Fractured [SHAWN MENDES]

~18~

Taryn moaned into Shawn's mouth as he swiveled his hips between her legs, pressing himself against her in the most delicious way.

"You like that?" he asked rhetorically, knowing full well that she did.

"Mmmm...yesss."

His hands were hooked under her thighs as she sat on the edge of the trunk of her car. Their position was compromising, but the parking garage was deserted at two in the morning, so the risk of being caught was minimal. Plus, they were both fully dressed, so it wouldn't be that bad if someone did see them.

This was the fourth night in a row that Shawn had arrived at the bar before closing so that he could walk Taryn to her car. They kissed goodbye before she drove off, and each night the kiss got a little more intense. If they were dry-humping on her car tonight, he wondered what they'd be doing the following night. This thought inspired an idea.

"Tomorrow is Sunday," he said. "The bar closes early and you're off the next day. Any chance we could grab dinner when you're done? Maybe get take out at my place?"

"Are you asking me to sleep over?"

"What? No! I just meant that you could stay up late," he replied, though it had crossed his mind that this was the perfect opportunity for that.

"I don't believe you," she laughed. "I think that sounds lovely, but I can't stay the night. I've managed to keep this from my mom, and I want it to stay that way. She'd be fine with us having dinner, but if she thinks we're involved, she will give me so much shit."

Involved. Is that what they were? He definitely didn't want a girlfriend or any kind of commitment right now, but he also didn't want to fight over semantics and risk losing what they had. "I understand." He held on to her waist as she hopped off the trunk.

"Thank you again for seeing me to my carriage, Sir Shawn, Ontario's finest knight."

He bowed deeply. "M'lady."

She stood on her tiptoes to give him one last peck and then got into her car. After she drove down the ramp, he went to the stairs and then walked back to his building with thoughts of the next night in his head.

******

As Taryn stood behind the bar tapping her foot to a Dua Lipa song Shawn had put on one of the mixes, she felt especially pretty. She'd taken a long hot bath before work and had trimmed or shaved all the places she'd been neglecting for months. Instead of putting her hair up in a braid, which she'd only done when she started working at the bar as an inside joke with her mom, she wore it down. The front was pulled off her face and clipped in back, but her long red curls still cascaded over her shoulders.

She always wore jeans to work, and tonight was no different, but it wasn't an accident that she had on the pair that best accentuated her round bottom. Instead of a simple button down, she had on a robin's egg blue lightweight sweater with a v-neck. The only part of her outfit that wasn't attractive were her comfortable sneakers. She couldn't be on her feet all day in heels or even cute flats without pain, thanks to an arch problem she'd inherited from her mom.

Patricia watched her daughter from where she sat at one of the tables as she worked on her monthly spreadsheet. Taryn refused to admit it, but she knew her daughter was smitten. Her little girl had it bad for Shawn Mendes, and it was clear as day that he felt the same way. This story that they were "just friends" was nonsense, and the proof of this was written all over Taryn's smiling face and in the special outfit she'd chosen to wear for their dinner.

Tricia sighed and went back to entering numbers into her computer. She'd made her point about how dangerous a relationship with someone who had a problematic history could be, and it was up to Taryn to listen. God knows she had the experience to back this claim up.

Taryn's father had been bad news wrapped up in a very handsome package. In fact, Shawn looked a little bit like him. She'd met Ford in high school and had fallen hard after convincing herself that there had to be a good guy under the tough exterior. She was wrong. He'd been to jail several times, once for robbery and twice for drug charges, but that didn't stop her from loving him. They had an on-again off-again relationship for years and when she was twenty-two, she got pregnant during a period when they were on. He'd lost his mind and threatened to leave her forever if she didn't get an abortion. She considered this option, but the fact that she loved the baby growing inside her prevented Patricia from going through with it. Her father, who was a pretty rough guy himself, found Ford one night and told him in great detail what he'd do to him if he didn't take responsibility for his child. Ford stepped up and they moved into the small apartment above her father's bar in Ottawa.

They were never blissfully happy in the way she'd always imagined couples were when she was a young girl, but things weren't terrible at first. She worked at the bar and he sold cars at a used lot, which meant they were on opposite schedules. When they were both home, they got along just fine, mainly because Patricia worked hard to take interest in the things he liked such as baseball and classic rock music.

Taryn was born on a cold winter's day, and poor Tricia had no one there to comfort her during the early stages of labor since her partner had taken off the day before, claiming he had to scope out cars in Toronto. He did, however, get home in time to meet her at the hospital. He was surprisingly fond of the tiny pink infant from the start, but as time went on, he resented Patricia for tying him down. They weren't married, so at least once a week he told her that if it weren't for Taryn, he'd be long gone. She suspected the real reason he stayed around was because he was afraid of her father, and she was proven right when Ford took off the week after his death. He left a note and an envelope full of cash, which she suspected he'd earned doing something illegal. The note said that he'd always love Taryn, but that he wasn't a family man and never would be.

A month later, Tricia packed everything into her truck and moved to Toronto with her eleven year old daughter. She opened The Good Luck Lounge, and if she'd been smart, her attraction to dangerous men would have ended with Ford.

It didn't.

"Another tea?" Taryn asked, interrupting her mother's thoughts.

"You don't need to wait on me!"

"You're hard at work and it's quiet here right now. I'm making myself some so I thought I'd offer."

Tricia smiled at her pride and joy. "I love you so much."

"And I love you, Mama."

"All I want for you is to do better than I've done," she said wistfully.

Taryn knew what her mother was hinting at. "Don't worry about me. I've always got my eyes wide open and I never suffer fools gladly."

"My father loved that saying and he looked down on those who did suffer fools, which included me."

"You're a softie sometimes, but I get all my best traits from you, which I'm thankful for."

"What time is your boyfriend coming by?" Patricia asked.

"My friend probably won't get here until an hour before closing, so you'll miss him. In fact, it's high time you went home. You look like you could use a nap."

Tricia waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not even fifty years old, yet you treat me like I'm eighty."

"Once you're feeling like your old- I mean young- self again, I promise to back off."

Patricia stood up and put her computer in her bag. "Be safe, my love," she advised before going home.