A knock on the door sounded and she felt fear and relief float through her body at the same time. She knew who would be on the other side of the door. She had asked them to come. They had been friends for a long time but lately they had worked for her and they were there to deliver the evidence. She wanted to smile but her face refused to obey her so she opened the door with a neutral expression. As expected Finn and Becky were there, both of them wearing hoodies to hide their faces.
"Jesus, Jennifer, did you sleep at all?" Becky asked.
"Don't worry about me," Jennifer brushed it off. "Come inside."
As soon as the door closed, they dropped the hoods and Jennifer couldn't help but smile.
"Damn, Becky!" She giggled.
"What? I think I can pull off the orange," Becky said.
"I want you to leave the country unnoticed. Everyone will stare at you now," Jennifer said.
"They always do. I'm a bombshell," Becky grinned.
"And you," Jennifer looked at Finn. "You look weird without a beard. Grow it back."
"Thanks, love," he chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll do that."
He took her hand, placed the USB flash drive in her palm and closed her fingers around it. He kept holding on to her hand with both of his.
"Everything you need is on this," he said.
"I can't thank you enough," she said.
"Please," he smiled. "Getting you away is more than enough for me."
"And the girls?" She asked.
"We paid them for you," Becky stepped in. "Yep, Bailey and Peyton are more than happy. We paid way more than any regular customer. Randy just has a thing for brunettes, doesn't he?"
"He never could keep his eyes off you, could he?" Jennifer smiled sadly.
"It was so disgusting. Sorry, Jennifer, I know you married the man but he's a fucking creep," Becky said.
"I'm glad he is because with this evidence..." Jennifer held up the USB flash drive. "I can finally get a divorce. His parents are too hard to fight but the one thing they don't tolerate is adultery. And I won't give him a chance to do damage control. This is gonna blow up in his face tonight."
"Just be careful," Becky said.
Jennifer nodded and Becky looked at Finn. He nodded towards the door and she smiled.
"Right. I'm just gonna go wait outside," she said.
She pulled the hood back up and walked outside to Jennifer's bafflement. Finn gently grabbed her face and looked at her.
"I can't leave without telling you this," he said.
"Tell me what?" She asked.
"I'd rather show you," he said lowly.
He leaned in and kissed her softly. He wanted to do so much more but he knew he couldn't. This was not the time or the place. He wasn't sure if there ever would be a time for them but he had to at least kiss her once.
"Finn," she said surprised.
"It's been so hard being around you. Seeing you with him and how badly he treats you when all I wanna do is take you in my arms and keep you safe. I think you've always known, love. You've always known how I feel about you," he said.
She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her by placing a finger against her lips.
"Don't say anything," he moved his finger again. "I don't want you breaking my heart here. Just know I'm out there and once your divorce has gone through and you've gotten all this behind you, I'll be in Ireland waiting if you ever wanna come live with me. I know it's an awful lot to ask you to leave everything behind but you know I can't come back here once I leave."
"I'll come," she said before he could stop her.
"You will?" He asked.
"Yes," she nodded frantically. "One day I'll come so you better not forget about me."
"Never," he stole another kiss from her now that he knew she felt something too. "I'll wait for you, love, as long as it takes."
He pulled his hood up and disappeared out of the house. She stood there on the floor, not running to a window to watch them leave. It would be too hard. They were going straight into hiding, probably somewhere in the airport although their plane didn't leave until the early morning hours.
She reached a hand up to touch her lips. For so long she had been in love with him but she never thought he felt the same way about her. It all made sense now though, why he and Becky had insisted on helping her record Randy with other women. Finn wanted to make sure she got out of this toxic marriage.
She grabbed her jacket and went out in her car. She had an appointment with a journalist named Heath Slater at the tv station. She couldn't take the videos to Randy or his parents. She needed to blow this thing up so everyone knew.
"Mrs Orton?" Heath looked at her as she entered his office.
"That's me," she said.
"What have you got for me? It sounded rather juicy over the telephone," he said.
She put the USB flash drive down on the table.
"What's on it?" He asked.
"Randy in bed with other women. Two to be exact. Bayley and Peyton. Prostitutes. I'm sure they'll love to give you an interview if you pay them a little," she answered.
"And what do you want for it?" He asked.
"Nothing you can give. I just want you to show it on tonight's news at 9," she answered.
He grabbed the USB flash drive and put it in his laptop. She stayed on the other side of the table, not wanting to see her husband fuck someone else, but the noises reached her loud and clear.
"Damn!" Heath grinned.
"Do we have a deal then?" She asked.
"Hell yeah. Tonight at 9. You got it," he answered. "May I ask why you wanna hang your own husband out to dry?"
"No, you may not," she said.
"It's alright," he reached over the table and shook her hand. "Damn! This town is gonna lose it. The mayor's son cheating on his wife with two prostitutes. Randy can scrap the idea of being next in line for that post."
"Keep my name out of it. I was never here and I have no idea my husband isn't faithful," she said.
"Don't worry, mrs Orton," he said.
She nodded and left his office. Mrs Orton. She hoped it would be the last time anyone would call her that. Once she got her divorce, she would go back to her maiden name. Jennifer Walsh. And once she made it to Ireland and if things went right between her and Finn, maybe down the line if she even dared try and go for another marriage, she could become Jennifer Balor. But that was wishful thinking and not something she could dream about now.
That evening she didn't enjoy dinner with Randy and his parents Hunter and Stephanie. She never did but a lot more was at stake this time. She managed to get some of the food inside her without anyone questioning her why she didn't eat up. They left the table and she felt everything inside her tighten as Hunter turned on the tv to watch the news. She could only hope Heath hadn't ended up not wanting to show the footage. A dark beauty, the news anchor Ember Moon, appeared on the screen.
"Tonight's main story: The mayor's son Randy Orton has been a naughty boy playing with prostitutes on the side."
"What?" All four people yelled the word at the same time.
"What is she talking about?" Stephanie looked at her son.
"I haven't done shit!" Randy sneered.
The videos started playing, just small clips from each time he was with them with blurred out body parts of course, but it was him on the screen fucking other women. They then cut to the two women Bayley and Peyton that talked about their many times with him.
"He likes to get his dick sucked," Peyton twirled her hair around her fingers. "A lot."
"And he always wants doggystyle," Bayley said.
"Does he try to sneak a finger up your ass too?" Peyton asked.
"Everytime," Bayley laughed. "And that shit doesn't fly with any of us. Like, listen mister, I'll suck your dick and I'll fuck you raw but you don't get to mess with my ass. That's for my baby daddy only."
Hunter turned to look at Randy, his entire body seething with fury.
"What the fuck, son?" He shouted loudly. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Dad," Randy tried.
"Shut up!" Hunter shouted. "You've embarrassed me! You've embarrased your mom, your wife, this entire family!"
"I can fix this," Randy tried.
"Get out of my house!" Hunter pointed towards the front door.
Randy knew he was beat. He nodded in defeat and looked at Jennifer.
"Alright, let's go, Jen," he said.
"She's staying here," Stephanie said.
"What?" Randy looked at his mother.
"Do you have any idea what you've put her through? She trusted you. She loved you. And you betrayed her," Stephanie berated.
She walked over and pulled Jennifer into her arms. Jennifer allowed herself to cry, even though it was a weird mix of tears both out of anger, fear, hurt and happiness.
"Poor girl," Stephanie cooed down in Jennifer's hair. "Hunter and I will help you. Don't worry about that. Monday morning we'll take you to our attorney and if Randy has any brain left inside him, he'll sign the divorce papers right away."
"Mom!" Randy tried.
"I believe you heard your father," Stephanie gave him a cold look. "Get out of our house!"
That night Jennifer laid in the guest room in her in-laws' house but she couldn't sleep. She had texted Becky and Finn to tell them what had happened and she could only hope they would get out of the country safe. She knew Randy had sketchy friends that would try and make the tv station give out their sources or maybe the tv station themselves had made Bayley and Peyton tell them who had paid them to go after Randy. That was the whole reason they had changed their looks, just to be on the safe side.
At 3.30 AM the light from her phone finally lit up the dark room. Her phone was on mute to keep Hunter and Stephanie from waking up. She opened the text from Becky that showed a selfie of her and Finn on board the plane.
"We just boarded. Leaving in 30 minutes. We miss you. Finn says he misses you most. Good luck with everything. Remember, we're only a phone call away."
Jennifer smiled at the picture. They looked so happy and their happiness rubbed off on her. Everything always seemed so easy with them around. She knew she would do as she had told Finn earlier. She would come join him in Ireland.
"I miss you too. Safe flight home. Tell Finn I miss him a little more than I miss you too. And don't give me any pouty face because I already know he told you about the kiss and my promise. I won't break that promise. Before this year is over, you're stuck with me forever over there."