Temptation

Chapter Fifteen Cameras Everywhere

Tenn and Quinn left the Cafe and went to an electronics store nearby to buy the cameras. There, they discussed the pros and cons of hiding them vs. putting them out in the open. “Where are you putting them?” Quinn stood in front of a display to the left of Tenn, looking for something small and unobtrusive while he looked at the more obvious ones.

“Pretty much everywhere except the spare room, her “Zen” room, and the bathrooms. I also have a pretty expensive gaming setup I don't want her to destroy, so outside of her claiming I hit her; this is also to protect my things. She tends to throw tantrums when upset, and I may have cut her off from my accounts and credit cards last night.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I'm not sure where the law sits on the whole hidden camera thing if it's my home.”

A salesman heard their conversation and came over. “If they capture audio, you have to make people aware of them; if they don't, they can be hidden. In your case, I suggest capturing audio and making her aware of them. It might make her behave and not put you in the situation at all.” He smiled sympathetically. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. The laws in Massachusetts are straightforward though, as long as they’re made aware of the cameras and continue to stay in the residence or business, they’re consenting to be recorded. But you should also be aware that while it's not a thing yet, they’re working on making revenge porn illegal here, so that could cause problems down the road if you have them in bedrooms or bathrooms.

“True, thanks, that’s really helpful.” Tenn nodded. “If she doesn't like it, she knows where the door is. Not that she'd use it. And the only bedroom that will have a camera is mine, just until she moves out. I wouldn’t put them in the bathrooms anyway.” He consulted his notes. “I'm going to need fifteen cameras, please.” When he paid, and they were out in the car to go to the hardware store, Quinn smiled at him.

“You game?”

“Yeah. Mostly things that involve world exploring and quests I can play by myself and get into.” Tenn nodded and smiled a little sheepishly. “I’m not athletic at all. Del got me into weightlifting in high school. I enjoyed it and have been lifting ever since, but I was your typical introverted, nerdy gamer.”

“I play The Sims and Stardew Valley, and I have a Switch. Quill and I have had every Nintendo console ever.” She chuckled softly. “I was also your typical introverted, nerdy gamer.”

“Seriously?” Tenn blinked in surprise and then smiled at her. “You game too?” A picture of them gaming on their individual laptops while cuddling on the couch came to him, making him hope for the second time since they met that he had developed the ability for premonitions.

“I do.” She nodded. “Not seriously, but I like the escape from life I get from it.”

“So, you know we're gonna have to have a gaming night soon, right?” Tenn wanted that picture of them to happen. Viki was never a fan of his gaming; the idea that Quinn was also a gamer made him extremely excited.

“I'd be down for that.” Quinn looked delighted.

Tenn shook his head, a massive smile on his face. She was perfect for him. “Quill was right.”

“He usually is. It's very annoying.” She laughed. “About what in this case?”

“When he first told me about you, he said I would like you,” Tenn explained, glancing at her in amazement. “He was right.”

“Yeah, for someone so logical and able to step back from his emotions, he's pretty good at figuring out relationships. He was the one who suggested Rilla and Bishop should be together, and they got married like a year later.” She smiled, and then it faded as she considered what she said. “I've wished I listened to him more than once.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Bishop, Rilla, and I were in a thruple for a few months. He warned me it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. And he warned me about Joel, too.” She sighed. “I really wish I listened to him about Joel… both times.”

“I'm sorry, a thruple?” Tenn furrowed his brow. “Like you were in a relationship with Rilla and Bishop together?”

“Rilla and I met, and I adored her from the beginning. She’s gorgeous and just has this way of making you feel like you’re the best thing that ever happened to her. She's bisexual, and it was the first and only time I've ever so much as even considered I might be interested in women.” Quinn said sheepishly as she shook her head. “We didn’t meet until the first semester of our second year. We had most of the same classes, but we were on different schedules our first year.”

“Bishop and I were already fooling around, but we have very different views on relationships, so we kept it as a friends-with-benefits relationship, but Quill wasn’t overly happy with it and made his opinion known, and it actually is the reason we don’t introduce people we don’t want to share anymore.” Tenn was watching her and noticed her cheeks went a little pink as she spoke about Quill's objections. “Then, when Quill met Rilla, he just knew Bishop and Rilla were meant to be together, and he was right. When we introduced them, they fell hard and fast for each other. They had all the same ideas about relationships, the same views about life in general, and they are perfect for one another.”

Rilla and Bishop discussed it; both agreed they had a lot of affection for me and asked me to join in. Quill objected immediately, but it was a few months before I realized he was right, and it wouldn't work. I hated sharing Rilla with Bishop; I hated sharing Bishop with Rilla. I wanted all the attention on me.” She laughed ruefully. “I told them I couldn't do it. I loved them both, but they belonged together, and I backed out. They argued and said we could work on it, but nope. I'm monogamous and straight. I had fun with and love Rilla but preferred Bishop and haven't been attracted to other women.”

“Wow.” Tenn laughed, glad she had figured that out about herself in college, and it was no longer a question. “Talk about experimenting in college. It never affected your friendships with them?”

Other than them - mostly - joking about me rejoining them now and then, nope. I hang out with them all the time, both separately and together. Rilla is still my person, Bishop is amazing, we never cross boundaries, and I'm happy for them. So, it's all good.”

They finished shopping for his locks; he explained he also wanted a new mattress when he remembered they said they'd had sex at both their houses, so they went and bought a new mattress set for him, arranging for it to be delivered that afternoon.

“Let's grab lunch and head back to the house,” Tenn suggested. “I'd offer to cook, but the best you'd get out of me is canned tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.”

“I love canned tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches!” Quinn teased. “But I can also teach you to cook if you're interested.”

“I'd love to learn, but I'm pretty terrible. My mom just got frustrated and gave up.”

“I bet I can teach you,” she said confidently. “But for today, I'm good with a greasy fast-food burger and fries.”

Back at Tenn's, they ate, and then Tenn set the security cameras up on his Wi-Fi network and downloaded the app onto his tablet, setting it up with a password so Viki couldn't access anything. They got started in the garage. Tenn positioned the camera while Quinn watched on the tablet and directed the exact positioning to cover as much of the area as possible.

From the garage, they moved to the entranceway, the living room, and the kitchen. They positioned one camera looking up the stairs to the second floor and then another looking down the stairs into the basement. Choosing to go down instead of up, Tenn led her down the stairs and immediately noticed Quinn looked impressed with his setup there. He felt an odd jolt of pride run through him. Besides the master bedroom, it was the only part of the house he’d had told Viki she couldn’t change when she moved in after she finished college and followed him to Boston. He had put a lot of work into his rec area, and it was where he spent most of his time, letting Viki have run of the rest of the house.

When he bought the house, the basement was open-concept and unfinished. He walled off the right end to make room for his workout equipment and a small three-piece bathroom. The center section had a huge, square, sectional couch that pulled out into a bed and a round coffee table. A huge 65” TV hung on the opposite wall over a small gas fireplace and was surrounded by shelving that held his old gaming consoles and books. Various pieces of art he had collected over the years hung on the light grey walls, and the heated flooring was a black vinyl planking.

The end to the left of the stairs had been walled off, and glass French doors led into his office/gaming room. To the right of the door, a built-in desk held his gaming setup. To the left was a drawing/painting table, and the rest of the walls were filled with built-in shelving that held his old cameras, art supplies and various old games and gaming collectibles. While they set up the cameras, Quinn asked questions about his collections and showed such genuine interest in his hobbies and interests that he could feel himself falling for her more and more. Viki never asked him about what he did for fun.

After they set up the cameras, Quinn curled up on the couch and watched as he changed out the doorknob to his office.

“Why did you marry Viki?” She asked curiously.

“By her own admission, she pursued me because she thought I was my brother first and then because she thought I played too. She was what the guys called a “puck bunny.” One of my friends thought it hilarious and suggested seeing how far I could take it. I never lied to her or claimed I was a hockey player. I just didn't correct her assumption, and she also tried to make it seem like she wasn't a puck bunny because the guys tend to use them but date other girls.” Tenn felt the need to justify how their relationship started; he knew what he did wasn’t right, but he also hadn’t expected to actually fall for Viki.

“When practice started, she asked why I wasn't there, and I asked her why it mattered. She said, “I thought you played?” I asked when did I ever give you that impression? And she couldn't answer me. By then, she realized she liked how I treated her better than the hockey guys, and we just kept dating. After graduation, she and my parents pressured me to propose, get married and start trying for kids. So, I did. Don’t get me wrong, I loved her and our relationship, and I wanted the same things, so it seemed like the next natural step.”

“But no kids?” Quinn asked, clearly interested in their whole marriage. Tenn shook his head as he sat beside her on the couch.

“We struggled with getting pregnant, and when she did, she would miscarry. I got checked out, and everything is good with me. She got checked out, and everything was good with her. Doctors couldn't find a medical reason. Two years ago, after her fourth miscarriage, she went on this whole spiritual journey, quit her job, got into crystals and meditation, yoga... all that.” Tenn ran his hand through his hair as he remembered that discussion. He hadn’t understood what she meant about the giant black rock she bought removing “negative vibes” but figured it was like religion; if it did something positive for her and she wasn’t hurting anyone, have at it.

“I supported her as best I could and figured this was something she needed to do to work through her grief. It was two years of me funding weekend spiritual retreats, meditation classes, and yoga retreats. Not to mention almost nightly club trips to “live what she missed in college.” Meanwhile, I’m suggesting therapy, both couples and individual, and she kept saying she was handling it herself. If I complained about her being gone all the time, she would basically tell me to suck it up and pay for the next retreat. I had to get a second job to keep up with paying her allowance, paying for her retreats and our bills.” Tenn sighed and rubbed his jaw as he stretched his legs out in front of him.

“When I had to move money from my savings to pay the bills, I put my foot down and told her to get a job or get out. Her Yogi came into my home and tried to tell me I was a terrible husband for not supporting her through her journey. I told him I supported her for two years, and if he felt she needed to continue, he could support her and kicked them both out of my house. I was 90% sure she was having an affair with him, but I couldn’t find any proof, and she, of course, denied it.”

“She came back the next day and asked what she had to do to stay married. I told her to find a job. She did, and two months later, she tells me she came close to getting fired, but one of the salespeople stood up for her and was going to help her figure it out. She started working long hours and doing what she did before with her spiritual journey, putting it down to her work requirements. I didn't know receptionists at car dealerships were required to do so much work and not be compensated for their extra hours, so I hired an old friend who is a PI. He got my proof, told me about you, and here we are.” He stood up and offered her his hand. “Come on, let's go finish the cameras.”

Quinn

Quinn followed Tenn upstairs to the second floor. He hadn't dropped her hand when he offered to help her off the couch - which was needed; it was one of those big, deep, soft ones that almost enveloped you - and her heart fluttered in her chest. She checked him out from behind as he led her up the stairs. Quinn had always been a shoulders-and-back girl, and Tenn did not disappoint. The t-shirt highlighted his broad, muscular shoulders and narrow waist and hips, and the man did not skip a squat day; his ass was incredible. She helped him position a camera at the end of the hall, looking around with blatant interest. Three of the four doors were open. One was the bathroom. The next one was a room done in pastel pinks and purples, with a yoga mat, a large meditation pillow, and Chinese symbols on the walls. Viki's Zen Room, she guessed. The other was what once was the spare room but looked like a bomb had gone off inside the dresser; from what she could tell, the room was a powder blue, or at least that was the colour of the walls. When he got the camera put up, he grabbed the last two and opened the door to the last room.

In stark contrast to the room across the hall, this one was neat and tidy, the bed made, and everything put away. The walls were storm cloud grey, the furniture was black, the bedspread was grey and black, and the walls had black and white pictures. She looked around in surprise. “This is very monochromatic.”

Tenn nodded, watching her as she took things in. “Yeah, I like blacks, greys, and slate colours.” She wandered around, looking at the black-and-white pictures of buildings with unique architectural features.

“You took these?” Her voice was quiet and slightly awestruck.

“Yeah, I did.” He smiled proudly as he positioned the ladder in the corner of the room. “Quill has some of my pictures hanging up in his office building.”

“I know. Well, I knew when I saw these, I recognized the style. I thought you said photography was a hobby?” She looked at him; the pictures were incredible, and the play of shadows and light said he had spent a lot of time waiting for the right weather and the right time of day.

“It is.” Tenn climbed up the ladder and put the camera in position. “Tell me how this looks.”

Quinn looked up at him and bit her lip. Something about him doing handy work, being in his bedroom, surrounded by the smell of his bergamot and sandalwood cologne, looking at his photographs, or maybe following him up two flights of stairs, his ass in her face and him holding her hand or some combination of everything, had clicked something in her brain and she suddenly had to actively hold herself back from jumping him. “It looks really fucking good.” Her cheeks flushed as her inside voice became her outside voice, but she didn't regret saying it.

Tenn grinned, and she could see she had just made him incredibly amused and happy. “Thanks, but I meant the camera.”

“Right. Camera.” She swallowed and looked down at the tablet. “A little to the left.” When he finished, he climbed off the ladder and approached her, taking the tablet from her hands and tossing it on the bed before putting his hands on her hips. She looked up into his eyes, her hands sliding up his arms. A voice in her brain screamed not to do something stupid; she was still married, while another said Joel was cheating and she didn't love him anymore. Quinn could tell Tenn was having the same argument with himself. “We should wait.” She murmured, hoping he wouldn't.

“I know. I don't want to, though.” His hand slid up her back to hold her neck.

Quinn closed her eyes and put her forehead on his chest. “We'd be no better than them.” She heard Tenn's soft sigh. His arm went around her waist, and he released her neck to wrap around her shoulders, hugging her tightly.

“I’m of the opinion that we’re already better than them, but as soon as they're served...” He murmured.

“Private divorce party.” She grinned. An idea hit her, and she pulled back, looking up at him excitedly. “We should have a party!”

“I don't think you're talking about a private one anymore.” He raised an eyebrow.

“No, after we meet with Deedee on Friday, they have to be served, right?” Tenn nodded. “So, we plan a party to celebrate our project getting approved and to present the idea to our friends and families, announce the speakers we have confirmed, the dates, all that. Then we call our supportive partners up to the stage, give them a “gift” to thank them for their love and patience, and serve them the divorce papers!”

“Brilliant! Fuck you're diabolical, and I think I might love you.” Tenn smiled as Quinn giggled. “We should show the video of them falling out the window in the background when we do.”

“I love it!” She squealed and hugged him. “This is gonna be so much fun!”

“Quinn.” Tenn's voice was serious, and she looked up at him in surprise. “Private party after, right?”

“We'll do it on a Friday so we can have the whole weekend to party.” She promised as she checked her watch, “Your bed will be here soon; want me to help you get this one out?”

“Sure. I'd rather do something else on the bed with you, but yeah, let's get this one out. Maybe it will take my mind off our private party.” Tenn stepped back, and Quinn noticed the impressive bulge in his jeans.

“Fuck.” She muttered under her breath. He was hard, and she was soaked, and neither of them could do a damn thing about it.