Page 3 of Whenever You Call

“He’s not you,” I whispered, my lips barely moving. “Fuck, he’s not you.”

Cole’s body jerked in front of me, and the blood rushed back to my brain at once, forcing me to blink back into reality and stare down at a dying man who needed my help, not my fucking sob stories.

“Logan?” Jerry called again.

“I-I’m working on him, Jerry!” I cried over the noise of the sirens and helicopter. I kicked some stray medical kit away from my feet, hating how there was barely room to move back here, never mind save a life. “I’ve got you, man. I’ve got you,” I whispered to Cole before I pushed his already torn shirt out of the way.

I hadn’t lost anyone in the back of my unit to an overdose yet. Today wasn’t going to be my first time. The most famous man on the planet wasn’t going to die because of me and the demons I’d carried for far too long.

“You’re going to see your family again, Cole,” I told him. “I’ll make damn sure of it.”

Breaking News!

Lead singer of Envy-98, Cole Newman, has died at the age of thirty-two after overdosing on what has been described as a ‘lethal cocktail’ of drugs while alone at his home in Beverly Hills.

Fans around the world have been left shocked and devastated by the tragic news of the nation’s favorite frontman.Reports claim that a call was made to 911 in the early hours of the morning of January 24thby Newman himself after experiencing chest pains he could no longer control on his own. Paramedics arrived on the scene of Newman’s Beverly Hills home to find him unresponsive, where he was immediately rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and confirmed dead on arrival.

Envy-98 has indeed become the envy and the heart of America in recent years, and this untimely news has sent shockwaves throughout their almost cult-like following, with vigils being held in Newman’s name around the country. The band were due to arrive in England next month to start their four-date residency in one of their favorite venues, Wembley Stadium. All shows since the announcement of his death have been canceled.

Newman leaves behind his twenty-nine-year-old wife, Hannah Moore, as well as his six-year-old daughter Bella Newman-Moore. The family has asked for the band’s fans to respect their privacy at this distressing time.

Chapter2

LOGAN

One Month Later

“Logan!”

I kept walking, hoping to avoid another therapy session from Jerry after a grueling nightshift where I’d already had my fill of trauma.

“Logan, wait up!”

I begrudgingly came to a stop in the parking lot on dead feet, blowing out a breath before I turned to see Jerry jogging toward me in his navy-blue uniform.

“Why do you always make me run, bro?” he asked when he came to a stop, winded.

“I don’tmakeyou do anything. I walk—you insist on chasing me. You just can’t seem to take a hint.”

Jerry raised his brow at me and sighed, clearly exasperated. “Are we really going to do this?”

“After the shift we’ve just had, yeah. I’m tired. Let me go home.”

“Today wasn’t that bad.”

“I’ve had better.”

“We’ve had worse.”

Of course, I knew which night he meant, and my brows pinched together from the sting of it.

It turned out that I hadn’t been a magician after all. I’d just been a fool that had gotten lucky enough times for him to think he knew what he was doing until something came along to remind him that he didn’t have a clue about anything.

Jerry’s blue eyes studied mine. He was a few inches shorter than me but as strong as an ox with his broad shoulders and pumped-up biceps from all his time spent at the gym at the station. Even though he was at least ten years my senior, Jerry had a body most men were envious of, not to mention that signature peppery hair the women went mad for. Jerry Dakin put the work in for every part of his life… even his friendships—especiallyhis friendships—which didn’t bode well for me at that moment.

He reached up to place a hand on my shoulder, his mouth setting into a sympathetic line, which meant ‘the talk’ was coming. I should have run when I heard him calling my name.

“Not this shit again.” I sighed.

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