Fractured [SHAWN MENDES]

~23~

Shawn tossed his keys on the kitchen island and flicked on the lights. Even though he was stuffed from dinner with his parents, he absentmindedly opened his refrigerator. It was pretty bare, so he made a mental note to order groceries in the morning. He pulled his phone from his pocket and checked it again. Still no reply from Taryn. Was she trying to give him a taste of his own medicine?

Sighing, he plopped down on the couch, coincidentally in the same spot he'd sat hours earlier while Taryn went to town on his dick. It had been a little uncomfortable for him this evening when he kept remembering how amazing that blow job had been while sitting across from his mom and dad eating salmon.

He killed time watching a movie before taking the short walk to the bar. When he got there, there were a couple customers sitting at tables, but no one was seated at the actual bar. Two people were behind it, however. Taryn was leaned against the shelf near the cash register looking at some guy as he talked animatedly about something that must have been funny, given how she laughed when he was done. Shawn stood near the door watching them for a second before making his way to his usual spot.

"Hey!" Taryn said cheerfully as she approached him. "What can I get you?"

"A beer, thanks."

She returned a second later with a pint of his favorite draft. "How'd it go with your parents?"

He glanced over at the guy. "I don't want to talk about that in public. Did you get my texts?"

"Shit! I was about to reply and then my mom interrupted me. It totally slipped my mind after that."

The stranger joined them. "Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like Shawn Mendes? I hear that asshole still lives in Toronto, so it must suck to be his doppelgänger."

Shawn's face flushed red and Taryn's jaw dropped to her chest. Neither of them replied right away, and Colin couldn't help but catch on. "Fuck. You are him, aren't you?"

"Yep. I'm that asshole," Shawn muttered.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm Colin." He extended his hand with hopes of making amends.

Shawn reluctantly shook it and then took a long drink of his beer.

"He's our favorite regular," Taryn told her new friend. "Because he's so good to me and my mom, he gets his drinks and food on the house."

"You're who walks Taryn to her car! Patricia told me that one of the regulars did that every night. You're in luck because it's now part of my job description: night-shift cook and bodyguard," Colin said as he playfully bumped against Taryn.

Shawn looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Is that right?" Thoughts of Taryn making out with this douchebag at her car flooded his mind.

"I'm gonna go see if Zack needs me. I'm sure he could use a hand cleaning up for the night. Nice meeting you. I was a big fan of your song Stitches when I was in high school," Colin said before going to the kitchen.

"So that's the new cook, eh? Oh...and what else is he? Your personal bodyguard? Is he a bartender, too? Because he doesn't seem to be making much food."

Taryn's beautiful eyes narrowed to slits. "The tone you're using with me is completely uncalled for. Colin came out from the kitchen to bring me clean glasses and we started talking. It was wrong of him to be so insulting, but surely you're aware that a lot of people have that opinion of you, justified or not."

"Sorry. I'm not used to coming to my favorite bar and being called an asshole. Forgive me if I don't like the guy as much as you seem to."

"I'm going to step away because this is getting dangerously close to a fight."