The Boy Next Door

by ann anders

  “What the hell?” Chaz’s voice sounded annoyed and a little confused. Presumably, he hadn’t seen Penny’s ninja skills as she’d darted under the bed. Looking past the dangling sheet, Penny nearly gasped at the sight of the condom wrapper laying there. Had Chaz disposed of the wrappers they’d used downstairs? She was pretty sure he’d flushed the actual condoms.

  But where was her dress?

  “Francine’s mother heard you were back in town and since she’s on summer break, from nursing school as luck would have it, she volunteered to come take care of you. This way, I can go back to Denver with your dad and we won’t have to impose on Penny.” A pause and then, “Penny is our new neighbor. Not very sociable but she stepped up to help when the chips were down.”

  She certainly did.

  It sounded as though Mrs. Wright was standing at the foot of the bed.

  As was Francine.

  “Chaz!” Definitely Francine’s voice. Younger. And a little worshipful.

  Footsteps tapped around the bed and crunched on top of the wrappers.

  Stilettos?

  In Pine Springs?

  What kind of nursing was this hoochy studying?

  Then she watched as Chaz’s bare feet dropped to the floor. Hopefully, he kept the sheet over him. She knew very well he was buck stinking naked.

  As was she.

  “Hey, Franny, good to see you.” He didn’t sound as annoyed as he had at first. In fact, Penny was pretty sure they were in the middle of a welcome-back-long-lost-love sort of hug.

  She nearly moaned. Later, if she made it out of there with any dignity intact, she could cry herself a river.

  “How’s Grandma?” Chaz asked.

  Mrs. Wright was walking around and tidying things, causing Penny to slither further under the bed.

  At least Penny didn’t have to worry about her panties being discovered.

  “Dad’s concerned. Aunt Sharon is gonna drive back to Denver with me tonight. Franny has volunteered to stay all next week! Isn’t she just a doll? It’ll be like old times.”

  Fuck Franny.

  Fuck Fuck Fuck!

  “Geez, Fran, you don’t have to do that. Why don’t you spend some time with your parents?” Now Franny was sitting on the bed, very close, practically on top of Chaz. Practically in his lap.

  “I was so worried about you. Ever since you went overseas. Of course, I’m going to stay with you! You poor baby!”

  And then Mrs. Wright said, “I’ll leave the two of you to catch up. I’m going to whip up a few casseroles for you while I’m gone.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Mrs. Wright,” Franny replied. “I’m an excellent cook. I can make all of Chaz’s favorites. I’ll bet I remember what they are!”

  “Oh, wonderful! Such a delightful girl!” Mrs. Wright’s voice sounded farther away now. “In that case, I’m just going to make sure the kitchen is well stocked. I want you to have everything you need. Do you need anything from the store, Chaz?”

  “I’m good, Mom.” He sounded a little confused again.

  “Penny said you’d taken a pain pill. Are you taking your antibiotics?”

  “Of course, Mother.” He teased her a bit at that. He may be annoyed but he still showed his mom respect.

  He really was a sweet boy.

  The door clicked shut, leaving the three of them alone.

  Except Franny thought it was just the two of them, as, perhaps, did Chaz.

  Awkward!

  “Really, Franny, you don’t have to do this.” Well, that was good of him. At least he was making an effort to get rid of her.

  Except.

  Was this what things would be like? Between the two of them?

  Her hiding and him fending off younger women?

  “I want to, Chaz, for old time’s sake. I insist! That’s why I drove down with your mom.” And then the sound of… what the fuck? Was she kissing him? “You know I’d do anything for you, Chaz.”

  Penny burned inside.

  With embarrassment.

  With shame.

  With mortification.

  And with raging jealousy.

  She couldn’t go through this again.

  “Hey, Franny, I uh, kind of didn’t get much sleep last night,” Chaz said, his voice sweet, cajoling. The same tone he’d used with her when he’d told her to carefully place her legs over his shoulders. “Why don’t you wait for me downstairs while I take a shower? Then we can catch up, okay?”

  A pouty sound. “Or I could give you a sponge bath…”

  Chaz laughed, as though the old girlfriend was making a joke. But Penny knew the bitch hadn’t been joking.

  “Seriously, give me twenty minutes…” Except Penny knew it would take him about an hour. She’d had to replace his bandage last night after they’d gotten it wet. The wound was healing nicely though. It wasn’t very red, and there hadn’t been any seepage.

  “Okay, Chazzy. I’ll be waiting.” The sound of another fucking kiss, and then those strappy heels clunking across the floor and out the door.

  The room was silent for a minute and then… “Penny?” And then he was on his knees and peering under the bed. “Holy shit, I wondered where you had gone.”

  Penny dropped her face to the floor, ignoring the dust bunnies, and moaned, “This is horrible!” She just lay there, not wanting to face him and wondering how the hell she was going to get out of there. She was a grown woman and she was hiding under a bed.

  From her lover’s mother!

  “Come on, sweetheart. Come out from under there.” He disappeared for a minute and then reached under to hand her something.

  Another one of his T-shirts.

  Tears welled in her eyes. Why’d he have to be so sweet? Everything about him was perfect.

  Except for the fact that he was absolutely perfect and nearly ten years younger than her!

  Which made him all the more perfect for some other girl. Some other younger girl who hadn’t become all cynical from a bitter divorce.

  She grabbed the T-shirt and squirmed into it. At least she wouldn’t have to climb out from under the bed buck-assed naked.

  Speaking of which, as she climbed out, his hand landed on her butt. “Now that’s a fine sight to wake up to,” he joked.

  More tears welled up. When she managed to stand up, her knees creaking as she did so, she couldn’t help but look around curiously. “Do you know where my dress is?”

  Chaz shook his head. “I think it’s in the kitchen.”

  Another moan.

  He opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers. “These’ll look cute on you.” He thought this was funny!

  Didn’t he realize how mortifying this was? She snatched the shorts away from him and stepped into them. They were loose but actually, kind of comfy.

  “This isn’t funny, Chaz! How am I going to get home?”

  “All the years I snuck girls in here, I never once got caught. One night with you and I’m toast.” He grinned.

  “Cha-az!”

  He tried to look serious but wrapped his one good arm around her. Leaning down, he whispered into her ear, “Back stairs.”

  They exited into the back yard, and just as he’d promised, she didn’t even come close to being discovered.

  Until she walked up to her own front porch.

  Kent!

  She could only imagine how she must look. T-shirt, brazenly pronouncing that Pilots do it with Thrust, boxers with little airplanes all over them, and her hair twice its normal size and littered with dust bunnies.

  Kent didn’t bother trying to hide his disgust. “Penny.” He’d been sitting on the step and rose as she approached. He wore his usual weekend clothes, casual shorts and a shirt with some brand name for golf clubs. His hair had been cut recently, and he looked like he may have put on a few pounds.

  “Kent.” She had no idea what to say, so she simply followed his lead.

  “I must admit, I’m a little disappointed. At first, I thought you
were ignoring me. I thought you were still angry and didn’t want to let me in. That was the first hour I waited. After that, I started to worry, since your car is parked out front. Where could she have gone? I thought. I was getting ready to call the cops.”

  Penny reached under the planter and pulled out her spare key. “You know I always hide a spare.” She winced as she stepped on a pebble. Damn, she wondered how she’d ever get those shoes back.

  And her dress!

  “Where the hell have you been? I think I deserve some sort of an explanation!” He ground out the demand between clenched teeth.

  Did he?

  Did she owe him anything?

  He followed her into the house, bringing his dark cloud of disgust with him. “Have you turned into a crazy lady since we broke up? Penny?” Now he sounded less angry. More concerned. “Do you need help, sweetheart?” Without waiting for an answer, he stalked across the room and pulled her into his arms. “I’m here for you, Pen. I know this has been a rough year but we can work this out. I know we can.”

  He smelled… so familiar. He hugged her just a little too tightly, and then his lips sought hers clumsily. He tasted like wintergreen gum. He always tasted like wintergreen gum. There could be worse things, she supposed.

  His lips felt cold. A little too demanding.

  It took her a minute to realize that she didn’t need to pretend. She turned her head to the side and pushed him away. “No, Kent, you can’t do this.” And then the thought struck her. “What happened to butt-pillow girl?”

  “What?” He looked both hurt and confused.

  “Megan. What happened to Megan?”

  Now it was his turn to look sheepish. He glanced around the room, shoved his hand in his pockets, and then shrugged. “We broke up. It was never all that serious. I think she just liked the fact that I was a doctor. When she realized I was gonna have to keep sending you a crap load of money, she took off.”

  What was this about, anyway?

  “Only for five years,” Penny reminded him.

  He shrugged again. “It was five years too many.”

  “Look, Kent—”

  “Your mom came to visit me. She says you haven’t called her since the divorce.”

  Her mom had insisted Penny should fight to keep Kent. She’d told her that sometimes a woman needed to look beyond these little indiscretions. Especially when such indiscretions were made by a husband who was a doctor.

  Would pilots be even worse?

  And out of nowhere, she suddenly felt all-over, bone-deep tired. “Can we talk about this later?”

  She’d not had any coffee yet today and had participated in more physical activity last night than she had in years.

  And in an odd way, she felt sorry for Kent.

  His mid-life crisis woman had been using him.

  Kent ran a hand through his thinning blond hair. He had a few strands left on top but not much. They wouldn’t be there much longer.

  “I can stay here, can’t I? This godforsaken town doesn’t have a hotel, not a motel either, for that matter.”

  “There’s an extra bedroom at the back of the house.” She didn’t want him going upstairs. Somehow, she wanted to keep that private. It was hers.

  “Sounds great! How about a tour? I bought the place, after all.” And then he took it upon himself to casually looking around, opening doors and peeking into her closets. She followed him up the stairs and tried to protest when he opened the door to her office. “It’s dark in here,” And then he strode to the window, threw back the drapes, and opened the blinds.

  “Holy shit,” Kent sputtered.

  Wrapping a bandage around Chaz’s naked chest, Nurse Francine wore a crop-top halter and barely there shorts, and was touching Chaz far more than the task required. As Penny made a move to close the curtains, Chaz looked across the way and caught her eye.

  In the same moment, Kent caught her from behind and made an attempt to nuzzle her neck. Penny dropped her gaze and whipped the curtain closed. “There’s a reason for the blinds, Kent.” She squirmed out of his arms and slipped away from him.

  “Lucky little shit.” Kent laughed, peeked out the drapes again, and let out a low whistle.

  That was it. That was when she knew what she must do. “You need to leave.”

  “Huh?” He was still a little distracted. “What?”

  “Kent, we’re divorced now. You. Me. We’re over. You need to leave.”

  “Why, because I appreciate a pretty girl?”

  “No. Yes.” And then. “No. Because we don’t love each other anymore. If we loved each other, Megan wouldn’t have meant anything. But we don’t. And she did.” Penny pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you not to come, but I don’t want you here. You need to leave.”

  She’d never said anything like this before. She’d thought about it. She’d rehearsed this sort of thing in her mind, but the thought of being alone had been paralyzing. And when she’d thought she had no other choice, being alone had nearly killed her.

  She’d stopped living eight months ago, on Halloween.

  If nothing else, Chaz had made her realize this. He’d given her attention, affection, and little bit of sexual healing.

  She hadn’t ceased to be a woman when she’d caught her husband cheating. She’d simply ceased to be a wife.

  “You don’t mean it.” He made a move toward her but she stepped backward.

  “I do.” And then she met his eyes firmly and gave him a sad smile. “Goodbye, Kent.”

  “You’ll be sorry, Penny. Don’t expect me to take you back after this.”

  But she continued smiling sadly. “I won’t.”

  He spun on his heels and left the room. She waited until his footsteps receded, the door slammed, and a car roared off.

  She was alone.

  Again.

  But this time, she just might be okay.

  Chapter Nine

  Is That All There Is?

  S itting on his bed, three days later, Chaz glanced out the window. She wouldn’t be there. He hadn’t seen her since the day she’d bolted from his house.

  He presumed the asshat who’d been in the office with her was the ex. He’d had a slimy look on his face when he’d wrapped his arms around Penny, all the while ogling Francine. What had that been all about?

  She’d said her divorce was final, hadn’t she? Or had he imagined that, hearing only what he wanted. Maybe they were only separated.

  Damn, that had fallen apart quickly.

  They’d had one night together. Less than twenty-four hours and it was over.

  Chaz bent over and retrieved the barbell from the floor. He could hardly wait to get back in the gym. If only he could get Franny to leave.

  Even if he hadn’t been hung up on his neighbor, she would be his last choice right now.

  Shit, anybody but Francine.

  But his mom, his tenderhearted, well-intentioned mother, had always assumed he and Francine would end up together. He’d never had the heart to tell her about Francine’s scheming ways. When they’d both moved up to Boulder, to be together for school, she’d dumped him for the starting quarterback. Standing in front of the mirror now, he pumped the weight without counting.

  Chaz had been third string.

  At the time, it stung. A lot. But it had also revealed something about his high school sweetheart he’d failed to see before.

  She was a climber.

  Chaz returned the weight to the floor and looked around for his shoes. Yesterday he’d figured out a technique to put his socks and shoes on one-handed. The trick was to not untie his shoes to begin with. He hated being dependent on Franny.

  She’d started writing to him again as soon as he’d graduated from flight school but he’d had no interest in starting up with her again – not even for a fling. She was manipulative, controlling, and fickle.

  Pretty much the exact opposite of Penny.

  Provoking, maddening, infuriating Penny
.

  The thought of her made his heart ache just a little. Had she really gone back to her husband? Chaz hated the way things ended – almost before they’d even started – no explanations, no goodbye’s. He shoved his feet into his shoes.

  Truth was, he hadn’t wanted it to end.

  If only he could get Francine to leave. His mom had driven her down here, dropped her off, and said she’d be back in about a week to take her back up to Denver.

  He supposed he could call a cab and pay to have the driver take her back… That would be something of a fortune, likely a couple hundred bucks.

  He wasn’t even sure Francine would leave.

  She was there in the morning when he woke up, asking if he wanted to drive into Breckenridge to go shopping or out to eat, and in the afternoon, whining about how bored she was.

  All day long. “What should we do now, Chaz?” Her voice was cloying. She loved watching movies. Asinine movies with slapstick humor and cheap jokes, the kind he abhorred. Hell, he’d rather watch a chick flick then the crap she turned on.

  And now she was suffocating him. He removed his sling and carefully donned a T-shirt. It felt good to do this for himself. He needed to get on with his life.

  Despite the claims she’d made to his mother, Franny couldn’t cook worth a damn. After choking down just a few of her creations, Chaz had broken down and started ordering pizzas.

  He could kill his mom!

  Worst of all, he hadn’t heard from or caught sight of Penny. Was she even still in Pine Springs? Chaz glanced one more time out the window. Hers remained shuttered and dark.

  Had she gone back to her husband?

  As much as he tried to convince himself that she’d just up and left, he couldn’t quite believe their time together hadn’t meant anything.

  Not only had they had mind-blowing sex, not to mention a lot of fun, but he’d felt a special connection with her.

  Her lack of self-esteem scared him.

  Had her bastard of a husband convinced her she didn’t have any other options? Or had she simply retreated into her cocoon, convinced she didn’t deserve passion.

  It couldn’t be his age, God damnit!

  That thought pissed him off. Hell, she needed taken care of, not him!