I SLEPT WITH A GHOST

GHOST 2

AVEN'S POV.

"If I wasn't with Mark... then who exactly was I with?"

The question echoed inside my head over and over again. It wasn't the fact that I'd slept with someone that terrified me. It was the possibility that the person wasn't Mark. That couldn't be possible. It just couldn't. Mark had already left the country yesterday. That was the whole reason I'd ended up at the bar in the first place. I remembered crying. I remembered drinking until everything became a blur. But after that… Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

My legs suddenly gave out, and I sank toward the kitchen floor. Tessa rushed to my side, holding me before I could collapse completely.

I looked at her through tear-filled eyes.

"I'm a mess... A really big mess, Tess."

"No, you're not." She sat beside me on the floor. "It's not your fault. It's Mark's. He's a big jerk."

I sobbed, shaking my head. It was all my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid with him, things wouldn't have ended this way. I'd given Mark everything, even when I barely had anything to give.

Josh, my own brother, had gone hungry. He'd even had to drop out of school, yet I'd continued giving Mark whatever he asked for. How could I have been so blind? Now I have nothing.

"Tess..." I buried my face in her shoulder. "I'm done for."

"Aven, please pull yourself together." Her voice trembled, and when I lifted my head, I noticed the tears in her eyes too. "You're tearing me down, seeing you like this. Please."

I sniffed and looked down at my trembling fingers.

"How am I supposed to pull myself together when I've let everyone down?" My voice broke. "Josh will never forgive me. I've hurt him so much because of Mark."

"He'll forgive you. You're his sister, Aven. You're his family. You're all he has right now."

Tessa helped me to my feet and guided me into the living room. She sat me down on the sofa before settling beside me. I wiped my cheeks, but the tears wouldn't stop. "Then who was I with last night?"

Tessa sighed. "Why does it matter? It was a one-night stand. That's not the worst thing you've done."

"But why would someone take advantage of me like that?" I turned to her. "He might have known I was drunk, yet he still did what he did."

Tessa hesitated. "You have a point, but... what can you do now? I mean, it's not like he gave you his number or something."

I stared at her for a moment. Then something occurred to me. "The bar!"

She frowned. "Huh?"

"There must be someone who saw us last night. Someone who can explain what happened or tell me who I left with." I jumped up, hurried into the kitchen for my bag, and returned to the living room. "I'll be back."

"You must be crazy, Aven!" Tessa called after me. “Do you really th-”

But I was already out the door. I needed answers. And I wasn't going to sit around waiting for them to find me.

★★★★★

I stood outside the bar for a few seconds before finally pushing the door open. It felt different from the place I remembered. Last night, it had been packed with loud music, drunken laughter, and flashing lights. Now, it was almost empty. A few workers wiped tables while soft music played through the speakers.

A bartender noticed me first. "Good morning, cutie. What should I get you?"

I forced a smile. "Hi. Um... is your manager around?"

His smile faltered slightly as he studied my face. "Did something happen?"

"No... well, I just need to ask him something."

He nodded, looking relieved. "Give me a minute then."

He disappeared through a door behind the counter. A few moments later, he returned with a middle-aged man whose hair was beginning to turn gray.

There was something strangely familiar about him, though I couldn't remember where I'd seen him before.

The man smiled politely. "You wanted to see me?"

I nodded, glancing around at the people nearby. "Yes, but... could we talk somewhere private?"

He looked slightly surprised but gestured toward a small balcony overlooking the parking lot. "Sure."

The cool afternoon breeze brushed against my face as we stepped outside.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. Although he kept looking at me with a smile on his face like he knows me but… I wasn't even sure how to begin.

"So," he said gently, "what's on your mind?"

I let out a slow breath. "I was here last night."

He frowned, studying my face. Then recognition lit up his eyes. "Oh... yeah. I remember you now. So that's where I saw you… thought you looked familiar."

"You do?"

He nodded. "You came in pretty late last night. You'd had quite a bit to drink."

Heat rushed to my cheeks. "Yeah..."

"I even told you to slow down. You came here alone and kept drinking. You looked like you were about to drink yourself unconscious."

I looked away, embarrassed. His smile faded when he noticed how nervous I was. "Is everything okay?"

"I... honestly don't know." He waited. "My boyfriend..." I laughed bitterly. "Well, my ex-boyfriend now. He cheated on me yesterday."

"I'm sorry." The Manager's expression softened.

"I got drunk because of him. I thought he'd come to pick me up." I swallowed. "But I found out he'd already left the country before any of that happened."

Confusion spread across his face.

"So now..." My voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't know who I left with. I just woke up in a limousine this morning."

The manager remained quiet for several seconds. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I wish I could tell you. Besides, lots of our VIP customers arrive in those."

"Did you happen to see me leave with anyone?"

He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Honestly? No. It was one of our busiest nights. We had important guests, and I kept running between the floor and the office. I remember seeing you drinking by yourself, but after that, I lost track of everything."

My heart sank. "So there's nothing?"

“I don't… think..” He suddenly snapped his fingers. "Wait."

Hope shot through me. "What?"

"The CCTV."

I stared at him. "You have cameras outside, don't you? Can I please see the footage?"

He hesitated. "I don't usually show customers our security recordings..."

My heart dropped. "But judging from the look on your face," he continued, "I'd be a terrible person if I said no."

Relief washed over me. "Thank you Sir, you don't know how much this means to me.”

He nodded toward the hallway. "Come with me."

The manager led me through a narrow hallway and into a small security room. Several monitors were mounted on the wall, each showing a different part of the bar. Beneath them sat a desktop computer connected to the recording system. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Let's see..." His fingers moved across the keyboard as different dates and times appeared on the screen. "You said it was last night, right?"

"Yes Sir."

He opened the relevant recording and brought up the outside camera. My palms began to sweat. Please... let there be something. Anything.

At first, nothing seemed unusual. Cars drove past, and people walked in and out of the bar. Some laughed with their friends, while others struggled to walk straight. The manager increased the playback speed. The time displayed in the corner changed rapidly. Then a long black limousine slowly pulled up in front of the entrance.

"Wait!" I blurted. He paused the video.

"That's it!" I pointed at the screen. "That's the exact limousine."

The glossy black paint, the tinted windows, the elegant design… There was no mistaking it.

My stomach tightened as the manager resumed the footage. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the back door opened. A man stepped out.

I leaned closer to the monitor.

He was tall, with broad shoulders, dressed in a dark suit. Even through the grainy footage, there was something striking about the way he carried himself. He looked calm and composed, as though the world had no power to disturb him.

"Can you pause it?"

The manager stopped the video.

I squinted at the screen, trying to make out his face. Nothing. The streetlights barely reached him, and the poor camera quality made everything above his shoulders blurry.

"Damn it," I whispered.

"Let's see what happens next," the manager said.

He pressed play. The man lifted a phone to his ear, apparently answering a call. He stood beside the limousine for a moment before turning and walking away. I frowned. Where's he going?

We watched as the man moved farther from the car. Then the screen froze.

I blinked. A second later, it went black.

"What?" I turned to the manager. "What happened?"

He frowned and clicked the mouse a few times. "Hmm..." He tried playing the recording again, but nothing happened.

"I think It's gone."

"What do you mean, it's gone?"

He sighed. "The camera malfunctioned that night. It shut off around this time."

I stared at the blank screen in disbelief.

"No. There should be more."

"I'm sorry. The maintenance team fixed it the following morning, but everything recorded during the outage was lost."

Lost?Just like that? The answer I'd desperately been looking for was gone.

I wrapped my arms around myself, fighting the urge to cry again.

"Can you play the footage one more time?"

The manager nodded and restarted the clip. This time, I watched more carefully. The limousine pulled up. The man stepped out, answered his phone, and walked away. Then darkness.

I leaned closer. His face was impossible to identify, but perhaps I'd overlooked something. His clothes. His hands. His shoes. Anything that might help me recognize him.

"Again, please."

The manager replayed the footage.

I barely glanced at the limousine this time. My attention was fixed entirely on the man. He stepped out, raised his phone, and turned slightly toward the camera. I followed every movement, searching for something I could use. Until I saw something.

"Pause!"

The manager immediately stopped the recording. "What is it?"

I stepped closer to the monitor, my heart suddenly racing. "There. Look at his neck."

The manager leaned toward the screen.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Peeking out from beneath the collar of the man's suit was a tattoo. It was partially hidden, and the footage wasn't clear enough to reveal every detail. But I could make out its shape.

A dragon.

A black dragon stretching up the side of his neck.