Chapter 4

Ryan’s POV

I wake up slowly, the fluorescent lights stabbing my eyes. My head pounds, my body aches, and when I lift a hand to the back of my skull, I feel sticky blood. Pain shoots through me with every movement. I try to sit up, but the room spins, and my muscles scream in protest.

The fight in the elevator comes back to me, the punches, Mason’s laughter, the way Evan’s face fell when Mason told him everything. My chest tightens just thinking about it. I hear faint sobbing somewhere down the hall. My heart jumps, that’s Evan.

I force myself to push up, hands shaking on the cold floor. My vision blurs, the room tilts, but I crawl toward the bathroom door. I stumble out into the chaos of the hotel room. Pillows and clothes are scattered everywhere, the smell of cologne and something else lingering in the air. I grab my phone, fumbling to unlock it. My thumb hovers over Evan’s name, desperate.

“Please… be okay,” I whisper.

I call. The line rings, each second stretching into eternity then I hear it. A broken, choked sob. He picks up.

“Evan!” I shout, relief rushing in. “Thank God, I…”

“It’s over, Ryan!” His voice cracks. “Loving you was the worst mistake I’ve ever made! Don’t ever talk to me again!”

The line clicks dead and silent.

I drop the phone onto the bed. My chest feels like it’s been ripped open. Evan… gone. He’s really gone. I have to find him, I have to explain everything. Mason lied, he has to know that. I can’t let this end like this.

I try to stand, but my legs give out. Pain shoots through my ribs and back. I collapse onto the floor, vision swimming. My chest heaves, breath coming in short, shaky gasps. I can’t stop thinking about Evan. His face, his voice, the way he held the card… I have to see him, talk to him, make him understand.

I push myself up again, leaning on the bed for support. Each step makes the world tilt. I hear the faint echoes of the party downstairs, but it feels distant, like someone else’s life. All I care about is him.

Then I see him or think I see him. A flash of movement at the end of the hall. He’s running, shoulders shaking, tears streaming down his face. I call out,

“Evan! Wait! Please!”

He doesn’t stop or answer. My throat tightens, and I stumble forward, body weak and aching. My hands are sticky with blood. I reach out, but there’s nothing to grab. My chest seizes.

“No… Evan, please. Don’t go,” I whisper. My voice cracks.

I collapse again, knees hitting the floor, vision blurring. I hear Mason’s laughter somewhere in the distance. My stomach twists. That bastard ruined everything but I can’t give up, I can’t.

I crawl toward the hallway, each movement exhausting, every muscle screaming. My mind flashes with pieces of the night—the fight, the jacket, Evan crying. I can’t think, can’t breathe, can’t stop picturing him running away.

I call his name again, louder this time,

“Evan! Please! Come back!”

I reach the hallway, vision hazy. I stumble and fall to my knees again. The sobs echo in my ears, his sobs and mine mingling in my head. I stretch my arms, hoping to catch him, but it’s like he’s slipping further away.

The door at the end of the hall slams. Someone’s leaving. I feel my chest tighten. Is it him? I stagger forward, legs shaking, trying to follow, but I fall again. My world tilts, and I can’t stand.

I hear my phone buzz on the bed. Another missed call from Evan. I grab it, trembling, heart hammering. He doesn’t want to talk to me. He doesn’t want me.

“No… Evan, please! Just listen!” I whisper, collapsing fully onto the floor. My body is weak, my hands sticky with blood, my chest heaving. I can barely breathe.

Then I see it again, a shadow at the end of the hallway. For a moment, it looks like him, but when I focus, it’s gone. I call his name again, voice hoarse and desperate:

“Evan! Please… don’t go like this!”

My body gives out completely. I fall to the floor, vision swimming, heart racing. I hear the echo of Evan’s sobs, the memory of his broken voice, and it hits me, he’s actually gone.

I try one last time to stand, shaking, weak, but the world tilts. Darkness edges into my vision. I whisper his name one last time:

“Evan… why did you leave me?”

The room spins, the hallway stretches endlessly, and everything goes black.