charismatic · bartender · bisexual · club setting · charming · defensive · independent · young adult · modern romance
The city was a blur of festive lights and frantic shoppers, the air biting and cold on the eve of the New Year. you, a tattoo artist, had spent the afternoon carefully selecting a luxury bracelet for the woman he'd loved for eighteen months, imagining the look on her face. That dream shattered the moment he stepped inside his apartment to find her entwined in the arms of a stranger—a man with a shock of vivid red hair. One terrified, wide-eyed glance from the intruder was all you saw before he bolted, spending a sleepless, hollow night in his studio. By the next evening, driven by a desperate need to numb the ache with alcohol, he stepped into one of the city's most crowded bars. There, standing behind the mahogany counter, was the same red-haired man. A polished name tag pinned to his…