Page 29 of Whenever You Call

The mention of Cole’s name turned my skin cold, and I immediately shrugged myself out of Creed’s friendly man hug and cleared my throat, my eyes cast down. I listened to them talking about how Creed had been on hand to help the band with some martial arts training for a music video they filmed on the other side of the world, and how Cole had shown a natural ability for it, even though he’d never trained in anything like that before.

I was about to make my excuses and head for a piss when someone behind Jasper stumbled backward on high heels, eventually crashing into him, forcing him to fall forward until he landed on the floor with an almighty thud. He went down like a newborn lamb, his beer bottle falling before him, his arms splayed out in front as the rest of us jumped back, trying to avoid the collision.

“Jesus. You okay, Jasp?” Creed bent down to help him up, but Jasper didn’t care, shrugging him off instead.

His laughter grew manic until he rolled over onto his back with his arms above his head, and he looked up at the dark night sky with nothing but humor in his eyes.

“Hell, man, that was you, wasn’t it? Reminding me how you kicked my ass in Japan, huh?” he cried out. “You’re still giving me shit even though you’re dead, you fucker!”

I followed his eyes up to the inky sky above, my skin prickling with a chill I knew I needed to escape. My attention quickly fell back down to Jasper, but I wasn’t a hero on duty tonight. I was the frozen guy again, caught in a world where Cole still existed, and I didn’t know what the hell to do.

Jasper’s arms flew up in the air, and he shook them violently before he cried, “I was saying good things about you this time, asshole.Good things!Leave me the fuck alone! You don’t get to make the decisions anymore. You took that with you when you left us all the fuck behind, you arrogant prick.”

The entire area around us turned silent, and Jasper pointed to the heavens above.

“Fuck you for dying on us, Cole Newman. Fuck you for existing at all!”

Chapter11

HANNAH

The news report played out on the screen in front of me.

“Intoxicated Jasper Jacobson, the lead guitarist of Envy-98, was escorted out of Hollywood’s exclusive Alter Ego last night after breaking down over the death of his bandmate and friend, Cole Newman. Jasper is the first of the band’s members to be seen out in public since the singer’s overdose, and eyewitnesses report that his uncontrollable behavior included him rolling around on the floor as he wailed openly about the loss of his bandmate. In exclusive footage obtained by us, Jacobson can be seen being escorted out of the bar by two men who, reports say, are close friends. One we know to be renowned trainer to the stars, Mark Shaw, while the other has yet to be identified. The band’s management has so far declined to comment.”

I stared at the TV, numb. I’d been watching the same report for the last hour on repeat. Stills of Logan carrying that fucking asshole Jasper out of a bar, wasted, flashed across the screen. He had one arm slung around Logan’s shoulder while the other clung to a much bigger, balder man who walked by his side, practically carrying him as his feet dragged on the floor.

But there was only one person I could focus on, and that was Logan.

He knew Jasper, and that changed everything.Everything.

He’d lied to me.

I’d let yet another untrustworthy soul into my life, and out of all the band members he could have chosen to know, it had to have been Jasper. He and I had never seen eye to eye. I saw him as the man who led Cole astray one too many times, and he saw me as the woman who tied Cole down with a baby, taking his wingman away when all they wanted to do was travel the world and party together.

Like that had ever stopped either of them.

Jasper was as much to blame for Cole’s death as Cole, and seeing him beside Logan stung like hell.

I stared at Logan’s face as the video footage of them leaving Alter Egos played on a loop. Bright camera flashes went off in his face, and he tried to shield his identity from them as much as possible, which seemed like a pointless act given how many men had gathered outside, waiting for them to leave. Someone inside had obviously tipped the press off and was now better off for it.

Fucking famous people and their golden opportunities. They made me sick.

Maybe it was a coincidence that Logan was there the same time as Jasper,I thought for a brief moment before I closed my eyes and pushed it aside, knowing it to be a lie.

Nothing in Los Angeles happened by chance. People were here to become somebody, and I was the woman who’d just lost her someone, leaving a space open for an opportunist to sweep in.

I knew he seemed too good to be true.

Opening my eyes again, I took one last look at Logan on my screen, picked up the remote, and I turned it off…

I didn’t need to see anything else. Especially not his face.

Chapter12

HANNAH

Livia stood at the kitchen sink, peeling back the lettuce leaves for the salad she insisted on preparing for the two of us while Bella was at school. I’d lost a lot of weight in the last six months. Some from before Cole left us and the stress he put us through. The rest after that fatal night. I hadn’t had ten pounds to lose in the first place, but that’s what happens when the shit hits the fan sometimes. We take it out on our bodies.

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