Everything I want: Will Alfie and Lily's love survive?... (18 page)

Lennon was scowling, and Alfie grinned at him. “You don’t have to watch, Lenny. Get a girl of your own, and I’ll teach you what to do.” Alfie grinned at Lennon’s confused face, as he digested what he said, then chuc
kled.

“Don’t worry man. You’re not even going to be on the same bus as us. I don’t want my girl’s ass being gawped at when she gets out of the shower. Drew and I are sharing a bus with Elle and Lily, and all you sweaty guys can fuck as many groupies as you can get your hand
s on.”

Cody slung his arm around Lennon’s neck and pulled him close, hitting on the opportunity to tease Lennon further. “Don’t worry Lennon you can be Shawn’s wingman. I’ll scout the girls for you both. You’ll only have to drop your p
ants.”

Shawn looked at me and smirked. “Hmm, guess my mass-produced junk is going to see some action in the near future.” I chuckled as Shawn waited for my r
eply.

I wrinkled my nose in mock disgust. “I’d definitely use glitter sprinkles on it Shawn. Just to up your chances, an’ all.” I winked. The XrAid guys and Jack cracked up laughing. Alfie looked puzzled, and Shawn shook his head at Alfie’s expres
sion.

“Dude, you just had to be there, I guess,” Shawn commented walking away belly laughing wick
edly.

Alfie squeezed my arm. “What was that a
bout?”

I smirked. “Later, it’s a long standing joke from my first ever gig and it would take too long to explain ton
ight.”

At the end of the night, Alfie tried to persuade me to go back with him. I wouldn’t even let him come back with us, because I knew I would end up in bed with
him.

We left after we made final arrangements to meet for our Christmas Eve bash, and I had already promised him a couple of hours of my time during the day. The highlight of our night, apart from his kisses, was when I invited him to spend Christmas Day with my parents and everyone
else.

His surprised reaction was incredible. “You mean it? I get to spend Christmas with you, all day and n
ight?”

“What about your sister and your aunt though, what are they d
oing?”

“Yeah, I’m supposed to see them on Christmas morning.” He looked deje
cted.

I hadn’t even met his family before. “Would they come to us? Spend the day with all o
f us?”

Alfie’s eyes went wide. “Serio
usly?”

I nodded. “Sure. The more the mer
rier.”

He smiled. “Henry can bring them and take them
home.”

I nodded and squealed when he swept me off my feet and planted a wet kiss on my cheek. “Damn, Father Christmas just gave me my present early,” he c
ooed.

Chapter 18
– Making plans

A
lfie’s text was waiting for me when I got out of the shower this mor
ning.

SEXPERT : On my way <3

It was Christmas Eve, and I had agreed to spend some time with Alfie today, but we were discussing the details of how we would manage to spend enough quality time together with us both having busy sched
ules.

Apart from that, we’d be traveling to different places, often spending long hours cooped up with Drew and Elle on a tour bus, and had to work out how to have a proper relationship, while living in close proximity to all of our respective bandm
ates.

We’d have pressures from the tour itself, and the added pressure of accepting time apart, while XrAid went off to support Rick’s
band.

We needed to set some boundaries first. We needed to try to work out days off in sync, so that we could allow ourselves to grow a lasting bond with each other, which would rise above the fucked-up-ness of being in the music busi
ness.

Although, there was only a little interest in XrAid as a band from the media, Crakt Soundzz was a completely different s
tory.

Alfie was regularly hounded by the media for any morsel of information. I knew this would be a constant headache for me, because it was one of the things that had sealed the deal of me trying to be with him in the past. I hadn’t thought I could handl
e it.

I was younger then, and less self- assured, but I thought I would be a little less likely to accept everything I saw in the papers, online or anywhere else, as the gospel truth without giving the person involved the opportunity to explain it t
o me.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about the fans targeting me about being his girl but also about being in a band myself. People just couldn’t approach me on s
tage.

When we signed, we were also given some security detail for when we were on the road. If I was with Alfie, then I had his. Alfie wanted to discuss getting someone to be with me permanently, now that we were back together, so I guessed that would all have to be finalized when we ta
lked.

My apartment intercom buzzed and the doorman told me that Alfie was waiting downstairs. He’d arrived in an old Jeep I hadn’t seen before. His Mustang was his usual
ride.

He looked totally awesome in his old faded cargo shorts, which hung low on his waist, and a black tank top. I really loved when he was dressed way down like
this.

I knew that sounded silly, when his band attire revolved around jeans and t-shirts, or if he was at a function, he was really smart. But like this, it was just Alfie, my Alfie, the private man. No bells or whistles neces
sary.

For a rock star, he looked far too healthy, with his shiny hair and flawless skin, bright sparkly eyes and great physique, but Alfie did take care of himself. He didn’t do drugs, smoke, or eat excessi
vely.

His muscular arms and torso were displayed perfectly by his attire. His hair was still wet, and he smelled like heaven when he bent in to kis
s me.

As soon as he touched the skin on my shoulder, my skin reacted. The magnetic pull we had to each other was ridiculous. I found myself having to squirm out of his arms before he squirmed his way into my pan
ties.

He chuckled and rubbed his hand on my lower back. “Hey,” he c
ooed.

I smiled and checked out his attire. “So, we’re not going anywhere fancy to
talk?”

Alfie checked me out in my little bronze-colored sundress. “You going naked on the beach or do you still have a bikini in the trunk of your
car?”

He’d remembered that in my early days of being in Florida, I seemed to constantly struggle with what to wear for the wea
ther.

I wasn’t used to having an ocean with a beach on tap all of the time. When it was cloudy, I would overdress in my air conditioned apartment and melt as soon as my feet hit the pavement, because I was dressed in too many clo
thes.

I took to keeping extra light clothing and beachwear in my car, just in case the opportunity arose to use
them.

Today, my forward thinking was paying off. Either that, or Alfie’s was with the thought of seeing me in my bi
kini.

Alfie drove us down toward The Keys, pulling alongside a little beachside café. He told me that this was one of his favorite places. He had fond memories of playing on the small beach as a c
hild.

He was usually a closed book about his family, yet this morning he told me about how his sister Layla and he spent hours building the best sandcastles, while his mom and dad sat at one of the restaurant’s tiki tables and chatted happily about their l
ives.

“They were always planning something.” Alfie was staring out at the ocean, obviously reflecting upon the happy times he spent
here.

His face looked tinged with sadness, but when he turned and faced me, his eyes fixed on my face, and his face brightened into the most beautiful s
mile.

“I just figured that this was a great place to bring you, so that we could do our planning here too. They were an amazing couple, Lily. They were so smart, loving, funny, supportive; until my mom got
sick.”

I nodded that I understood he missed them, especially on anniversaries such as Christmas, and leaned over to hug him. He kissed my cheek and signaled for the waiter to come
over.

We didn’t agree on everything that we wanted as we ironed out our differences on how this was going to work, and I knew most people didn’t ever plan how to start dating, but we weren’t under normal circumsta
nces.

We would probably get about ten weeks a year altogether, without commitments, where we could actually be in the same place at the same time without the bands. Even during this, we would have to schedule some rehearsal time with our b
ands.

I was also conscious that the other band members might have commitments of their own, which would further complicate our situa
tion.

Alfie begged me not to overthink us. This was usually the point when I told him we couldn’t do
this.

Seeing clearly for the first time, how much I had hurt him by struggling with my conflicting feelings. “Lily, when you truly love someone, you take what you can get. Nothing else matters,” he c
ooed.

Sometimes, I wished I could see it in the simplest of terms like Alfie did, but my brain didn’t function that way. It made me consider I could be making him feel insecure by my constant striving to find reasons why we couldn’t be together instead of ways we possibly c
ould.

I wondered if Alfie was questioning just how much I loved him, when I was meeting to decide how much time I could spend with him, and if it was really wort
h it.

It had been me, I was the one constantly placing conditions on us now. In the beginning he wouldn’t commit, but since he had, the only thing that he’d done that was difficult for me was to go to
work.

How many other women live with their husbands’ traveling? There were many occupations where one partner often had to leave the o
ther.

I felt ashamed, when I thought about military families, where the added pressure for them was affording to live and bring up families, and each time they parted could be the last time they saw their loved
one.

I needed to stop being so selfish. I held Alfie’s hand, and I could see how concerned he was to get this right for me. “You know what A
lfie?”

His eyes searched mine, and I could see a fleeting glimmer of insecurity before he answered. “
Yeah?”

Smiling slowly, I said, “It doesn’t matter, none of the planning, the traveling, the bands, the fans. We just have to do this. You told me you were desperately in love with me. I want to show you that I’m just as desperately in love with you. Apart from you being faithful and loving to me, I have no conditions o
n us.”

Alfie rose slowly from his seat and walked around the little tiki table. He came up behind me and bent over, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. As I went to close my eyes, he scooped me up and ran full pelt into the ocean wit
h me.

I was screaming for him to let me go, and he was shouting, “She loves me.” Attracting the attention of everyone on the beach, and those inside the restaurants were now straining at the windows to see what all the commotion was a
bout.

He didn’t stop until we were fully submerged. I struggled for air as I broke up through the waves. He was already standing waiting. Grinning, he pulled me tightly too
him.

I went with the moment and wrapped my legs around his waist as he bent to kiss me. We could hear cheering from a few of the sunbathers on the b
each.

When we walked back to the shoreline, I heard an older woman tell her husband, “You need to get that Alfie’s number. He really knows how to show his girl he loves her, maybe you can get some tips from him.” I briefly wondered how she knew him, before I remembered everyone knew who Alfie Black
was.

Alfie and I made our way back to my apartment. He was begging the whole time to come upstairs. I still wanted us to take things a little at a time, but reminded him that he would be staying with me tomorrow night. And I was secretly hoping that I could hold off that long as
well.

He dropped me off and reluctantly went home. Jack, true to form, was eating a massive bag of tortilla chips he’d gotten from Wal
mart.

“That shop is crazy. It has just about anything I need. In fact, I could probably go on a vacation to Walmart, pitch a tent in there, and spend a week sightseeing.” He glanced up at me and did a double take, “Jeez, Lily, did you fall in the ocean or where you pu
shed?”

I smirked at Jack’s question. “I was romantically thrown in the ocean.” I pretended to look like I was swoo
ning.

Jack’s brows furrowed. “That’s like saying I was romantically thrown under a bus. You could have died either way.” I giggled at Jack’s analogy and swatted his
arm.

“Alfie was happy. He demonstrated it. What can I
say?”

Jack glanced at Rosie who snickered then looked back at me. “Well best not piss him off in that case honey, that’s all I can
say”.

I rose above Jack’s comments. “I’m going to take a sh
ower.”

Jack called after me. “Okay, give me five to send Rosie to the store, and I’ll join you.” I shook my
head.

“You’re crazy, Jack.” He never could let me have the last word so he called out, “I know that’s code for you want monkey sex with me, r
ight?”

Rosie giggled, and I felt relieved that she was beginning to get that Jack and I were really not interested in each other sexually, and it was our strange
way.

I stepped in the shower and washed the ocean out of my hair. By the time I’d finished, I no longer smelled like a fisherman’s
boat.

My cell began to vibrate on my nightstand, and the ‘Crakt Soundzz’ ringtone for ‘Insatible’ rang out. I smiled when I saw the ID SEX
PERT.

I pulled on some fresh lace panties and swiped the phone to answer. “How the hell did you manage
that?”

Alfie sounded confused.
“Huh?”

Raising my brow even though he couldn’t see me. “The ring
tone?”

I heard him chuckle. “Well…I figured that if you heard our song, you wouldn’t be able to ignore your p
hone.”

I smiled but pretended to be annoyed with him. “No, Alfie I meant how did you get my phone and change the ringtone for your nu
mber.”

There was a pause, and I could hear the humor in his voice. “I did it when you went to put your bikini top on at the restaurant. You left your phone on the table, so I figured there was nothing you didn’t want me to see. Oh, and by the way, you’re bound to find out, but I deleted that tool Luca’s number for you too…I saved you a job, r
ight?”

Normally, things like that would have made me so furious, but Alfie was right, I had no need for anyone else’s phone number any
more.

“Thank you,” I said. I could hear him exhale heavily. He must have known that his action could have gone either
way.

Alfie cleared his throat. “So, shall we start the call a
gain?”

I giggled at him. “Sure.” Alfie hummed some of the introduction from ‘Li
sten’.

I played along. “Hello?” Alfie’s voice sounded seductive as he cooed, “Hey.” The fresh underwear I had put on was now soaked, and I knew that I needed to start carrying some reserves for times when Alfie turned m
e on.