Chapter 17
Valencia
Wolves and Whiskey looked different in daylight.
The neon sign wasn’t lit, the music was silent, and instead of the usual throbbing energy that came alive under the cover of night, the building now seemed dull and tired-hungover, almost.
I stood there for a long moment, just staring at the brick facade, half expecting him to appear from behind the tinted door like some beautiful hallucination.
But he didn’t.
“Stop looking at it like it’s gonna answer your questions,” Sophia muttered beside me, flicking her sunglasses up onto her head. “It’s just a bar, Val. Not a tarot card.”
I exhaled sharply, my nerves strung tight. “I know. I just… I need to try.”
Part of me didn’t want to step in and ask about Ian because I feared Sophia’s words would become true.
And I didn’t want that to happen.
Not because I feared what she would think of me, but because my adventure had ended before it even truly began.
“Come on now. We aren’t sitting in the car all day” Sophia pushed me to climb up the stairs and knock on the door.
When nobody answered even after two knocks, we both tried to push it.
The door creaked open with a hesitant push. Inside, it smelled like bleach and leftover booze. Like it was cleaning day. The lights were on, but it felt hollow, as if all the warmth had been scraped away with the night.
A man in a faded t-shirt was wiping down the long counter. He barely looked up as we entered.
“We’re not open until six,” he called and then began to clean again.
Sophia stepped forward with the kind of confidence I wished I could bottle. “We’re not here for a drink.”
He looked up now, suspicious eyes narrowing as they flicked between the two of us.
“We’re looking for someone,” I added quickly, trying to smooth my tone. “He said he worked here. Name’s Ian.”
The man stared at us like we’d asked for a kidney. “There is no Ian here, ladies.”
I reached into my purse and slid out a folded fifty. He hesitated. Then slowly, reluctantly, set the rag down and approached.
“Like I said,” he muttered, eyeing the bill, “no Ian on staff as far as I know. Are you sure you got the right place?”
“Maybe he is a new hire,” I whispered to Sophia, but he heard it.
“I have been working here for three years, ladies. I know this place and the people working here like the back of my hand.”
My hope shattered a little.
Then I suddenly recalled what I had forgotten while talking to Sophia earlier.
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I did have a picture of him.
How had I completely forgotten about it earlier?
I opened my phone.
My fingers hesitated only briefly before pulling up that photo-the one he’d sent just before disappearing. His towel was slung dangerously low on his hips. Eyes mocking. That smile like sin wrapped in silk.
I zoomed in, cropping everything but his face.
“Do you recognize him?”
Sophia narrowed her eyes and then her mouth formed an O, but I non verbally asked her to save the lecture for later.
Meanwhile, the man leaned in to take a good look at the picture.
His brows lifted slightly, then he leaned back with a shrug. “Never seen him before. And I’d remember that face. Looks more like a customer than an employee. We get a lot of types. Maybe he was just passing through.”
Just passing through.
The words cut deeper than I expected. My grip on the phone tightened.
“Sorry, lady. Wish I could help more,” he added, pocketing the bill anyway and walking off.
I didn’t speak until we were back outside. The sun felt too bright, the street too noisy. It all pressed against me in a way that made my chest feel small and tight.
“Are you sure you have told me everything, Valencia?” She asked, and I added in an almost sad voice.
“He…we had sex, sort of”
Her eyes stopped blinking, and she stared at me so hard, her eyes began to water.
“What?”
“It doesn’t matter either way. None of it does,” I said in a defeated voice.
It somehow felt like the playdates all over again. Like I had been played with.
“Well,” Sophia said finally, shielding her eyes. “That was… informative. At least you now know the truth.”
I didn’t answer.
She nudged me. “Val. Look on the bright side. You’re alive. Not chopped up in a freezer somewhere. That’s a win.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “He lied. About working here.”
My voice sounded small to even my ears.
“Or he just never told you the full truth.” She paused, then added with a grimace, “He could’ve been someone’s date, or worse, someone’s dare. I don’t know. Maybe he gets off on messing with people.”
That made me feel even more stupid and like a complete idiot.
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I pulled the picture up again, just his face. The smirk. The calm arrogance. It didn’t feel fake. And that night hadn’t felt like a game.
Sophia peered over my shoulder. “I mean think about it, Val. That guy doesn’t need to be a callboy. I mean-seriously-look
at that face.”
She pointed at my screen and continued, “That’s not a man desperate for money. That’s a man who probably owns ten houses and uses them all just for the aesthetics.”
I gave a weak laugh. “Thanks.”
“I’m just saying.” She turned seriously and took my phone from me.
“Something about him is off. A little too polished. A little too confident. You should be relieved. He’s probably into something shady, Val. Now tell me one thing, did you ever pay attention to his clothes? Did he strut around in expensive labels?”
I was too tired to think.
“I don’t know”
She continued with her detective work.
“He screams problem to me. And the kind of man who disappears before dawn is not the kind you cry over.”
“But I’m not crying,” I murmured, pocketing my phone.
“You are. Just silently. With your eyes open.”
I didn’t deny it. I couldn’t.
Was I really crying over a guy I had barely met days ago? The texts and missed calls were still unanswered.
Maybe it had just been a fever dream, like she said.
Sophia looped her arm through mine and guided me down the street.
“Come on,” she said gently. “Let’s get iced coffee and pretend this never happened. Let’s pretend he was just a hallucination from a fever dream. Like some weird, sexy mirage.”
But the problem was-he hadn’t been a mirage. He had been solid and real, with rough hands and heated skin and a gaze that saw too much. I had felt it when he kissed me. That something beneath the surface. That careful restraint like he was keeping a thousand things buried.
“I don’t get it,” I finally said, more to myself than her. “Why pretend? Why come to my apartment? Why send me that picture? Why any of it?”
Sophia sighed. “Maybe he was lonely. Or bored. Maybe you were just… a whim.”
The thought made my stomach turn. She noticed.
“Okay, maybe not a whim,” she amended. “But don’t romanticize him, Val. You don’t know this man. And if he lied about his name and job, maybe there’s more lies to him than truth.”
I knew she was right.
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And yet…
“I just want to understand,” I whispered. “That’s all.”
We walked in silence. The city passed us by in blurs of motion and noise, the rhythm of everyday life marching on while mind lingered on someone who wasn’t supposed to matter.
I didn’t even know his real name.
my
But I remembered the way his eyes darkened when I said something that surprised him. The way he touched me, like he had memorized every contour. The way he looked like he belonged somewhere else-like his skin didn’t quite fit the life he pretended to live.
I looked at the photo again one last time before slipping my phone away. His face stared back, confident and knowing.
Who the hell are you?
And why does it feel like you already know me?
