Prologue
Um. The element of confusion.
—Coffee Cup
JASPER
It was the beeping that woke me. Not the pain.
At least, not at first.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
God, would someone shut the freakin’ beeping off?
“I want him treated like royalty,” someone nasty said. “I want him treated like the goddamn pope and Mariah Carey had a child, and produced him. You treat him better than you ever treated anyone ever, and I’ll make sure this hospital is rewarded.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Drews,” a timid voice replied.
Mr. Drews.
Was this Bayne Green’s campaign manager? I thought he hated me.
Why would he be here?
“You there, you.” I heard the same annoying voice, likely belonging to this “Mr. Drews” say. “You right there. Look at me. Do you want to be fired?”
God, I sure the hell would if I had to deal with him.
“I’m a volunteer,” the woman’s voice said. “You can’t fire me.”
“I can get you banned from ever working in this hospital again!” he declared loudly.
“Mr. Drews,” the woman said quietly. “Your shouting is not good for the patient. In fact, all studies show that a calm environment helps patients heal. Something that Mr. Green desperately needs right now.”
Mr. Green. Who the hell was Mr. Green?
“Mr. Green won’t remember that I was here,” Mr. Drews growled. “Look at him, lying in that bed. He can’t hear he’s so high on drugs.”
“He can hear,” the calm voice replied. “Trust me on this.”
I was inclined to trust her even more, because it was apparent she was handling the asshole perfectly.
“Listen…”
I must’ve passed out after that, because the next thing I remembered was a woman’s voice saying, “I know that you’re a fancy country singer and all, but your manager is a freakin’ horrible person.”
That soothing voice again.
I wished I knew her name.
As if she’d heard my thoughts she said, “My name is Harlow Degraw. We’re about to become best friends.”
And she was right.
“When you wake up, we’re going to discuss how awful he is, so you can find a new manager. No one wants someone like that working for them.”
What was she talking about?
