Page 40 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

The moment she became restless, her body began to shake, I curved my fingers up inside her and heard her scream my name. “Alfie,” she cried, while her fingers grabbed my hair in a vice-like grip and her whole body pulsated around me until she’d rode her orgasm out.

“All good?” I asked as I crawled up her body and surrounded her with my limbs.

“No, I need you inside me,” she mumbled, still sounding frustrated, even though she’d looked peaceful, and her eyes were still closed.

“Yes, baby. But I won’t be gentle. You know how long it’s been since my cock’s had some action,” I warned her as I positioned myself at her entrance.

It was a blissful feeling as I slid deep into her dripping-wet pussy, and the erotic groan that tore from her throat as I filled her up, set me on fire.

“Is this what you wanted?” I ground out, straining to keep up the pace. The sound of skin on skin slapping rhythmically only added to the carnal passion within me.

“What I need,” she corrected as her gorgeous green eyes filled with fresh lust. I pulled back and sank in deep again and watched while Lily’s beautiful lips formed a large O and she let out a small, sexy growl.

“Oh, God,” Lily mumbled, licking her dry lips and locking her attentive eyes on me.

“Fuck me,” she groaned in an urgent tone.

“Yes, ma’am.” I replied, then pump her harder and faster. Sweat poured from my brow as I fought back my own orgasm to make it last, using our connection to heal us both.

It didn’t take long before I felt her body tighten from the inside, her pussy wall’s gripped on my cock, squeezing me harder and her body shook.

Then came the sweet, mewling sound that she made in the back of her throat as she began to come.

I covered her mouth with mine and swallowed her small, muffled screams. Then she came with such force the pulse of her orgasm pulled mine from me as well.

No other feeling could ever surpass that of emptying my seed inside her. And reminding myself that the last time I’d done that, we’d made a miracle of life that was already growing inside her.

Sliding out of her body, I rolled onto my side, took my weight on my elbow and perched my head on my hand. Cupping her face with my spare hand, I looked down on her and smiled. “Jesus… th-that… I-I don’t have the words to describe what I feel in my heart right now.”

“Same,” she mumbled, turning fully onto her side to face me.

She drew her legs up, wrapped one over me, and my hand immediately cupped her ass.

“I’m so…” Tears pooled in her eyes, and it no longer mattered what she had to say.

The only important thing that mattered was that we were going to be okay.

As it turned out, a week in London was exactly what we’d needed for Lily and me to get our relationship back on course. Spending time with Lily’s life-long friends always brought an element of welcomed normality to the crazy lives we led.

Jack was an ass as usual, but his wife, Mya, was an amazing woman who juggled their five kids schedules like she was born to do it.

“Aren’t you exhausted?” Lily asked, her face screwed up like she could hardly believe what Mya packed into her day.

“You just find the capacity to deal with all the craziness parenthood brings.”

“Did you find it hard… suddenly having a small human to take care of?” Lily asked Mya as we sat on their patio and watched Jack and Mya’s kids play on the extensive set of playground equipment.

“Ava was a little older, so I had some idea what I was doing by the time our first newborn came home,” Mya reminded her as she placed a tray of hot drinks on the table.

I’d forgotten the drama around Jack not knowing his ex-girlfriend, Rosie’s baby was secretly his. Rosie had found out she was pregnant after Jack had broken up with her and she let Jack go off to Spain or somewhere to find himself, without telling him.

I remembered Lily telling me how distraught she had been about being put in the middle of that situation. Rosie had sworn Lily to keep it secret, and Lily had still been struggling with her conscience about that after Jack came back.

I glanced at Lily and saw the faraway look in her eyes, and I wondered if Mya’s reminder had triggered memories from that time as well. “Are you okay?” I asked, frowning.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I told others about the baby before I could tell you myself,” she blurted.

“Fuck me, I can’t get my head around that,” Jack muttered. Lily’s face turned red, and she screwed her eyes shut. “Jesus, Lily Parnell is going to have a baby.” I chuckled at the awe in his tone. “How did that happen?”

“Jesus what is it with you English men? I mean, you’ve got five, Jack. Haven’t you worked out how Mya got pregnant yet?”

Jack laughed. “I think we both know I’ve got rock star status when it comes to knocking Mya up.”

“Listen to you acting misogynistic,” Mya scolded.

Jack smiled, took Mya’s hand and affectionately kissed her knuckles. “I’m sorry but Alfie asked a stupid question.”

“Alright you two, I don’t want to be blamed for disrupting your domestic harmony. But to answer your question, the baby wasn’t planned but we’re both getting used to the idea,” I remarked, careful not to wave off Lily’s feelings as inconsequential.

“There’s a lot to work out, but Alfie’s going to be around for a while to help while the baby’s little.”

“You won’t stay home?” Lily glanced at me for support the moment Jack posed that question.

“Lily has contractual commitments with the band that she needs to fulfill.” As I spoke those words Lily’s cell phone rang. “See what I mean?” I asked as Lily rifled through her bag and pulled out her cell phone.

She flashed me a guilty look. “Sorry, I told Lennie not to call unless it was urgent, so I need to answer this.”

When she didn’t move away from the table, everyone’s eyes were focused on her.

“Hey, Lennie,” she murmured, frowning as she listened, and began to trace the grooves in the wood on the patio table with her index finger.

After a few seconds her frown deepened. “What!” Her eyes widened in shock, and she fixed her gaze to mine.

“You’re joking… hang on,” she said, suddenly shaking as she put Lennie on loud speaker.

“Who am I talking to?” Lennie asked.

“Alfie, Jack and Mya,” she said, looking animated as she pointed out each of us even though he couldn’t see us. “Say it again,” she prompted.

“We’ve got to be in the studio next Monday. I know you said you wanted a couple of weeks off, but we agreed we wanted Maz Lindle to produce our next album, and he’s got a window now. He wants to be back in Europe as soon as we’re done.”

“Do it. We’ll go back and you can polish that album,” I said, encouraging her to keep working, and knowing that none of the guys were aware she was pregnant yet.

“Okay, we’ll be back on Saturday evening so I can be there,” she muttered hesitantly. There was a look in her eyes that made me believe she was silently questioning herself, so I nodded. “Look, I need to go, we’re in the middle of something here,” Lily suggested, wanting to wrap up the call.

“Alright, see you on Monday,” Lennie chirped and hung up.

“Fuck, you only just got here,” Jack muttered. “This back and forth is grating on my nerves. How often am I likely to see you once the baby’s here?”

“You’ll be welcome any time Lily is home,” I said, answering for her.

“Home? You’re not going to stop working to take care of the baby?”

“Jack, stop it,” Mya scolded. “Having a baby doesn’t define who someone is. I may have chosen to stay home with the kids, but that doesn’t mean everyone else must. Lily has a career that she can’t just walk away from.”

“I’ll be taking care of the baby for a while with a professional nanny,” I explained.

“XrAid just signed a new contract with the record label,” Lily explained. “Alfie’s going to pick up the parenting duties while I…” She shrugged, and it became clear that she felt uncomfortable justifying herself.

“Yeah. But think of all those small milestones you’ll miss out on. The time when they’re tiny goes in the blink of an eye,” Jack mumbled, like he wasn’t a fan of that idea.

“Who said men shouldn’t take care of their kids anyway? Why does it have to be Mom? I’m going to do everything I know how to make sure she feels confident to continue with her band.”

Jack shook his head. “Well, I never thought I’d see the day where Alfie Black would want to stay home and play daddy with his kids.”

“You do it,” I argued. “Granted you need to travel for interviews, but that’s not all the time, right? How often is he at home, Mya?”

“Three days at least each week,” she replied, throwing her husband under the bus.

“There you go, Jack. Lily and I will be sharing the childcare for our little one with a nanny, just like you and Mya do.”

“Yeah, but Mya is here all the time,” he protested again. “Maria is only here to give Mya a break.”

“Enough, Jack,” Lily snapped. “I’m having a baby and a career. You’re the last person I figured wouldn’t be supportive of us.”

“I am supportive, but can’t forget that he left you, Lily. Isn’t that enough to make me concerned about the future for you and the baby?”

“Right, I give you leeway with Lily because of your history, but you’ve gone too far now,” I warned. “What happened between us is none of your business. We’re good now, and we’re looking forward to managing our careers and our family together.”

“Lily?” Jack asked, turning to stare my wife down, like he didn’t believe me. “Are you sure you’ll be happy about this?”

“Jack!” Lily admonished, her eyes blazing with anger toward him.

“What the fuck?” I barked. “Back the fuck off,” I ordered.

“Alfie, language… the children,” Mya chided, hugging herself and looking uncomfortable with our exchange.

Lily placed a hand on Jack’s arm with a deep crease in her brow.

“I know you want to look out for me, but Alfie is right. The reason he left was because neither of us spoke up about something that was upsetting us. Once we’d talked it through, we realized it was a miscommunication.

And if my memory serves me correctly, it wasn’t that long ago that you advocated for Alfie to me in that matter. ”

Jack put his hands up in surrender. “Look, I saw how you leaving tore her apart,” Jack argued. “A baby won’t solve any rift between you.”

“Nor would we expect it to,” I agreed. “We’re as much in love now as we’ve ever been. I had no idea Lily had felt the same as I had been feeling. I should have spoken up sooner and our situation wouldn’t have gotten that far.”

Lily frowned at Jack, then nodded. “I’ll admit, what Alfie did had blindsided me, but with hindsight, I’m glad that he left.

It brought us both to our senses, showed us how much we mean to each other and not to take the other for granted.

And as for parenting, Alfie’s right, plenty of other people in our industry have the same set up as us to be a family.

So, we might appear like an unconventional team to take care of our baby, but we’ll manage this together. ”