Page 63 of Temptation

“I couldn't sleep, so I came out to put together tonight's snack and shopping list.” She shrugged and looked back down at her list, then added vanilla to it. “All ready to go? Your ride won't be here for another forty-five minutes, so you should check to make sure you’ve got everything.”

“Yeah, I’m ready. I couldn't sleep either.” He came in and sat at the island next to her. “I need to come clean about something.”

Quinn glanced up and quickly focused on her phone again, her heart pounding. No! No, no, no, no. Don't you dare confess! “What do you need to come clean about?” She kept her voice even and calm, scrolled through her phone like she was looking at a recipe, and turned on the recording app. She knew it wouldn’t be admissible as evidence, but if he was going to admit to cheating, she wanted to have it in his words in case he tried to deny it or gaslight her later.

“The issues with Viki.” He looked down at the counter, and she had to admire his ability to pretend to be remorseful. Ten out of ten acting skills. “I may have encouraged her a little bit.”

“I'm not following. What do you mean by encouraging her?” Quinn leaned back and looked at him. He was covering his tracks, she noted, laying the groundwork so Quinn would call Viki crazy ifshe decided to let the cat out of the bag.

Joel let out a huge sigh, and once again, Quinn admired the dramatic approach. “When she started six months ago, she wasn't catching on to things. She couldn’t figure out the program we used for appointments, remember passwords… just really playing up the ditzy blonde thing. She would leave the desk unattended and go around chatting up customers and salesmen, just really treating the job as a joke, you know?”

Quinn nodded. She had a feeling he was telling her the truth about how things started. Since Tenn told her she had to work or he would get a divorce, she had a feeling Viki was trolling for a man who could fund her lifestyle, especially since she hit on Quill in her interview with him.

“Rhyme was ready to fire her, but he gave her one last chance. I found her crying in the break room about how she couldn't lose this job. She needed it because her husband had cut her living allowance in half and would leave her if she couldn't keep it.” Joel glanced quickly at her, and Quinn kept her face mildly curious, knowing he was checking to see if she was buying it. She must have sold it because he continued. “Honestly, I didn’t think she was married. She didn’t wear a ring and hit on people all the time, so I stayed away, but since she was actually married, I felt more comfortable about spending time with her and offered to help out. She was really grateful, and she began flirting with me. I told her I was married but didn't tell her to stop. I even flirted back a little, but I thought it was all in good fun. Just joking and playing around.”

“We started talking about our marriages, just kind of venting and stuff, giving advice, getting the opposite sex's perception of things. I just thought I was talking with a friend, and as we got to know each other and got comfortable, things got a little too comfortable, you know what I mean?”

“No, I don't know what you mean,” Quinn said quietly. “Did you sleep with her?”

“NO! God, no.” Joel shuddered theatrically. “I swear I just thought of her as a really good friend, but it was someone new to talk to, and I started neglecting us and our marriage. She wanted to spend time with each other outside of work, so we started going to bars and stuff. When I walked in on you crying, and you said I didn't want to be married to you anymore, I realized what I was doing, and I told Viki I had to step back; I didn't want to lose you.”

“She didn't take it well; she said she was in love with me and thought I was in love with her.” He reached out and took her hands in his, gazing at her imploringly. Easy there, Tiger. You’re overselling now. No wonder you can’t sell cars. Quinn shook her head slightly and focused back on what Joel was saying. “...I'm not, I swear. I just thought of her as a friend and told her that. She's been making my life hell, threatening to go to Rhyme and tell him I made her have sex with me to help her keep her job, showing me texts she's photoshopped where I'm saying nasty stuff to her and about you.”

“When you had Tenn and her over for dinner, and she saw you and me together, she ramped things up. She's saying she'll bring everything to you and show you that I love her, not you. She wants to divorce Tenn and for me to divorce you and be with her.” He continued gazing at her, his blue eyes slightly teary and pleading with her. “She's losing her mind, and I've been trying to keep her at bay and away from you. And now she knows about your anorexia, and I'm terrified she will do or say something to you to trigger you. I understand you have to work with Tenn and spend time with him, but I'm begging you to stop interacting with Viki. For me. I don't want you to get hurt.”

“Wow. Have you gone to Rhyme about any of this?” Quinn was doing her damnedest not to scream that she knew exactly what was going on and tell him exactly what she thought of him.

“Not yet. I've been hoping this all goes away on its own. I'll go to him on Monday.” He promised. He watched her for a minute. “Talk to me, please.”

“I'm not sure what to say, you just admitted to an emotional affair, and you neglected me and our marriage and made me feel like shit because you liked having a new friend? I'm okay with you having female friends; why didn't you tell me?” She pulled her hands away from him and dropped them into her lap, refusing to look at him.

“I was worried about you. Viki looks more like Queenie than you, and I didn't want you to think I was interested in her.”

“Are you interested in her?” Quinn had to refrain consciously from rolling her eyes. Joel loved to flirt with her sister and did it every chance he got. Claiming it was “just an ego boost to have a supermodel flirt with him, it didn’t mean anything.”

“No. No, I'm not.” He reached out and brushed her hair back, smiling softly. “Why would I have a hamburger when I have steak at home? You're my Princess, and I know I haven't been treating you that way lately, but I promise I'll do better.”

Did he seriously just compare her and Viki to cuts of beef? And she definitely noticed he didn’t acknowledge anything about an emotional affair. “So, how do you plan on handling her this weekend?”

“I'm there for upgrading; she's there for new sales training; we won't be in any of the same classes, and afterward, I'll stick with my friends and avoid her.” He promised her, holding up his hand like he was swearing on a bible.

Quinn nodded slowly. “Okay, I need some time to think about this. You swear there wasn't a physical affair?”

“On my grandmother's grave.” He held up his phone. “You can look if you want; it's just her texting me and my occasional response telling her to fuck off. I even think calling it an emotional affair is stretching it. I thought I was making a new friend and was excited, that’s all.”

“No, I trust you.” She forced a small smile. So, he’d started deleting texts. She had a feeling this weekend was his last hurrah with Viki, and he was planning on ending it after. “You would never hurt me that way. Or swear on your grandmother's grave about something if it wasn't true.”

Joel's phone chimed, and he turned it around to look at it. “My ride's here.” He came over and cupped her face. “When I get back, we'll figure out all this.” His thumb brushed across her cheek, and he smiled softly at her. “Get us back to normal.” He bent down and kissed her. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Quinn nodded and kept the same forced smile in place.

“That's my girl.” He kissed her again and then kissed her forehead. “I love you, Quinn.”

Quinn opened her mouth to respond, but his phone chimed again, and he let her go. “I gotta go. See you Sunday night.”

“Bye.” When she heard the door shut, she shut off the recorder and headed up to the shower again. When he touched her, she felt itchy, like she had bugs crawling on her. She shuddered several times, feeling oddly violated. Her nausea was back, and she couldn’t stop the creepy crawly feeling she had despite showering for close to an hour and having to rush to get ready when she got out.

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