Chapter Nineteen Losing the Plot
Tenn hugged Quinn goodbye and watched her drive off before heading back inside the house and cleaning up the mess left behind from putting up the cameras. He was returning the ladder to the garage when Viki pulled up, looking extremely angry. Since that seemed to be her default mood lately, he decided to ignore it and went to the kitchen to make himself a frozen pizza for supper. He was going to have to Quinn up on her offer to teach him to cook, he decided as he preheated the oven. Not that he hadn’t tried before, but maybe Quinn would have more luck than his mom did.
When you reached fifteen in the Aston household, one of your chores was to cook supper one night a week. His mom had a massive bookcase full of recipe books, and her thought process was if you could comprehend reading, you could comprehend following the instructions in a cookbook, but Tenn had dyscalculia, a learning disorder that made it hard to understand number-based information and math. Math and any school courses that required math, he barely scraped by, and when it came to following a recipe, the quantities in them were often misread. Too much or too little of an ingredient was very common in his cooking.
For some reason, while measuring something with a ruler or measuring tape involved measuring about thirty times, he could spatially tell distances very quickly just by looking, which helped tremendously with his artwork, where he excelled. He was the black sheep in his family. Del was athletic, Ginny was an aide in the White House - on the wrong side of politics as far as his parents were concerned, but they were still very proud of her - and Kota was a rising star in the banking industry.
They were proud that their youngest son had made a name for himself and had a copy of his book prominently displayed on their living room coffee table, but they didn't understand why the history of architecture needed a book. He had been the quiet, nerdy one in his home, surrounded by so many loud and boisterous personalities that he would retreat to his room with his sketchpads or video games or wander the streets with his camera.
Viki came into the kitchen and began banging cupboards and drawers as she made her extreme displeasure known. Tenn ignored her and continued scrolling through Quinn’s social media; children having temper tantrums shouldn't be indulged. When the timer on the oven went off, he took the pizza out on a cutting board, cut it into four pieces, put two on a plate, and sat at the kitchen table. Viki continued to open and loudly close cupboards, and when she slammed a cupboard shut so hard it bounced back open and hit the cabinet on the other side, Tenn had enough.
“What the actual fuck is your problem?” He kept his voice low and calm as he levelled her with a glare. “Use your words, Viki.”
“Nothing! Not a goddamn thing is wrong! What could possibly be fucking wrong?” She glared back at him, breathing hard, clenching and unclenching her fists.
“Then stop behaving like a two-year-old having a tantrum.” He returned his attention to the pizza and heard her scream. He looked up in time to see her swipe her arm over the counter and send the remaining pizza flying into the wall. Something inside him snapped, and he slammed his palm onto the table. The loud bang seemed to snap her out of it because she jumped and stared at him with tear-filled eyes.
“I'm sorry.” She whimpered. “I don't know what came over me.”
“I don't give a fuck.” He growled. “Clean it up.” He watched as she swallowed and nodded. His appetite was gone; he stood up and threw the rest of his pizza in the garbage as she grabbed some paper towels. “I don't know what the fuck is going on with you, but either figure it out on your own or get help.” He slammed his dishes into the dishwasher before walking toward the stairs to the basement. “Oh, and Viki?” He waited for her to look at him and pointed at the corner. “I installed cameras.”
“You can't just install cameras and expect me to be okay with it.” Her fight came back quickly, but Tenn was over it.
“I think I can. You know where the door is if you don't like it.” He knew what her problem was. Quinn had texted and told him Joel wanted to spend time with her after her meal with Quill, and while he wasn't happy with it, he knew Quinn wanted to be with him, and they both just had to get through the next few days. Joel and Viki were going to Atlanta for the weekend, then the next week, and the big reveal party the following weekend. Quinn had also suggested inviting their families because her parents and older sister loved Joel.
“Queenie will hit on you. Just so you're aware.”
“She's in for a huge disappointment.”
“Why did you install them?” Viki pouted, interrupting his thoughts as she tossed the ruined pizza in the garbage.
“Protection,” Tenn called over his shoulder as he went downstairs. He planned to play a game to distract himself from the fact that Quinn was spending time with her husband, and he booted up the latest save file and set to work to finish the quest. A few hours later, his phone vibrated, and he picked it up, looking at the text that had just come in from Quinn.
I have a way to piss off Viki and put Joel in the doghouse, but I don't want to upset you.
Tenn stared at his phone for a minute. The first part was tempting; the second made his stomach clench.
What is it?”
He wants to watch a movie and is expecting to cuddle. I was thinking I could post a picture on my Social media.
Tenn closed his eyes. Given Viki's level of anger already, a picture of Quinn and Joel cuddling would drive her over the top. He wondered if his house could stand it... He didn't want to see it; he knew that much, but this could be amusing.
Do it. The rage I'm going to witness will make up for everything else.
?? Sleepover at my house this weekend for a Mario Kart Tournament, if you're interested.
Sleepover? Fuck yes. Mario Kart Tournament? Double fuck yes he was interested. Was it just going to be them?
Who's coming?
Quill, Rilla, and Bishop.
That was less exciting, but maybe they would get Saturday night to themselves, and he could cuddle her while watching a movie. He looked out at his rec room. With a huge couch and a sixty-five-inch TV, it was a much better set-up than her living room.
We could do it here. My basement is the perfect set-up.
You provide the accommodations, and I'll bring the food.
Deal. See you tomorrow.
See you tomorrow.
Tenn went back to his game. It wasn't too much longer when he heard Viki scream. “THAT ASSHOLE!” He chuckled and paused the game as he listened to her lose her shit upstairs. Hearing her come storming down the stairs, he quickly unpaused the game and continued to play. Viki came barging into his office, put her arms around his neck, and started kissing his neck, jaw, and cheek, catching him completely off guard.
“What are you doing?”
“Take me to bed.” She murmured in his ear before biting his earlobe and sucking. “I want you to destroy me.”
“No thanks.” Tenn pulled his head away from her, quickly getting over his shock and feeling disgust curl in his stomach. “Please leave.”
“Please. I want to have a baby. Please, Tenn, come to bed with me.” She continued kissing him; Tenn immediately stood up and pulled free of her, moving to the other side of the office.
“No.” He stayed calm and collected with difficulty. “I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but you need to leave.” He watched as her face grew red, and she started to cry.
“I'm trying to fix us!”
“No, you're upset. Go to bed, Viki. Maybe take an Ambien.” He moved forward, took her gently by the arm, and led her out of his gaming room and over to the stairs. “We'll talk about this later.” Her phone chimed, and she pulled it out, running up the stairs. Something made him follow her, and he started up the stairs when she let out a wail of absolute rage and anguish, and a loud bang told him she had collapsed. He ran to the top of the stairs, afraid she had hurt herself and saw her sobbing on the floor. He walked over to help her up, crouching beside her.
“Are you hurt?” She shook her head and gripped the front of his shirt as she cried. “Come on. Bed.”
“Why don't you love me anymore?” She sobbed, gripping his shirt as he pulled her to her feet. “I'm not just the mistress!”
Tenn raised his eyebrow. “I didn't say you were the mistress.” Viki's eyes widened as she focused on Tenn, then she pulled out of his grip and stumbled up the stairs, at one point crawling on her hands and knees. A minute later, he heard the door slam. Wondering what the hell that was about, he went back downstairs, shut everything down, and went to bed. He could hear Viki throwing stuff around in her bedroom and cursing Joel out between sobbing breakdowns.
Annoyed, he turned on the TV, put on his noise-cancelling headphones, and played a game on his phone until he was interrupted by a text notification. He pulled it up and saw Quinn had sent him screenshots of Joel and Viki's conversation. He read through them and felt a little bad for Viki. Joel told her precisely what he thought of her, even if she didn't realize it. He was behaving like some eighteenth-century king, sleeping with a lady-in-waiting and letting her know she would never replace the queen. But she signed up for it. Joel kept telling her she knew this was the deal, so his pity was superficial.
Worth the most uncomfortable two hours I've ever sat through.
Tenn snorted. He wasn't sure if it was. He didn't like that Joel held her throughout the movie, then shook his head. Quinn was bringing out a possessive side he didn't know existed and wasn't sure how to handle. He wanted to claim her and make her his and was getting increasingly frustrated with the time frame he had to follow.
Oh, you should have been on this end. Come over tomorrow; I'll show you the video.
Sure. I have a couple of appointments tomorrow morning; I'll swing by after.
He was sort of mollified by her quick response to say she would come over. He wondered how she would react if she knew his thoughts.
I get to hold you for as long as I want.
Deal lol.
He didn't know if he would let her go.