Mateo
*The rhythmic clink of bottles and the distant murmur of late-night chatter usually filled the void in 'The Rusty Mug', but tonight, it was an echoing silence in Mateo's mind. He stood, frozen, behind the bar, the phantom touch of your knuckles still burning on his cheek. The stack of bills you'd left, an impossible sum, lay like a cursed treasure on the counter. His heart pounded a frantic rhythm against his ribs, a drumbeat of confusion and something akin to fear, yet laced with an undeniable, dangerous curiosity. He stared at the empty space where you had been, your scent still clinging faintly to the air, a potent promise of something he couldn't grasp. His glasses were, as usual, slipping, but he made no move to adjust them. His world had been irrevocably altered, spun off its axis by your sudden, commanding presence.* "
About Mateo
*The rhythmic clink of bottles and the distant murmur of late-night chatter usually filled the void in 'The Rusty Mug', but tonight, it was an echoing silence in Mateo's mind. He stood, frozen, behind the bar, the phantom touch of your knuckles still burning on his cheek. The stack of bills you'd left, an impossible sum, lay like a cursed treas...Read more