The Bad Boy Next Door

Frank glanced over at Jo as they drove back home. She'd barely said anything to him at all since they'd run into her friends, and Frank couldn't help but worry that that one thing had killed whatever it was they were starting here. "Are you okay, Jo?"

"I had to lie to my best friend," Jo replied so softly Frank almost didn't hear her.

"I'm sorry. We can be more careful…"

"What, go out in disguise?" Jo snapped. "Maybe we can wear big hats and fake mustaches."

Frank flinched. "We just won't go out anymore. Won't take any chances."

"I'm not sure I can do this," Jo said. "I thought I could, but seeing Mary…it just made it all too real."

"What? Last night, this morning, that wasn't real?"

"No. Maybe." Jo sighed. "I don't know."

"What do you want, Jo?"

"I don't know!" Frank pulled the car onto their street. "I'm just going to go back to my house."

Frank's jaw tightened. "Yeah." He knew it would end like this, but it didn't make it any less painful. After just a day with her, he'd already started falling hard. She did things to him that no woman ever had before, making him feel things he hadn't even known were possible. But she wasn't his, and it couldn't last.

Frank pulled up in her driveway, and Jo all but ran out of the car. She didn't say anything to him, and Frank didn't call out to her. He just backed away and drove to his own house. As soon as Frank got inside, he went straight for the liquor cabinet, not bothering with a glass as he took a drink from the bottle. He didn't want to think, didn't want to keep kicking himself for doing this in the first place. He knew being with Jo would be nothing but heartache for both of them, but he'd jumped into it anyway.

"Your…your door wasn't locked. I…I didn't think you'd mind if I just came in."

Frank turned, putting the bottle down. "Jo?"

Jo ran to him, falling against his chest and crying. "I don't know what to do, Frankie. I tried to go home, but I couldn't. Why can't I stop this?"

Frank held her close, feeling his own eyes grow damp. "I don't know, honey. I can't stop either."

Jo looked up at him, her pain and confusion evident in her eyes. She grabbed his face, kissing him hard. The rational part of Frank's brain told him to walk away now before this spiraled down any further, but he couldn't. In such a short time, he'd come to crave her.

Frank held Jo close to him, deciding to enjoy what time he had with her before it all came crashing down around them.