Page 69 of Everything After

“Digs is right, and so is Alfie. What you did had nothing to do with being caught up in anything and everything to do with being a grabby ass,” Shawn interrupted.

Lennie came back into the booth and immediately picked up on the stale atmosphere left by Digs, Shawn and I calling my bandmate out.

“What?” he asked, his searching eyes switching from one to the other of us. He strode to his guitar and pulled the strap over his head to support it.

“We’re talking about Cody—mauling Lily,” Shawn stated.

“I didn’t maul her,” Cody insisted, flashing a murderous glare at Shawn.

“I didn’t really compute what he was doing at the time, but I feel uncomfortable about it now. I’m so used to you touching me when we’re performing that I guess it didn’t register that you overstepped a lot until Alfie pointed it out.”

“Fuck, the way you’re all going on anyone would think I’d sexually assaulted her,” Cody ground out.

Lennie held up his hand. “You do get pretty handsy with her, but like you, I thought it only part of the performance. But if Lily says it makes her feel uncomfortable, then it stops right now.”

Cody held his hands up. “Fuck me. We’ve been doing the same thing for years and suddenly I’m molesting her now because Alfie says so?”

“That’s just it, Cody. I’ve never given you permission for the way you act. I should have said something before, but went along with it because I figured you were caught up in the moment on stage. I thought your behavior would change after I had gotten married. That’s not the half of it either. Off stage, you’re continually implying that you’re waiting for your turn with me, yet I’ve been crystal clear on many occasions nothing will never happen between us. I love my husband.”

“Whoa, sweetheart. He’s making you that uncomfortable?” Lennie asked, wide-eyed. The startled look on his face morphed to anger when he glanced from me to Cody.

“Then you’re either ignorant or blind, Lennie,” Digs countered. “I’ve lost count how many times I’ve warned him off. The way he slings his arm over her shoulder and pulls her toward him. Lily might not have said anything, but that shit makes her feel uncomfortable.”

Hearing Digs confess to noticing and stepping in on my behalf brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes.

“You usually make a joke of that stuff,” Lennie muttered.

“She doesn’t want to rock the boat is why,” Shawn explains.

In that moment, I felt ashamed of myself that I’d tolerated so much just to be in the band. I knew I was stronger than that, so why had I allowed Cody to keep treating me like he oversaw my future?

“Cody, this stops today. If you can’t back off and understand Lily’s married and happy, then maybe you need to find another band,” Lennie muttered darkly.

Cody’s face paled and his jaw hung slack in shock. “Seriously? I never meant?—”

“Yeah, you did,” Digs butted in, cutting him off.

“Look, I just want to sing,” I insisted, hating the conflict within the band. “Can we just get back to what we’re good at?”

“Sure, we’re going to work, but there’s no way Cody’s going to forget where his hands need to be in the future. Right, Cody?”

Glancing toward me, Cody’s eyes held a mixture of hurt and shock, but he nodded.

“Use your words, man,” Lennie ordered.

“Right,” Cody grudgingly mumbled, nodding.

CHAPTER 41

ALFIE

My shoulders ached, still tight with tension from my confrontation with Cody, as I made my way to the parking lot outside. I glanced down at my hands and saw that my palms were bleeding. I realized I’d clenched my hands so tightly that my fingernails had broken the skin.

“I bet that smug fucker thinks he’s gotten off lightly. But I’m not done with him by a long shot,” I mumbled to myself.

I saw I was stressing out Lily. It was the only reason I’d backed down. Going full Mike Tyson on his ass in front of my pregnant wife and her bandmates would only have upset her more.

Don’t you worry, dude, I’ll pick the right time to show you a different side to the reasonable guy who walked away just now.