Chapter 1

"Bartender, can I have your most embarrassing breakup drink? and please don't judge me."

Alex looked up from the glass he was wiping and raised an eyebrow. The man who just sat on the barstool was younger, maybe in his late twenties, with dark messy hair, slightly wrinkled sweater like he'd been wearing it through difficulty. He loosened his collar and put both elbows on the counter like he was ready for a fight.

"Embarrassing how?" Alex asked.

"Sweet and strong, maybe pink, i really don't care. My dignity already left with my ex so..."

Alex actually laughed at that, "rough night?"

"Rough nine months," the man rubbed his face with both hands. "The guy I was dating was also dating someone else for most of those nine months. I just found out today… so yeah pink drink please, thank you."

Alex nodded and got to work.

The man sat back and looked around the bar slowly. The Hudson Bar was on the 1st floor of the hotel and on a friday night, it was quiet in a way that only expensive places could be. There were small conversations, soft music, the occasional clink of glass. He scanned the room once and then his eyes landed on the man sitting far away from him.

He looked, then he looked a little longer.

The man at the end of the bar was staring straight at the bottles on the wall with his jacket off, his tie loose, one large hand wrapped around a glass of whiskey. He had the kind of face that made you want to keep looking even when you knew you probably shouldn't. He had a sharp jaw, dark eyes, broad shoulders that complimented his white shirt in a way that felt almost unfair.

He didn't look up once.

Alex slid a pale pink drink across the counter and the younger man picked it up, took a slow sip, and nodded.

"Not terrible," he said.

Then he picked up his glass and moved closer to the man with the whiskey.

Soren felt someone sit closer and still didn't look up.

He knew someone was there, he just didn't care. He came here for the whiskey and the silence and that was all he needed tonight. The Hargrove deal was still pending on his conference table back at The Voss Group, his board members was restless, and his mother had called him twice this week asking why he showed up to his cousin's engagement dinner alone again.

He told her he had to work and she told him that he worked too much.

He finished his third glass and signaled Alex for another.

"You look like someone who also had a terrible week."

Soren then looked up, mostly because the voice was directed at him with zero hesitation and people didn't usually do that. Not with him, not when he was sitting the way he was sitting which showed very clearly that he didn't want to be spoken to.

The man with the pink drink was looking at him with a little curiosity and a small hint of amusement.

Soren stared back and the man didn't flinch.

"I'm fine," Soren said.

"You're on your third glass of whiskey alone on a Friday night." His eyes dropped to the glass then came back up, "that's not fine, that's just you coping."

"Do I know you?."

"Juno," he stuck out his hand like they were meeting at some work event. "And before you decide to ignore me, I'm not hitting on you. I just need some company that isn't my friends because they'll turn this whole thing into a big dramatic situation."

Soren looked at the hand.

He didn't take it.

Juno pulled his hand back without any awkwardness and turned back to his pink drink. He took another sip looking unbothered, completely unbothered like Soren's coldness was just a mild inconvenience at most.

That was strange.

"Nine months?" Soren said, he didn't plan to say it.

Juno looked at him and smiled, "so you were listening."

"You were loud."

"Fair enough," Juno turned his glass slowly on the table. "Yeah nine months, I thought it was going somewhere real, I guess he had other plans." He said it plainly without any drama and no attempt to make Soren feel sorry for him. "Your turn, what's the whiskey for?"

"Work."

"Just work?"

"Just work."

Juno looked at him for a second like he was deciding what to say then he nodded and let it go.

That was surprising too, most people didn't let things go with Soren, they either pushed harder or got nervous and looked away. Juno did neither, he just accepted the answer and went back to his drink and started singing quietly under his breath like he was perfectly okay.

Soren looked at his face then he looked at his mouth.

Juno had a habit of pressing his bottom lip between his teeth lightly when he's in thoughts. It was little and barely anything.

Soren noticed it and looked away.

"You never told me your name," Juno said.

"No," Soren said, "i didn't."

Juno smiled and it completely rearranged his face. "Okay, keep your secrets mystery man."

He said it like it was genuinely funny, no irritation, he just found it amusing and moved on, turning back to his drink like Soren was an interesting thing he'd decided not to stress about.

Soren had his fourth whiskey in front of him, he had an early morning, a 7am meeting and some unfinished deals.

Juno reached over without asking and casually took a nut from the small dish near Soren's glass. He popped it in his mouth and then looked at Soren with the most deliberately innocent expression Soren had ever seen on a grown man.

"Sorry," Juno said.

He didn't sound sorry at all.

Soren's heart skipped in a quiet and unfamiliar way and it was gone almost as fast as it came.

He didn't like it at all.

He picked up his glass and said nothing, Juno smiled to himself and said nothing either, yet none of them left the table.

Authors note:

A troubled heart and a broken heart? Special combo😁. I can smell something, can you?🫣