Page 10 of Everything After

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.