Playing With Fire (Among The Embers #1)

CHAPTER 1

As I sit on the stairs at my favorite place in the world, watching my soulmate play in the waves with my child, my heart feels like it’s walking outside my chest. I can’t help but feel a deep, sinking melancholy.

The place that once filled me with exhilaration and light now carries a shadow I can’t shake…

its beauty tinged with dread and quiet indignation.

Sometimes, you meet a person and it’s instantaneous, like you’ve known them your entire life…

even if you’ve just met. You don’t have to pretend, don’t have to perform, and yet they still find comfort in your presence, even in silence.

That was you. From the very beginning, you were my safety net, the quiet certainty I didn’t even realize I needed.

Now, seven years later, that same presence lingers, but it’s no longer comforting - it’s a constant ache in my chest. You left an imprint on my life so deep, I didn’t even realize it came with a cost. A heartbreak so profound, it reshapes the contours of who I am, who I love, and how I move through the world.

I can still feel the joy of knowing you, but it’s inseparable from the grief of knowing how much I lost along the way.

“BELLA!” Olivia shouts, striding toward me across the backyard, where her parents are hosting her high school graduation party.

“Oh my gosh, you look amazing!” I force a smile, but my stomach twists. Those jeans hug her curves perfectly, the tank top shows just the right amount, and everyone around her seems to notice-just like always.

Olivia. The girl every guy wanted. Big boobs, perfect teeth, curves in all the right places, sporty yet effortlessly feminine. And me? Noah, Brad, and I… we were just background noise. Always there, never noticed, never enough.

I glance around the yard, heart skipping a beat, and my eyes land on a familiar pair. Noah.

A groan slips past my lips, half-dread, half-longing. My chest tightens at the thought of sharing the same air with him. Even after all this time, he still manages to make me feel invisible, and exposed, and completely undone, all at once.

“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot to tell you he was coming” wrapping me in an apologetic hug “But it’s fine, y'all can avoid each other all night, plus isn’t your new boy coming?” she winks while walking away.

Noah, Olivia, Brad, and I were the best of friends since first grade; when Olivia and her family had moved right down the road from us.

Olivia was in Kindergarten- oh was she shy.

Man, how things have changed. Brad and Olivia started dating sophomore year and are basically soul mates; including going to the same college just to be together, because according to Olivia, long distance just doesn’t work.

Noah went to a different high school than us and graduated last year-just like Brad and I did.

We started hanging out all the time, weekends or nights we weren’t working late.

Then, of course, when some guy I actually thought was “the one” ghosted me, Noah swoops in like a knight in shiny…

nothing. He takes me out for Valentine’s Day, and suddenly Valentine’s Day stretches into a few months of what I guess was supposed to feel like happiness.

All great, until one night he decides he “needs space.” Space, my ass. Turns out that “space” had a name: Sydney. Of course it did. Typical Noah. Charming, convenient, and utterly disposable when someone shinier comes along.

As we walked into the backyard, I hugged Olivia's parents; Loretta and Keith. They have been like second parents to me since they moved in. I made my rounds around the party, talking up Olivia; trying to work up the courage to talk to Noah.

I walked to the bonfire to take a break from the crowds.

“Isabel.” Noah’s voice breaks the silence.

“Noah. How have you been?”

“Do you actually care or are you just being friendly?” He barked while glaring his dark emerald eyes at me as if staring into my soul.

That was not the reaction I expected at all, and the thought of him thinking I don’t care anymore, after over a decade of friendship hurt more than the words that were said.

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for weeks. I’ll leave you alone because you need space, right? Enjoy your night, Noah.”

I stalk away, a lump in my throat and a fire burning in my chest, furious and humiliated all at once.

One pathetic tear slides down my cheek, and I swipe it away before he can see-because God forbid he witnesses any sign of weakness.

Typical Noah. Ends things out of nowhere, disappears like he was never even a human in my life, and suddenly the world keeps spinning for everyone else… except me.

Radio silence. Weeks of it. To everyone, that is, except apparently Olivia. Of course. She’s the lucky one who gets his attention, while I’m left with the wreckage he left behind, trying to convince myself I’m not angry enough to scream at him for being such a selfish, entitled coward.

My phone starts ringing in my back pocket.

Liam.

“Hello?”

“Hey, just calling to let you know I’m almost there, and was gonna ask where you wanted me to park?”

“Okay, yeah I’ll walk out front and basically wherever you can fit I guess just park there.”

I was genuinely excited to see Liam. He made me hopelessly happy, for the few weeks that I’ve known him.

Liam was a guy I met online, just for fun, for the summer before I went to school. He had sandy brown hair, a surfer’s build, and the most perfect shade of ocean-blue eyes I had ever seen. He was a few years older than me, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I’d only met him in person once before, and it had been…

a little awkward. He brought two of his friends, Jessica and Trevor-one being a girl.

We’d gone kayaking at the springs, and apparently Liam thought I’d feel more comfortable with another girl around.

It was a little weird, I’ll admit, but I had a good time.

This time, I’m hoping it’s just him. Just Liam. Though I can’t help but remember Jessica-there was something about her that stuck with me, a small spark of curiosity I couldn’t shake.

The chemistry we have is indescribable, so tonight it was my turn for him to meet my closest friends, my second family. We agreed to keep it casual but I'm kind of falling for him already.

When he got out of his car he had the biggest smile on his face like he was just as excited to see me.

“Hello beautiful” he whispers, wrapping his strong tanned arms around me.

“Hey, you” I sighed, just enjoying being held by him.

He held me a little longer than normal like he knew I needed it and I accepted it, taking in his scent.

“Alright, let’s do this,” he says while letting me go. He looks at me, stops walking and grabs my hand “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah… I’m fine,” I stumble over the words, forcing a smile I hope sounds casual.

“I, um, probably should’ve mentioned it on the phone…

my ex is here, so, you know, it could be…

weird. But, uh, whenever you want to go, you can.

Really. Don’t feel like you… have to stay or, um, be uncomfortable on my-on my account. ”

Please don’t leave.

“Are you kidding me? It’s totally fine,” he says, voice low and smooth, eyes locking onto mine like he’s daring me to doubt him.

“I’m not abandoning you over a little competition.

” A slow smirk tugs at his lips. “Because from what I can see, you’re here.

With me. And that- that is all that matters. ”

He leans down, placing a tender kiss on my forehead, and it should feel sweet-but instead it presses like a reminder: you’re mine, and no one else should even be in the picture. The confidence in his voice isn’t just charm; it’s a claim, a warning wrapped in sweetness.

As he says this I get full-body chills. With him, his. I like the sound of that.

“Well then let’s do this.”