Chapter 49 Friends with Benefits: Morning Confessions
POV: Nayla
I woke up to sunlight peeping across the bed, golden and warm, and the smell of fresh coffee drifting in from somewhere down the hall.
For one disoriented second I forgot where I was. Then the ache between my thighs reminded me, delicious, deep, the kind that makes you smile before your eyes even open.
Kade.
The sheets beside me were still warm, but empty.
I stretched like a cat, arms over my head, toes pointing, back arching until every sore muscle sang.
The duvet slipped down to my waist and cool air kissed my bare breasts. I didn’t bother covering up.
Let the morning see the marks he had left, little bruises on my hips, faint teeth prints on the swell of my breast. I wanted them branded there forever.
The bedroom door opened quietly.
Kade walked in wearing nothing but low-slung grey sweatpants, the drawstring loose enough that the V of his hips was on full, unfair display.
His hair was a mess, sticking up in every direction from my fingers last night. He carried two steaming mugs, and the way the morning light caught the ridges of his abs made my mouth actually water.
“Morning, beautiful,” he said, his voice gravel-rough from sleep. He set the mugs on the nightstand, then crawled straight back into bed without asking permission, sliding under the sheet and pulling me against his chest like I belonged there.
I did belong there though.
I went willingly, burrowing into him, my face pressed to the warm hollow of his throat.
He smelled like coffee, I could’ve stayed like that for the rest of my life.
He kissed the top of my head, then my temple.
When I finally tilted my face up, he took my lips in a slow, deep kiss.
We broke apart only when breathing became necessary.
“Hi,” I whispered, suddenly shy even though he’d been inside me for half the night.
He smiled, slow and devastating. “Hi yourself.”
He reached for one of the mugs, handed it to me, and kept the other. I took a sip, perfect. Two sugars, splash of oat milk, exactly how I like it.
“You remembered,” I said, stupidly touched.
“I remember everything about you,” he answered, like it was the simplest truth in the world.
I set my coffee down and turned to face him fully, knees pulled to my chest beneath the sheet, arms wrapped around them like armour.
“Kade.”
He waited. “I need to say it when I’m sober,” I started, voice soft but steady.
“When I’m not drugged or crying or half-dead from jealousy. I have loved you since we were seventeen. I loved you when you dated every girl in senior year except me. I loved you when you let Kamila treat you like garbage and came to my couch to cry about it. I loved you when I pretended I was okay being your ‘best friend’ while dying inside every time you touched me like I was just one of the guys. I loved you every single day. I smiled and gave you advice on how to keep a girl who didn’t deserve you.”
My voice cracked on the last word. I didn’t care.
“I turned down every date, every nice guy, every promise of something real, because none of them were you. And last night, when I thought I was finally moving on… you showed up. You always show up. And I need you to know I’m done pretending I’m okay with scraps.”
He set his own mug aside, reached for me with both hands, cupped my face like I was something precious and breakable.
“I was terrified,” he said, “If I told you and you didn’t feel the same, I’d lose my best friend. You were the only person I couldn’t survive losing. So I stayed close the only way I thought you’d let me. The advice sessions, the shopping sprees, the 3 a.m. calls when Kamila ignored me again, anything that kept me in your orbit. I took whatever you gave me and pretended it was enough. I was a coward, Nayla. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I kissed him to shut him up. Slow, deep, pouring every wasted year into it. When we broke apart, tears were sliding down my cheeks.
“No more scraps,” I whispered against his mouth.
“Never again,” he promised, thumb brushing the tears away. “Never.”
He shifted us gently, laying me back against the pillows, the sheet falling away completely.
Then he started kissing his way down my body, not to arouse (though God, it did), but like he was saying thank you with his mouth.
When he reached the inside of my thigh, he paused.
“I want to wake you up like this every morning for the rest of my life,” he murmured against my skin, breathing warmly. “Is that okay?”
I laughed through fresh tears. “Yes, please.”
He smiled, pressed one last kiss just above where I was already aching, then crawled back up my body.
His sweatpants were gone, kicked off between kisses. He settled between my thighs, thick and heavy against me, but he didn’t push in yet.
“I love you,” he said, voice cracking on the words he’d never said out loud before. “I’ve always loved you. I’m done hiding it.”
His phone beeped and he picked it up. He checked it and stood up from the bed, I tried to pull him back but he held me calmly.
“I need to sort this out okay? It's very important” he hugged me and picked up his pants.
Before I could say Jack Robinson, Kade was already heading out…almost.
“No kisses?” He turned back hurriedly and kissed me, it was a quick peck different from the ones he has given me since last night.
I smiled and sipped the coffee while I went through my phone, this was the life I wanted.
Kade's girlfriend.
My phone beeped and it was a message from Astrid. I hissed loudly.
“Bad friends.” I got up and went to the bathroom, my body ached badly.
I wanted to freshen up and be clean before Kade arrived.
I got back to the bedroom and my phone was ringing, thinking it was Astrid, I just ignored it.
After dressing up, I picked up my phone to surf through the internet but I received the most shocking message of my life.
It was a picture…