Page 156 of Everything After

Stepping back, I glanced up at his handsome face. A small smile played on his lips, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I truly am sorry for the shit I put you through. I promise never to disrespect you like that again,” he said as he crossed his heart with his index finger.

CHAPTER 78

ALFIE

My suspicious eyes bounced between Lily and Lennie the moment they came back from their talk, and the tight feeling I’d had in my chest immediately dissipated. The small smile on her face was the only visible hint their discussion had gone well.

“Aw, I need my baby back, Rick,” Lily informed our big bad rocker friend.

Rick had totally melted the moment he’d held Charlie in his arms. “You know if we had one of these that didn’t disturb our sleep, I’d be more than happy for you to be my baby mamma,” Rick informed Coral.

“I’d love to have a baby, but it would have to be Lennie’s. There’s no way I’d give birth to a mini version of you,” Coral countered as she stroked Charlie’s cheek while Rick held him over his shoulder.

“What am I being volunteered for now?” Lennie asked, stepping away from Digs and Shawn and into the conversation.

“Babies… Coral wants to have your baby,” I informed him. Lennie’s eyebrow lifted like he was intrigued by our discussion.

“You want one now while he’s all warm and contented. I wonder if you’d think the same if you were up to your elbows in shit at 3:00 a.m. That’s when parenting gets real, buddy,” I informed Rick.

“You don’t have the nanny take care of the shit in the night?” Rick asked, puzzled.

“Lily’s breastfeeding. If she’s up in the night to keep our boy nourished, the least I can do is keep his ass clean while she does that.”

Rick scoffed and I predicted his next sentence would be laced with sarcasm. “Sounds like domestic bliss.”

“I wouldn’t swap it for the world,” I stated honestly, smiling as my eyes met Lily’s.

“Better than walking out on stage with a hard-on to an 80k audience of screaming fans?” he probed with narrowed eyes.

“Yup. Better than that,” I admitted.

“Hm, either you’re delirious from lack of sleep or there’s something to this baby bonding thing,” he mused while he swung his hips from side-to-side, soothing Charlie.

“Give me my baby back now,” Lily demanded of Rick again.

He reluctantly peeled Charlie away from his shoulder and gently handed our son over to her. “You’ll bring him back when he’s done, right?” Rick inquired.

“I think your man just caught feelings for my boy and he might want one of his own now,” I said to Coral to stir the pot.

“Do you?” she asked Rick wistfully. There was no mistaking the sparkle in her eyes and the hopeful tone in her question.

“I… might agree to a baby, but it would need to be mine,” Rick mumbled, scratching the stubble on his chin.

“Yours? And what if I don’t agree?” Lennie muttered, moving away from Digs, Cody and Shawn, and fully engaging in our conversation.

“Mine or no baby,” Rick insisted, like the consideration part of having a kid at all had been forgotten.

“I’m better looking,” Lennie argued. “And I thought you said that you didn’t want kids?”

“I didn’t then. Now? After seeing how well-behaved Charlie can be, I might have changed my mind.”

“What about your band… the world tour?” Lennie argued again.

“So what?” Rick challenged. The defiance in his tone made me chuckle. “The kid wouldn’t be with us all the time, right, Coral?”

“Oh, are we being serious? I’d get a say in having a baby now?” Coral muttered, doing her best to hide the excitement I imagined she felt, while she pretended to act miffed.

“That would be your job… looking after our baby. There would be times when we’re both gone and we’d need you to hold down the fort,” Rick explained. “You’d need to be willing to do that… or give up your job and come on the road with us.”