Page 82 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

LILY

Any doubts I’d ever had about how Alfie saw Sienna were obliterated when I saw him destroy her in the video Oscar recorded for Alfie’s legal rep.

His attack on her character was brutal in the sense that he’d told the reporter recording on his tablet, how Sienna had previously warned me that she would destroy our marriage.

I was so stunned by what I’d heard that I played the video again.

“Did you or did you not take part of a private conversation I had with Cody Vickers and make it into something it wasn’t?”

“I guess,” she mumbled as she and Alfie sat side by side on her sofa.

“No, Sienna, that’s not good enough. No one is guessing about anything. You need to be honest here with the facts. I’m giving you one opportunity to set the record straight.”

“Yes, alright, I did… but I thought—”

Alfie cut her dead. “Then you thought too much. Do you realize the misery you caused my wife… me? Even Cody, putting him on the spot like that with reporters.”

“You must admit the way they behave when you’re not around…”

“They, who? My wife and Cody Vickers? You saw something between them when I wasn’t there, with your own eyes?” Alfie asked.

“No, on stage… in front of fans,” she admitted.

“So, you mean you saw them perform? You saw Titanic, the movie, right? You think Leonardo DiCaprio really died… that Kate Winslet let him drown?”

“Of course not,” Sienna muttered, scowling.

“Then what you saw was Cody and Lily performing on stage. Now, I’ll admit that I hated him touching my wife all the time when I couldn’t. That was the conversation you overheard. I warned him off, not to do that anymore, especially since Lily was pregnant with our child.”

Alfie’s explanation wasn’t strictly true, but he’d never have talked about Cody’s obsession toward me.

“How is Lily?” the reporter asked.

“Good.” Alfie’s one word answer gave them nothing else.

“Hopefully we’ll be hearing some good news in the coming days then,” the reporter said, moving away from the topic of the interview.

“Thanks,” Alfie said before turning to Sienna again. “So, as we’re clear, the rumor that you started about Lily Parnell and Cody Vickers was a figment of your imagination?”

“Yeah, it isn’t true.” Sienna hung her head low, and she mumbled into her chest.

“Look at the camera and be clear,” Alfie ordered.

“There’s no truth to the rumor I started. Cody Vickers and Lily Parnell did not have an affair,” she ground out while she stared straight ahead toward the camera.

“Who’s the baby’s daddy?”

“You are.” Tears pricked at Sienna’s eyes, and she dabbed them with a tissue.

Alfie slapped his hands on his knees and stood up. “Right, gentlemen. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my wife.”

The video ended there, and I sighed. I should have felt like a load had been lifted, but I still felt people would look at Charlie and wonder. If they did, I’d hope they’d see how much our son looked like Alfie.

“Don’t worry, you’re in a position of strength here, Lily,” Alfie told me while I stood on the patio.

Alfie sat on a lounge chair, with Charlie stretched out the length of his thighs, facing him.

Alfie held his little wrists in his hands and pulled some funny faces, making our baby give him some gummy laughs.

“Don’t do that,” I scolded, frowning.

“What?” he asked, looking puzzled.

“Tweak my ovaries like that,” I mumbled. “You’re going to make me pregnant again and I’m still recovering from this one,” I said, nodding at Charlie.

“Baby, I’ll tweak anything you want… get you pregnant again as soon as you’ve recovered… if that’s what you want.”

“No, that’s not what I want,” I replied playfully.

“It’s criminal how appealing you look holding our baby. It’s too… enticing. You look too hot. If I wasn’t still getting over pushing out junior here, I’d climb you like a tree.”

“Glad to know you’ve not lost your thirst for sex.”

“I was never thirsty,” I argued.

“You so were… and by all accounts from what you just said, it won’t be long before you are again,” he muttered. His raised eyebrow and amused tone made me chuckle.

“I might be a little parched… but not fully thirsty yet. I’m not sure you wouldn’t hurt me right now.”

“I don’t need to penetrate you to have fun, Lily. There’s a whole drawer full of toys upstairs.”

“Stop.” I hugged myself and squeezed my thighs together. I’d barely gotten over the birth and my panties were wet for my man again.

Alfie frowned. “Hold that thought. The cock blockers are on their way,” he mumbled, nodding out at the water. A speed boat carrying the guys I’d once trusted to do right by me sped toward our home.

As we were inviting Lennie, Alfie suggested it was time I faced the music and had persuaded me to invite the rest of my band. I agreed, but only if Drew and Elle were invited to support me as well.

“I don’t know if I want to be strong. My ovaries are twinging every time I look at you and Charlie sitting there.

I’m not sure if I want to go back to that lifestyle or if it’s just that this is all new to me.

I think it would be much harder now, missing both of you, and wondering when the next time is that we’ll see each other again. ”

“We can’t be the reason you give up your music, Lily,” Alfie stated flatly.

“What if I’m the reason? What if I can’t find a balance? What if being dependent on my band won’t allow me the time I want for you guys?” I asked, nodding toward the boat pulling up at the dock.

“Let’s see what they say. You’re not going anywhere until Charlie’s weaned and that won’t be for many months yet,” Alfie reminded me.

“True,” I said, shifting my gaze from him and focusing on our son. “He’s just so helpless and tiny,” I mumbled. My heart clenched with love for the little guy stretched out along Alfie’s lap. Charlie smiled up at his dad as if Alfie had been talking to him instead of me.

“Trust me. We’ll work it out. No one’s going to make you do anything you don’t want to.”

The engine cut on the boat and the feelings in my heart turned from those of love to hurt and anticipation when I first saw Lennie, then Digs and Shawn climb onto the dock. Rick followed, turned and helped Coral, and lastly Cody jumped ashore.

“Here goes,” I said, huffing out a breath. The tight feeling in my chest temporarily slackened only to tighten again.

Rick looked up and waved, then dropped his gaze. Lennie looked at him and something inside told me that Rick was prepping Lennie with what to say. Confirmation of this was cemented when Coral began nodding along.

“Don’t get up. Oscar’s greeting them off the boat,” I said to Alfie, once I saw Oscar striding down the hill to meet them.

“Be cool, baby. Come sit next to me.” Alfie patted a space next to him. From his suggestion toward me, I figured I must have looked nervous.

“I can’t, they saw me standing,” I countered.

Alfie laughed. “Are you going to stand all evening?” I huffed and sat next to him.

Seconds later Rick stepped onto the patio. “Well, well, well. What’s with this sight of domestic bliss? Alfie, you look way too fuckable with a baby on your lap.”

I laughed. “That’s what I told him,” I said, immediately relaxing with Rick’s playful tone.

“I’d even do you, Alfie,” Rick muttered deadpan.

“You’d do me anyway, given half a chance,” Alfie joked.

“Is there?” Rick probed, his gaze swinging between mine and Alfie’s.

Digs slapped Rick’s back. “Stop fucking with the guy,”

“I would… stop fucking him… eventually, but his ass would remember me for days,” Rick retorted, grinning.

“When you’re finished fantasizing over Alfie’s asshole, it might be an idea to gush over the reason we’re all here,” Coral remarked. The wink she gave me said, ‘I’ve got this’.

Knowing Coral well, I believed she meant the whole situation, and not just Rick’s smart mouth, which boosted my confidence.

“Okay, tell us all about the birth,” Digs muttered. “I can’t believe you went ahead and did it without letting us know.”

I pouted. “The situation was tricky, what with the rumor floating around, and everything else going on,” I remarked. I didn’t expand on what the ‘everything else’ pertained to, but my band members could probably guess that I meant the discord between some of us.

“Lily was a warrior in the labor room. She barely made a sound… barely spoke at times too. I have the upmost respect for everything she went through during that day.” The warmth in my husband’s eyes showed me how proud he was of me.

“Long labor? I’d love a child, but neither of these two wants kids,” Coral quietly disclosed.

“Sweetheart, you’d be bringing it up on your own. Lennie and I are barely at home, and that won’t change anytime soon.”

My heart went out to Coral when Rick waved her desire off, like it was nothing.

“I thought that too… that I couldn’t have it all,” I argued in favor of Coral.

“And now you think you can?” Coral asked. I became aware that Lennie was watching our exchange out of the corner of his eye.

“Don’t eavesdrop Lennon. If you want to listen to us, at least look interested,” I said, calling him out. Everyone’s head turned to look at us because I’d used his full name and not the shortened version, like I usually would have.

“I’m not making a secret of listening. I don’t need to be standing over there… nothing wrong with my hearing.”

“Lennie. If you can’t be civil, you can take your ass back to the mainland. Lily’s breastfeeding, I won’t have her stressed. It affects the quality of her milk,” Alfie scolded.

I chuckled, so did Elle and Coral. “Now, I never thought I’d ever hear that as a threat coming from Alfie Black,” Elle muttered, biting back a grin.

“I have no intention of arguing, but I’d like to speak to Lily alone,” Lennie stated, cutting straight to the chase.

“Not an option today, I’m afraid,” Alfie muttered as he lifted Charlie and placed him in Coral’s arms.

“I just want to tell her how sorry I am,” Lennie countered.