Temptation

Chapter Twenty-Nine Home Again

Tenn

Tenn pulled into the driveway and just sat in the car, dreading going inside and potentially talking to Viki. It just seemed like such a shitty end to what had been an amazing day. Her car hadn’t moved, and the windows were still up, so he could only imagine the smell in there. It only reached 63 degrees, but their driveway faced south with no shade, so it would have had the sun beating down on it all day. Sighing, he slowly got out and went inside, hoping she was nursing her hangover in her bedroom.

Unfortunately, he opened the door just in time to see Viki dragging her suitcase down the stairs to the front door. “Where were you all day?” She snapped when she saw him. “You’re late.” His good mood evaporated, and he had to actively bite his tongue to keep from just telling her to fuck off.

“Work?” He raised an eyebrow and feigned confusion. “It's Thursday.” He ignored the part about him being late, simply because this woman hadn’t been home when she told him she would be in close to three years.

“Why didn't you answer your phone?” She glared at him. “I've been calling you since noon!”

“Really?” Tenn pulled his phone out and pretended to check. He had gotten her first call and put her on Do Not Disturb. “Oh, sorry, I was in meetings and turned off the volume.” He flicked it on and started to walk past her to the kitchen.

“Geri said you were out of the office.” She was clearly very suspicious, but he knew that Geri, who was the assistant to the Art History department, wouldn't give him away; she wasn't a fan of Viki, who treated her like she was below her despite having pretty much the exact same job.

“Yeah, I was in meetings. Meetings rarely occur in my office, Viki; it's too small. Why were you trying to get a hold of me?” He got to the kitchen and filled up a tumbler with ice and water to take to bed.

“My car needs to be cleaned.” She followed him into the kitchen, which made him tense up. Her tone was too sickly sweet, and he was pretty sure he knew what she was getting at, but he decided to play dumb.

“I'm not following you.” He didn’t look at her; she was in for a rude surprise if she thought Tenn was cleaning it.

“I can't drive it! The smell makes me sick.” He snorted. Yep, exactly what he thought.

“So, you thought I would leave work and take your car to the dealership to be cleaned?” Leaning on the counter, he finally looked at her. She looked like she was trying to hide her annoyance with him but wasn’t quite able to pull it off. When he mentioned the dealership, she instantly became panicked.

“No! It can't go to the dealership! They'll know I was hungover and not sick! I wanted you to clean it.” She gave him her pleading baby eyes. “Please?”

“Not a fucking chance. Even if we were in a good place in our marriage, I wouldn't do it. You're the one who drank themselves into oblivion and threw up all over the car and Joel, you clean it up.” Tenn couldn't believe her gall and was starting to think she was in the middle of a mental break. No one was that entitled and oblivious; it wasn't possible.

“What was I supposed to do last night? Quinn's pink-haired friend was the only one who was nice to me, and the drinks were free.” She shrugged, utterly unashamed of her behaviour, and Tenn had to re-evaluate his opinion. She was that entitled and oblivious.

“First of all, Quinn was nice to you, and you treated her like crap. Second, the drinks weren't free.” He folded his arms, secretly enjoying that he was about to ruin her day.

“They were. Quinn paid for everyone's drinks.” She had a malicious little smirk on her face that made Tenn very happy that he insisted on making Viki pay.

“Quinn paid for a couple of drinks each for everyone. Since you were rude to her and taking advantage of her generosity, I wouldn't let her pay for yours, even though she insisted it was fine. You paid for them.” He watched with unbridled glee as her face went white.

“What do you mean I paid for them?”

“I took your card and used it to pay. It was either that or you did dishes in the back because I sure as fuck wasn't paying for them after you made an ass of yourself.” Tenn smiled inwardly as her face crumpled and tears started to leak down her cheeks. He was usually not mean or vindictive, but Viki had completely wiped out his goodwill toward her, and now her pain, frustration, and anger were feeding something dark inside him.

“That was my spending money for the weekend!” Viki wailed. “You had no right to take my card from my purse and spend my money!”

“You had no right to get drunk on someone else's dime while being a bitch to them!” Tenn said sharply. “And you're going for training; how much money do you need? Doesn't the dealership pay for food and accommodations?”

“Call her and tell her to pay me back!” He noted Viki ignored his questions and that she was about to ramp up into a tantrum.

“No.” Tenn shook his head. “And if you bother her about it, you'll lose the five hundred dollars I give you this month. You're the one who had ten drinks at a bar. She paid for all the food and the lane; Joel was nice enough to drive your car home, and you threw up all over the poor guy. Consider this your bitch tax.”

“Fine. I won't bother her if you give me the five hundred now.” She was now pouting like a petulant child, and Tenn's lips twitched. He was somehow amused and annoyed that she thought she had any bargaining power here but decided to use it to his advantage. He folded his arms and glared at her.

“I'll give you the five hundred if you explain why there was an eight ball of cocaine in your purse.”

“How did you find that?” She whispered. Her eyes were wide and fearful, and he could practically hear her brain trying to come up with a believable story. She looked like she was seconds away from passing out.

“You knocked over your purse, and I cleaned it up.” He explained calmly, wondering what she'd tell him.

She audibly swallowed. “Where is it now?”

“I flushed it. Why did you have it?”

“It wasn't mine.” She paused and licked her lips nervously. “It's Annie’s, or Tim's, really... She said she found it in his pants pocket and gave it to me to hold on to.”

“So, you've just been keeping it in your purse? Jesus Viki! What if you got pulled over?” Tenn decided to go along with the story, pointing out her stupidity was almost as good as confronting her with the truth.

“I don't know!” She whined. “I didn't know what else to do with it!”

“If Tim is cheating and doing coke, Annie should just leave. There'd be no coming back from that for me.” Tenn pulled out the phone and transferred the money to her. “And you need to stop involving yourself; you're gonna get pulled down with their sinking ship. I sent you the money; I'm not giving you anymore, so make sure you can pay your bills.” She nodded, sniffing and looking faintly smug. “What are you going to do about your car? You'll never get the smell out if you don't get detailed before you leave; it's supposed to be sunny and hot all weekend.”

“I'll ask Harry to pick it up on his way to work tomorrow,” she said reluctantly, seeming to accept that Tenn wasn't going to touch it. “He lives close by.”

“Put the keys somewhere for him to find then; I'm leaving at eight.”

“Why are you leaving early?” Viki looked scandalized and chased him as he left to head upstairs. “I can't leave the keys to a Porsche somewhere outside!”

“Why not?” Tenn scoffed. “Thieves will only open the door and run screaming when they get a whiff of the vomit anyway. As for me leaving early, Quinn and I have a meeting at nine to talk to someone about speaking in the lecture series. I'm picking her up.”

Viki looked like she was about to protest but then thought better of it and closed her mouth. She started to go upstairs ahead of him, then stopped and turned around. “Did you know Quinn was anorexic?”

“Yeah, Quill told me a while ago.” Tenn nodded. “I had a meeting with him, and he asked if I could meet him at the hospital. She collapsed the day before at work and was being treated.”

“The pink-haired girl -”

“Rilla.” Tenn cut her off. She tended to pretend to forget the names of people she deemed unimportant, and it drove him crazy.

“Rilla said her mom caused it.”

“She was the start of it.” He confirmed as he waited for her to continue up the stairs.

“Why?” Viki looked genuinely confused. She and her mom were best friends, and Tenn's mom adored her too, so he knew she was struggling to fathom a mother being anything but supportive and loving.

“Do you know who Quinn's older sister is?” He had no idea how much Joel had told her about Quinn’s family, but she shook her head, so he told her. “Queenie Turner.”

“The Queenie Turner? Former Victoria's Secret Angel Queenie Turner?” Viki's jaw dropped. “Supermodel Queenie Turner is Quinn's sister?”

“Yeah.” Tenn hadn't known who she was when Quill first mentioned her name and had to Google her. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, but as far as Tenn was concerned, she had nothing on Quinn. “Quinn's mom wanted Quinn to be just like her, and when she wasn't, she took her anger and disappointment out on her. Her dad hoped she'd be athletic like Quill, and she's not, so he focused all his attention on Quill and ignored her and what her mom was doing.”

“Quinn isn't ugly, though.” Tenn had to give it to her, Viki never shied away from saying another woman was attractive.

“No, but she is short and curvy, not tall and slender.”

“That's not her fault.”

Tenn raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Are you feeling bad for her?”

“No! I just don't understand why she lets her mother get to her that way! It's been twenty years; she should be over it by now.” Viki made a face that was somewhere between exasperation, annoyance and confusion, and while Tenn did think this was coming up because she wanted Joel to leave Quinn, he knew she really didn’t understand why Quinn would let it get to her. Viki rarely let what anyone else had to say about her bother her; she was far too confident in her looks and opinions of herself.

“That's not how it works. Her mother bullied her so badly that she almost starved herself to death between twelve and fifteen, and when they were called back from New York and Texas because she was in the hospital, sixty pounds underweight, her mother and father were angry at her for being dramatic and making them come back. That kind of thing leaves scars. She's been doing well the last two years, but it's because she has an amazing support system now.”

Viki shrugged, looking bored. “So, she should be fine then. I'm going to bed.”

Tenn rolled his eyes as she went upstairs. “Jesus, just when I think she isn't a complete narcissist.” He muttered. He waited until he heard her bedroom door close, then went up to bed.

Quinn

Quinn pulled into the driveway and felt a wave of disappointment wash over her when she saw Joel’s Porsche in the driveway. She had been hoping he wouldn’t be home so she could put everything away and go to bed without seeing him. Since it was still getting cool at night, she decided to bring everything inside after Joel left the next morning, figuring the leftover food wouldn’t spoil if she left it in the cooler with the ice packs overnight. Sighing, she got out of the car and made her way to the door, dragging her feet a little. Maybe Joel was already in bed, she reasoned as she put in the code and unlocked the door. He was leaving early in the morning, so he might want to go to sleep early.

“There you are! I was about ready to call for a search party.” Joel came out of the kitchen as she walked in, looking faintly annoyed and relieved that she was home. “Where were you?”

“Martha's Vineyard.” Quinn kicked off her sneakers and hung her purse up on the hook. “I haven't seen B.R. and Linda since February, and I wanted to ask him to participate in the lecture series, so I figured I'd ask him in person.”

“Oh.” He looked a little suspicious, and Quinn wondered if Viki somehow found out Tenn wasn't at the museum. “You drove a six-hour round trip by yourself?”

“Not the first time.” Quinn yawned and shrugged, walking past him to the kitchen. She had driven it lots of times before and couldn’t understand why he was suddenly questioning her. “Why?”

“You weren't home when I got home, and it's almost eight.” He followed her into the kitchen and watched her get a glass of water. “And you didn't answer my text.”

“I was driving, sorry.” She drank half her glass of water and turned to the fridge to fill it again. “What did you want?”

“I wanted to spend time with you before I left tomorrow, remember?” He looked hurt that she had forgotten, and she felt a slight twinge of guilt, before she pushed it down and buried it.

“Right.” Quinn opened a drawer and grabbed a deck of cards. She sat at the island and began to deal out the hands for Gin. “Let's play a game.” Joel smiled and nodded eagerly, sitting down and facing her. “Did Viki make it to work?”

“No.” Joel frowned as he took his cards and began arranging them in his hand. “She also didn't bring her car in to get it cleaned, so unless she took it somewhere else, she’s gonna have a huge problem.”

Quinn nodded and then decided to push and see if he would give her answers or deflect. “Since when is Rhyme loaning cars to employees? Tenn says she didn't buy it, and she says it was a loaner.”

“He normally doesn't, but she was driving a rusted Honda Civic, and he didn't want it in the parking lot; he gave her the Boxster because it was pre-owned and that horrible pink colour only women who think they're cute want.” She noticed he kept his gaze determinedly on his cards and smirked, deciding to push things a little more, highlighting Viki’s behaviour the previous night.

“Tenn asked me to apologize to you for her behaviour last night. He felt bad that you got thrown up on, and he wouldn't let me pay for her drinks either. Said she was taking advantage of my generosity and being a bitch about it.”

“He doesn't have to apologize for her; it wasn’t his fault. She should apologize to both of us, but good on him for making sure you didn't pay for her drinks because he was right; she was taking advantage and being a bitch.” He took the card off the deck and discarded one; Quinn grabbed that card and discarded hers, watching him from under her lashes. His face was flushed, and his mouth was in a hard line. Clearly he was not impressed at all with Viki’s behaviour last night.

“What happened that made you think she developed a crush?”

“She follows me around the dealership and constantly texts me about stupid shit. She took an almost instant dislike to you, and you've been nothing but nice and tried to include her. Like I told you, she's childish and jealous.” Joel shook his head, looking irritated with the whole situation. “Atlanta should be a blast. What's your plan for the weekend?”

“Mario Kart Tournament on Friday, Saturday Tenn and I are working on stuff for the party and lecture series, and Sunday I'm hoping to spend relaxing and catching up on some shows.” He nodded, and they were quiet, concentrating on the game until Quinn won and began collecting the cards. She briefly considered starting another game because, for the moment, she had been enjoying his company. Gin Rummy was one of the few things they both enjoyed, and they had spent quite a few nights playing for hours. But then he opened his mouth again, and she was immediately annoyed.

“There's no chance we can start doing Sunday dinners again next week, is there?” His phone chimed, and he pulled it out, read the text, and sent one back before looking at her pleadingly.

“Why? You've complained about them for as long as we've done them. It sucks that I put so much work and effort into something just to get told how much you don't want to do it and how stupid and ridiculous it is.” It was true; he complained constantly that she wanted him home on Sunday for supper, comparing it to her treating him like a child. She put the cards back in the box and stood up to put them away. Joel watched her, looking disappointed that she was ending the evening so quickly.

“Because now that we aren't doing them, I've realized how much we actually talked and how close we were because of them, and I miss them and you.”

“I'll think about it.” She stood up. “I'm exhausted. I'm going to head to bed.”

“Oh, okay.” Joel nodded, looking very disappointed. “I should head up, too; I have an early morning.”