I pulled the card from the bouquet and found only one word inside.
Everit said.
I swallowed hard. Cole must have sent them. What the hell would I do now?
CHAPTER SIX
Jersey
Iowe Franklin Alexander. WhenBansheefolded, it was Franklin that encouraged me to go solo. He got me a manager and pointed me in the direction of some reliable contract players. With a handful of new songs, and his encouragement and PR mojo, I made my solo debut. So despite the hassle with security, the groupies and paparazzi, I decide to visit him after our little meeting with Ms. Take Charge.
The last time I saw Jacine Alexander was at a pool party of her father’s mansion. She had just come home from college with a brand spanking new MBA, hence the shindig, and the excuse for Franklin to gather some of his biggest clients, one of them being my father, to celebrate his daughter’s milestone. Franklin strutted through that party as if he earned that degree himself. But the big secret is that Franklin, despite his veneer of education and culture didn’t make it past the eleventh grade. Only a precious few knew this, one of them being my father, one of Franklin’s first clients.
In my very early twenties, I thought that Franklin was too “old” to handle the PR of a band of twenty-somethings, but I was wrong. In a town where your career could turn on the spread of a coke line, Franklin knew the right people to jingle, what buzz to spread. So when Jacine suggested her cheesy “battle of the bands” idea, I accepted it without question. She was at least as smart as her father, perhaps even more so. With her savvy looks and connections, she could turn a fast-food worker into an overnight sensation.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw in at the hospital though. First, the room was practically a jungle of floral arrangements of all shapes and sizes. But the bed and its occupant took center stage. Franklin, tied to tubes and monitors, and wearing a hospital gown, appeared old and worn out. It was a shock, and I had to take a step back and collect my thoughts before I entered. But when I did it was with the biggest smile I could pluck from my crippled heart.
“Mr. Alexander, leave to it you to find the trendiest spas in LA.”
“Dys, you dog. What the hell are you doing here?” His voice was thin and dry. When he coughed, I poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the side table and handed it to him.
“Checking up on you, since you have your daughter working like a slave.”
Franklin scoffed. “Like I could stop her. The first thing she did was run out of here to take over my office.”
“It’s your own fault she’s exactly like you.”
“Yeah.”
“When are you getting sprung?”
“Probably tomorrow or the next day. They are still doing tests.”
“Oh? Anything serious?”
“More like they can’t find anything wrong and are running up the bill. I’ll be fine. And the sooner I’m out of here, the sooner I can get to work.”
“Over my dead body.”
The now-familiar voice came from the doorway, where Jacine stood. Her red lips pursed in scathing disapproval. She strode toward his face and kissed him on the cheek.
“You’ve been up to mischief, haven’t you?”
“Oh,” she said with a wry smile. “I only spent a million or two.”
“In six hours? You’re slipping.”
“New York makes you aware of costs.”
“Tell me about it. The financial damage to your apartment is more than our house.”
“Ssh, you. How do you feel?”
“Annoyed. Bored. I want to get out of here.”
“I’ll see if I can find a nice nurse to give you a medicinal massage.”
He cracked a lopsided smile. “You are kind and evil at the same time. Go. Get an old man something worthwhile to drink. I’m tired of water.”
