The Bad Boy Next Door

Frank sat nervously on the other side of the couch, watching Jo as her eyes scanned the page she held in her hand. He wasn't sure why he'd agreed to let her read what he had so far of his novel, other than she had asked, and he couldn't ever seem to bring himself to tell her no. Usually, he didn't let anyone read anything he wrote when it was still this rough, but she'd looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, and he'd found himself printing off everything he'd written as of yet, just because she wanted it. Frank frowned. He'd sworn after Jamia he'd never let himself be love's bitch again, and yet, here he was.

Jo had been reading for almost an hour. Her facial expressions had changed from time to time, but she'd said nothing, and Frank was growing nervous. What if she hated it? He usually didn't take the opinion of one person too seriously, but where Jo was concerned, that rule changed. If she said it was terrible, he'd be tempted to delete everything he had and start all over again.

Finally, Jo looked up, setting the pile of papers on her lap. "I like it." Frank smiled, relieved. "But I don't like Charlotte," she added.

Frank's smile quickly dropped away. "You don't like Charlotte? Why don't you like Charlotte?"

Jo shrugged. "I don't know, there's just something about her. Why does Jack like her?"

"Why wouldn't he like her?" Frank asked. "She's gorgeous."

"That's not reason enough. I mean, Jack's this cool detective guy. If he wants a girl just for her looks, he can find one better than Charlotte."

"He's not just in it for her looks! Charlotte speaks to his soul."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Lame. Charlotte is trouble, and Jack should be smart enough to see it." Jo paused for a second, then announced. "I think Charlotte's the killer."

"Charlotte is not the killer."

"How do you know? She could be."

"How do I… I wrote it!"

"Whatever. She seems like a killer to me."

"Well, she's not. Why would she kill her own brother?"

"I don't know...inheritance money?"

"What inheritance money?"

Jo sighed. "Maybe they have a rich uncle or something, but since Max was older, he'd get the money, and Charlotte wanted to prevent that."

"That's not in the story."

"Well, it could be."

"No. There is no inheritance money, Jack loves Charlotte, and she is not the killer."

"I think he'd be better with Ellie."

"Ellie! She's the plucky sidekick, not the love interest."

"They seemed like they had chemistry to me."

Frank took the manuscript away from her. "You don't know the first thing about writing."

"No, but I do know the first thing about reading, and if I read this to the end, and Jack got with Charlotte, I'd just go 'ugh.'"

"My writing makes you go 'ugh?'"

"It would if Jack ended up with that bitch Charlotte."

"She's not a bitch. She's…guarded."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Please. Total bitch. That part where she snapped at Ellie when Jack was out of the office getting sandwiches was completely uncalled for."

"I'll admit she's snippy at times, but…"

"At times! What about the way she treated that valet. Totally uncalled for."

"She was upset!"

"Yes, an upset little bitch."

"Can we talk about something else?" Frank asked.

"I was just trying to give you my honest opinion," Jo said, noticing Frank's rapidly clouding mood. "I liked it, though."

"Just not one of the main characters," he muttered.

"Hey, you don't have to like the characters to like something," Jo said. "I've watched television shows before and absolutely hated the main character. Like Felicity. Boy, was she ever whiny…"

Frank smiled a little at that. "I'll keep in mind what you said about Charlotte, but I'm not guaranteeing any changes…"

Jo shrugged. "Your book. But I still say Ellie and Jack are meant to be."

Frank rolled his eyes, knowing that once Jo got an idea in her head, nothing he said or did was going to make her change it.