Page 73 of Temptation

“Queenie and Killian.” Quill smiled. “Just because I want to see her face when she realises Joel is a cheater too.”

“She might divorce Killian and hook up with Joel.” Quinn muttered as she added their names to the list.

“Nah, he can't afford her lifestyle; she just likes that he flirts and gives her attention.” Quill reassured her. “Do you want to invite Dad?”

“If I thought he would show up without Mom, I’d be happy to invite him.” Quinn frowned. On one hand she kind of did want to invite him so he would see her husband wasn’t as great as he thought, on the other, she knew he’d bring their mother and she would blame Quinn and her weight for Joel cheating. “But since we all know he’s completely under her thumb, he can find out from Queenie.”

“Dad will love to watch Joel go down though.” Bishop said gently. “So, make sure you invite him and Mom.” Quinn nodded and typed into the phone.

“Annie and Tim Nyland. Viki's best friend and her husband, who is apparently cheating on her and addicted to coke.” Tenn suggested. “Although to be honest, I’m not sure they’re still friends. I haven’t actually seen her in months.”

Rilla's eyes widened. “Oh! That reminds me! We had the white powder you found in Viki's purse tested. Bishop reached out to one of BPD’s finest, who gets a new tattoo every three months, and asked if he could test some potential cocaine we’d found.”

“Yeah, that was a fun conversation,” Bishop grumbled. “Convincing him that we’d actually found it.”

“Anyway,” Rilla put her hand on Bishop’s knee and patted it gently. “He came over with a test kit; I explained in a little more detail why I had it; he tested it, and it had no reaction at all, so he tasted it and said it was cornstarch. I don't know if she got ripped off or if she planned to plant it in Quinn's bag so Joel would think she was using it again, but yeah, it wasn’t cocaine.”

Tenn burst into laughter. “She got ripped off. I confronted her the next morning, and she confessed to holding on to it for Annie, who found it in her husband's pocket. If it was just cornstarch, she would have denied it being coke and told me to get it tested.” Rilla and Bishop started laughing, too, but Quinn and Quill looked at them in confusion.

“What are you guys talking about?” Quinn asked. “What coke?” Tenn wiped his eyes, apologized, and explained what happened at bowling. “Wow. She is something else.” She didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t even know how to feel. She glanced at Quill for some kind of cue and was relieved to see he was pissed for her.

“Something else doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Quill snapped angrily. “She could have gotten you arrested or worse.” He glared at the other three. “What if it was cocaine? What if Quinn got pulled over, and they found it? She would have been arrested, lost her licence, lost her job, and either would have had to pay a huge fine or spend a year in prison! It doesn’t matter that it turned out to be cornstarch; Viki thought it was real, and she was willing to give someone she thought was a coke addict her drug of choice to make her relapse! She’s fucking psychotic!” He stood up and left the room; a few seconds later, they all winced as the front door slammed shut.

“He’s right,” Rilla said, looking appropriately chastised and horrified about what Quill had pointed out. I’m so sorry, Quinn, we really mishandled that.” Bishop stood up and squeezed Quinn’s shoulder as he passed.

“I’ll talk to him.”

Tenn cleared his throat, remorse all over his face. “I’m really sorry too.” He reached for Quinn’s hand. “I think we just didn’t know what to do in the moment.”

Quinn shrugged. “I get why Quill’s upset. If it was real cocaine and she had planted it on me, it had a real potential to destroy my life, and the fact that it turned out to be cornstarch doesn’t really take away from the fact that she thought it was cocaine and she had no thought for the consequences I would have faced as long as she got what she wanted.”

She gave them a small smile. “But I get your side too. You guys didn’t want my night to be ruined and you stopped her from whatever it was she had planned. I’m not a cocaine addict, and she didn’t actually plant it on me when she realized Joel lied. Quill is upset because you never brought it to his attention so he could protect me.”

“Yeah, we really messed up,” Rilla admitted with a sigh, and Tenn nodded.

“Did you though?” Quinn leaned back and stretched. “Can you imagine the hell Quill would have raised if it was brought to his attention that night? He would have thrown her and Joel through a window and gotten himself arrested.”

“This is also true.” Rilla nodded and turned to Tenn. “You should have seen him when Joel told him why Quinn was in the hospital. It took two hospital security guards and Bishop to pull him off Joel. I didn’t know Quill had it in him.”

“He beat him up in the hospital?” Tenn raised his eyebrow in surprise.

Rilla nodded. “Yeah, in the hallway outside Quinn’s room. That’s why he was arrested and spent the night in jail. B.R. and Bishop pulled a lot of strings and called in a few favours to get him released as fast as possible.”

Seeing the confusion on Tenn's face, Quinn smiled and elaborated. “You aren't from Boston, so you wouldn't know, but the Deerings have a very long history in law enforcement here. Bishop’s uncle is a judge, his grandfather was chief of police for ten years, his aunt is a forensic psychologist, and he has several cousins who are lawyers or police officers. It goes so far back that one of his ancestors was a judge in the Salem witch trials.”

“But we don't talk about him.” Rilla chuckled as she stood up and started picking up their dishes. “Anyway, Quill ended up only spending a night in jail. Joel refused to press charges, and he agreed to do some pro bono renovations at the hospital so they wouldn't ban him from building.”

“I knew Quill beat the shit out of Joel, but I didn’t realize it happened at the hospital.” Tenn leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “That’s crazy.”

“Yeah…” Rilla smiled and leaned down to kiss Quinn’s cheek as she passed. “He’s a little overprotective of his lil’ sister.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “So, yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much about his reaction. Bishop will talk him down. Who else are we inviting?”

“Viki's mom, Frannie Yates.” Tenn smiled, looking relieved and amused by their exchange. “I'm sure she'll be wildly disappointed in her daughter. What about Joel's parents?”

“Deacon and Gladys Hudson,” Quinn added them with a smile. “And his older brother, Billy.”

“Wait.” Rilla started to giggle. “They named their sons Billy and Joel? Like Billy Joel?”

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