Page 73 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

LILY

“Of all the things Cody could have said, no comment was probably the worst,” I mumbled, sobbing. My body ached from stress and watching the anguish on Alfie’s face only made my anxieties worse.

“Look, I feel I need to say this again. What you saw on stage between Cody and me, I swear—”

“For Christ’s sake, stop fucking protesting your innocence. Seeing you desperate for me to believe you is killing me. I do believe you. You have nothing to defend.”

Alfie had spoken to legal, who’d somehow managed to have the influencer’s posts taken down.

But how many people had seen it and I wondered whether taking it down only added smoke where there was no fire.

I loved Alfie with all my heart and the thought that people might believe I could do something so underhand ripped my soul apart.

“I feel like I need to defend myself. I’m fighting for my reputation here and the longer something like this goes on the more it’ll affect us,” I said while I pulled on my clothes, all thoughts of a passionate afternoon with my husband forgotten.

“I’m the only person that matters here and I believe you.”

“See, now you make it sound like you’re thinking about it. Telling me you believe me means you considered whether there might have been something between Cody and me,” I said. I walked into the sitting room where I’d left my cell phone and pulled Cody’s number up.

Alfie followed me inside. “Who are you calling?”

“Cody, of course,” I replied as the call connected.

“Hi,” Cody muttered, sounding flat.

“What the fuck was that?” I snapped.

“The guy at the airport, you mean?” he asked, like there would be anything else I’d want to discuss at that moment in time.

“Yes, the video. Why did you say no comment? Why didn’t you straight out debunk that rumor.”

Cody sighed. “First, I had no idea there was a rumor of any kind until that guy hit me up at the airport. He caught me off guard and I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

“You said, ‘no comment’, do you know how that paints me? Now they’re saying this baby might be yours.”

“I wish,” he said, chuckling.

“This isn’t fucking funny and comments like that are one of the reasons my husband is pissed off with you.”

“What have we been told by our PR and legal team?” Cody challenged.

“Excuse me?” I said, frowning.

“Anything controversial we’re asked…what are we supposed to reply—”

“No comment,” I said, cutting him off.

“Exactly,” he muttered.

“Not in this case, Cody. The correct response should have been, ‘what the fuck? Are you crazy? We’re bandmates, what you see on stage is an act’,” I said.

“Like I said, I did what I was told to say. He caught me off guard,” Cody insisted, sounding like he’d been the injured party in all this.

“Well, thanks for having my back. I’m beginning to think Alfie’s right about you and Lennie. Neither of you really care about me or my feelings. You either want or need me for something, but that’s where the loyalty ends,” I blurted out and hung up.

Alfie stood with folded arms, barely containing his temper. He inhaled a deep breath and sighed. “So, what did he say?”

I shrugged. “He quoted the legal stance when you’re asked a hard question.”

“Really, that shouldn’t have been a hard question to answer though, right? Like you said, he threw you to the wolves with that response.”

“I want to make a statement,” I decided.

“I disagree. I say we do nothing for now. We go about our private lives and let the rumors die a quick death when the press doesn’t see what they think they will.”

“Actually, no. I’m super pissed about this,” I argued, shaking my head. I scrolled my phone contacts and rang Lennie.

“Who are you calling?”

“Lennie,” I replied, and waited for him to answer.

“Yeah, he must know about this by now, and yet there’s radio silence on his end,” Alfie agreed.

“Did you see what Cody did?” I asked the moment Lennie answered the call.

“I did. Not good,” he said, sounding short. Alfie was right again, Lennie had heard what happened and he hadn’t bothered to call to support me.

“And you didn’t think to call?” The injustice of Lennie’s one-eighty turn in his support for me felt completely unjustified.

“What is there to say? He fucked up, and how would me calling you have changed that?”

His total disregard to commiserate or to give me some moral support sent a violent shock of electricity through my body. And it was the most careless response to something that had devastated me.

In that moment I felt helpless, until I finally realized what Alfie had been frustrated with me about.

My lack of firm boundaries with Cody during performances had made people suspect there was something more than there was.

The mess it had created had not only brought into question my faithfulness to my husband, but it had dragged Alfie into the problem as well.

“For one thing, you could have said he’s a dick and you’re here for me, but you didn’t.

So, I get who has my back and who doesn’t now.

It’s taken something like this to shake me awake and let me see exactly how things are.

It would appear my needs came after yours all these years, but that’s about to change. ”

“My needs?” he asked, about to protest but I cut him off.

“Lennie, I’m not doing another gig with XrAid right now. And I’m not recording another song on our album. I’m taking time off.”

“You can’t do that. We have obligations to—”

“Watch me—sue me. Are you paying attention now?” I asked, interrupting what I suspected would have been a lecture in band responsibilities.

“For the past few weeks, I’ve been wondering who the fuck you are and what have you done with the man I thought I knew.

But I don’t think I knew who the real Lennie was until now.

” I cut the call and stole a glance toward Alfie.

“Wow, you are super-pissed. It’ll do them good to consider what you could do,” Alfie confirmed.

“It’s no longer what I could do. I’m serious. I mean it, I’m done. As of now, I have no interest in pleasing anyone apart from myself.”

“And me. You still want to please me, right?” Alfie mumbled, wagging his eyebrows.

“I’m serious, Alfie.”

“As am I. This affects us both, Lily. Someone questioning your fidelity affects me too. Makes me look like I took my eyes off the ball… or the prize… whatever that saying is. Cody made me look like a chump.”

“I hardly think anyone would think that of you, Alfie,” I scoffed, but my heart ached for him. “How are people allowed to spread such lies and sleep at night?” I grumbled.

A text alert chimed on Alfie’s cell phone, and he quickly read what it said.

“My attorney is coming over with Joanne from PR, to help us straighten this out. Meanwhile, once legal comes down hard on him we should get some answers because that guy is a worm. He won’t protect his source if it threatens him going to jail. ”

“What I want to know is who the person was at our party that spread the word about the argument you had with Cody,” I mused.

Alfie shrugged. “No one I can think of, apart from the two players already showing their hand.”

“You mean Lennie, or Cody himself?” I asked in disbelief but nevertheless perturbed by that thought.

“Maybe we’ll find out once legal leans on that influencer,” he suggested.

“I hope so because that guy needs to be stopped from spreading lies, and the sooner the better.”