Rock Hard

Chapter 30

Sed dumped the little peach-colored pills from the prescription bottle into his palm and counted them. Thirty-six. Yesterday, there had been fifty-two. The label clearly said one to two tablets every six hours, not to exceed eight tablets per day. Though math wasn’t Sed’s thing, he knew Trey was taking more than double the proper dosage. Would this be enough evidence to get the rest of the band to make a stand against him? Sed didn’t want to waste any more time. He knew in his gut that Trey needed help and he wasn’t going to wait until they found him overdosed in his bunk as the final sign that they should do something.

Sed carefully returned the remaining pills to the bottle, secured the lid, and tucked the amber container into his pocket. He let himself out of the bathroom and settled on the sofa beside Trey. Trey had dozed off again, his head leaning at an odd angle against the back of the sofa. He never did much more than sleep these days.

“Tired, Trey?” Sed asked and nudged him in the side to wake him.

“Let him sleep,” said Brian, who sat on Trey’s other side watching TV. “The concerts are really wearing him out.”

Sed snorted. “Yeah, the concerts have really been knocking him on his ass lately.” Sed shook Trey’s shoulder. “Hey, sleepyhead, wake up.”

Trey groaned and covered his eyes with both hands. “Fuck, man, leave me alone.”

“Why don’t you just go to bed? You don’t look very comfortable sleeping like that.”

Trey sat there for a long moment as if he were physically incapable of lifting his head off the back of the couch. He finally hauled himself to his feet and headed directly for the bathroom. The bottle of pills in Sed’s pocket suddenly felt very conspicuous.

A lot of loud rattling and swearing came from the bathroom. Trey opened the bathroom door. “Has anyone seen my pills?”

“Did you check your bloodstream?” Sed asked, scratching behind his ear.

Trey was instantly in his face. “You took them, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“Jesus, Sed, give him his pills. What is wrong with you?” Brian said.

“There’s nothing wrong with me.” He locked gazes with Trey. “Why don’t you tell Brian how many pills you took today?”

“Give me my fuckin’ pills, Sed.”

Sed lifted his hips off the sofa and pulled the bottle from his pocket. Trey tried to snatch it from his hand, but Sed held it firmly. “This label says you’re supposed to take four pills a day. A maximum of eight. How many have you taken since last night, Trey? Do you even know?”

Trey grabbed Sed’s wrist and tried to wrestle the bottle out of his hand. When that didn’t work, he took Sed’s little finger and bent it back viciously. “Ow, damn. Take the fuckin’ things then.” Sed released the bottle into Trey’s custody.

“That wasn’t funny.” Trey took several shuddering breaths through his nose as he tried to regain his composure. “You don’t understand my pain. You don’t understand.”

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.