Author: Olivia Cunning

Sed’s heart twisted. He knew Trey was hurting, but it wasn’t the kind of pain that Percocet would help. “How many pills have you taken today, Trey?”

“I don’t know,” he yelled, “six or seven.”

“Six?” Sed shook his head. “Try sixteen.”

Trey scowled. “How would you know?”

“I counted them last night and again just a moment ago.”

“I dropped some. I can’t… I can’t hold on to things… and I… they…”

He spun on his heel and headed to the bedroom. He slammed the door, but it did nothing to buffer the sound of his frustrated scream.

“Jesus Christ, Sed, you are such an ass.” Brian stood from the sofa and walked to the end of the hall. Myrna watched her husband pass the dining table, obviously dumbfounded by the entire scene. Jessica sat across from Myrna, wiping stray tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

Brian knocked on the bedroom door.

“Go away!” Trey yelled.

“Trey, it’s Brian. Let me in.” He waited patiently for several minutes. Eventually, the door opened and Brian slipped inside.

“Why are you so hard on him, Sed?” Myrna asked. “Don’t you think he’s suffering enough?”

Sed took a deep breath. Did they think he liked having to always be the asshole of the group? He’d love to turn a blind eye and pretend like everything was just fine, but he simply didn’t have it in him. Not when someone he cared about was on a path of self-destruction.

Chapter 31

Lounging on the bed in the back bedroom, Sed trailed his fingertips up and down Jessica’s bare shoulder. After a concert, he usually satisfied his lust and fell directly asleep, but tonight his mind was too full. They’d played ten consecutive shows in a little less than three weeks, each one better than the last. Sed’s throat still bothered him (he sang through the pain), but Trey’s improvement was nothing short of miraculous. Sed was convinced that was the reason the rest of the band refused to see what was going on right under their noses. But Sed saw it and he couldn’t let it go.

“We’ve got to figure out how he’s getting new prescriptions,” Sed said. “He should have run out of slips by now. How many of the damned things did his dad give him, anyway?”

“He keeps them in his wallet,” Jessica said drowsily.

Sed shifted her from his chest and sat up.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this tonight.”

He climbed from the bed and slipped into a pair of shorts. He let himself out of the bedroom and crept to Trey’s bunk. Ordinarily, Trey would be partying with the roadies or fucking some lucky groupie on the other bus, but now he slept too much to participate in his usual fun. Sed slid the curtain back as quietly as possible. As he’d expected, Trey was out cold and still fully dressed. Sed eased Trey onto his side and retrieved the wallet from his back pocket. He opened Trey’s wallet, feeling like a total ass until he saw the sheer number of prescription slips nestled inside. They were blank, except for his father’s signature at the bottom.

Rage boiled through Sed’s veins. How could Dr. Mills just give him a free pass to the world’s prescription medicine cabinet? Trey’s parents had always given him everything his heart desired, but this was going too far.

“That stupid bastard.”

Trey rolled over and opened his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I found your secret stash of prescription slips.” Sed pulled one offending slip from Trey’s wallet and tossed it at him, then another and another. “I wondered how you kept getting more of that shit. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Trey’s eyes narrowed. “Get the fuck out of my business, Sed.”

“I’m in your business, Trey. I’m so far in your business, your grandchildren will call me partner.”

Trey growled and flung himself from his bunk, tackling Sed to the floor. Sed let Trey punch him several times, hoping that releasing some of his pain and anger would let him admit he needed help.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone? Why?” Trey punched Sed again. And again. “Why? Why?”

Sed wrestled him face down on the floor and leaned his weight into his back until he stopped struggling. “Why? Because you’re the only Trey Mills I have and I’m not going to let you follow the same path Jon took. I’m not going to let drugs destroy you the way they destroyed him.”

“I’m not taking any drugs,” he squeaked, panting heavily.

“You are, Trey. It doesn’t matter that they’re prescription. You’re addicted to them. You have to admit it to yourself before I can help you.”

“I’m not addicted. I need them to play. Without them… I can’t… I just can’t…”

“How do you know if you can play without them? Have you tried?”

Trey’s body began to shake. Even though the bus’s corridor was dimly lit, Sed knew he was crying. Sed moved to sit on the floor beside him, giving Trey a moment to collect himself.

After several long minutes, Trey picked himself off the floor, sat beside Sed, and leaned against the bunk. Sed averted his gaze while Trey wiped his tears on the hem of his shirt.

“I don’t want to need them, Sed, but I can’t think of anything other than the feeling they give me right after I take one. The feeling that everything is all right. Everything is fine.” He shook his head. “I know everything’s not fine, but for a few minutes it feels like it is. It doesn’t last near long enough, and then…” Trey took a deep breath. “I need another one.”

“So you realize the drugs aren’t helping you.”

He nodded slightly.

“And you want to stop taking them.”

He hesitated, and then nodded again.

“There’s a rehab center—”

“No.”

Sed’s eyebrows lifted. “No?”

“I’m not going to rehab. I don’t want the press in my business. I don’t want anyone to know. Okay?”

Sed stared at him for a long moment. He could only imagine how Trey was feeling, but he could understand not wanting the press and the fans to know what was going on. Sometimes being a celebrity sucked.

“Okay. So what are you going to do, then? I don’t think you can just quit these things cold turkey.”

“I feel horrible when I just sleep through the night without taking them.”

“Maybe your dad can tell us what to do.”

Trey grabbed Sed’s forearm with surprising strength. “No, don’t tell my dad.”

“He’s the one who gave you an unlimited prescription. He had to know what could happen. Fuck, Trey, everyone knows you have an addictive personality.”

Trey ducked his head. “My dad didn’t give those to me. I took them from his office. He doesn’t know.”

Sed’s heart sank with disappointment. “Wow, Trey. I don’t even know what to say to that.”

Trey stared at the floor between his feet. “Don’t tell Brian I’ve been lying to him,” he whispered.

“You can’t keep this from the people close to you. You need their support.”

“Let’s just go. Go somewhere away from everyone and get me off the pills. You’re the only one who can help me, anyway.”

“I don’t know what to do, Trey. I’m not a doctor. I don’t think you can quit this shit just like that.” Sed snapped his fingers. “We can check you into rehab under a fake name. They’d know how to help you. It’s not that I don’t want to help you. I don’t know how.” Sed squeezed Trey’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not going to rehab. If you don’t want to help, then fine.” He brushed Sed’s hand aside, climbed to his feet, and headed for the bathroom.

Sed grasped his forehead in one hand. What should he do? Maybe Jessica had an idea. He returned to the bedroom and found her dressed and packing a suitcase.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“We’re going to take Trey and help him before he changes his mind.”

“You heard everything?”

“Yeah, I was listening. Call his father.”

“He doesn’t want his father to know.”

Jessica put her hands on her hips. “Either he calls him, you call him, or I’m calling him. Our only other option is to check him into rehab.”

“I’ll call him,” Trey said behind Sed, “but not here. I need to get away as soon as possible.”

Jessica pushed Sed aside and grabbed Trey in a tight embrace. “I’m proud of you, sweetie. We’re going to get you through this. Okay?”

Trey nodded, clinging to her like a frightened child. “You two make a good team. You’ll have me kicked into shape in no time.”

Team? Sed liked the sound of that.

Chapter 32

Jessica crawled up on the bed behind Sed and hugged him around the waist, kissing the side of his neck just behind his ear.

“I know this is hard, baby,” she whispered. Trey had finally fallen asleep after a horrendous morning of suffering through withdrawal symptoms. “But you’re the only one strong enough to be there for him.”

He covered her hands with his. “I’m only strong when you’re beside me.”

She hugged him harder. “I don’t believe that. You’re always strong. That’s why everyone depends on you so much.”

“You’ve never been around me when I’m not with you.”

Her brow knotted with concentration. “I suppose that’s true, but…”

He shifted to the side and tugged her onto his lap. “Without you, I’m nothing. Don’t you understand that?”

He kissed her before she could protest. When he drew away, he touched her cheek. “Let’s go to bed before Trey wakes up again.”

She liked this time together. The last few days had been so tough. Wearying. They scarcely had a moment alone together. Technically, they weren’t alone now. She glanced at the other hotel bed. Trey was out cold. The tremors of this morning had stilled. Dr. Mills had been correct about the treatment. It just didn’t seem fair that Sed had to be the one to administer it. She could only imagine how bad Trey suffered, and he’d probably blame Sed for that pain for the rest of his life.

She looked up at Sed and smiled, tracing weary lines around his eyes with her fingertips. “Kiss me again first.”

She could tell he was exhausted, but he gave in to her wishes and kissed her. A deep kiss that made her toes curl. When he drew away, he set her on the edge of the bed and stood. He stripped down to his birthday suit, giving her a glorious eyeful of broad shoulders, narrow hips, and bulging muscles, and slid between the sheets. “Come keep me warm.”

She climbed into bed with him and pulled the covers up to her neck.

“What’s with all the clothes?” he asked, rubbing his hands over her soft cotton nightshirt.

“Um…”

He stripped her nightgown over her head and stuffed it under the pillow.

“I thought we were going to bed.”

“We are in bed.” He rubbed his lips over her jaw. “I need this, sweetheart. Don’t you want to?”

She did and she couldn’t argue with his logic. Well, she could, actually. She turned her head and watched Trey sleep for several moments. “Trey might wake up.”

“We’ll be quiet. He’ll sleep right through it. And if not, well… I’m not shy. Are you?”

“Maybe.”

He stripped her panties down her legs and stuffed them under the pillow as well. “Slow and quiet.”