Page 15 of Everything After

“Do you think you need one? The wild Alfie Black I knew would gate crash,” I said, cracking an affectionate smile.

We fell silent as Alfie landed on the helipad on our back lawn and turned off the engine.

While we waited for the rotors to stop, Alfie took off his headset, then turned and removed mine. Leaning over, he took my face in his hands and pressed a slow kiss to my lips.

“Sorry we got off to a bad start,” he murmured close to my lips. Leaning back, he searched my face with eyes full of love. “I’m only going to say this once. About Sienna, she’s Gary’s sister—that’s all she is to me.”

“Right,” I replied, nodding.

Taking my hand, he placed it over his chest. His strong heartbeat raced under my fingertips. “You’re the only womanthat has ever made my heart pound like this. You’re my obsession, Lily Black. Never forget that.”

It was seldom I heard him use my married name in that way, but the times that he did were always when he needed me to believe in him.

“Okay, Mr. Black, lead the way, I have a bath waiting for me.”

CHAPTER 8

ALFIE

I’m the first to admit I had made some near-catastrophic mistakes with Lily when I first met her. But thankfully, she forgave me, and we finally committed to each other. My life has been thoroughly blessed since then.

The last thing I’d intended to do was upset her the moment she’d arrived home. In hindsight, I should have considered the timing of my visit to the home where Gary and I had spent most of our time as kids.

As we entered the house, I noted that our housekeeper, Hazel, had arranged the five large bouquets of calla lilies I’d ordered to be delivered to our vaulted great room, along with a beautiful bunch of fifty red roses. The roses had been placed on the accent table in our master suite to welcome Lily home.

“Aww, Alfie these are beautiful,” Lily gushed, regarding the roses in the bedroom as she bent to smell them. “You spoil me,” she mumbled. The reflection of the small lights around her dressing table made her green eyes twinkle as she sat down and began to take pins out of her hair, that held her updo in place.

The moment her wild curls cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, I wandered over behind her and teased my fingers through the silky locks. Lily’s long, dark hair was the second thing I’d noticed about her… after her pert ass, once she’d straightened up from inside that old PT cruiser car she had rented.

“What?” she mused, pulling cotton pads from a container, then began to remove her eye makeup.

“Just thinking about us… I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately. Maybe because this is the first time in four years that Crakt Soundzz hasn’t been touring,” I admitted. When our eyes met in the mirror, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and clasped my hands above her chest. Dipping my knees, I pressed a kiss to her temple and leaned my chin on her head.

I hadn’t told Lily about the band’s plans to take a year off because I thought it would be better to tell her face-to-face.

Once a break had been decided, I realized the pace of our lives without one, might have been unsustainable in the future.

Lily stopped what she’d been doing, held my gaze and frowned. “What about us?” she asked, breaking into my thoughts

I shrugged. “Where are XrAid at?”

“As in?”

“What are your plans with the band?” I probed.

“You’re not going to expect me to take time off, are you?” she asked, instantly on guard.

“I am… a little wherever possible. It would be nice to spend at least some of it with my wife,” I admitted. I’d always been extremely careful about treating Lily’s career with the equality it deserved. Even though XrAid weren’t quite on Crakt Soundzz’ level of success, they were still much in demand.

“Funny, have you been talking to Drew about this?” she asked, as she poured cream on a fresh cotton pad and continued to take her makeup off.

“Drew?” I asked, of my best friend and lead guitarist of Crakt Soundzz.

“Just something he said to Lennie,” Lily admitted, swiping the pad over one eye and then the other.

“Which was?”

Lily dropped the pad to the dressing table, moved out of my arms and turned to look at me.