice asked.

"Not lies, just words you needed to hear. You wanted me to say those things to you, so I did. And they turned you on. Admit it. You wanted me to be the person your husband wasn't. The sad part? Probably all you would have had to do was simply tell him what you were missing in your marriage. How many times did you complain to me about him and his sexual hang-ups? Yet, you would strip down to your pantyhose and high heels, and get so wet and horny you begged me to fuck you. Did you do that for him? No! Alice you blamed him instead. You told me what you should have told him. If you'd had the courage to tell him, we probably wouldn't be having this little chat. This is all on you, not me."

"You used me."

"People like you, the little people, are here for a reason, and that reason is to make people like me happy."

He looked around the room. "You didn't say you were being used when you were riding my cock, or when you had your legs over my shoulders while I ate your pussy. My favorite thing was watching you masturbate while wearing nothing but your stilettos. All those images I have of you standing over me with your fingers playing with your clit while you wobbled in those shoes. I'll never forget you. I wonder if Daisy will moan as much as you do when she comes?"

Alice turned in her chair and tried to slap him but he caught her arm in midair.

"What did I tell you about making a scene? You see, Alice, the only valuable asset you have in your entire dismal unhappy little life is that hole between your legs. You're not happy with your job. You threw your husband away for me, simply because you were bored with him. For whatever reason your tiny mind came up with, you denied your husband sex, sex that you gave to me freely. You blamed everything on him. I'd bet you the world that deep down inside you simply wanted to know what another dick felt like in your pussy."

The hairs on the back of Alice's neck stood. Her heart pounded. She wanted in the worst way to simply slap the shit out of Tony. She grabbed the edge of the table and held it tight. It was the only thing that kept her from reacting in a physical way.

"Tonight when I have Daisy up in my room, and I'm undressing her, I'll be thinking of you. When I drive my cock deep into her pussy, I'll recall our first time together. The first time is always the best, and you, my dear, were one of the best first times I've ever had."

He licked Alice's cheek and then placed a kiss on it. He whispered, "You're like all the rest and you didn't know it. You're a whore. The only difference is you don't walk the streets at night. You sold your body and your soul to me for some trinkets and romantic dinners. YOU drove your husband into the arms of another woman."

Alice looked over her shoulder at a smirk the size of Manhattan that had filled his face. She felt her grip loosen on the table edge, and with everything she had, she jammed her elbow into Tony's crotch. He bent over and slipped into a chair, moaning in shock and pain.

"You fuckin' bitch!" Tony managed to say through clenched teeth.

"Listen you little bastard, the only place you're going to put your cock tonight will be in an ice pack. That little pistol dick of yours has a hair trigger. How many times did you shoot your wad on my thighs? You don't have a clue how many times I faked an orgasm when I was with you. As for the little people... You fucker!"

Alice walked over to the bar and grabbed Daisy by the arm. "Listen. You're going to end up exactly like me. He doesn't love you. You're a piece of ass. That's all he sees in you. Ask him if you're one of the little people put on this planet for his enjoyment."

********

Alice raced to her sister's house. She undressed and crawled into bed. . It was around nine at night when Candice arrived home, and as soon as she opened the door she saw Alice's clothing scattered across the floor. She smiled, thinking that Alice had someone in the back bedroom. Perhaps it was the doctor she was dating? Candice called, "Alice, if you have a friend back there, I'm home."

Silence.

Candice put her ear to the bedroom door. She couldn't hear a thing. "Alice? What's wrong?"

Candice tapped on the bedroom door. There was no answer. Slowly she pushed the door open. There was Alice sprawled naked across the bed. Candice tried to wake her. On the nightstand were several empty bottles of pills.

"No! No! No! Alice what did you do?"

Candice grabbed Alice by the shoulders and began to shake her. "Wake up!"

Alice moaned.

"Alice! Alice! Wake up!"

"Candice, is that you?"

"I'm here sis. What did you do?"

"My life... I threw it all way... for nothing but lies." Alice fell back unconscious.

Candice dialed 911 and within minutes Alice was being loaded into an ambulance. Candice rode along to the hospital.

The doctors pumped Alice's stomach and after a few hours they let Candice in behind the curtains at the emergency room. She held her sister's hand.

"The doctors told me you'd be fine. Why did you do it?"

"Doctor Farhan used me. He called me a whore. He never planned to divorce his wife. He just wanted to fuck, and I let him. Oh God what did I do?"

"Danny doesn't know you're here. Do you want me to call him?"

"NO! Please don't."

Candice leaned against the gurney and held her sister's hand.

******** Chapter Ten********

Danny sat on a kitchen chair in his apartment, and stared at his glass of beer. He watched the bubbles slowly float to the top. It had been a long hard day and he was wiped out, and that beer sure tasted good. When the doorbell rang, it took effort to respond, and when he opened the door he was too tired to feel surprised to see Candice on his stoop.

"May I join you?" Candice said, noticing the beer in his hand.

Candice was a couple of years older than Alice. She had the same long hair; just a few shades lighter than Alice. She stood a good five-foot five in her stocking feet. They were clearly sisters with the same features. The main difference was that where Alice had small breasts, Candice's were even smaller. Tiny, as a matter of fact. Danny knew it bugged her, so he rattle her cage now and then, especially when they fought, by calling her chicken tits. Tonight, however, there was no fight left in Danny.

"Candice? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'd like to bury the hatchet."

"In my skull most likely," Danny said.

"I came here because of Alice."

Danny looked at Candice and could tell by her eyes she wasn't fooling around. "What's wrong with Alice?"

"She doesn't know that I'm here. She never asked me not to tell you—"

"Tell me what?"

"Alice tried to take her life last week. "

Danny leaped up from the kitchen table and before he took two steps, Candice grabbed his arm and pushed him back onto his chair.

"She's fine now and there's nothing you can do."

"Why?"

"The guy she had the affair with dumped her. He used my sister, and when she found out just how much she was used... I found her. She took pills. Lots of pills. She's okay now."

"Why didn't she call me?"

"Alice is embarrassed. You know my sister loves you." Candice glanced at the floor and then back at Danny. "I encouraged her to be with him."

"I'm trying to get my wife back, and you're telling her it's okay to run off with another man?"

"It's not the way it sounds."

"Nothing ever is with you two."

"Let her get back on her feet. She needs to work things out with herself before she can move on."

Danny wrapped his fingers around the beer glass. "I've never in all my life known of a marriage as fucked up as this one. One minute she tells me I'm out of her life, and then when the shit begins to stink, I'm back on the menu." He looked at Candice. "What the fuck is in her head?"

"She's seeing quite a few doctors now."

"And that's supposed to make it all better? Do you know how it feels to be on the dirty end of an affair?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"You were never married."

"I was engaged. Two weeks before I was to be married, I caught my husband to be between the legs of one of my bridesmaids."