Page 74 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)
ALFIE
While Lily continued to vent, my mind had already turned to which one of our guests had betrayed us by spreading lies about us. I could see how that argument I had with Cody could have been misconstrued, by someone looking on, as me challenging him like he’d had an affair with my wife.
However, I’d thought our circle of friends were tight. What happened behind closed doors should have stayed there. Most of us present that day had been the focus of public scrutiny at one time or another.
When Lily put Lennie and Cody’s names into the mix for the likely culprits, I thought she could have a point. But I quickly dismissed this because Lennie was still loyal to Cody, and it did XrAid no favors to have a cheating scandal between their bandmates.
My chest tightened as the rage built within me. Turning, I headed inside. Lily followed, still ranting about the influencer’s lies as I flopped onto my back on the sectional sofa and closed my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked, sounding stressed.
I opened my eyes to see her standing over me, her eyebrows knitted in a frown. My heart squeezed in frustration when I saw her cradle her baby bump in her hands. I reached up, shifted onto my side and gently tugged her down beside me.
Wrapping her in my arms, I buried my face in her neck and once her sweet smell surrounded me, a sense of peace in that otherwise stressful situation washed over me. I began to rub her back too and felt her sag further into me.
We lay there for a minute or two before I spoke again. “It’s okay, I’m just trying to wrack my brain who was around when I’d called Cody out at the party.”
She stiffened and pulled back to look up at me. “Do you think it’s one of my bandmates?”
“No… no, I don’t. I’m thinking who was around me. I can’t remember seeing anyone while I spoke to him, but someone may well have overheard us.”
“One of the Screaming Shadows guys… or their wives?” Lily suggested, but I could hear in her tone that she couldn’t contemplate that any of them would do that.
“No, definitely not. They’re all solid and they’ve had more than their fair share of drama from false newspaper articles themselves.”
The more I thought about our situation, the angrier and more confused I became.
Inside I was fuming, but in front of Lily, I had tried to balance my rage about Cody with a need to keep Lily from becoming overwhelmed by the situation.
That balance came with a pain that seared inside my chest from the physical restraint I had to try to maintain.
If it hadn’t been for Lily, I’d have gone all out to find where that fucker Cody was, who had no doubt gone into hiding after his performance with the press.
In the distance I heard a boat arrive at the dock. “That’ll be Joanne from PR and John from legal,” I said.
Oscar knocked on the door. “Are you expecting visitors?”
“Shit, sorry, man, I forgot to text to let you know,” I said. “Yeah, can you show them in here, please?” I asked.
“I’ll go make some fresh coffee,” Lily said, clambering onto her knees on the sofa, then onto her feet. As I was behind her, I couldn’t offer my help.
“Right… and Baby?” she turned to look at me. “Everything will be fine. We can get through this.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I know. It’s just…”
“It’s just us, Lily. We’re all that matters. Remember that. Everything else is white noise.”
She flashed me a smile. “Right, I’ll get that coffee then.”
“I’d advise you to get a doctor’s note, Lily. That’ll cover you for any contracted obligations that your band could hold you to. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for a doctor to sign you off work due to stress.”
“Yeah, stress that’s been exacerbated by your bandmate’s lack of denial,” I added.
“No. I’m not pretending to be sick. I want to make a statement,” she argued.
Joanne, the PR representative, shook her head. “I’d advise against that.”
“And I hear your advice, but I’d still like to make a statement please.”
“It could get costly, Lily,” John warned.
“I don’t care about money. We have more than we could ever spend in a lifetime.”
“True,” I agreed. “I just feel that protesting so strongly makes it look like there’s something to hide,” I said, repeating my earlier warning about that.
“There is that danger,” Joanne concurred.
“And it’s not dangerous to let people wonder if there was something going on between Cody and me, and now there’s not, since my husband’s bust-up with my bandmate in our home?” Lily insisted.
“Before we go any further, I must clarify… was there a confrontation between you and Cody?” John asked me.
“Yeah, that I can’t deny. I told him to stop pestering Lily and pawing her all the time.
The guy’s been taking advantage of his position for years.
I about lost my shit when I saw his hands all over her in the recording studio.
It’s bad enough that I’ve had to tolerate seeing that as part of their act in concerts, but I won’t stand for him touching her otherwise. ”
“You didn’t hit him or anything?” John probed as the intensity in his eyes grew.
“No. That’s not to say I didn’t think about it. Perhaps, if we hadn’t had guests, I may well have decked him, but no physical contact took place.”
Lily stood up, hugged herself and began pacing the floor. “Look. This is not good for the baby. I’d like to make a statement denying this rumor before it overwhelms me,” she snapped, sounding tired but determined.
“Do you really?” I challenged, my tone asking her to think again.
“Yes, I really want to… no I need to do this… for us… for me.”
“Well, if that’s how you want to proceed, I’ll craft a draft for you to look over,” Joanne suggested.
“No. I can write my own statement, thank you. Can you video it for me, please? I want to put it on my social media.”
“Baby, wait,” I muttered, taking her hand and clasping my fingers around hers.
“No, please, Alfie… let me fix this myself.”
I shrugged. “Do what the lady asks, take out your phone and video her,” I agreed.
“Hi,” Lily said, lifting a hand in a half-hearted manner toward the screen. “It’s come to my attention that someone has started a vile rumor about me. It was made public on the social media platforms and has spread to the press. It is for this reason that I’m making this video today.”
Lily waved me over and I sat down next to her. “Hey,” I remarked, and pressed a kiss to her head.
“We had something wonderful to share with the world. But we wanted to do it in our own time. However, as is often the case with being famous, we don’t always get to do that.”
Lily glanced toward me and smiled. “Doing good, baby,” I said in support.
“A rumor on social media is suggesting that I’ve been unfaithful with my bandmate.
Now such a rumor brings into question who my baby’s father is.
I only have a couple of things to say about this.
I am not, nor have I ever had sex with my bandmate, Cody.
Nor indeed have I ever been unfaithful to my husband. ”
Lily squeezed my hand and I gave her a small smile.
“My legal team will be taking robust legal action against the influencer that chose to share this ridiculous, malicious falsehood regarding me. And we will find out who the supposed source from our party was.”
“Make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this,” I interjected.
“As for my bandmate Cody’s ‘no comment’ statement, this is a standard response, which is required by our record label when asked any potentially controversial or inflammatory personal questions.
Unfortunately, in my circumstance and current pregnant condition, this response has sparked extra interest from the press.
Make of this what you will, but I have already discussed with my band that the scheduling of events will be put on hold for the present. ”
“Her decision, not mine,” I added.
Lily smiled at my clarification that this is her decision. “As Alfie’s band, Crakt Soundzz, are entering into an extended sabbatical after many years of touring, I too will be taking a step back from XrAid for the present to concentrate on my pregnancy and parenthood.”
Lily glanced toward me, and I leaned forward and kissed her temple again. “Love you,” I murmured.
“My husband didn’t want me to make this statement because he felt there was no need. However, I am not doing this for me, or to excuse my bandmate and myself from any wrongdoing or infidelity, I am doing this for my husband… and for future reference for our, as yet unborn baby.”
“I’ve always trusted you, baby,” I said.
“This man here is the love of my life, and besides being besotted by him, I’d never do anything to hurt him. Now, this is the last time I’ll be willing to comment on this matter. Please leave us alone to enjoy our joyful news.”