Page 40 of Chaos & Corruption

Alex Reggiano

Spending mostof the night awake and fucking my not so fake girlfriend wasn’t my best idea when I had to board a bus at eight the following morning and travel to Minnesota with my team. Obsessing over the fact we had found Webber in a heated exchange with Jennings at four in the morning didn’t help matters either. My head was everywhere except where it needed to be, and it showed during practice.

We had barely checked our bags in the hotel before Coach had us on the field running plays. By the time he let us go back to our rooms, every bone in my body ached and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and hear Victoria’s voice.

But as soon as I hit the sheets, my body succumbed to the exhaustion plaguing me and I was out like a light.

I woke up ten minutes ago, glanced at the clock and realized I slept thru dinner and about fifteen missed called. Swiping at my phone, I go through the call log, expecting to find Victoria’s name on the list, but three calls are from Webber and the rest are all from an unknown number.

Figuring Webber was only probably calling for me to meet him and the rest of the team for dinner, I don’t bother calling him back. Instead, I check to see if the mysterious caller left a voicemail.

Nothing.

It can’t be that important if they don’t leave a message.

Bringing up my contacts, I search for Victoria’s number. I’m not going to lie, I’m a little disappointed that she didn’t try calling me. A text message to say last night was the best night of her life would’ve been nice. Hell, I would’ve even settled for a ‘I miss you’ or ‘I’m thinking about you’, but crickets.

I’m about to hit send when someone pounds violently on my hotel room door.

“Dude! Open the fucking door. It’s an emergency,” Robinson shouts from the other side. His fist relentless in its banging. Muttering a curse, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and shuffle toward the door. Prepared to give Robinson a piece of my mind for disrupting my night, I pull open the door, but as soon as my eyes connect with his, I forget all about the tongue lashing I was about to deliver.

“It’s Webber.”

I narrow my eyes. The guy has been acting like a total douche since the bus left Stonewall this morning. He was off on the field too and more than me because Coach sent him back to the hotel early, warning him that if he didn’t get his shit together, he wasn’t going to be part of the starting lineup. My guess is he went back to the fucking room and got shitfaced.

Typical Webber.

“What about him?”

Robinson’s eyes dart nervously around the hallway, then he swallows hard and stares me straight in the eye.

“I think he’s dead.”

Sure I heard him wrong, my hand closes around my cell phone and I stare at him blankly. This is my head playing tricks on me. I’m overtired and paranoid as fuck thanks to Victoria’s little fucking expose.

Robinson turns and opens the door to his and Webber’s adjoining room and motions for me to enter. A levelheaded person would fucking ask questions, starting with why the fuck does he think Webber is dead and he’d follow with why he didn’t think to call 911. Instead, I cross the hallway and enter the room. There, laying on the floor beside the bed, I find Webber. The sleeve of his shirt is rolled up and there’s a needle hanging out of his arm.

Robinson shuts the door behind me, and I spin around to face him.

“What the fuck, man? Why didn’t you call 911 or Coach?” I grind out, watching as he roughly tugs at the ends of his hair.

“I panicked!” He releases his hair and shoves a hand toward Webber. “I don’t think he’s breathing. Is he breathing?”

I pocket my phone and move toward Webber’s body. Crouching down beside him, I put a finger under his nose.

Nothing.

Moving my fingers to his neck, I check for a pulse.

Fuck.

My eyes dart to the needle hanging out of his arm and back to Robinson.

“You need to call 911. Now,” I order.

“Man, I can’t…this will be the end of me.”

I open my mouth to tell him that this very well could be the end of Webber if he doesn’t do as I say, but before I can he continues to rant.

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