Page 7 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

ALFIE

I stole a stunned glance toward Sienna before I focused again on the note in my hand.

My heart stopped for a beat for the second time that day, when I saw the date on the letter.

A gasp left my lungs before I swallowed back the lump in my throat—the letter had been written on the day that he’d died.

“Fuck, Sienna,” I muttered as I swept a hand through my hair, not knowing what to say.

“You saw the date?” she asked.

I nodded, but choked out, “I thought he’d have hated the idea of us together.”

“Looks like he left us to figure it out, despite his feelings. He was right about one thing though. You didn’t keep in touch from the moment you went to college,” she replied, taking the letter from me, and stuffing it carefully back into the envelope.

“What can I say? We were just kids. I’m sorry if I hurt you… or Gary.”

“Well, look at you now. All grown up with a rock star wife n’all. No babies though. Is that the sacrifice she made to keep you?”

I shot Sienna a dark, puzzled look. “Sacrifice?” I asked, my gaze darkening.

“Yeah. You’ve been married for years, and no kid. I’m thinking that kids would cramp your style… or hers. Am I right?”

“Is that what you think? If so, you’re way off and so was Gary.

That comment he made in his letter about a man not being able to breathe…

that’s exactly how I feel when I’m not with my wife.

Lily and I lead busy, complicated lives.

She’s an independent woman who knows her own mind.

She’s still young and not ready to be a mom, that’s all,” I remarked, pissed that Sienna found my one sore point and picked off the scab.

“Oh, sounds like I might have touched a nerve there,” she gloated, reminding me how astute she had always been at gauging my feelings.

I shrugged because she had a point. I’d been ready for fatherhood for a few years now. Lily and I were the only married couple in our friendship group without children. We’d discussed it on occasion, and although Lily wasn’t against it, she’d expressed a need to wait.

Thankfully, just then, my cell phone interrupted our conversation.

“It’s Lily,” I stated, relieved for the reprieve from Sienna’s scrutiny. “Hey,” I answered, smiling.

“We’ll be touching down in an hour or so. Are you coming to meet me?” Lily asked. She sounded exhausted.

“Sure. I can’t wait, baby. It’s been a tough five weeks without you,” I confessed.

“Tell me we’re staying home tonight,” she blurted.

“Oh, don’t worry,” I replied, chuckling. “I even had the housekeeper stock up a gallon of vanilla ice cream.”

Lily chuckled. “So, I guess I’m getting lucky and you’re getting fat, right?” It was an inside joke about an occasion where I’d smothered her in vanilla ice cream during a food play session.

I laughed. “Sounds like you know me too well,” I teased, flirting with her until I remembered Sienna was right there. “Okay, I’m with someone right now, so we’ll continue with this conversation when I see you at the helipad.”

“What? You’re not flirting back? Where are you?”

“I’m with Gary’s sister… it’s Memorial Day,” I confessed, not willing to say her name.

I cast another sheepish glance toward my dead friend’s sister.

Hurt flashed in Sienna’s eyes, and another pang of guilt streaked through me.

“Okay, I’m leaving now. Gotta run if I’m gonna make it to the airport before you land.

You know what the traffic’s like from South Beach at this time of the day. ”

“Right! Hurry up already. I’m dying to see you,” she mumbled. However, the excitement that had been in her tone wasn’t there anymore.

“I will, when you cut the call,” I replied, refusing to cut her off. My heart sank when Lily ended the call, because I knew our conversation about my visit to Sienna was far from over.

I turned my attention to Sienna again. “Perhaps it would have been better if I hadn’t come. I just wanted you to know, I’ve never forgotten Gary… or you for that matter. I’m sorry this a flying visit, but I need to head to the airport now. I didn’t expect Lily to be home so soon.”

Before Sienna had a chance to reply I pulled her in for a quick hug, released her and headed back to the door.

“I’ve missed you as a friend, Sienna,” I mumbled, not happy to leave things as they were.

“Look, give me your cell phone,” I said, looking around for it.

She lifted her purse, took her phone out and handed it to me.

Entering my number I said, “If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please, call me. ”

“I missed you too, Alfie. I know you’re busy, but I’d love to keep in touch.”

“Great, I’d really like that,” I admitted. “I need to run now, but what would you say if I gave you a call again in a few weeks.”

She smiled. “I’d say, hey,” she teased.

Oscar climbed out of the car as I was leaving the house and opened the back door for me.

I studied his frame, pleased by how he wasn’t obvious as my security detail.

We were the same height and athletic build.

But make no mistake, I was protected by lethal hands.

Oscar was an Ex-pro ball player and a master in martial arts, having studied in the Far East from when he was a kid.

As I reached the car, a young girl was being dropped off outside Sienna’s home.

A flash of recognition passed through her eyes and her face instantly reddened. Then, her eyes darted toward the door where Sienna still stood before the girl cast a glance back toward me.

A deep frown creased her brow when she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “You’re Alfie Black, right?” she asked, wagging a pointy finger toward me.

I flashed her one of my professional smiles in expectation of spending a fleeting moment with a young fan. However, what she said next blew me away.

“You probably don’t remember me, but you knew me when I was little.”

“Little?” I repeated. With a furrowed brow, I studded her face more closely. When I saw the similarity in her eyes to those of her mother, I instantly realized she was Poppy, Gary’s girlfriend, Kara’s daughter.

A shockwave ran through me. “Poppy? Is that you?”

The girl rapidly nodded as a smile lifted the sides of her lips. “You remember me?” she asked, wide-eyed in amazement.

How could I have forgotten that crazy couple of years while Crakt Soundzz had been an up-and-coming band? It was a time when I’d worked so many jobs to earn enough money, to keep her and her mom safe.

“Like I could ever forget you. But my how you’ve grown into a beautiful young lady,” I replied while I absorbed this news and struggled for something to say.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, blushing redder. She lifted her canvas Taylor Swift purse and clutched it to her chest.

Before my buddy had been deployed, he’d made me promise to take care of Kara, should anything happen to him.

I was a man of my word and swore to do whatever it took to support her if the worst came to worst. Kara went into a downward spiral after Gary’s death, and following a sequence of poor decisions, she found herself the pregnant girlfriend of a vicious, violent drug dealer.

Thankfully she eventually realized what she’d gotten herself into and after living in fear for herself and her child, she’d managed to seek my help to escape her partner’s controlling and violent influence with her daughter.

For around two years after that, Kara had lived in constant fear, with me her only source of physical and financial support and protection.

Obviously, with my link to Gary, I couldn’t take the risk of letting her stay in my home. So, after offering my services as a mentor to the college I’d recently left, I had been able to secure an apartment for Kara and Poppy to live in.

“You moved back to Florida?” I blurted, still shocked by the unexpected turn of events. Back then, it had taken forever to secure enough money to keep Kara and her daughter in hiding before Kara finally moved to another state.

“Yeah, last year after my deadbeat father passed away.”

“Passed away?” I sounded surprised.

“Well, the official autopsy report says that him and his two buddies died from some bad smack.”

“All three of them?” I asked, shocked that I hadn’t heard about that, but relieved for Kara and Poppy at the same time. A sense of relief flowed through my veins that Kara no longer needed to look over her shoulder anymore.

Poppy nodded. “Mom said he likely pissed someone off and they’d gotten even.”

“How is your mom?” I asked, sounding eager to my own ears.

“She’s good. She’s working in hospitality on the cruise ships out of Fort Lauderdale now. I stay with Auntie Sienna whenever she’s away.”

I needed to know much more about them, but I was conscious that Lily had been due at the airport. “Sorry, hon, I need to split right now to pick up my wife. I’m coming back. Tell your mom and your Auntie Sienna I’ll be in touch soon.”