CHAPTER 2: THE NIGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

CLAIRE ANDERSON

The bar swallows me whole the moment I push through its heavy wooden door, my feet still aching from the long walk from the airport. I've been wandering the streets for hours, the cold New York air biting at my cheeks and the memory of Greg's flat voice still ringing in my ears. The place is a dive. Sticky floors, flickering neon signs, the low hum of conversation mixed with the clink of glasses. I don't belong here. I know I don't belong here. But nothing about this place reminds me of Greg, and right now, that's the only thing I need.

I slide onto a worn leather stool, and the bartender gives me a long, appraising look. "You look too young to be in a place like this," he says, gruff but not unkind. "You lost, sweetheart?"

"I just need a drink. Whiskey." I hold his gaze, daring him to turn me away. After a long moment, he shrugs and pours a generous measure into a glass. The amber liquid glows in the dim light. "Your funeral," he mutters.

The whiskey burns going down—sharp, harsh, unapologetic. I welcome the sting because it's the first thing I've felt since Greg walked through those glass doors. The heat spreads through my chest, chasing away the cold that's been living there for hours. The bartender moves away, and I'm alone again, just the way I want to be.

I pull out my phone and stare at Greg's final text: "I'm sorry, Claire. I have to go." The message is so clinical, so devoid of real emotion, that I almost laugh. I scroll up through our conversation, past the promises and the inside jokes and the endless "I love you"s. I think about calling him, screaming at him until he understands what he's done. But I know it won't change anything. He's already gone.

I'm three drinks in by the time I notice the man sitting beside me. He's tall, his shoulders broad beneath a dark suit jacket loosened at the collar. He looks like he belongs in a boardroom, not a dive bar, but there's something about the way he holds himself that suggests he knows the weight of a whiskey glass and the quiet comfort of drinking alone. His jaw is sharp, his cheekbones cutting shadows in the dim light, and his grey eyes are fixed on the amber liquid in his own glass. He's been drinking too, I can tell from the way his movements are slightly too deliberate, the way his shoulders slump like he's carrying something heavy.

"Rough night?" he asks, his voice low and rough, slurred just enough to tell me he's been here longer than I have. I laugh bitterly. He just waits, his grey eyes steady on me despite the alcohol dulling their sharpness.

"My boyfriend left me for a degree and a future that doesn't include me," I hear myself say. "He's going abroad, and apparently there's a nice girl from a nice family waiting for him. His parents arranged it. A smart match, he called it." I raise my glass to my lips. "I guess I wasn't enough for him."

The man doesn't offer sympathy. He just raises his own glass. "My father died and left me a company I never wanted and a marriage I never asked for." His hand trembles slightly around the glass. "I understand a little about people making decisions for you. About waking up and realizing your life isn't your own."

Something in his voice catches me off guard, a rawness that doesn't match the cold lines of his face. I look at him more closely and see the tiredness in his eyes that mirrors my own. He's not just a rich man slumming it in a dive bar. He's someone drowning, just like me. The whiskey has stripped away whatever mask he wears, leaving behind a man who's lost and lonely and trying to drink his way through it.

"I don't even know your name," I say, hating how small my voice sounds. "But you're the first person tonight who hasn't tried to tell me everything is going to be okay."

"Everything isn't going to be okay." He says it flatly, no pity in his grey eyes. "But sometimes the point is just making it through the night." He lifts his glass, and I do the same. The clink of glass against glass is a small ceremony for two strangers finding comfort in misery.

The conversation flows easier after that, fueled by whiskey and the strange intimacy of sharing pain with someone you'll never see again. He doesn't offer comfort. He offers understanding.

The whiskey burns, but I'm starting to feel warm for the first time all night. I'm starting to feel something other than grief. And when he stands to leave, his movements unsteady as he reaches for the bar to steady himself, something inside me snaps.

"Don't go." My voice is louder than I intended, and I reach for his sleeve. "I don't want to be alone tonight. Please. I just… I can't be alone with my head right now."

He turns back to look at me, his grey eyes unreadable. "You don't know me," he says, his voice rough, cautious. "I'm not a good man. I'm not safe."

"I don't care." I'm gripping his sleeve, my knuckles white. "I don't care who you are. I don't care what you've done. I just need someone to be here tonight."

He watches me for a long moment, swaying slightly on his feet. Finally, he reaches for my hand. "Your funeral," he says, echoing the bartender's words.

I don't laugh. I just hold on to his hand and let him guide me toward the door. Outside, the cold air hits us both, sharp and sobering. "Cab," he says, his voice thick. "I can't… I shouldn't drive."

He raises his arm to flag down a taxi. He holds the door open for me, and I climb in. He gives the driver an address I don't recognize, then leans his head back against the seat, his eyes closing. I watch him as the city lights blur past. He's beautiful in a sharp, dangerous way, but with his guard down and the whiskey softening his edges, he looks almost boyish. Vulnerable.

He opens his eyes and looks at me. "Last chance," he says, his voice so quiet I almost miss it. "To run. To pretend this never happened."

I lean my head on his shoulder. He stiffens for a moment, then slowly relaxes. "I'm not running," I whisper.