Desired by All and He Threw Away 62

hapter 62 

Dylan’s POV 

The city feels smaller these days. Streets that once opened up for me now turn their backs. faces that used to light up when i walked in go dim.fame doesnt die quietly it starves you inch by inch until all that’s left is the echo of your own name. 

ive called everyone i could think of. Old friends, photographers, managers who once begged to get me on red carpets. No one answers. 

No one wants to be seen with a man who’s trending for the wrong reasons. Even my agent’s assistant sends my calls straight to voicemail. But there’s still one number I haven’t deleted. 

Ella. 

The only person who still has the power to change everything. 

it takes weeks of asking bribing pulling every string left in the tangle of burned bridges to find her.a mutual friend finally cracks and tells me where she goes on Tuesday mornings a quiet café off Melrose the kind of place with potted succulents and indie music humming under the espresso machine. 

i used to bring her here.she used to laugh saying the coffee tasted like dirt but she liked how no one here cared who i was. 

now Im the one who doesnt belong. 

when she walks in the sound of her boots cuts through the low chatter.she still moves like someone who knows the world is watching even when she’s pretending it isnt. 

her sunglasses hide half her face but I know that mouth anywhere the sharp set of her jaw when shes trying not to feel. 

I stand too fast. “Ella.” 

Her name comes out softer than I meant. Controlled, practiced. The way you hold something fragile before it breaks. 

she stops by the table but doesnt sit. “you shouldnt have called me.” 

“please,” i say my voice catching just enough to sound real. “you dont know how long i have been trying to reach you.” 

Ella’s lips twitch not quite a smile.she folds her arms every inch of her screaming distance. “we have nothing to talk about.” 

“Five minutes.” i lift my hand like im making an oath. “thats all im asking.” 

something flickers in her posture, hesitation maybe curiosity.its small but i catch it.she sits the chair scraping 

the tile. 

“five minutes,” she says. 

i exhale like i have been underwater. “thank you.” 

1/2 

Chapter 62 

+25 Bonus 

the waitress drifts by drops off two glasses of water and disappears again, the ice clinks softly as it melts. i watch a droplet slide down the glass before i speak. “those screenshots,” i start carefully letting my voice dip low. “the ones that ruined everything…they werent real. Not the way people think.” 

her brow creases but she doesnt speak. 

“They came from Taylor.” i let her name hang in the air like smoke. “She sold them–for money. For gossip.” i let my gaze fall to the table fingers tracing the rim of the cup. ” i thought she was different. But she betrayed me. Just like everyone else.” 

Ella’s silence feels sharp.her nails drum against her arm slow and deliberate. ” you expect me to believe that?” 

“i dont expect anything,” i say quietly. ” i just thought you should know the truth.” 

when i look up, i make sure my eyes catch the light just right wet glassy the image of a man wrecked but holding on. i have practiced that look. It’s not hard anymore.you learn to bleed convincingly when you have been in the game long enough. 

“im not perfect,” i say leaning forward. “but you know me Ella. You know my heart. What we had–it was real. i have changed. i swear im not that guy anymore.‘ 

“) 

the silence between us stretches.i can feel her fighting the instinct to look away.thats the trick you dont fill the space.you let guilt breathe let it build weight. 

finally she exhales shaking her head. ” you think you can come back from this? you think the world’s just going to forget you slept with a minor?” her voice wavers but her words slice. “youre finished Dylan. Everyone knows 

it.” 

for a second i feel the old anger rise a hot spark beneath the ribs but i bury it fast.my jaw tightens. then i let the mask slide back into place.a slow smile creeps up the kind that unsettles people because its too calm. 

日 

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