Temptation

Chapter Twenty-Six Driving & Dating Stories

Quinn pulled into Tenn's driveway at ten the next morning; his Buick was gone, but Viki's Porsche was still in the driveway, windows up. She could only imagine the smell in there, wrinkling her nose she chuckled to herself and sent Tenn a quick text, letting him know she was there. A few minutes later, he came out of the house carrying a book bag that he tossed in the back seat as he climbed in. “Hey!” He smiled at her. “How are you feeling?”

“Great.” She grinned and backed out of the driveway. “Were you a very nice husband and let Viki take your car to work?”

“No, I brought it to the museum.” He seemed very pleased with himself, and Quinn chuckled at his smug look.

“I could have picked you up at the museum, you know.”

“That was my original plan,” he nodded. “But I woke up this morning, did my workout, and went through my normal morning routine. She hadn’t come down by the time I would normally go to work, and she usually leaves while I’m eating breakfast. I knocked on her door, told her she was late and got no response, so I left to go to work like normal. When I got there, I started to worry that she vomited and choked in her sleep and came back in an Uber to check on her.”

“That’s fair.” Quinn nodded. “She was really drunk, and those toffee martinis had a lot of sugar in them that wouldn’t sit well.”

“Exactly. Anyway, she was snoring it off, so I just went downstairs and waited for you. I left the car at the museum for two reasons. One, her car is reeking of vomit, and she would want to drive my car. And two, I don't have to answer any questions if it looks like I've gone to work.”

Quinn laughed as she merged onto I-93. “Joel decided he wants to keep his distance from you and Viki. He said she's developed a crush on him and tells him things about you, so it's uncomfortable. However, he was very excited about the party next Friday because I told him your brother would be there.”

Tenn snorted. “Then we better get invitations out for that; Del and Trisha need time to find someone to watch the boys. Viki just went to bed mumbling about liars and assholes.” He shook his head and rubbed his hand along his jaw. “God, I can’t wait for this to be over. I’m so done with being her husband.”

“They're leaving tomorrow morning and won't be back until Sunday.” She smiled reassuringly at him. “We have this whole weekend without them, then we just have to get through until Friday, and I don't know about you, but I'm going to be very busy prepping for the party. I have to make food, buy decorations, and do so many other things; I won't have time to be a doting wife. Plus, the week will go faster if I'm busy.”

“I'll help you any way I can, even if it's just to keep you company, hand you things while you cook, and do the clean-up behind you.” He promised.

“That would be the best possible help in the world.” Quinn was touched. Joel's idea of helping was to get out of her way, usually by sitting and watching a game or heading out for a poker night. “We'll sit down and figure out the guests for the party and what we want to do on Saturday.”

“Sounds good to me.” He looked out the window at Boston slipping by. “Where are we going anyway?”

“Oh, that's a surprise.” Quinn grinned. “I have a fun afternoon planned, don't worry.”

Tenn grinned at her. “Did you mean it when you said you'd come with me if I switched the vacation to June first?”

She was surprised at the sudden change of subject and fell quiet for a second. She did want to go with him but felt a month’s vacation so early in their relationship would be a bad idea. “I don't want you to switch the dates for me. I just don't want to be in the house after Friday. I'm going to move in with Quill for the thirty days; we talked about it, and he's okay with it. That doesn't mean I won't go with you, but I'd like us to spend June and July figuring us out. I'll book the time off; I have enough vacation time to do it and can afford to without dipping into my savings. If everything works out, I'll go with you.”

“That's fair.” He smiled at her happily. “We're going to have to go on lots of dates throughout June though. I'm not going to be able to leave Viki there without worrying she'll destroy something, so I'll need breaks.”

“I'm very okay with that.” She chuckled, then became thoughtful. “Do you think they'll stay together? Or will the thrill of the forbidden wear off, and they'll have a messy breakup?”

“I think they'll stay together, get married, one or both of them will cheat, and the fallout will be glorious.” Tenn stretched out and put the seat back a little, tucking his hand behind his head.

“Are you going to go to sleep?” Quinn looked over, amusement playing on her face.

“Nope. I never get to be the passenger; I'm just relaxing.” His smile made her heart flutter. “Are your plans for this afternoon a surprise or just the destination?”

“We are going to relax, enjoy the sun, eat good food, and go to war.” She looked back at the road, knowing he’d never guess.

“Are we going to a Civil War reenactment thing? Because I'm not very good at acting and roleplaying.”

“Oh my god, no! I can't act, and roleplaying gives me the giggles.” Her cheeks heated up as she thought of those few disastrous attempts.

“Now you have to share that story.” He was looking at her with a smirk and reached out to cup her cheek, brushing his thumb across it and making her blush worsen.

“Before I do, I'd just like to say that I was blindsided by this. It wasn't discussed beforehand, and I tried to go along with it, but I was just horrible at it and couldn't stop laughing.”

“Excuses heard. Go on.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Not excuses, disclaimers. Anyway, I dated this guy in university for about six months, and about four months in, he took me to his parent's cabin for a getaway weekend. So, I'm down on the shore of the pond, sketching the lilies and lily pads, and he comes up to me and says, “What's a pretty little girl like you doing here all by yourself?” I'm totally into my sketching and just go, “Drawing, what does it look like?” but thinking, “What the fuck? Little girl?” He sits beside me and keeps going, “Little girls shouldn't be out here by themselves. Why don't I keep you company?”

“At this point, I realized he was trying to be sexy, but the little girl thing weirded me out, and I didn't know what to do or say, so I just kind of giggled and said, “Stranger Danger!” “Well, little girl,” and he puts his hand on my knee and starts sliding it up my thigh. “My name is Roy. Now, I'm not a stranger.” I start to giggle harder and manage to get out. “Bad touch, bad touch.” and I lose it; I can't stop laughing. I was so weirded out and didn't know what else to do.”

Tenn roared with laughter. “I think you handled it beautifully.” He said, wiping away tears. “Little girl, what the fuck was that?”

“He got arrested for statutory rape, among other charges, about three months after we broke up, so I think it was a way to see if I'd act younger for him. Apparently, he liked barely legal girls but usually stuck to eighteen-year-olds. A fifteen-year-old told him she was seventeen and her birthday was a few weeks away. He decided not to wait because what harm could it do? She missed her period, panicked, and told her older sister, who told her parents that a twenty-two-year-old knocked her up. She wasn't pregnant; she got her period a few days later, but by then, it was too late.”

“Wow. You know how to pick 'em.” He teased her gently.

“Believe me, Joel is the top of a steaming pile of crap.” She shook her head. “I didn’t date a lot, but after I backed out of the thruple with Bishop and Rilla, there were three or four “winners” before I met Joel.”

“I haven't done any better, so I'm not judging. I was the quiet, nerdy guy. Then, in grade eleven, nerdy guys suddenly became attractive, and I dated a lot of beautiful, shallow, mean girls. It got old, and I went to prom with my longtime, nerdy best girl friend, Amanda. Well, Amanda was shy and quiet too, and what I thought we agreed was going to be a summer romance before we headed off to university - I was going to Illinois, and she was going to Texas - became my summer from hell. She was no longer quiet and shy; she wanted to hang out every day. I wasn't allowed to hang out with anyone else, or she would throw tantrums or convince me to stay with her and have sex.”

“I tried breaking up with her; she showed up on my lawn in the rain, mascara running down her cheeks, crying and screaming for me to take her back before collapsing. I ended up taking her back because that shit was embarrassing, and I just wanted her to stop; plus, I figured it was only a couple of weeks before I would be leaving for Illinois, so I could suck it up. I just refused to have sex with her or give her affection; we were best friends again, and she could say we were dating if it made her feel better. She got so bad that I stayed out all night and got drunk so my parents would ground me for the rest of the summer. Every chore I had to do for those two weeks was pure bliss.”

“Oh, my god.” Quinn was appalled. “I'm so sorry you had to go through that! What happened to her?”

“She went to Texas, found a new boyfriend, got married, and had at least seven kids. Ginny has her on social media, and every now and then, she'll mention Amanda has popped another one out. Apparently, her husband looks exhausted.”

Quinn giggled. “At least she didn't switch universities to stay with you.”

“She tried, but she wasn't accepted.” He rolled her eyes. “I was going to a school dedicated to the arts. She could barely draw a straight line with a ruler.”

“Wow.” Quinn shook her head. “Although, I do get the obsession.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“Uh-huh.” Tenn grinned, his cheeks turning pink. “Sure... your turn.”

“Hmm. There are so many to pick from...” Quinn trailed off as she decided which one to tell him. “Have you ever heard of a mud fetish?”

“You mean like mud wrestling?” Tenn furrowed his brow, looking confused. “I wasn’t aware that it was a fetish.”

“No, I mean like rolling around and having sex in the mud like pigs,” Quinn explained, chuckling at his expression. “This guy asked me if I'd be into that on the first date. I told him no; it sounded like an infection waiting to happen. He sends girls pictures of himself covered in mud that he “collects from farmer's fields” and stores in his bathtub.”

“No! Come on! That's not a thing!” Tenn’s eyes widened, and he looked a little ill.

“Oh, it is. I have the screenshots. He gets posted to social media groups occasionally; one of the students was laughing and showing me one day. It's been over ten years, and he's still into it.” Quinn nodded. “What’s with the look?”

“Mud from farmer's fields!” Tenn shuddered. “He's aware that it isn't just dirt, right?”

“I have no idea.” Quinn laughed as she realized he wasn’t disgusted by the fetish but by where he was getting his mud. “I just want to be clear; he's not getting posted to these groups to be made fun of for the mud thing; he's a prolific dick pic sender. The university girls have pages where they post guys who should be steered clear of. Most of them are middle-aged guys trying to get a college girlfriend, guys who send dick pics, or guys who harass them for sex. I'm not trying to kink shame. I have a few of them myself; it's when those kinks are pushed on you that it becomes a problem. He was very open about it and kept insisting I should give it a try; even after I ended the date, he texted me for three days before I finally blocked him.”

“Oh, yeah, no, kinks are fine, but they shouldn’t be pushed on you,” Tenn nodded in agreement, then grinned. “You have kinks?”

“I have a lot of childhood trauma; of course I have kinks.” She looked over at him with a smile. “And before you ask, no, they are not food-related, although whipped cream can be fun.”

“I bet I can guess.” He folded his arms and looked her over with a smirk.

“If you know about my childhood, I'm sure you could.” Quinn rolled her eyes playfully and came to a stop in a lineup.

“I'm not going to guess right now, but I'm pretty sure I could.” He looked around in surprise. “What are we doing at a ferry?”

“We're going to get on the ferry.” Quinn laughed. “We're going to Martha's Vineyard.”

“Really?” He put the seat up and stretched. “A day at the beach sounds like fun.”

“Yep, the next ferry leaves in twenty minutes.” She pulled ahead, pulled a pass out of the center console and handed it to the attendant.

“You have a pass?” He looked at her in surprise. “They’re only available to residents.”

“I know someone.” She chuckled, took the pass back and drove to her place in line for the ferry.

“Okay.” He shrugged, seeming to decide to go with things and not ask too many questions. “Can I know the plan for Martha's Vineyard yet?”

“I told you. We'll relax, enjoy the sun, eat good food, and go to war.” She giggled. “When you plan a date, you can be cryptic too.”

“Is this a date?” He grinned and leaned closer to her. “Cause that means I get a kiss at the end.”

“Kissing on the first date?” she teased, leaning in, half hoping the kiss would happen now.

Tenn reached up and brushed her hair back from her face. “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the moment I walked into the room, and you asked me if I was looking for anything in particular. I know we said to wait, but I'm struggling with that.” He admitted as he settled back in his seat. The way he was looking at her gave her butterflies like she had never experienced before.

“Oh, thank god.” Quinn slumped in relief. “Me too. It makes it easier to know it's not just me.”

Tenn laughed. “I didn't think I was hiding it; I have so much trouble keeping my hands off you. The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

“I don't know.” She sighed and reached for his hand. “On the one hand, it's clear both our marriages are over; it's just a matter of signing the paperwork. We know it's over, but they don't know it yet. On the other hand, they're the ones who are at fault. They decided their need to fuck each other was worth more than our marriages. And then there's the fact we only found out a week ago, and we're ready to jump into bed and go on a month-long vacation with each other. How do we know we aren’t trauma bonding or something?”

“Okay, yeah. I see what you're saying.” Tenn took her hand and squeezed it gently. “But let's put this into perspective. How long have you been checked out of the relationship?”

“Probably about nine months.” She ducked her head to hide the shame she felt. “Joel likes me between one twenty and one-thirty pounds. He loses sexual interest when I go over that.”

“Bastard.” Tenn spit out, looking outraged. “How does he know what you weigh?” His hand tightened. “Tell me he doesn’t force you to weigh yourself for him.”

“No.” She shook her head and smiled at his anger for her. “As part of my recovery process, I keep track of my weight weekly, journal my emotions about it, and when I see my therapist, we talk about it. I generally start panicking when I go over one-thirty-five, and she asked me to get to me to try to get to one-forty so we could work on my anxiety about being over a certain weight. Anyway, I think he reads what I write. I've never caught him, but he always seems to know when I go over one-thirty and stops initiating sex and begins turning me down.”

“Dr. Foster was the one who put together that Joel liked me between a certain weight range. I would tell her when he would start being disinterested and when sex would start again, so she had all the dates in her notes and noticed it was always within a few days of me being above or below those specific weights, so we tested him. I'd write that I was below one-thirty, and sex would start again. Over one-thirty, it would stop. She used it to point out that there was no visible difference in my body with a five to ten-pound weight gain or loss because he couldn't tell. I was nudging one forty but writing I was one twenty-eight, and he was having sex with me.”

“I really hate your husband.” Tenn reached out with his other hand and cupped her cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb.

“Me too.” Quinn leaned into his hand. The warmth was extremely comforting. “How long have you been checked out?”

“About a year. She was going to these yoga and spiritual retreats every weekend, specifically retreats run by this guy, David Grant. He was all she could talk about. “David says abstinence brings true enlightenment.” “David says green tea is better for you than coffee.” “David says video games rot your mind,” David says, David says, David says. It seemed like David had a lot to say about my lifestyle. I think she was having an affair with him, but I couldn't find proof. She changed the pin on her phone and all her passwords. When I had to move money over from my savings to pay the bills, I told her I was cutting her allowance from one thousand to five hundred a month, I wasn't paying for any more of her retreats, and she had to get a job.”

He let her face go and pointed out the windshield. The line was moving to get on the ship. Quinn quickly put the car in gear and drove forward. “That’s completely fair.”

“Well, she didn't like it.” He chuckled dryly. “And brought David into my home to tell me I was emotionally and spiritually stunting her, and I needed to keep paying because she was so close. I lost my shit. I told him to get out, or we would find out which was better for the body, yoga or weightlifting, and if he wanted her to continue to find her spiritual enlightenment, he could pay for it. He was sitting there grinning at me, this skinny little man with long, greasy, dirty blonde hair, and I grabbed him by the collar and his belt, carried him to the door, and tossed him onto the lawn. Viki was screaming at me and chased him out. I said she could stay with him, shut the door, and locked it.”

“I grabbed her purse, took all the cards connected to my accounts, took her keys because it was my car and my house, and since I paid for her phone, I took that too. Then I threw some clothes in an overnight bag for her, brought them to the door, and threw the purse and bag over her head into the yard. She freaked out but left when she noticed the neighbours were filming her. She came back the next day, full of apologies and asking what she needed to do to stay married. I told her to get a job and no more David Grant. She grudgingly agreed.”

“Wow. What a bitch,” she growled, incensed for him. “Both our spouses deserve what's coming to them.”

“I agree.” He chuckled and nodded. “So where does that leave us?”

“Quietly dating. At least for now.”