"That's her car," Finn said.
"Lost and found," Rhea chuckled.
"I'm gonna find her, alright," Finn said determined.
Rhea parked the car and they all got out of it. Three worn out apartment complexes stood side by side looking like something that should have been torn down decades ago.
"Is it even legal to live there?" Damian asked.
"Who the fuck knows?" Rhea asked.
"It's probably full of asbestos and bugs," Damian said.
"Doesn't matter. She's not staying another night," Finn said. "Let's start with the building she's parked in front of. If most rooms are empty, there shouldn't be a lack of parking close to whatever room she got."
They walked into the building straight ahead and looked at the walls.
"Fuck, that's nasty," Damian said. "Let's avoiding touching anything."
"We have to. We gotta knock on doors until we find her," Finn said. "You don't have to do this. I can find her myself."
"Fuck that. We're in this together. She's my friend too. Only lady friend I've ever truly vibed with. I never knew how nice it is to be friends with a woman until I met her," Rhea said.
"You're gonna date her if we ever break up, aren't you?" Finn joked.
"Maybe," Rhea grinned. "Keep that happy mindset. We're gonna find her in a couple of minutes, and you're gonna go home together. I wanna see that smile all day."
They knocked on the first door and waited a minute. Nothing happened. They moved on from door to door on the first floor. At door 4 they heard movement on the other side. They held their breaths as the person walked over to the locked door.
"Who is it?" Thunder asked.
"It's me, love. It's Finn," Finn answered.
It was quiet for two seconds and then they heard the lock click. Thunder opened the door and she had clearly been crying.
"How did you find me?" Thunder asked.
Instead of answering, Finn wrapped his arms around her, lifted her up, and moved into the room with Damian and Rhea behind them. He put Thunder back down and kissed her. She didn't push him away and that told him everything he needed to know. She hadn't left him because she wanted to. Something or someone had made her do it.
"Why did you leave?" He asked.
"I had to," she answered.
"Explain to me why," he said.
"I can't. It's too late," she said.
"Not to me and I deserve to know. You can't just vanish like a thief in the night and expect me to accept it. We've spent three years together. We're getting married. I love you so much. I won't leave until you tell me why you left," he said.
She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. She suddenly felt cold despite it being warm outside.
"I haven't been honest with you," she said.
"About what?" He asked. "Whatever it is, I don't care. I love you. We'll work through it together."
"It's not that simple. You won't forgive this," she said.
"Did you cheat on me?" He asked.
"I would never," she looked shocked. "I love you, Finn. I don't need someone else. I don't fucking want anyone else."
"Then tell me what it is!" He raised his voice.
She looked around for an escape but there wasn't one. She had to come clean. It was way overdue. He deserved to know.
"Yesterday AJ told me something you said to him once," Thunder said.
"What was it?" Finn asked.
"He said the most disgusting thing to you is a woman being an escort, and that you would never be with a woman who had degraded herself like that," Thunder said.
"What? When did I say that? I've never said that. I don't look down on sex workers. And if I dated someone who had been a sex worker in the past, it wouldn't matter to me," Finn said.
"Finn," Rhea said.
"No, you know me, Rhea," Finn said.
"Finn!" Rhea said more firmly.
"I'm being honest. I wouldn't care..." He paused and looked at Thunder when it finally hit him. "You were an escort once?"
"I had no other choice. They threw me out. I didn't know what else to do," Thunder said.
Tears started running down her cheeks. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
"It's okay. I don't care about that. You did what you had to do to survive, and I'm so proud of you, Thunder. So fucking proud. This doesn't change a damn thing. I still love you just the same. I love you even more for telling me about this," he said.
"But I lied to you. I should have told you from the start," she said.
"You didn't lie. You withheld information until you were ready to share it," he said.
"How can you take this information so lightly?" She asked.
"How can I not?" He asked.
He placed his hands on her cheeks and smiled at her.
"I love you," he said. "You, Thunder. Your past, both the good and the bad, shaped you into the woman you are today. The woman I fell in love with. The woman I wanna spend the rest of my life with. Yes, we need so sit down and talk this through but I promise you that it doesn't change a damn thing. I love you no matter what. I will always love you."
"I love you too," she said.
"That's all I need to hear right now," he said.
He pressed his lips against hers in a kiss.
"So this is all AJ's fault?" Rhea asked. "I fucking knew it. That little snake always looks at Thunder the wrong way. I warned you about him, Finn."
"You did, and I should have listened," Finn said. "I'm listening now."
"AJ knew somehow," Damian pointed out. "How?"
"I don't know," Thunder said.
"Do you have the group photo you took last night?" Finn asked.
"Of course," Damian said.
Damian took out his phone, found the photo, and handed the phone to Finn.
"There were some people from my past there that you haven't met before. Maybe you know one of them," Finn said.
Finn handed Thunder the phone so she could look at all the men in the picture.
"That tall guy," Thunder pointed.
"That's Luke," Finn said.
"I went out with him and a friend of his. A shorter one but also bald. The short one was my job. Luke was just there. We went out for dinner and a drink, and then we went back to the other guy's place. Luke stayed in the living room while I went to the bedroom with his friend," Thunder said.
"Karl," Finn sighed. "I'm not even surprised. He's bragged about using escorts in the past."
"You got some weird friends," Damian said.
"There's a reason I don't hang out with them anymore. AJ invited them last night. And apparently uninvited Rhea. I told him I wanted you there," Finn said.
"Boys only," Rhea sneered. "That's what he said. And he waited with telling me until the night before so I didn't have a chance to reach out to you without causing chaos. I didn't want to do that."
"I quite like it when you cause chaos," Thunder said.
Rhea looked over at Thunder and smirked.
"Never change," Rhea winked.
"He said I had two choices. If I wanted him to keep quiet, I would have to fuck him," Thunder said.
"What?" Finn shouted.
"I could never do that. I knew my only option was to leave," Thunder said.
"Oh, love," Finn said.
"Let's go cause some chaos right now. What can we use against AJ? We need proof or he'll say it's word against word," Rhea said.
"Will this do?" Thunder asked.
Thunder took out her phone and played the voice mail left by AJ from the night before.
"That most certainly will do," Rhea grinned. "Let's go, guys."
"I'll meet you by the car. I need to hand back the key for my room," Thunder said.
Finn, Damian and Rhea walked out to the cars. Thunder came out shortly after with her sportsbag full of random clothes. She threw it in the trunk and got pulled into Finn's arms for a kiss.
"Follow us," Finn said.
"We're not missing this," Rhea laughed.
Thunder and Finn got into Thunder's car while Rhea and Damian got into Rhea's car. They all drove to AJ's house. He heard the cars drive up and came out to greet them. His eyes shot daggers when he saw Thunder was there too. She had some nerve coming there with all of them. He still thought he had everything under control. Finn would believe him seeing how many years they had been friends.
"Hi, guys," AJ faked a smile. "What's going on."
"I found her," Finn said.
"I can see that. Where was she?" AJ asked.
"None of your business," Finn said.
"Is everything okay here?" AJ asked.
"Not one fucking bit!" Rhea growled.
"Control your bitch," AJ looked at Damian. "This is my property and she better show me some respect or she can leave."
"Shut the fuck up!" Finn snarled.
AJ got surprised by Finn's tone. He shut up and just stared at his angry friend.
"Thunder told me what you said to her yesterday. What you wanted her to do to stay silent. You fucking disgust me," Finn said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," AJ said.
"Allow me to refresh your memory," Finn said. "Thunder?"
Thunder took out her phone and played the voice mail. AJ's jaw dropped. He had been drinking last night and not thought twice about leaving a voice mail to prove what he did.
"You shouldn't leave voice mails if you don't want the truth to come out," Finn said.
"But she's an escort," AJ tried.
"Was!" Finn shouted. "And I don't fucking care, AJ. I love her. There's no room for you in my life anymore."
"You stupid bitch!" AJ spat.
Finn grabbed AJ's shirt and slammed him back first up against the front door.
"Finn!" AJ whimpered in fear.
"No!" Finn said coldly. "You and me are done, AJ. You don't ever come near me or Thunder again or I will hurt you in ways your little brain can't even begin to imagine. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes," AJ said scared.
Finn let go of AJ, took Thunder's hand, and walked back to her car. All four of them drove back to Finn and Thunder's house. Finn grabbed a round of cold lemonades in the fridge, and they all sat down in the living room.
"What a fucking weird weekend," Finn said.
"I'm sorry," Thunder said.
Finn put an arm around Thunder's shoulders and placed a kiss on top of her head.
"All is forgiven," Finn said.
"So the wedding's still on, right?" Damian asked.
"We might have to move it so AJ doesn't somehow show up to cause a scene," Finn said. "What do you think, love?"
"I think we should just gather our closest friends and go to city hall as soon as possible. I don't care where and when we get married as long as we do. And we can throw a barbeque in our garden afterwards," Thunder said.
"What a lovely idea. Let's do that. Let's call city hall Monday and set up a date in a few weeks," Finn said.
Finn smiled at Thunder and leaned in for a kiss.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too," she said.
"You and me, love," he said. "Nothing will ever break us apart."