Page 69 of Friends with Benefits

I shook my head as he laid me down and brought the covers back over me, tucking them up to my chin.

He stroked my hair, which must have felt awful against my clammy temples, and he pressed his lips to my forehead.

‘The Tequila Queen has temporarily vacated her throne,’ he whispered.

My lips curved up before I closed my eyes. I could still feel his weight on the bed and the gentle touch of his fingers as I drifted into darkness.

I woke a couple of hours later. In the light of the bedside lamp, I could see I was alone. But my used tissues had been cleared away and Jake’s laptop was on the bed next to me, paused on a scene I recognized from the movie Hacksaw Ridge.

I dragged myself up to sit, still feeling weak and drained but a little better than before my nap. As if by magic, the bedroom door opened slowly and Jake stood in the doorway, holding a tray.

‘You were stirring. I figured you would be awake soon.’

‘Why aren’t you out?’

He didn’t answer, just moved toward me and placed the tray down on the bed. ‘Broccoli and stilton soup. The bread is still warm if you can manage it. Orange juice for that essential vitamin C, and water, because apparently woman flu can be severely dehydrating.’

I wanted to smile at his kindness. I wanted to thank him. But the lump in my throat that had nothing to do with my sickness wouldn’t let me speak.

‘You stayed in on a Friday night to make me soup?’

He moved around the bed and sat down where I assumed he’d been sitting while I slept. He hit play on Hacksaw Ridge and shuffled the laptop to a position where we could both watch it.

‘I hope you like the soup. My mom had to talk me through making it on Skype.’

The lump was so big, it was almost choking me. ‘You called your mum? You went out and bought ingredients?’

‘Oh shit, babes. Why are you crying? Are you hurting? What can I do?’

It was right then. That was the moment I fell in love with Jake Harrington.

I fell in love with him as he held me to him. As I cried because he’d made me soup. As I cried because he was the first person who had ever truly wanted to take care of me since I was a girl. As I let him hold me the way my mum used to hold me when I was sick.

‘My throat hurts really bad,’ I sobbed.

He kissed my scalp until I pulled myself together. I ate my soup and we watched what was left of the film. The whole time, my heartbeat grew stronger and faster.

No. No, Jess. You cannot be in love with Jake. He means too much. He’s too good. You can’t love him because it will be the end of you both.

19

JAKE

A hand on my shoulder wakes me. I lift my head from the breakfast counter and immediately look at the phone in my hand. She hasn’t returned any of my calls. She hasn’t replied to my text messages asking where the hell she is and why she ran out without speaking to me. Nothing.

‘Brooks and Drew are dragging my ass for a run,’ Kit said. ‘You want to come and clear your head?’

I flex the knuckles of my right hand and wince. Kit could be asking if I want to clear my head after punching Brandon last night. But the fact he doesn’t ask why I was sleeping at the breakfast counter in the clothes I was wearing last night tells me he knows Jess has gone.

Maybe he knew she packed up her things. Maybe he saw her leave in a cab. Or maybe he heard me shouting her name in the middle of the street as her cab drove away.

Being with Jess yesterday was everything. What cuts me more than the fact she ran is that I think I’d take the churning in my gut right now a thousand times again to have had yesterday just once more.

I massage my right knuckles with my left hand and bring my hands to my chin as I replay every perfect moment. My mind gets to walking onto the deck last night when I ruined everything.

She thinks I fought for Emily. Even though I told her I’m not into her like that, I’m not an idiot, I can see how it must have looked.

Jess’s default mindset is to find every reason not to fall in love. And fuck if I didn’t give her the biggest reason to hate me.

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