Best Friends, Bye Toxic Boys

His words were so absurd I could almost laugh. “Ryan, I can’t go back.”

“What the hell do you want?!” Ryan’s voice shot up an octave. “I’ve already explained to everyone and admitted that you are my one and only fiancée!”

“If you dare pull another stunt, we are completely finished!”

“Ryan, have you ever believed a single word I’ve said? I was in a car crash. I almost died. I’m still lying in a hospital bed. If you’d bother to lift one of your precious fingers, you could find my name in the news.”

Ryan sneered. “You’re mad because I was with Halle at the clinic, right? So now you’re making up this story to get back at me?”

“Why don’t you tell me which hospital you’re in, which doctor is treating you, what your diagnosis is? Emma, don’t forget, I’m a doctor. You can’t fool me.”

I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “I’m at Harborview Medical Center. Surgical ward, bed 24. Come over right now. My attending physician is here too.”

“Fine. You just wait. I’m on my way!”

Ryan was a top cardiac surgeon at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He had connections throughout the city’s medical system. It was impossible for him not to know his own fiancée had been in such a serious accident.

But he had been too busy with his engagement party, too focused on Halle, to even realize I was right under his nose.

Half an hour later, Ryan appeared, with Halle clinging intimately to his arm.

Their arrival in the hallway caused a small stir.

I was leaning back with my eyes closed when I heard the nurses’ exaggerated fawning.

“Dr. Mitchell brought his fiancée for a little PDA!”

“Dr. Mitchell, you two are going to be the death of us single people!”

“Wow, his fiancée is even prettier in person! Dr. Mitchell has great taste.”

I opened my eyes, listening to the commotion with a cold smirk. I was willing to bet they had no idea this so-called “fiancée” was just a temporary stand-in.

But what did it matter? I had already broken up with Ryan. I didn’t want that title anymore.

They weren’t wrong, though. Ryan and Halle were now publicly engaged. What was there for me to deny?

Ryan’s response to the crowd was tinged with a distant arrogance, but Halle was beaming, clearly soaking in the praise. I could hear the poorly hidden pride in her modest voice.

“Thank you all for taking such good care of Ryan. I’ve ordered Starbucks for everyone, it’ll be delivered soon!”

“Mrs. Mitchell isn’t just beautiful, she’s so kind!”

The compliments made Halle even more giddy. When she appeared at my doorway, arm-in-arm with Ryan, her face was a mask of victory, her eyes filled with blatant provocation.

When Ryan saw me, he froze for a split second.

He hadn’t expected me to actually be here.

But when his eyes scanned the room and landed on the fact that I was in a private suite with the best view, his expression darkened.

“Do you have any idea how tight hospital beds are? You staged an injury just to throw a tantrum at me, probably committing insurance fraud in the process?”

“Throw a tantrum at you?”

I looked up at him, my eyes dripping with scorn. “Who do you think you are? The center of the universe? Honestly, you’re not that important.”

“Emma!”

“I can hear you, no need to shout. We’re done, Ryan. She’s your fiancée now. Did you two come here specifically to flaunt it in my face?”

“Fine, I’ll play along. Then I wish you two scumbags a lifetime of misery together. Here’s to you, may you rot in hell. I’ll even swallow the key.”

Ryan’s face turned a deep shade of crimson. “How dare you insult us?”

“Apologize to me!”

I met his gaze without flinching. “Apologize? Maybe in your next life.”

Ryan was thoroughly enraged. Halle quickly grabbed his arm, trying to soothe him. “Ryan, don’t! Miss Rodriguez is just upset, she needs her rest. Let’s not argue with her.”

“I think she’s doing this on purpose! Who’s your doctor? Who’s helping you stage this pathetic little drama?”

I stared at him, my face blank. “Are you done with your meltdown, Ryan? You’re not my doctor, so stop meddling. We’ve broken up, yet you keep harassing me. Sleeping with me while thinking about her… don’t you feel disgusting?”

Ryan raised his hand to slap me.

But I dodged it and simultaneously slammed the call button.

He stared at me, shocked. Before he could react, I raised my own hand and, with all my strength, gave him a resounding slap across the face.