Prologue
"A fucking 24-year-old!" Naomi's shaky breathing was becoming loud and even more uneven as she gripped her phone tighter against her ear.
"You've been fucking a 24-year-old for over a goddamn year, Dex. Not even just fucking, a full-on relationship. A legitimate affair."
Naomi paced back and forth in her office shaking her had from side to side. Random grunts and sounds of frustration came from her as Dex tried his best to recover the newly revealed secret. He spoke fast but Naomi ignored him. There was nothing he could ever say to make this any better.
"And that bitch had the audacity to come to my work. To come directly to my fucking office and tell me!" Naomi said slow with a strange deep voice. "Not only tell me, Dex, she fucking showed me!"
The visual of never-ending text messages and photos of them together and separate began to pop into Naomi's mind.
"A pretty blonde, too Dex. So, props to you, I really hope she was fucking worth it." She bitterly said.
His muffled shouting suddenly came to a halt when Naomi ended the call. She looked around her crisp office. The panoramic windows showed part of the Atlantic Ocean and her city of Wilmington, North Carolina. She wanted to throw her phone against the thick glass but placed it onto her desk instead.
The unmistakable buzzing began to vibrate against the glass table as Naomi sunk into her chair. A photo of Dex popped onto the screen and Naomi immediately ignored the call and turned her phone onto airplane mode.
'What the fuck just happened?" She asked herself with a broken voice. She sank farther into her seat and relayed the last thirty minutes.
She had just come back from lunch when the downstairs receptionist said there was a woman waiting to be seen. Naomi allowed the woman in and was intent to hear why the random blonde wanted to speak with her.
The woman, who's name was Mallory Floyd, immediately blurted out that she knew Naomi's husband of five years, Dexter Dirks, very well. Very well because they were having a full-blown relationship since last October. A relationship lasting a year and three months. Before Naomi could even process what the woman had said, she whipped out her phone and began to show her screenshots of texts and photos as proof.
And Naomi, as daring and bold as she was beautiful, stood up and told the mistress to get the fuck out.
"Get the fuck out of my fucking office. How dare you come in here, to speak of this while I am at fucking work. Get the fuck out before I drag you by your fucking bleached hair."
Naomi was relatively proud of the last words she spoke to the woman. The girl's eyes widened, and she scrambled out of the office before Naomi could even blink. She ran out in her full Lululemon attire with her basic Louis Vuitton tote.
A couple minutes later, elicited the call to Dex. Of course, he first pretended like he had no idea who Mallory Floyd was. Then he said it was once or twice they only "hooked up". Then finally he admitted, or stayed silent, to the fact that they were dating for over a year.
Naomi stared at a random spot on her desk. Every time he went away for work or came home late every Tuesday and Thursday because of work meetings he was with her. When she went away once a month for a week for her own work conferences, he was with her. When he'd take random days off during the week while Naomi had to work, he was with her.
The last and worst thing that came to her mind was the thought that he may have done this more than once. How could she live like this? Knowing that half of the time she was with Dex, the other half he was spending with another girl! She was fucking married to the man, for four years, and they dated for another five. Since she was 22, the only man in her life had been Dexter Dirks and all of Wilmington knew that and in return, everything in Wilmington reminded her of him.
Naomi didn't know whether to cry or to scream. Or both? One thing she did know, was that there was no way in hell she could stay in the same city let alone the same state as him or her. She had to get out.
1 week later
That fucking girl. That young, dumb, 24-year-old girl. When Naomi was that age, she never would have dared to cross the line like that young, dumb 24-year old girl.
She let her head fall and rubbed her scalp with both hands in stress. Naomi stared at the red soup under her as if the softened vegetables would spell something out to her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." Naomi instinctively replied. She tossed her head up and rested her chin on her knuckles. She looked across the kitchen at her blonde friend with sunken eyes.
Her best friend, Erin, watched her with pity. There had been plenty of times she had been cheated on. She had been there and done that with almost all her boyfriend's but never by her husband. Never by the man who swore the rest of his life to you.
Erin grabbed her bowl from the stove and sat beside Naomi at her kitchen bar. She stirred her hot soup while trying to find the right thing to say.
"So, what do you think about that job in Gotham?" Naomi asked as she took a sip from her spoon. She figured any conversation that was far from mentioning Naomi's husband, Dex, and his little mistress was the best option. Erin peeked at her friend to watch her reaction. "A job at Wayne Enterprises sounds pretty cool."
"Yeah, I'm going to interview." Naomi sat up straight and began to follow Erin's suit as she stirred her soup. "I've been thinking about it and I've always wanted to live in the city."
She let the warm soup sit relish in her mouth as it warmed her up. The cold January air of Wilmington, North Carolina still crept indoors even with Erin's heater on max. Deep down, Naomi knew she would land the job. A few days ago, a recruiter had called almost as soon as Naomi set her LinkedIn profile to show that she was searching for a new job. Wayne Enterprises was looking for a new president of industrial development and she was more than qualified; she was already Vice President of industrial development at CSX. It would be a promotion and something she could surely handle.
Wayne Enterprises was already an enormous corporation that just recently invested in the forgotten rail industry, but those who didn't forget know how lucrative it really is. Although the corporation just purchased the majority of Northeast United States track, it wasn't close to what CSX owned. Which was ideal and a relief for Naomi.
"No ties and no one holding me back. I think it'd… be good for me." Naomi continued.
Erin nodded and discreetly watched her friend eat. She would miss her, but she understood why Naomi would move. Hell, she even thought she had to. If it were Erin, there was no way in hell she'd survive living in the same city as her ex-husband and the girl he cheated on her with. Especially not with how small their town was and how close their friend groups were.
"Have you set a date yet?"
"This coming Friday at 10am. I figure I'll fly up Thursday and spend the weekend until Sunday."
"That's good." Erin thought about Diana being gone all weekend and then gone completely from her everyday life.
"But damn, I'm going to miss you." Erin pouted at her long-time friend.
Naomi turned in her seat and returned the sad expression.
"I know, after 13 years of living within a mile of each other. An end of an era."
"Yeah, but now it gives me a reason to come visit. Besides, Gotham has all the sports and nightlife. I can't remember the last time I stepped foot in a club."
"We'll definitely have to go to some hockey and basketball games."
"Maybe you'll end up dating one of them." Erin wiggled her eyebrows with an obvious suggestion. Naomi rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Yeah, because athletes are always the most loyal." She said with clear sarcasm.
"Who knows, maybe you'll meet that uh… Bruce Wayne." Erin said between slurps.
Naomi made an agreeing sound but didn't care too much about meeting her possible boss. She knew she'd eventually meet him if she got the job, but to have personal relations? That idea seemed far fetched and the last thing she wanted to do was think about any man.
A/N: There will be some other characters in the DC universe in this story!