Page 58 of Temptation

“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.”

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