Chapter 37

Daniel

“ H e’s alive.”

I jumped as Chase’s hands landed on my shoulders. It was our first day back at work since the fateful trip to the cabin, and everything felt... different. Literally everything remained the same, but now I had someone I was attached to, and I no longer wanted to kill Shawn. How long would it take before anyone noticed?

“Yeah, I’m alive,” I joked, leaning against the bar top and looking over my best friend.

Chase grinned. “I haven’t heard from you since we left the cabin. You either died or spent the entire time being dicked down.”

My eyes widened as I flew across the space to cover his mouth. “Would you keep it down?”

He laughed.

Dear fucking lord, it wasn’t funny. Sure, Chase knew about my history with Art, and now he sort of knew the details with Shawn, but I didn’t need everyone else knowing that I was fucking the owner’s son. That just screamed favoritism and after my talk with Shawn, he had it bad enough. I couldn’t imagine what people would think of me.

“Sorry, man. You just seem all relaxed and shit. I haven’t seen you that chill in a long ass time.”

In the two days we’d been back, there’d been a ton of orgasms. And sure, that probably made me a little more relaxed than normal.

“Staff meeting in five minutes?”

My eyes widened to comical levels as Mr. Stevens entered the bar. Oh, dear lord. Was I going to be able to keep my shit together around him now? If what Shawn had said was true, it wasn’t like his dad would freak out about him having a boyfriend, but when your boyfriend’s dad was your boss? God, that felt like crossing so many lines.

“You okay?”

I snapped my attention back to Chase. “Fine?” I squeaked. Nope, I didn’t sound confident at all. This was a fucking mess. Did I need to act like Shawn and I hated each other still? We hadn’t talked about that. Sure, we’d discussed being official, but work? This was a different arena.

Chase grabbed my shoulders, massaging them gently. Why was it suddenly so hard to chill out?

The room filled with other employees and when Shawn came in, my breath caught. God. All I wanted to do was stand next to him, grab his hand, and let everyone fucking see that things had changed in the week we’d had off. Would it be too much?

I didn’t have to think about it for long, because it was like the asshole read my mind. Before I knew what was happening, he was next to me, an arm around my waist as he leaned in and placed a kiss against my lips. The chatter in the room instantly stopped, all eyes on us. My face heated at the attention. That was one way to announce shit to everyone. Part of me wanted to be angry that we hadn’t discussed how we were going to do this, but I also loved that he wasn’t afraid to say that I was now his. He really hadn’t been joking about that.

A loud throat clearing had us jumping back from each other and there was Mr. Stevens, standing there with his arms crossed. “This is a restaurant, not a hook-up joint. I’d appreciate it if you treated it appropriately.”

My face flamed even more when Shawn grabbed my hand instead, leaning against the counter next to me, waiting for his dad to speak.

“Welcome back, everyone. It seems there’s been a small... change in dynamic since we all last saw each other. I hope that’s a change for the better and doesn’t mean I’m going to lose more staff.” Mr. Stevens glared at his son, and Shawn rolled his eyes. My heart stuttered when he let go of my hand to cross his arms over his chest to mirror his father’s pose.

As Mr. Stevens continued to brief us on what was expected in the new year, the tension in the room became palpable. We had some small menu changes in the dining room and he had a new cocktail idea for the bar. He planned to train us on it later, and when the meeting broke off, he flagged Shawn to follow him to his office. Worry settled into my gut, slithering and making me feel sick. As much as he assured me that his dad was more of a friend than a parent, I didn’t want him to be in trouble for our relationship.

I was stacking glasses when one of the other bartenders slid next to me.

“What the hell happened there?”

It was probably the most blushing I’d ever done. I wasn’t one to be embarrassed, but this was all brand new. This wasn’t the same as when I’d been hiding my relationship with Art and Tilly at all. I was allowed to be open and talk to people about it.

“We—we just learned how to get along.”

The bartender laughed, nudging me in the shoulder again. “That’s more than getting along, my friend. There any perks with that? Is there a raise involved? If there is, I’d jump on that, too.”

My eyes widened in horror. That wasn’t what I’d wanted anyone to think of me at all. I genuinely liked Shawn. This wasn’t about the perks of dating the owner’s son. How many people were going to think that?

“Daniel? Babe?” I almost didn’t hear him. Shawn stood in the doorway leading to the back offices. He waved me down, and I looked over my shoulder at the other bartender, who was watching us with interest. God only knew what he’d been thinking, but I needed to talk to Shawn. I didn’t know if I could do it if that was the norm. Why did people think it was okay to pry into your private life like that?

I followed Shawn back to Mr. Stevens’ office. The door was cracked open and I could hear him speaking on the phone with someone. Shawn rolled his eyes. “Dad thinks this is a bigger deal than it is. He’s getting Mom involved and wants to talk to their lawyer. They think they need to protect themselves.”

I backed up. “From what?”

Shawn sighed. “I told him I started this. This has nothing to do with you or your past.”

My eyes widened. “Jesus. When he hired me, he said he didn’t care about that shit, but now that you’re involved, it’s suddenly an issue?”

Shawn reached out for my hand, wrapping his fingers around my wrist and pulling me into his chest. His comforting smell instantly surrounded me and I wanted to just forget. To forget that there was a real possibility that my boss thought I was out to take something from his family.

“I told him about the phone call, babe. He knows Art has been harassing you. He wants to try to protect you as well.”

I deflated, the fight leaving me. That hadn’t been what I had expected at all. I had been conditioned to expect people to think the worst when they knew the truth. They didn’t care how innocent you were when you were associated with something so heinous.

“So what does the lawyer mean?”

Shawn shrugged, his shoulder moving under my chin as I rested it there. My uniform was going to end up completely wrinkled if I kept leaning on him this way, but I didn’t particularly care. “Don’t exactly know. Could mean a protective order? Maybe? Those phone calls could stop. The idea he thinks he has some kind of ownership over you is problematic.”

“But you owning me isn’t?” I laughed.

We were both laughing before Mr. Stevens pulled open his office door the rest of the way, scowling at us as he pressed the phone to his ear. “Would you two keep it quiet?”

There went my face again, heating to an unnatural level as we followed him into the space. The office was a decent size, big enough to hold a desk, two chairs, and a few file cabinets. You could probably have a few more people standing around if you needed to and still not feel claustrophobic.

He motioned for us to sit while he finished his phone call.

Everything felt tense, from my neck all the way to my toes as I sat in the chair. Mr. Stevens sat across from us, still on the phone, and my stomach twisted in knots. It was really nice of him to do this for me, but I didn’t want to come across as taking advantage. One coworker was already making jokes about using Shawn for his money. Was this the new expectation of what I had to deal with?

“I’ll get some more information from him and schedule a meeting. Thank you for working with me on this, Darren.” Mr. Stevens pulled the phone from his ear and disconnected the call. He placed his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers in front of him as he studied the two of us.

“You don’t...”

But I didn’t get to finish before he raised his hand to stop me.

“Daniel, before you think this has anything to do with your relationship with Shawn, I need to squash that with you.”

I instantly sagged in my chair. So what was it all about then?

“If any of my employees had come to me and told me they were being harassed in such a way, I wouldn’t hesitate to help them. You all work hard for me and keep my doors open. The least I can do is make sure that you’re safe.”

I nodded, a burning sensation building behind my eyes. Fuck. Was I about to cry in front of my boss? That was a new low.

“Don’t be embarrassed. You weren’t ashamed when I asked you about your arrest history. This shouldn’t be any different. It doesn’t make you less of a man to say that you need help.”

Oh yeah, there was no holding it back after that. The first tear rolled down my cheek as Shawn reached over and grabbed my shoulder. The reassurance that he was there and not judging me, that all he wanted to do was help me. Goddamn.

“Can you—can you excuse me for a moment?” I stood from the chair and left the office.