The muted glow of the resort’s exterior lights filtered through the heavy sheer curtains of Suite 501, casting long, soft shadows across the disheveled room.
It was just past two in the morning.
Ashton collapsed back onto the pillows, breathing heavily as he ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair with a low, satisfied laugh.
Beside him, Chloe rested her head against his chest, her fingers tracing idle patterns over his collarbone as her breathing gradually slowed.
“That was…” Chloe murmured, a triumphant, satisfied smile curling her lips in the dim light.
“Told I’d make you feel great,” Ashton smirked, leaning down to press a deep, lingering kiss against her lips.
Chloe giggled, gently pressing her hand against his chest to push him back just an inch.
“Okay, babe, as much as I want you to stay, you seriously need to go back to your own suite before Kira comes back,” Chloe said, setting her hands on his shoulders.
“God knows what she and Jace are still doing out by this time, but if she walks through that door and catches you in here, she’ll give us hell about it tomorrow.”
Ashton chuckled softly, sitting up on the edge of the mattress and grabbing his shirt from where it had been tossed onto the floor.
“Yeah, fair point” Ashton said, pulling the shirt over his head and hastily buttoning his shirt.
He tapped his phone screen—3:14 AM flashed in bright white text.
Chloe leaned back against the plush headboard, pulling the duvet up around her chest.
“How’s Keegan doing, anyway?
Was his headache really that bad?”
Ashton paused, tossing his phone into his pocket with a casual wave of his hand.
“Yeah, he was totally wiped out when I left.
Took some aspirin and completely passed out.
He said he’d leave the suite door unlatched so I could slip back in.”
“He really is your BestFriend,” Chloe smiled softly, resting her chin on her knees.
“Honestly, he always looks out for you, Ash.”
“Yeah,” Ashton said, a fond, completely oblivious grin tugging at his mouth as he picked up his shoes.
“Keegs is the best.
He’s always had my back.”
He leaned back over the bed, giving Chloe one last deep kiss before turning toward the entryway.
“See you at breakfast, gorgeous.”
“Don’t be late,” Chloe called out with a soft wink.
Ashton slipped out into the silent, carpeted corridor, easing Chloe’s door shut until it clicked softly into place.
He padded quietly to Suite 503.
Reaching out, he tested the handle—just as promised, the door unlatched silently under his grip.
Ashton slipped inside, closing the heavy mahogany door behind him.
The living area was dead silent, bathed in deep blue moonlight from the massive floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the roller coasters.
He crept into the adjoining bedroom, stepping quietly over the plush carpet so as not to disturb his friend.
“Keegs?” Ashton whispered softly into the shadows.
“You awake?”
Across the dark room, lying stiff as a board under the heavy duvet with his back turned to the door, Keegan’s eyes snapped wide open.
He hadn’t slept a single second.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The bright morning sun streamed down over the resort plaza, a stark and brutal contrast to the heavy shadows left behind in Suite 503.
Standing near the palm-lined entrance, Ashton was laughing with Marcus and Reid, casually slinging his arm around Chloe’s shoulder with total, effortless confidence.
Chloe looked around the gathered group, her brow furrowing slightly as she counted heads.
“Wait, where’s Keegan?
And Kira?”
“Keegs still has that killer headache from last night,” Ashton explained easily, pulling his sunglasses down over his eyes with a completely oblivious grin.
“Kira said she’d stay back in the suite with him until he feels a bit better, and then they’ll come join us later.”
Jace frowned, letting out a disappointed groan.
“Ah, man…
It’s our last day here!
He’s gonna end up missing the whole beach trip.”
Chloe leaned in close to Ashton, a sweet, playful smile curling her lips as she patted his chest affectionately.
“Well, let’s make every moment count then, since it’s our last day.” She tugged on Ashton’s shirt, winking at the rest of the guys.
“Come on, let’s go get breakfast.”
Back inside the darkened bedroom of Suite 503, heavy blackout curtains kept the morning light strictly at bay.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Keegan was curled into a tight, agonizing ball on the edge of the king-sized mattress, half his body buried beneath the heavy duvet.
His shoulders shook in rhythmic, silent shudders, his chest heaving as muffled sniffles broke the suffocating silence of the room.
Kira sat on the edge of the mattress beside him, one leg tucked up onto the bed as she reached out, gently running her fingers through his messy hair in slow, soothing strokes.
“You know, the more you cry, the more your head is actually gonna hurt,” Kira said softly, her voice dripping with quiet empathy.
Keegan pulled the blanket higher over his red, swollen face, choking back another shuddering breath.
“I can’t…
I can’t help it, Kira…”
Kira sighed, her heart aching for him.
In their entire circle of friends, she was the only one who knew the truth.
Three years ago, during their freshman year, a completely wasted, heartbroken Keegan had broken down in her dorm room, spilling every raw, agonizing secret he had kept locked away since childhood.
“Keegan, come on…” Kira whispered, leaning down closer to him as her thumb gently wiped a tear from his cheek.
“Don’t let this drag you under like this.
Look at me.”
Keegan slowly dragged the edge of the duvet down, his dark eyes bloodshot, raw, and overflowing with fresh tears.
“It’s because he doesn’t know how you feel, Keegan,” Kira reminded him gently, her tone patient.
“That’s the only reason he acts like this.
He isn’t trying to hurt you—he’s just completely, hopelessly clueless.”
Keegan let out a bitter, wet laugh, aggressively wiping his face with the back of his trembling hand.
“Haa…
yeah,” Keegan choked out, his raspy voice cracking under the weight of his grief.
“You’re right.
It’s not like he knows that his best friend—who’s known him literally since the day he was born—is actually gay, and has been hopelessly foolishly in love with him since middle school.”
He swallowed hard, a fresh tear trailing down his temple into his hair as he stared blindly up at the shadow-draped ceiling.
“He walked back into this room at three in the morning, Kira,” Keegan whispered, his voice barely a thread of sound.
“He smelled like her.
And he just…
he checked on me like he’s the world’s best brother, completely blind to the fact that I was lying right there in the dark, feeling like shit.”
Kira squeezed his shoulder tightly, her expression softening with fierce protection.
“Then you’re gonna have to make a choice, Keegan.
You either tell him the truth now, or you start pulling away…
you stop and find someone who actually deserves you, someone who will know that you love them…
because staying like this is going to destroy you.”
Keegan froze, his hand pausing mid-air against his damp face.
He blinked through the haze of fresh tears, staring up at Kira in utter disbelief.
“What…?” Keegan rasped out, his voice cracking, barely more than a terrified, ragged whisper.
“Pull away?
Find…
someone else?”
He let out another bitter, breathy huff, shaking his head frantically as if trying to physically throw the words back at her.
“Kira, are you out of your fucking mind?” Keegan choked, dragging his hand down his face, leaving red streaks against his pale skin.
“It’s Ashton.
It’s been Ashton my whole damn life.
I don’t—I can’t just turn it off like a faucet!
“I’m not asking you to turn it off, Keegan,” Kira said softly, her eyes filling with quiet pain as she squeezed his shoulder tighter.
“I know you love him.
I know it goes deeper than just some stupid crush.
But look at what this is doing to you!
You’re lying in a pitch-black room, tearing yourself apart, while he’s downstairs eating breakfast with Chloe, completely unbothered.”
“He doesn’t know!” Keegan shouted weakly, his throat raw and aching.
“He doesn’t know because I can’t tell him!
If I tell him the truth, Kira…
I lose him.
Completely.
Forever.”
Fresh tears welled up in Keegan’s bloodshot eyes, spilling down his cheek and soaking into the collar of his black t-shirt.
“He’s straight,” Keegan whispered, his voice trembling violently as the brutal reality crashed over him all over again.
“He’s hopelessly, stupidly straight, and he loves Chloe.
If I open my mouth and ruin everything, he won’t look at me like his best friend or his brother anymore.
He’ll look at me like a creep and am…
Am sure he’ll be disgusted.
Like…
like I’ve been lying to him and we may become complete strangers.”
The memory of his own feverish shower delusion flashed behind his eyelids—the phantom hands, the sickening guilt, the absolute shame of what he had done just hours ago while Ashton stood on the other side of the door.
Keegan pulled his knees tight against his chest, burying his face in his arms, his whole frame shaking as silent sobs wracked his body.
“I can’t lose him, Kira,” he sobbed into his knees, his voice broken, and completely defeated.
“I’d rather take the breadcrumbs…
I’d rather lie here in the dark and listen to him talk about her than have him walk out of my life for good.”
Kira watched him, her heart shattering into a million pieces for her best friend.
She didn’t press him further.
She simply leaned down, wrapping both arms around his trembling shoulders, pulling him tight against her chest as he wept into the quiet darkness of the room.
“Oh, Blue Line…” she murmured softly into his hair, rubbing his back in slow, comforting circles.
“You can’t keep destroying yourself for a guy who is completely blind to your heart.
You’re going to break…
and I don’t know if I’ll be able to put you back together when you do.”
Then a sudden, sharp beep of the electronic keycard unlatching broke the quiet sanctuary of the room, followed immediately by the heavy mahogany door swinging open.
Instantly, Keegan went rigid.
Panic spiked through his veins like liquid ice.
He violently pulled away from Kira’s embrace, scrambling backward against the headboard and shoving his face into the bend of his knees as he furiously wiped at his wet cheeks with his sleeves.
Kira quickly straightened up on the edge of the mattress, smoothing her hair and adjusting her posture into a cool, neutral shield.
Heavy, familiar footsteps padded across the carpeted living area before Ashton strolled right into the bedroom.
In his hand, he was holding a clear plastic cup filled with iced boba tea— sloshing slightly as he walked.
Ashton was still wearing his sunglasses resting casually up on his damp, styled hair, looking bright, fresh, and effortlessly attractive from his morning downstairs.
“Hey, I grabbed you some Boba from the cafe near the—” Ashton started, his voice light and cheerful.
Then his words trailed off dead in the air.
Ashton stopped mid-stride at the foot of the bed.
His eyes locked onto the heavy, tense atmosphere in the dark room—Kira sitting intimately on the edge of the mattress, and Keegan curled into a tight ball, refusing to look up.
Ashton’s brow furrowed, a slight, puzzled frown tugging at his lips.
“What are you guys doing..?
I’m….
Am I interrupting something?”