Page 68 of Everything After

“No. I don’t fucking think so because I saw what he was doing with my own eyes. And I saw how you reacted. He was pawing you. Granted, you were lost in the song and looked oblivious to what he was doing for most of it, but that fucker there…” I muttered through gritted teeth, “took advantage.”

Lily turned to look at Cody and instead of pacifying me with excuses like, I’m sure it wasn’t like that, as she’d done in the past, she called his ass out. “Is that right?” she asked, dropping her arm from the door and clearing the way for me to enter.

When I stepped into the booth Lennie ducked around Shawn, blocked my path to Cody, and quickly put his hand up to stop me from going closer. “Hey, I didn’t see what happened but if Cody disrespected Lily, I’ll deal with him,” Lennie insisted.

“I don’t need a boy to do a man’s job,” I countered, eyeing Lennie with contempt.

“Alfie, please,” Lily pleaded, grabbing my upper arm and holding it in a death grip.

Giving Cody my full attention, I challenged him. “Did you think I’d left? Is that how you treat my wife when I’m not around?”

“We were singing,” he responded, shrugging his shoulders.

“Shewas singing…youwere taking advantage.”

“Fuck me,” he said, his eyebrows at his hairline, looking surprised. “I was performing… so I might have gotten a little carried away.” He shrugged again.

“Carried away?” I glanced at the rest of the band members worried faces before my eyes settled on Lily. Her lips barely moved but I read the plea on them not to escalate the situation any further. Realizing my confrontation was distressing her, I let out a frustrated sigh.

“Please, Alfie, don’t,” she pleaded again when my gaze switched back to Cody.

“Don’t!” I said, repeating her warning but to Cody. “Take this as your last warning, dude. Lay your hands on my wife one more time today and you’ll get carried away alright, by a fucking duo of paramedics.”

Lennie scowled at Cody before he laid a placating pat on my shoulder. “I’ll watch him,” he muttered, “but we need to get back to work,” he said. Turning to Cody, Lennie scowled. “And Alfie’s right, you need to keep your hands to yourself, Cody,” he ordered. Cody held his hands up in front of his chest in surrender. “Tell Lily and Alfie you’re sorry and it won’t happen again,” Lennie ordered.

“Look, Lily and I are a team. Jesus, Lennie, part of the hype of the fans is their speculation about the chemistry between her and me,” Cody countered.

“If that’s true the chemistry is all on you,” Lily interjected, sounding annoyed. “We might be friends, Cody, but make no mistake, my husband is making it clear that you’re to keep your hands to yourself. I’d hate it if Alfie had a girl in his band and she was all over him.”

“There you go, straight from the horse’s mouth,” I ground out, wagging a finger toward Lily to make my point again. I glanced at Lily and when I saw the worry etched on her face, Ismiled and cracked a joke to lighten the mood for her. “Not that you’re a horse, baby,” I said playfully toward her.

“Right, we need to get back to work,” Lennie snapped again. “Cody, keep your fucking hands to yourself. Alfie, it would be better for everyone if you weren’t here. We’ve got work to do and time is ticking,” he suggested when he turned his attention toward me again.

I was reluctant to do what Lennie wanted until Lily caught my wrist and pulled me back toward her. “Please go. I won’t be able to concentrate with you glaring at Cody through that window.”

We stared at each other for a long minute, then my shoulders slumped, and I nodded. “Consider yourself on your third strike,” I warned Cody before turning back to Lily. “I was going to head to the university at some point today to check in on Delilah anyway. Don’t leave the mainland without me. I’ll be back in a few hours,” I said loud enough for Cody to hear. Dipping my knees, I pressed a small kiss to my wife’s pretty lips, hugged her extra tight, then reluctantly left like she’d asked.

CHAPTER 40

LILY

I was horrified at Cody’s behavior in the studio, and shocked that Alfie didn’t get physical. I was relieved when he eventually accepted my plea to leave.

Cody suggesting to the fans that there was chemistry between us on stage was one thing, but invading my personal space in the studio was quite another. I’d been so caught up in the song and used to performing with him that it didn’t register what he was doing until close to the end of the song, but in hindsight I had to admit it looked bad.

As Alfie left, Maz asked to speak with Lennie about some technicalities to do with the mixing board, so I pulled Cody aside. “I felt sure Alfie was going to punch you. What the hell was that?” I raged, folding my arms and restlessly pacing around him.

He shrugged, casually leaned against a wall and from the smirk on his face, he didn’t appear in the least apologetic. “I was singing… and performing. Don’t blame me for getting caughtup in the moment. It’s an emotive song. I didn’t think about touching you like that, it just happened.”

My eyes narrowed when his excuse sounded lame. Shawn caught our attention by playing a loud, fast-paced drumroll which concluded with a sharp, high-hat cymbal.

Meanwhile, Digs wandered toward me, and from the sympathetic look in his eyes, I guessed that he’d overheard our conversation.

“Let me ask you this,” Digs interjected, pointing a finger at Cody. “If you worked in an office, would you dare touch a coworker the way you touch Lily?”

“We’re not in an office. And I was performing,” Cody countered.

“There’s performing and opportunism,” Digs argued.