Best Friends, Bye Toxic Boys

I was hit by a car before my engagement party.

Steel and glass tore through my body.

My best friend Catherine rushed me to the hospital and called my fiancé, Ryan Mitchell.

His response was ice-cold: "Halle's sick. I'm taking her for IV treatment. Deal with it yourself."

Catherine called her boyfriend Tyler Brooks next.

"Halle's sick. I'm getting her medicine."

As I lay there with machines keeping me alive, Catherine gripped my hand.

"Screw this. I'm calling off the wedding," I said through gritted teeth.

She squeezed tighter: "Let's dump those bastards together."

That was when both men knelt for forgiveness.

————————

1

A car crash almost killed me the day before my engagement party. Flying shards of glass embedded themselves deep in my skin.

My best friend, Catherine Thompson, was the one who pulled me from the twisted metal.

She never left my side at the hospital while I hovered between life and death.

She called my goddamn fiancé, Ryan Mitchell. His response was clipped and impatient. “Halle’s not feeling well, I’m with her. If it’s not important, I’m hanging up.”

Catherine unleashed a string of curses at him, then called her own boyfriend, Tyler Brooks, trying to track down a top trauma specialist.

His excuse was just as lame. “Don’t overreact. Halle’s sick, I need to go get her something.”

When I finally surfaced from the blackness and met Catherine’s furious gaze, I used what little strength I had. “I’m dumping him.”

Without missing a beat, she replied, “If you’re dumping him, I’m dumping mine.”

Catherine was always a woman of action. She immediately fired off a breakup text to Tyler.

Me? I was lying in a hospital bed, fresh out of surgery. Some of my wounds were so deep they exposed bone, and I could slip back into critical condition at any moment.

Only Catherine was there. She’d been injured too, and the ordeal had bonded us.

My lavish engagement party was scheduled for the next day, but stuck in the ICU, there was no way I could be there.

Ryan’s call came, and he immediately launched into an accusation. “Emma Rodriguez, are you serious? You’re ghosting me today just because I was with Halle yesterday?”

“Do you have any idea how much I spent to book out the Peninsula Hotel?! Do you know how many guests are waiting to see us?!”

My throat felt like sandpaper. I coughed a few times before croaking out, “I’m in the hospital. I told you I couldn’t make it.”

“Emma, are you done with this act? Stop pretending. Tell me where you are, and I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

“Harborview Medical Center, Seattle. Come and get me.”

“Emma!” Ryan roared through the phone. “You’re going to regret this! The party starts in an hour. Don’t you dare be late!”

Beside me, Catherine was trembling with rage. She snatched the phone from my hand and screamed into it, “Regret it? Are you deaf, or just stupid? She said she’s in the hospital!”

“Just because that little bitch Halle has a slight fever, you’re treating her like she’s the Queen of England?!”

She slammed the phone down and paced the room, fuming.

Moments later, Tyler’s call came through. “Catherine, where did you go? You’re supposed to meet my family today. Didn’t you see the address I sent you?”

Catherine’s fury reignited. “Meet your family?! Tyler, I broke up with you last night. A good ex should act like they’ve died and disappeared from the face of the earth!”

“The next time I see you, it’ll be to dance on your grave!” Tyler stammered on the other end.

“You… Catherine, fine! We’re done!”

Catherine blocked his number instantly, then turned to me, patting her chest. “My end is handled. You just focus on getting better. Otherwise, those bastards will just piss you to death.”

I managed a weak smile. With Catherine here, I felt a whole lot safer.

My absence, apparently, was a huge embarrassment for Ryan.

He called a few more times, but I didn't answer. I just switched my phone to Do Not Disturb, with no desire to even read his messages. After his third failed attempt, he sent a threatening text.

[Emma, this is completely unreasonable!]

I didn’t reply.

This engagement had been engineered by Ryan’s family, who pulled more than a few strings in Seattle to make it happen.

My own parents were long divorced, each with new lives. They didn't pay much attention to me, but my trust fund was more than enough to let me live like a queen. I was the youngest partner at a top Seattle law firm; I didn’t need to depend on anyone.

I had already told them the engagement was off right after the crash, and they canceled their flights without a second thought.

But Ryan didn’t listen. He never believed a word I said, and I had no interest in trying to please him.

I just never imagined he would sink so low as to find a substitute and hold the engagement party anyway. He had shredded the last bit of decency between us.

While a nurse was changing my dressings, I overheard her and a colleague scrolling through their phones.

“Look at Instagram! Dr. Mitchell got engaged at that fancy hotel today! His fiancée looks so sweet, the delicate, innocent type.”

“Dr. Mitchell is so lucky. Oh my god, look at this picture, it’s breathtaking!”

As they worked on my wounds, I glanced at the screen. The photo was of Ryan and Halle Hayes.

They stood close together, Halle’s head resting on his shoulder, her smile bright and triumphant.

Honestly, they looked like two peas in a pod. A pod of scumbags.

I fought back tears, but the nurse saw my expression. “Did I hurt you? I’ll be more gentle!”

The tears broke free. “Yes. It hurts. It hurts so much I feel like I’m dying.”