Page 9 of Everything Is Yours
Shattering glass woke me and I jumped up into a sitting position when I heard Lily swearing in the bathroom. “Are you okay?”
“Shit!” Lily cursed. “Um, yeah. Sorry, the glass slipped out of my hand.”
I checked my cell to see what time it was. It was 9:30 am. We had a little over an hour before we were due to leave and I hadn’t even told her about the trip yet. I muttered a string of profanities under my breath and threw the covers back. Lily was immaculately dressed in brown dress pants and a bronze-colored silk blouse. She was picking up the last of the glass by the time I reached the bathroom. She smelled delicious, and it was obvious from the state of the bathroom she’d already showered.
“Going somewhere?” My eyes appraised her from head to toe taking in how lovely she looked in the morning.
She glanced at my reflection in the bathroom mirror with a perplexed expression and dropped the glass she was holding into the small trash can by the toilet.
“I know, I know. Don’t be mad, Alfie. I just want to see Jack for an hour before he leaves. Mya said they were leaving about 1:30, so I thought…”
“So, you thought you’d leave me lying in bed and sneak out to see him?”
My voice sounded harsh and flat. I was annoyed that she’d just get up and leave like that.
“Guilty,” she said honestly. She at least had the grace to look guilty as well.
I expelled a deep sigh of exasperation and put my arm around her as she turned to face me.
“Come here.” I led her from the bedroom to a chair in the sitting area of the penthouse.
“Sit down, Lily. I know where they’re going.”
As soon as I said it, I knew I was going to be on the receiving end of some choice words.
“You know? How do you know? You knew last night, and you said nothing? What…”
“Stop, honey. Just sit down and listen. Jack probably only found out he was going himself this morning. The trip was my idea.”
I tried again to push her into the chair, but she resisted, her body was stiff, and her eyes narrowed in anger.
“Alfie! How could you do that to me? I’m not here that often, and you’ve arranged to have my friends sent out of town?”
I wasn’t handling things very well, so I just decided to tell her. I’d been hoping to get her to the airport first. “I did. It’s Christmas in two weeks, but we’re not going to be here. So I figured I’d arrange for us to have a short trip with our friends.”
“We’re going on the trip with Jack and Mya?”
“Indeed.”
“The four of us are going away on a mini-holiday?” Lily looked puzzled, but I could see the excitement building from the look in her eyes, at the thought.
“No, there are ten of us. We’re going to Finland like Rick said; I could have murdered that fucker last night by the way.”
I could see how the conversation between Rick and I began to make sense to Lily and she cut me off.
“Who else is coming?”
“Rick, Lenny, Cody, Dave, Emily and Emma.”
Without another word, Lily launched herself at me. Her legs wrapped around my naked waist. She clung to me like a little monkey. Her hands cupped both sides of my face.
“Alfie Black, did I ever tell you, you are my favorite rock star? I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she gushed.
Her mood instantly changed, and she peppered my face with tiny kisses. When she did things like that I didn’t stand a chance.
“When do we leave?” she inquired, her voice rose an octave higher with excitement.
“A rough guestimate I’d say about forty-five minutes from now, but I have a small stop to make on the way for a PR thing, so we’re meeting everyone else at the airport.”
