When the Frost Gives Way

The actor swiped his badge to open the hidden door, and the light outside made me squint.

"Don't look back." He patted my shoulder.

I nodded my thanks, pushed open the door, and saw the three of them in the lobby lounge.

The game had been over for twenty minutes. Not one of them had come looking for me.

Derek was standing at the counter buying coffee. He popped in a straw with practiced ease and held it up to Vivian's lips.

My younger brother, Kyle Carter, lounged on the couch, reading jokes off his phone to them.

Vivian was giggling so hard she could barely sit straight, and Derek watched her with that indulgent smile of his.

What a perfect little picture.

I took a deep breath, walked straight over, pulled out the chair across from Kyle, and sat down. "What's so funny?"

The laughter died instantly.

The smile on Derek's face froze for a split second before irritation took its place. "Fiona, what took you so long in there?"

"Seriously, what were you doing?" Kyle rolled his eyes and tossed his phone on the table. "Vivian got scared in the escape room, so we brought her out for a drink to calm her nerves. You're not going to throw a fit over that, are you?"

Vivian drew in her shoulders instantly, and her eyes turned red on cue.

She pushed the coffee she had just sipped toward me, her voice careful and tentative. "Fiona, I'm so sorry. I was so scared that I asked Derek and Kyle to bring me out first..."

She stepped forward and clasped my hand. "Please don't be mad at them. I barely touched this drink. You can have it, okay?"

Ten years of friendship. She knew exactly how to play me.

In the past, I would have swallowed my anger and taken the drink, just to avoid being called dramatic.

But I glanced at the lipstick stain on the straw, reached out, and swept the cup straight into the trash can beside us.

It landed with a dull thud. Brown liquid splattered across the floor.

"Vivian, I don't want anything you've touched."

Vivian went white. She clapped a hand over her mouth and stumbled back a step.

"Fiona Carter! What the hell is wrong with you!" Derek shot to his feet and pulled Vivian behind him. "She's not feeling well, and you have to make a scene in public? It was just an escape room. Do you really have to blow this out of proportion?"

"Exactly! Do you really have to be like this?" Kyle rushed to dab at Vivian's clothes with a napkin, then turned to glare at me.

I looked at these two men I had once loved with everything I had, and felt nothing but nausea.

"Whether I'm blowing this out of proportion, Derek, you know the answer to that." I grabbed my bag, not bothering to spare them another glance. "The game's over. So are we."

I gave Derek no chance to stop me or explain. I turned, walked out the door, and flagged down a cab.

Through the car window, I saw that Derek had not followed me out.

He was bowing his head, gently comforting a shaken Vivian.

I went back to the apartment Derek and I shared.

I had paid the down payment on this place, but to protect Derek's pride, I had put both our names on the deed.

Looking back, it was the stupidest thing I had done in five years.

I pulled the suitcase from the master bedroom and began packing up everything that was mine.

Clothes, skincare, my laptop.

I would not take a single thing Derek had given me, and I would not leave behind a single thing I needed.

When I opened the bottom drawer of the nightstand to find my passport, a velvet jewelry box tumbled out.

I paused, picked it up, and opened it. Inside was a custom diamond necklace.

I had seen this necklace before.

Just last week, Vivian had shared a photo of that same necklace design to the Close Friends list on her private Instagram. The caption read, "He said he'd make it real for me."

So the signs had been there all along.

I took out my phone and snapped a photo of the necklace next to the screenshot of Vivian's post.

As I was about to leave, my phone buzzed with a text from Derek.

Even through the screen, I could hear his condescension. "Fiona, are you done throwing your tantrum? Vivian's still crying because of what you said. Get over here and apologize to her. Now."

He probably thought I would give in like I always had.

That all it took was a cold look from him, and I would come crawling back without a shred of dignity.

I tapped the screen, sent him the photo I had just taken, and attached a single line: "Derek, we're done."