Page 60 of Winter Ends
The woman rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. I understood her irritation. That was the worst part. It wasn’t like me to fuck things up this badly.
The longer that Daniel stayed away, the more distracted I became. I’d added bitters to a damn margarita for crying out loud. I was never this bad. If all it took to jumble my brain this badly was for a guy I liked to have some sort of freakout, I was in for a mess. Maybe Dad was right that I was in love with him. It was the only way I could explain why this affected me the way it was.
“Shawn?”
I looked up to see Chase step behind the bar. He didn’t work back there as often, but he was trained. It had to be bad if they were sending someone over to help me out.
Where the fuck was Daniel?
“I’m good.”
“You’re really not. Go take a break and catch your breath. Come back when you can focus a little better, yeah?”
I nodded, catching that my dad was standing in the doorway to the kitchen watching the exchange. I didn’t need him to see me floundering.
The door to the back room swung closed behind me and I made my way around a shelf of liquors. My steps halted to findDaniel huddled on the floor, knees to his chest and his face buried against them. Had he been back there the whole time?
I didn’t want to startle him. He was obviously upset. He was more receptive to someone being more caring and understanding than someone trying to make him talk. I said nothing as I sat on the floor in front of him, silently waiting for him to realize that I was there. Thankfully, the bar wouldn’t be too busy for another hour or so when the dinner rush really picked up.
Soft sniffles filled the room, and I wanted so badly to reach out and touch him. To let him know I was there for him. Seconds stretched into minutes as I watched his shoulders shake in quiet sobs. Every fiber of my being wanted to comfort him, but my father’s voice kept telling me not to smother him. Surely, this was an exception. I’d never seen him look so broken.
The second my hand made contact with his arm, Daniel’s red-rimmed eyes blinked up at me. Tracks of dried tears stained his face, and before I knew it, his arms wrapped around my waist, and his face was buried in my chest.
“What took you so damn long?”
A sourness settled in my gut. Maybe my father had a point about not smothering him, but I should have gone looking for him sooner. “I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving you space.”
Those brown curls bounced as he shook his head against me. “Never. No more space. Crowd me. Don’t let me go.”
My hands soothed up and down his back as his tears soaked into the front of my shirt. How had my dad offering him a lawyer reduced him to this?
“What happened? Why are you so upset?”
He sniffled, his nose against white cotton, before looking up at me. “Because someone cares. Someone believes that I had noidea what the hell was going on. My parents love me, but I know they still partially blame me.”
My fingers worked through his thick hair, pushing it back from his face and making him maintain eye contact. “The parents that I met? Daniel, they’d do anything for you. I think you’ve all been through something traumatic and it’s hard to get past that sometimes.”
Another fat tear rolled down a soft cheek, and my thumb swiped it away. “Now try to cheer up. We want to help you fix this mess. No one should have had to deal with the harassment he’s put you through for as long as you have.”
Chapter 39
Daniel
Right there in the backroom of Margaret’s, I realized something. Shawn wasn’t just the loudmouth cocky asshole that had worn me down and let me explore my sexuality. He meant something. He was special. I wanted to kiss him and stay with him. That also terrified me.
“Shawn, I don’t think I can work tonight.”
He nodded. “I can’t either now. I’ve got snot and tears all over my shirt.”
I blinked at him. “Sorry.”
Shawn snorted a laugh, pulling my face closer to place a kiss against my lips. “You really aren’t, but it’s okay. I’d gladly be your snot rag.”
The problem now was figuring out how to get out of the restaurant. When I’d gone to the back room, they hadn’t opened the doors yet, but now there was a packed dining room.
As if reading my mind, Shawn pulled his phone from his pocket. I watched as he typed out a message and pressed send. It took several minutes before it vibrated and he looked at theresponse. He gave the screen a tight smile before he looked up at me.
“Dad said we should be good to leave. Chase is covering the bar and he can come out to help him.”
