𝑀𝓎 𝑀𝒶𝓃#1~When Love Lasts

My phone alarm wakes me up the next morning. It pulls me out of my dream. I was little, with my parents on a vacation. It was just a simple vacation. We had gone to the beach, but those brief memories are what I hold close to my heart.

I stretch out my arms and yawn before reaching over to my nightstand and grabbing my phone to check the time. Nine am. That's not too bad. I figured I'd sleep later than that. I scroll through my notifications and see that Anna's texted me three times.

Oops.

Anna - You made it home?

Anna – If you don't text me, I'm going to call my brother. Did he piss you off? Whatever he did, it's not my fault Aves.

Anna – You better call me when you wake up. I'm worried.

Crap. Now I feel bad. I was supposed to message her when I made it back home, but dealing with Cedric took all my energy out, and oh shit. I completely forgot that he slept over last night. I wonder if he is still here. I quickly type Anna a message as I climb out the bed.

Me – I'm sorry. It's a long story, but your brother fell asleep on my couch. I didn't want him to. I went to bed. I'm sorry I made you worry, Ann.

I tossed my phone on the bed and tiptoed out of my bedroom, heading straight for the living room to see whether he was still sleeping on my couch or not. Maybe he is an early riser and was long gone from my couch and my home.

A relieved sigh slips passed my lips as I walk into my living room and notice that he is gone. I check around the room to make sure he wasn't sleeping anywhere else and was happy when he was nowhere to be seen.

With a smile on my face, I head toward the kitchen. I need some coffee. I think I drank too much last night. No, never mind I don't think. I know I did.

As soon as I stepped into my kitchen, I tripped over my feet and went down on my knees. I glance back up and see Cedric standing behind my kitchen counter, cracking eggs.

What in the heck does he think he is doing?

First, he forces himself onto my couch, and now his making breakfast in my kitchen without asking me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded as I climbed to my feet, staring at him with my mouth hanging open. “I thought you would be gone by now. It's nine am.” I informed him, in case he didn't know.

“Making breakfast.” He stated the obvious and cracked another egg.

“Making breakfast?” I asked puzzled. Why is he making breakfast? He could make breakfast at his own home.

“Yup. Want some?” He asked, a small smile playing on his lips as he watched me.

“Do I want some?” I whispered, still unsettled. My head is pounding. I need some coffee and food. But I need him out of my kitchen.

“Yeah, babe. Want some eggs?”

“Um, you-”

“Making eggs. You want some?”

“I don't think-”

“It's a simple question, beautiful. Want some eggs or not?” He repeated and smiled. Goodness, he has a beautiful smile. Teeth all straight and white.

Shut the fuck up, Avery. He is too bossy. He forces his way, and he is annoying and smirks way too much.

I put on my big girl panties and said, “You need to go. I appreciate you driving me home last night, but now it's time for you to leave. Leave the mess you made, I'll clean it.”

“That doesn't work for me.” He stated and poured the eggs into the pan on the stove, and turned his back towards me.

“Well, having you in my kitchen doesn't work for me!” I snapped and crossed the kitchen, hell-bent on jerking that spatula out of his hands. “You can't just make yourself at home in someone else's kitchen!" I added, chest heavy and then bring my hand to my forehead and press hard.

Fuck that didn't help my headache.

“Got a headache?” He asked softly, stopping his movement with the spatula for a second.

I take that opportunity to quickly jump to grab it, but he got reflexes like a fox and jerked it out of my reach.

“Relax.” He grunted and caught hold of my wrist with his other hand. “I'll feed you. That will help your headache.”

That's almost sweet, too bad I don't want him to feed me. I prefer him to leave.

“I don't want to relax-”

“Sit.” He demanded, grabbed a plate, and piled on some eggs before setting it on the counter. “That's for you. I heard your alarm going off. Knew you would be up soon. Knew you would be hungry.”

Well shit. What do I say to that?

“Um thank you,” I mumbled and moved to the barstool in front of the eggs.

That was sweet.

“You're welcome, “He said before turning back around and cracked more eggs.

Why isn't he leaving? He made my breakfast like he claimed he wanted. Now he can go. Why is he still here?

“What are you doing now?” I asked before picking up the fork and punching it into the pile of eggs. “I need ketchup” I mumbled and went to hop off the barstool, but he stopped me.

“I'll get it. Eat.” He reached over, opened the fridge, grabbed the ketchup bottle, and slid it across the counter to me before going back to mixing the now-liquid eggs. “I'm hungry.”

“Thanks” I whispered and watched him. After he fixed me some food, it would be rude to not allow him to eat. I'm not a rude person. I'll have to let him make himself some. My grandma would roll over in her grave if I didn't. Dang, it.

“You're still coming to my parent's house for lunch?” He asked as he poured the eggs into the pan, his back still turned towards me.

“Yeah. Anna texted me three times last night. She thought I was pissed off at you, and that's why I didn't answer her.” I told him between blowing on my hot eggs and watching the steam rise.

“Was that the reason?” He demanded to know.

“No. I mean, I was pissed at you, but I would never ignore your sister. I was just tired, I passed out.” I informed him. "I texted her as soon as I saw her messages this morning."

A few minutes later we are both sitting in silence chewing our eggs, but I keep feeling his eyes on me, which makes me uncomfortable to continue eating. I say uncomfortable, but more like nervous. I'm scared I'll choke on a bite of eggs if I look over and catch his eyes.

He sighed and set down his fork before turning his body towards me, making the barstool twist around. “We need to talk”

Oh, no. We have done enough talking. We are going to finish eating. He will leave, and we will go back to not seeing each other, only around Anna and his family. Boom. Good plan.

“We don't need to talk about anything,” I mumbled and shoved another huge bite of eggs into my mouth.

“We do.” He said, tone turning hard.

“Cedric we don't,” I informed him.

“Listen to me. We do.” He sighed and reached over, grabbed my hand that wasn't holding the forked, and squeezed it. “The reason I slept over last night was to make sure you were safe.” He hissed.

“What?” I sucked in and ended up inhaling what was left of the eggs inside my mouth. I dropped the fork and patted my chest.

“Someone broke into a woman's house yesterday. She is missing.”

“What?” I whispered again. She is missing? “But you said-”

“I know what I said, Avery, but I didn't want to take the chance that I was wrong.” He sighed and squeezed my hand again. “It happened a few neighborhoods away. The woman was around your age and has the same hair color. It could mean nothing, or it could mean something. We don't know. I didn't want to take the chance, so yes, I forced you to let me sleep on your couch.”

“Why didn't you mention this to me last night?” I demanded and yanked my hand out from under his. How dare he keep something like this from me? “I had a right to know, Cedric.”

“I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you. I realize that was wrong. I planned to tell you this morning anyway, but last night I couldn't. It was your first night out. I didn't want to scare you into not having a good time.” He whispered, trying to explain himself. “I will not apologize for something I thought was right. I wanted to avoid making you feel scared, and I stayed here to protect you last night.”

“I had a right to know,” I repeated, not knowing what else to say. I understand why he did that. Why he kept it from me, still, I'm upset. If I had known, I would have stayed home and made sure all my doors and windows were secured.

“It happened. I did what I did. Let's move on.” He stated, grabbed both of our plates, and headed towards the sink.

“Move on?” I asked.

“Yes.” He growled as he began washing our plates.

If I wasn't so mad right now, I'd make a remark about him being the hubby type.

“Move on?” I repeated, wanting to double-check to make sure that's in fact what he just said.

“Yeah, babe. Move on.”

“I guess I don't have a choice now, do I?” I mumbled before laying my head down onto my arms and closing my eyes. Damn this headache and damn Cedric for keeping that shit for me.

“Now you're getting it beautiful.” He whispered as he stood in my kitchen, just made us both some breakfast and today is washing the dishes.

Lord. Please. Help me. I think I'm going to need it.

Then it hits me.

He is wearing pajama pants. How in the hell had I not noticed that before and where the hell did they come from?

"How are you in pajama pants right now?" I jerked my head back up and shot daggers into his back.