Page 47 of Temptation

In the other picture, Quill, Quinn, Rilla, and Bishop stood in front of one of Quinn's paintings with a sold sticker and glasses of champagne in their hands. Quinn was in a smoky lilac flowy tulle and silk dress with embroidered flowers. The dress had a lace-up bodice under the breasts and a plunging neckline that showed off all her cleavage. Her red hair was in soft curls around her face. Rilla was in a robin's egg blue asymmetrical dress, and Quill and Bishop were both in black dress pants and dress shirts that matched Rilla and Quinn's dresses. “Feed Your Soul” was across the top of that picture.

“These are amazing, Ril. Thank you!” Quinn smiled as she looked over the picture of the four of them. That had been such a great night. Joel hadn't been able to attend the show’s opening because he was with Viki, although he told her he had to go out of town for work, so Quill had come to the rescue, as usual.

“Oh, no problem.” Rilla smiled. “I think we need to get this one copied and framed for everyone.” She adjusted the picture carefully. The differences between the Quinn in it and the Quinn in the other picture were incredible.

“Yeah, it's definitely going on our Christmas cards this year.” Bishop nodded as he came up beside Quinn and dropped a casual arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. “Mom and Dad will want a copy, too.”

Rilla suddenly dug her elbow into Quinn's ribs and nodded toward the door. “Your prince has arrived.”

Quinn looked up and sucked in a breath. “I'll say he has.” Tenn was gorgeous; he wore black jeans that looked like they had been made specifically for him and a slate grey light-weight sweater with the sleeves pushed up his forearms. He took his shoes from the attendant and turned around, spotting them at the end. He smiled and came over. Quinn went to meet him, and he hugged her tightly. “You look great.” She murmured.

“Thanks. So do you.” He glanced over Quinn's shoulder at her friends. “I'm guessing they know.”

“Everything, you're good.” Quinn laughed. “Come on; I want to introduce you.” She took his hand and pulled him over. “Tenn, this is Rilla and Bishop Ramone; guys, this is Tenn Aston.” They shook hands and greeted each other. Bishop checked out his tattoos and asked him who did them. He knew the artist, and they immediately fell into a conversation about tattoos and various artists.

“Well, it looks like he has Bishop's seal of approval.” Rilla grinned. “Where do you want the pictures?”

“Um, each end of the couch, so they're facing the wall. Don’t want to traumatize anyone.” They moved the pictures into place, and Quinn noticed Bishop and Tenn had fallen silent. She looked over and saw Tenn had a muscle working in his jaw as he stared at the picture of Quinn in the hospital. Bishop put his hand on his arm, drawing his attention back to him.

“It's hard to look at, I know,” Bishop said calmly. “But just fucking look at her now; she's thrivin'.” Tenn nodded tightly, noticed one of Bishop's tattoos had to do with one of the games he played, and began asking him about his gameplay.

Quinn went and got another round of drinks, and seeing Quill had arrived, she got him and Tenn a pint of Guinness each, coming back just as they brought out the food.

When Quill had gotten his greetings out of the way, which included a rather tight hug for Quinn after he saw the picture of her in the hospital, they decided to get a game of bowling going while they waited for Joel and Viki to arrive. Quill was bowling strike after strike while the others tried to throw him off with light-hearted heckling, but he just shrugged them off with a grin and continued to dominate them.

“Jesus Christ.” Tenn laughed as Quill bowled his seventh strike. “How is he so good?”

“He was on the bowling team in high school.” Quinn rolled her eyes. “He’s just showing off at this point.”

Quill grinned as he came over and tugged her hair playfully. “You knew what you were doing when you invited me.” He said as he put his arm around her shoulders. “You’re just mad that you don’t have my skills.” She shoved him off her, laughing when he stumbled a little.

“What other sports did you play?” Tenn asked curiously while Rilla got up to take her turn.

“I did track and field, specifically shot put, discus, and javelin. I could have gone pro as a baseball pitcher, but I tore my rotator cuff my senior year, and in university, I hustled a lot of people out of their money playing pool downstairs.”

“Yeah, we all spent a lot of time here in uni.” Rilla came over after bowling a spare and sat next to Tenn. “Did you go to Boston University? I don't remember seeing you.”

“No, I went to the School of the Art Institute in Chicago; I did art history, theory and criticism, and historic preservation. I'm from North Dakota originally.” Tenn explained. “I moved here after visiting my older brother and falling in love with the city.”

“That's where Quill did his master's in architecture,” Quinn said in surprise. “You guys must have just missed each other.”

“Yeah, that was one of the first conversations we had that wasn't work-related,” Quill chuckled. “We missed each other by a semester. Your turn, Q.” Bishop sat on Rilla’s other side and draped an arm around her shoulders.

Quinn got up and managed to get a strike. When she turned around to stick her tongue out at Quill, she saw Viki and Joel walk in together. Viki was smiling triumphantly, while Joel looked pissed off. “It looks like Viki and Joel just got off work.” Her good mood evaporated. She had forgotten they were coming and was now irritated that she had to play nice with them.

“Did they come together?” Rilla hissed, looking incensed by the idea.

“No, not unless Joel picked her up,” Tenn said quietly. “She was still getting ready when I left.”

“None of us know they're having an affair, so be nice.” Quinn reminded them as Joel and Viki got their shoes and made their way over them. “Rilla, you know what to do. Finish destroying us, Quill, so we can start a new game.” She walked over to greet them. “Hey!” She smiled. “You guys are just in time; we're about to start a new game, and I'm going to get another round of drinks.” She kissed Joel on the cheek, sliding an arm around his waist. “You want your usual?”

“Yeah, thanks, Babe.” He smiled at her, looking a little surprised by her show of possessiveness. Quinn rubbed her lipstick from his cheek before looking at Viki and wasn't surprised to see her glaring at her, but she maintained a pleasant face.

“Viki? What about you?”

“Oh,” She turned around quickly and looked at the drink menu on the wall. “Um, a toffee martini.”

“Excellent. Just let me introduce you to everyone before I do that.” Quinn waved her over as Joel went to say hello to everyone. “This is Quill, my twin brother.”