Burning Ties: Choosing His Best Friend

I slammed into the guardrail on my way to drop off medicine for my firefighter husband. The doors jammed shut. Thick, black smoke hissed through the dashboard vents.

I called Carter in an absolute panic, only to find out he was out on a call. Not wanting to distract him, I choked back my terror and braced to claw my way out.

The second the flames flared up the hood, I shoved the door with everything I had, but the crushed metal pinned my leg completely.

Just as the smoke started stealing my air, his captain, Rowan, showed up with a crew. That was when I caught Rowan roaring into his radio. "Fallon is pregnant!

How the hell do you abandon your own wife for Melanie's kid?" "Her kid has pneumonia, and Melanie can't handle it alone. You're there.

I know Fallon is in good hands with you guys…" That was the moment something in me finally snapped. I packed my bags and moved to a remote mountain town to teach.

And the husband who always put Melanie first? Now he's tearing the state apart trying to find a trace of me.

Chapter 1 "Besides," Carter's voice drifted through the phone speaker, crisp and entirely detached. "If Melanie's husband hadn't stepped in to save Fallon back then, I'd be the one living with this kind of loss.

Helping her and Aria now is just me paying off Fallon's debt." Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a harsh, disbelieving breath. "Nobody knows what actually happened in that fire.

You're nuking your own marriage over Melanie's version of events. Is it really worth it?" "Yeah, it is.

If Melanie lost her kid today, or if Fallon walked away with a few scrapes, maybe I wouldn't feel so damn guilty all the time…" The plastic water cup slipped from my numb fingers and bounced off the asphalt.

My throat closed up tight. I clamped both hands over my mouth, gagging as I tried to hold back a sob. I couldn't breathe. My chest caved in on itself. This was my husband.

The father of my unborn baby.

I wanted to lunge forward, snatch that phone, and scream into the receiver, demanding to know who actually mattered—his pregnant wife, or his precious childhood best friend.

I pushed off the bumper, forcing my trembling legs to hold me up. A sharp, tearing pain ripped through my stomach. A gasp escaped my lips as I doubled over, clutching it.

Within seconds, a warm, terrifying dampness soaked through the fabric of my white sundress.

Rowan whipped around, going completely pale the second his eyes locked onto the crimson drops pooling around my sneakers.

He dropped the phone, scooped me into his arms, and sprinted toward the approaching ambulance sirens.

The EMT took one look at my vitals and shook his head grimly. "Mother is going into hemorrhagic shock. Her blood pressure is tanking. We're losing the baby.

Get the husband on the line, now." My hands hovered over my swollen belly, shaking violently. Three years. We spent three years praying for this baby.

Just an hour ago, I was scrolling through my phone, finalizing the order for his nursery crib.

Now, my entire world was bleeding out on a stretcher. "Please," I rasped, my fingernails digging into the EMT's forearm. "I don't care about the pain.

Just save him. "I'm seven months along. Just give him one more month…" The medic wouldn't look me in the eye. He just tightened the IV line and barked another order at the driver.

The back of the ambulance fell into a suffocating silence. The only sounds were the erratic beep of the heart monitor and Rowan's phone ringing endlessly.

Rowan's hands balled into fists. I knew Carter was sending him straight to voicemail. I squeezed my eyes shut against the harsh overhead lights.

My lungs burned with every shallow breath. "Use mine," I whispered. "We need him." It felt like a sick joke.

Even if Melanie's late husband really had pulled me from that fire years ago, Carter still belonged here with his bleeding wife. And the most twisted part?

It was Rowan who hauled me out of those flames, not Melanie's husband. We had told Carter a hundred times, but he never listened. He only ever believed Melanie's tears.

The line dialed out for what felt like an eternity before the ringing finally stopped. "Fallon," Carter let out a heavy, irritated sigh. "Rowan said you barely have a scratch.

Aria is absolutely terrified right now. "She won't let go of my shirt.

I'll swing by the house tonight to check on you, okay?" Rowan snatched the phone from my ear, the veins in his neck bulging. "She is hemorrhaging, Carter! The baby is crashing!

Get your ass to the trauma center right now!" Dead silence on the other end.

Then, Melanie's soft, hesitant voice filtered through the line. "Rowan just said she was fine a minute ago.

Now it's life or death? "Do you think she found out you're here with us and… maybe she's just acting out because she's jealous?

Whatever it is, Carter, you should probably just go so she doesn't make a scene." A sharp breath hissed through the speaker.

I could hear the anger in Carter's silence. "Put Fallon on the line. Now." I didn't care about the anger in his voice. I just needed my husband.

The pain was splitting me in half. "Carter," I choked out, fresh tears blurring my vision. "It hurts so much.

I just want…" "Uncle Carter?" a little girl's sugary voice piped up in the background, cutting me off entirely. "Aria wants strawberries." Chapter 2 The dial tone buzzed against my ear.

My stomach plummeted.

He wasn't coming. "Fallon," Carter's voice cut through the static, heavy with exhaustion. "I get you're shaken up from the fender bender, but you can't weaponize the baby like this. "Melanie is a single mom.

It's too hard on her. I'll come home as soon as Aria feels better." I thought swallowing my pride would give him an out, a reason to rush back to me.

But logic didn't exist when it came to Melanie. She was his ultimate blind spot. I begged him. My voice cracked, raw and pathetic. The line went dead. He hung up.

I lifted my heavy gaze to Rowan. "Has he even been at the firehouse?" I choked out. "Or has he been playing house with Melanie for the last five days?" Rowan looked down at his boots and gave a single, tight nod.

I laughed, the sound hollow and dry. Tears blurred my vision. Five days ago, Carter demanded we move Melanie and Aria into our guest room. I refused.

The fight shattered whatever peace we had left, and he walked out. When he called this morning asking for his stomach meds, I thought it was an olive branch.

Instead, it was a death sentence. My chest tightened so hard it felt like my ribs were cracking.

I dug my fingernails into my palms, trying to ground myself against the rising panic. The pain peaked, pulling me into the dark. Flashes of light. The sharp tear of velcro.

Shouted medical codes. Rowan screaming into his phone. Then, suffocating silence. In the dark, a distinct pulling sensation ripped through my core. An emptiness.

My eyes snapped open. The fluorescent hospital lights blinded me. My hands instantly scrambled down to my hospital gown. Flat. The familiar swell vanished.

A loud, ugly sob broke from my lips. The doctor hovered at the foot of the bed. Words like "placental abruption," "severe trauma," and "hemorrhage" floated through the sterile room.

I nodded mechanically. My body went entirely cold. Every inhale felt like swallowing crushed glass. My lungs protested. My fingers went numb. "You'll have another chance, Fallon.

You need to focus on healing—" "Where is Carter?" My voice was pure gravel, slicing through Rowan's pity. Rowan's expression hardened.

He stared at the linoleum floor, refusing to meet my eyes. Two days. It had been two full days since the crash.

I shook my head as a fresh tear tracked down my cheek. "He's still with them, isn't he?" I whispered. "What did my baby and I even mean to him?" I snatched my phone from the bedside table and hit his contact.

I was done biting my tongue. He answered on the second ring. In the background, an intercom pinged.

A hospital nurse call bell. "You're at the hospital?" I rasped, gripping the phone until my knuckles turned white. "Yeah," Carter sighed. "Aria's fever spiked again.

We brought her to the ER. Once I get them settled in a room, I'll head home." Acid burned the back of my throat. We were in the exact same building. "I'm admitted here, Carter.

In the maternity ward." The line went dead quiet. Then, a sharp exhale. "First Rowan screams about a hemorrhage, and now you're faking a maternity admission?

What kind of sick game are you two playing?" Carter's voice was filled with pure venom. "I called the tow yard.

The mechanic said the car is totaled, sure, but there wasn't a single drop of blood inside. "The gaslighting is insane, Fallon.

You'd seriously stage a medical emergency just to keep me away from Melanie?" He didn't even pause for a breath. "Listen to me very carefully.

You owe Melanie and Aria. "You owe them everything. I am fixing your mistakes." The floor gave out beneath me. He had time to interrogate a tow truck driver.

But he couldn't take an elevator ride up one floor to check if his wife was bleeding out. I ripped the thin hospital blanket off my legs. A vicious cramp seized my abdomen.

I bit through my bottom lip, forced my bare feet onto the cold tiles, and grabbed my IV pole.

When the elevator doors dinged open on the pediatrics floor, a hollow laugh escaped my lips. One floor. We were separated by a single flight of stairs.

Yet, it was a distance he refused to cross. I followed the sound of familiar voices, dragging myself toward the pediatric ward.

Chapter 3 Carter rocked Aria, murmuring sweet nothings as the little girl's tearstained face buried into his neck.

Melanie leaned heavily against his shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed. Seeing them curled up together knocked the air from my lungs.

He used to look at my pregnant belly with that exact same look of pure devotion. He used to talk about our future family of three with stars in his eyes.

Now, my baby was gone, and he was busy playing house with someone else. My fingers curled around the metal door handle. I pressed it down.

The faint click made Melanie open her eyes. Her gaze locked directly onto mine. For a split second, she froze.

Then, she tilted her head up to look at Carter, faking a worried tone. "Carter, Aria is stable now. "You should really go home to Fallon tonight.

I'm worried about her…" "What is there to worry about?" Carter scoffed. "She's been so paranoid ever since she got pregnant.

Constantly obsessing over us, convinced there's some massive red flag. "Now she's dragging Rowan into this sick little game to gaslight me. I'm letting her cool off for a few days.

I'll go back when she stops acting absolutely unhinged." My hands shook at the disgust in his voice. A hot tear slipped down my cheek. Five years together. Three years of marriage.

I genuinely thought we were soulmates. I thought we were invincible. But I was the only one in this marriage. He was just an actor hitting his marks.

Carter gently laid a sleeping Aria onto the hospital bed.

He turned around and pulled Melanie into a tight, protective embrace. "While Fallon hasn't delivered yet, I actually have the time to take care of you two," he murmured into her hair, his voice laced with heavy guilt. "Otherwise, I'd never forgive myself." Melanie got exactly what she wanted.

Over Carter's shoulder, she met my eyes again. She gave me a small, knowing smile. The last shred of fight left my body.

The desperate, clawing need to burst in and scream at him vanished entirely. I released the door handle. I backed away, dragging my numb legs toward the elevator bank.

The doors slid open on my floor to reveal Rowan pacing the hallway, his face pale with panic. "Did you find Carter?" "I found him," I whispered, my voice utterly hollow. "But I don't want him anymore." I closed my eyes.

The image of their perfect little family burned into the back of my eyelids. It was time to figure out a way out. Before I married Carter, I was a high school teacher.

I gave up my tenure track and uprooted my entire life to move to his city just to make things easier for him.

If this was how he treated my devotion, I was done serving myself up on a silver platter. I pulled out my phone right there in the hallway.

I pulled up the application for an immersive rural teaching program in the Appalachians and hit submit. I would leave in two weeks with the new batch of college grads.

A week later, the hospital finally discharged me. Standing outside our apartment building, unwanted memories of Carter hijacked my brain.

We met during a fire drill back in high school. A panicked freshman shoved past me to cut the line, sending me pitching backward toward the stairwell railing.

I was tumbling over the edge when Carter's hand clamped down on my forearm like a vice. "I got you. Don't be afraid." Those six words rewired my entire brain.

I spent the next three years hopelessly obsessed with him. My relentless pursuit finally paid off when he got down on one knee. I thought we were getting a fairytale ending.

But everything derailed during our second year of marriage. I was getting a massage at a highend downtown spa when the fire alarm blared. Smoke flooded the corridors.

Melanie and her husband happened to be there too, though I had no idea who she was at the time.

I fell back on every fire safety protocol Carter ever drilled into my head and led us toward a reinforced structural safe zone. Melanie's husband panicked.

He outright rejected my plan, grabbed her wrist, and tried to make a run for the smokefilled stairwell. Suddenly, a burning ceiling beam crashed down.

I yanked Melanie backward by her shirt. But I wasn't fast enough to reach her husband. Chapter 4 Melanie watched her husband bleed out on the marble floor.

Her grief warped into pure, unfiltered hatred. She pointed the finger straight at me. I didn't have the energy to fight her delusion; I just wanted to survive that nightmare.

But the next time I saw her, Melanie had spun a brandnew narrative. She looked Carter dead in the eye and swore her husband died pushing me out of the way.

Overnight, I became public enemy number one. Whenever Melanie shed a single tear, Carter weaponized that tragedy against me. I defended myself until my throat bled.

He never listened. A cold, harsh truth finally snapped into place. I let out a short, cold laugh. It wasn't that Carter didn't believe me.

He just refused to accept that his precious childhood best friend could ever lie. I should have realized it years ago. But to keep this ring on my finger, I played blind.

He wasn't the only one faking it. I locked that realization away and headed straight to the apartment. I threw my essentials into a duffel bag.

While downing a glass of ice water, I hit print on the divorce papers. I didn't even read the fine print. I just grabbed a pen and slashed my signature across the bottom line.

The front door clicked open. Carter stepped into the foyer, balancing Aria on his hip. Melanie trailed right behind him.

She dragged a pastel pink suitcase with one hand and casually draped Carter's heavy winter jacket over her opposite arm. They looked like a real family coming home.

Carter caught sight of me standing in the living room. He didn't blink. "Clear out the master bedroom," he ordered, his voice flat. "Aria is just getting over her fever.

She needs the sunlight from the bay windows. You can take the guest room for a few days." I didn't speak. I didn't move a single muscle. I just stared at him.

I watched my husband meticulously cater to another woman's child, feeling absolutely nothing but morbid fascination. Like watching a circus clown perform a cheap trick.

The heavy silence made Melanie shift her weight. She put on her best uncomfortable face and reached out to take Aria. "Carter, maybe we should just go back to my place.

It's… really not a good time." She darted a nervous, calculated glance in my direction. Carter caught that fake panic instantly.

He spun around, his hands balling into fists. "What the hell is your problem, Fallon? Melanie is terrified you'll get hurt alone in your third trimester.

She practically begged to come here and take care of you, and you're just standing there acting like a corpse. Who is this attitude for?" A breathless laugh escaped me.

Hot tears blurred my vision. For my own good. He had been standing five feet away from me for five full minutes, and he hadn't even looked at my stomach.

He hadn't noticed the missing weight. For my own good. He was moving the walking, talking red flag of our marriage right into my marital bed.

If this was his version of love, I would rather rot. Carter's face darkened at my manic laughter.

He closed the distance in two massive strides and clamped both hands down on my shoulders. His grip dug into my collarbone. "Stop acting insane, Fallon.

There's a limit to this gaslighting.

You're being completely irrational and you're embarrassing me." "Embarrassing you?" I shoved my palms hard into his chest, forcing him back as I swiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand. "Why the hell would I care?

Who even are you to me?" Carter's neck turned an angry red. He shot a frantic look at Melanie before leaning in close.

His voice dropped into a lethal, warning whisper right by my ear. "I am your husband. I am the father of your child.

Once Aria is one hundred percent healthy, I will send them home. "I'll hire a night nurse for you and the baby, okay? Just—" The words died in his throat.

His hand had slipped downward during the scuffle. It rested flush against my torso. He froze. He stopped breathing. His fingers twitched.

He pressed against the cotton of my shirt again. Harder this time. Searching for the massive, solid curve that had been there a week ago. Flat. Nothing but bone and empty space.

Carter slowly, agonizingly lifted his gaze to mine. He swayed on his feet, looking like he might throw up