Page 40 of Temptation

“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.

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.