Page 15 of Temptation

“What the fuck are we going to do?” Viki's tear-filled voice came over the speaker. Quinn grabbed her wireless headphones, handed one to him, and connected them to the computer turning the volume up so they could hear everything clearly.

“Wait for your husband to leave and for Quinn to go to bed. She'll sleep in the spare room if she thinks I'm sick.”

“Won't she want to come in and get ready for bed?”

“Fuck.”

“Why did you think this was a good idea? They’re both in town.” Viki hissed. “If we're caught, we're both fucked.”

“I thought it would be hot. Apparently, you disagree since you were faking.” Tenn and Quinn looked at each other and laughed loudly.

“Oh, my GOD. I wasn't!” Viki’s voice rose, and they could hear her clear annoyance.

“Keep your damn voice down! I need to think!” It was quiet for a minute, and then Joel seemed to make up his mind. “You'll have to go out the window.”

“What? No! It's like ten feet off the ground!” Viki protested, sounding scared. Tenn knew she hated heights; even using the step ladder made her dizzy.

“I'll hold onto your wrists and lower you down. You'll only drop like four feet.” Joel’s voice was confident and reassuring, but Tenn didn’t think he’d be able to do it. Joel was good-looking and in decent shape, from what he could tell, but holding someone's dead weight like that required more upper body strength than he thought he had.

“Oh, my god. This is amazing!” Quinn whispered, and Tenn met her eyes with a grin. Her expression was a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

“I'm not going out the window!”

“You don't have another choice. Quinn made a point to bring up that adultery is still a felony in Massachusetts, with up to three years in prison if convicted -”

“WHAT!” Viki shrieked.

Quinn smirked and went to the office door. “Joel? What was that?”

“Will you shut up?” Joel hissed in the earpiece, and then he raised his voice. “Uh, Nothing. Rolled over on the remote for the TV, the volume went up.”

“Smooth.” Viki snarked much more quietly.

“Don't lose the damn remote in the bed again. Put it on the bedside table.” She called before turning back to Tenn, who was in stitches of laughter.

“You need to go,” Joel said again. “Get dressed. She said she'd destroy me if she caught me cheating.”

“Why were you even discussing it?” Viki huffed, and they heard her stomping around the room. At this point, it was like she was trying to get caught; she wasn’t even bothering to keep her voice down.

“We were talking about the previous receptionist's husband cheating on her and knocking up his affair partner,” Joel explained with clear agitation. “Will you keep it down?”

It was quiet then the sound of the window opening sliding all the way open reached them. Quinn and Tenn watched the screen eagerly as they listened to them argue quietly about the best way for her to go out the window. “The bed is under it, but the window is about three feet above the headboard,” Quinn explained. “The only way would be for Joel to lift her up or go headfirst. The bedroom has a peaked ceiling, and the window is higher in the peak at the end of the house.”

Viki's legs appeared, and as she passed through, she manoeuvred to lie on her stomach, hanging out of the window. “We should have called the cops about an intruder,” Tenn said quietly. “This is incredible.” They watched as Viki wriggled her way out slowly until she was hanging by her arms. Finally, Joel's head and shoulders appeared, gripping her arms, grunting as he held up her weight.”

“You have to let go. I got you.” His voice was strained. They couldn’t see his face, but Tenn noticed his arms were shaking slightly.

“Are you sure?” Viki sounded terrified, and she looked up at Joel while holding on for dear life to the window sill. “Don't drop me!”

“I'm not gonna drop you.” But that was precisely what he did. As soon as she wasn't supporting herself, his hands slipped off her wrists, and she dropped into a pile on the ground with a short scream. Joel, to his credit, attempted to grab her, leaning out of the window, and making a swipe, but his forward momentum was too much, and he fell out too! Tenn and Quinn stared at the screen momentarily and then roared with laughter at Joel's naked body somersaulting out of the window and landing on his back on the ground. He let out a loud groan, and Viki smacked at him.

“You fucking dropped me!”

“Fuck off, Viki.” He groaned again. “I think I broke something. Call an ambulance.”

“Seriously?” Viki froze and then began searching for her phone. “My phone is in my purse!”

“Where's your purse?”