Friendly Fire

Ellie's been my best friend since forever. Sunday dinners, late-night talks, the kind of easy that doesn't need words.

I never let myself want more. Didn't dare risk what we had.

Then her grandpa lands in the hospital with a dying wish, and we do something completely reckless: a fake wedding. Sign the license, intercept it before it's official, walk away clean.

That kiss to seal it? Not part of the plan. Not fake, either. Not even close. It burns through me — hungry, deep, the kind of heat that doesn't fade.

Before we can figure out what that means, the license is filed and the whole town knows we're married for real. Living together to keep up appearances means close quarters, stolen glances, and nights where the line between friends and something more blurs to nothing.

She's always been my everything.

Turns out she might be my forever too.

If we don't burn it all down first.