Page 48 of Ember’s Heart

Cade

T he late afternoon sun that filtered down on my family’s farm did little to warm the chill that settled deep in my bones.

I stood far enough away on the property line, tucked behind the treeline, making sure to stay hidden from the crowd.

I watched. Ember, my baby sister, looked absolutely radiant in her dress, as she walked towards Colton. My best friend.

Looking through the binoculars, I could see the tears in Dad’s eyes as he gave her away. I saw the raw emotion on Colton’s face as he took Ember’s hand. I saw the vows, saw the kiss, and heard the shouts of excitement.

Husband and wife.

The words echoed in my head, cold and sharp. As the cheers erupted, I saw enough as I turned away. I didn’t linger, didn’t glance back once. I moved silently back to my truck, parked well off the main road. The engine roared to life, and I pulled out, leaving the celebration behind.

I just drove, not towards the main highway, but through the back roads, eventually cutting through the heart of Rose Valley.

Main Street was quiet, as the majority of town was at my sister’s wedding.

I passed the antique store, the diner, the library.

Every landmark was a painful reminder of a life I’d once been a part of, a life that I no longer wanted, but here I was.

Back. I was back. Not by choice, not really. There’s so much my family doesn’t know about me. About what I’ve been up to.

Five years.

Five years since I’d been honorably discharged from the Army, one of the facts my family didn’t know.

They thought I was still serving, still deployed.

The truth was, I’d been doing something else entirely.

Contract work. Off the book. The kind of work that stripped away any sense of humanity you might have, leaving you hollow inside.

My last assignment was why they’d sent me home. Told me to “recharge.” To get my shit together. There was no amount of time in this damn town that would erase the blood on my hands, the screams in my head.

And now, Ember was married. To Colton. My best friend. A knot of conflicting emotions twisted in my gut. I was happy for her, genuinely. Ember deserved happiness, deserved a man who would cherish her. But another part of me, a dark, bitter part, was pissed. Pissed at Colton. Pissed at me.

I remembered graduation day, sitting on Colton’s old truck, the excitement of us leaving.

How we talked about everything, about leaving this town, about the future.

I remembered how I’d mentioned Ember, and Colton had gone stiff, acted weird.

I didn’t think anything of it at the time, not really.

We were both excited and nervous about leaving the following day for bootcamp.

But I had always wondered, even then, if my best friend harbored feelings for my little sister.

If Colton had just said something that day, if he’d been honest, I would have given them my blessing without a second thought.

Colton was my best friend and I knew the kind of guy he was. He’d treat my sister like the princess she is.

But then the attack happened. And Colton cut out.

I hadn’t been around to witness Ember fall apart, to see the happiness fade from her eyes, to watch her struggle through the wreckage of what Colton created.

But I’d heard about it. When I called home, Owen and Garrett, told me every agonizing detail.

I’d heard about the sleepless nights, the withdrawn silence, the way she’d closed herself off for a while.

And for that, for the pain Colton had inflicted, for the years Ember had lost, I was still pissed.

It may have been years and it’s obvious my little sister got her happily ever after, but it didn’t stop me from being angry at my best friend for hurting her in the first place.

The only thing that would ease my mind and the anger would be a conversation.

I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white. The road ahead was dark and winding, leading me away from the warmth of the farm, away from my family.

Did you enjoy Colton & Ember’s story?

Are you excited to know what Cade’s been doing?

I’d love to hear your thought.