Chapter Twenty The Morning After
Quinn
Early the next morning, Quinn was up, showered, and almost out the door when Joel came out of the spare room. She had appointments at a salon to get waxed and have her eyebrows and a mani/pedi done. She wanted to look good tonight, both to show Viki she wasn’t what Joel made her believe she was, make Joel regret what he was doing, and maybe make Tenn’s heart skip a beat. She glanced at him as she laced up her sneakers and smiled brightly. “Morning!”
“Morning, you're leaving kind of early.” He ran his hand through his hair. He usually left for work before her, and she hadn’t told him she was taking the next two weeks off.
“Mmmhmm.” Quinn hummed as she finished tying her shoes and stood up, straightening her shirt. “I took today off to get some stuff done before bowling tonight.”
“What kind of stuff?” Joel raised his eyebrows in surprise. “It's just bowling.”
“It's not just bowling; it's my party.” She pouted, hating the way he dismissed her recovery. For someone so concerned she’d relapse, he didn’t seem interested in her ongoing health. “You're still coming, right?”
“Yes, I'm still coming.” He hesitated. “Are Tenn and Viki coming?”
“Um.” Quinn pretended to think as she fixed her hair in the mirror over the key holder. “Tenn is for sure; I don't know if Viki is. I hope so. Tenn and I have hit it off so well, and I would love it if we could all become friends. It would be nice if we had a couple to do double dates and stuff with, and I think you'll really like Tenn if you get to know him. He's more middle of the road than Bishop.”
“I wouldn't count on you and Viki becoming friends, Babe.” Joel rubbed his jaw and yawned. “She's pretty childish and jealous. She's already asked me if I was upset about the time you guys were spending together and bitched about it.”
“What did you say?” Quinn played along with his story. As much as she wanted this to be over, she wanted to get them back for being so selfish.
“That my wife would never do anything to hurt me or anyone else.” He smiled and came over to kiss her cheek. “I'll see you tonight. I might be a little late, but I'll do my best to be there by seven.”
When she got into her car a few minutes later, Quinn had a full-body shudder happen a few times. She felt like she needed a shower. “My wife.” She mocked as she drove out of the driveway. Still shuddering, she reached over and turned on the radio, blasting the music to distract her from her thoughts.
Tenn
Tenn finished his morning workout and went to the kitchen to get breakfast before his shower. Viki was sitting at the kitchen table, scrolling on her phone while she ate. She seemed to be a lot calmer and more composed than she was last night. Grabbing his overnight oats from the fridge, he sat across from her and waited to see if she would say anything.
“Are we going to talk about last night?” He asked after several minutes of silence.
“Is there something we need to discuss?” She didn't look up from her phone and seemed content to forget what happened. She didn't seem embarrassed or sorry for what happened last night, which irritated Tenn to no end.
“Yeah, there is.”
“What?” She put her phone down and folded her arms. Defences on high alert, Tenn noted.
“First, I'm calling to make an appointment with a marriage counsellor today.” He wasn’t going to; he didn’t need to for the divorce to happen, but he wanted to gauge her reaction.
“I won't go.” Viki's lips tightened into a straight line, and her eyes narrowed as she stared at the table, avoiding Tenn’s gaze.
“That's fine. Actually, that's perfect.” Tenn smiled broadly when she frowned at him. “If you don't go, I can just divorce you. It means you aren't putting in the effort to fix things, so you only have to no-show for three sessions, and that's it. Finito.”
“I've been trying to fix things!” Viki's eyes filled with tears, but Tenn noted she wasn’t sad; she was scared. “You won't let me!”
“Because you come down and sexually assaulting me isn't trying to fix things!” He explained, losing his patience and raising his voice.
“I didn't sexually assault you.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes.
I said no and to please stop, and I had to remove myself from your hold before you gave up. That's sexual assault, and you're trying to manipulate me into forgiving you! Sex isn't going to fix our problems, build trust, or make me love you again.” He kept his voice firm and calm but wanted to make sure she knew she was in the wrong here. “That's the second thing I wanted to talk to you about. No more unsolicited sexual contact. That was incredibly uncomfortable for me last night, and I won't be made uncomfortable in my own home.”
“Whatever.” She grabbed her phone and started to stand up, the tears were gone, and she was back to being dismissive and aloof. Tenn had never been violent, especially with women, but he had to actively hold himself back from grabbing her and shaking her. He wished he had pushed harder for her to go to therapy after the miscarriages instead of agreeing to her plan of meditation and yoga. Whatever she had done had changed her completely, and not for the better.
“I'm not done.” He snapped, and she dropped back into the chair and glared at him. “You need to speak to a therapist. Your outburst last night was so over-the-top and inappropriate. I want you to make an appointment today. Give me the proof that you have, and I want proof that you went to the appointment. If you have another meltdown, I'm just calling 9-1-1, having you 51/50'd, and you'll spend seventy-two hours in a hospital. You need professional help for whatever is going on with you.”
“And if I don't?” She folded her arms and glared at him, clearly angry that he was threatening her.
“You move out. I will call the police, show them the recording from last night, and have you removed from the property because I own the house and don't want you here because you're erratic and violent.” He took a deep breath. “If you want to fix things, this is the first step you need to take.”
Viki opened her mouth and looked like she was about to argue with him, but then changed her mind. “Fine, I admit I should probably talk to someone. Anything else?”
“I think you should stay home tonight.” Tenn didn’t want a repeat of her dramatics and he knew seeing Quinn and Joel playing happy couple would not end well.
“Nope.” She said, forcing cheerfulness. “I was invited; I want to go. I've been under so much stress with everything, and I want to have fun.”
“You hate bowling.” Tenn pointed out, struggling to remain calm. This was going to end badly; he just knew it.
“I'm sure I can suck it up for a few hours.” She stood up. “I need to get to work.” Tenn watched her go with narrowed eyes. What was she up to?
He showered and dressed, then poked his head into her room out of curiosity. “Fuuuuuuuck!” He breathed out in disbelief. He regretted putting on his headphones now. She had trashed everything. The mirrors on her makeup table and the dresser were broken; the curtains and rod had been ripped down; there were holes in the wall; and the pictures had been pulled down and thrown. There were feathers from a pillow that had been cut open everywhere. He pulled out his phone and filmed a walkthrough, taking note of all the damages.
After he was done, he sent the video to DeeDee and called her. When her secretary put him through, she immediately asked if he was okay.
“I'm fine.” He assured her. “I moved her to the spare room a few days ago.”
“I'm guessing the texts that Quinn sent me last night were the cause of all this?”
“Yeah. Hang on, and I'll send you the videos of what happened here.” Tenn pulled up the security footage, downloaded it, and sent it. Deedee was silent as she watched it all. When it was finished, she blew out a breath.
“Okay. This is what I want you to do, and please understand that I'm concerned she'll claim domestic abuse, somethingyou've clearlythought of since you bought the security cameras. Quinn said they were going to Atlanta for the weekend?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, call the cops and make a report; have them come in and show them all the footage and the room. Explain that you don't want to press charges; you're gathering evidence of an ongoing affair, and she will be served next week. You're covering your bases in case she screams abuse. And you'll also need the report to go through your homeowner's insurance to get all that repaired and replaced. It would be best if you stopped talking about kicking her out or getting divorced. Be civil and polite; - do not have sex with her - let her think things have calmed down. Hopefully, her weekend away with Joel will make her more secure, and she won't have any more meltdowns between their trip and when we serve them. If she does, you call the cops assigned to your report and have her taken from your home, then call a locksmith and change the locks.”
“Alright. Thanks Deedee.” Tenn sighed, he would do his best, but he wasn’t sure if he could play nice with her.
“No, thank you.”
Tenn hung up. He sat quietly for a minute, thinking about his next steps and then called Ron.
“Hey, you wouldn't be interested in an all-expenses-paid weekend trip to Atlanta, would you?”
“I mean, who wouldn't?” Ron chuckled, and Tenn couldn’t be sure if he was being sarcastic or not but pushed on.
“Viki and Joel are going for “training” and I'd like to see what happens.” He quickly brought Ron up to speed on what had been happening since they last met. Ron was quiet for a moment then he let out another chuckle.
“I knew you and his wife would hit it off.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
“You're upset about it?”
“No. Maybe.” Tenn let out a frustrated groan. “I feel like I'm going crazy; I'm borderline obsessed with her. After knowing her for a week, I invited her along on my month-long road trip. Who does that?”
“A man who has been miserable in his marriage for the last two and a half years. Look, I did a pretty deep dive into her and her husband. There was a reason I said you needed to tell her; she's perfect for you.”
“Her twin brother is one of my closest friends.” Tenn had to admit he was a little concerned about what would happen to his and Quill’s friendship if his relationship with Quinn didn’t work out.
“I know. And there's a reason you’re friends with him. Just go with it; I also think you're pretty perfect for her, too.”
“When I'm with her, it's all I can do not to throw her over my shoulder like a goddamn caveman and carry her off to my bedroom, and when I'm not, I want to be with her, and then I start questioning what's wrong with me. I'm extremely possessive over her, and I've never been that way.” Tenn admitted. He hadn’t told anyone about his possessive feelings toward Quinn, and it was a relief to get them out.
“Because you were with the wrong woman.” Ron laughed. “ Enjoy it and her, stop worrying. I'll go to Atlanta. Book me the ticket.”
“Sure.” Tenn hung up and booked him the ticket. He sent it over his email and said he would get the hotel from Quinn and send it to him. Next, he called the non-emergency line and requested an officer to come take a report of vandalism. When they arrived, he explained what was happening and showed them the camera footage from the previous night.
One of the police officers, who had introduced himself as Officer Calder, let out a low whistle. “Wow. That's quite the breakdown.”
“Yeah.” Tenn nodded and gestured for the cops to follow him upstairs. “She was sobbing and cursing loudly, so I put on my noise-cancelling headphones. I figured she was trying to get me to comfort her since she pretty much sexually assaulted me earlier. According to the security footage from the camera in the hallway, she would throw something, come out and glare at my door, then go back in her room, slam the door, and start sobbing and throwing things again. She did it several times and tried to open my door once, but I had locked it.” He opened Viki's door and stepped back so the officers could enter. They took pictures and said they would write the report and get it to him as soon as possible.
“If you decide to kick her out, call to have us here before you do it. Just to protect your back.” The other officer, Officer Thorton, looked around the room again. “Not to be unprofessional or anything, but this chick is nuts.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.” Tenn chuckled as he followed them down the stairs. They requested he send them the security footage to make sure there was a clear timeline of her breakdown and handed him their cards. They were chatting outside the door when Quinn pulled up. The cops looked at her as she slowly got out and looked back at Tenn.
“She's the wife of my wife's affair partner, and we've been supporting each other.” He explained, feeling his cheeks heat up as he realized what it looked like.
“Hey, no judgment from us.” Thorton smiled and winked knowingly. “I'd take her support too. Have a good day.” He walked away while Calder gave Tenn an embarrassed look.
“Sorry, he's going through a divorce himself and has become a bit of a man-whore.” He muttered. “Keep in touch.”