Sed watched Trey step out of the bathroom and stumble his way to the front of the bus. Trey said something to Dave, who was driving them through a mountain pass on their way into the Midwest.
Sed could barely hear Dave's response over the engine noise as it climbed the steep grade road. "We're kind of in the middle of nowhere, man, but I'll try to find some place to stop."
"Thanks, buddy," Trey said.
Trey made his way back to the sofa and plopped down next to Brian.
Sed watched Jessica across the table for a moment as she typed data from the night before into Myrna's laptop. Jessica had finally caught up on the data backlog and she refused to get behind again. Sed touched her wrist to gain her attention and she glanced up. Sed nodded toward Trey, their conversation about him the night before at the forefront of his mind. She shrugged, not getting his silent message.
"Hey Trey, why do we need to stop?" Sed called to him.
Trey started and then smiled broadly. "I'm almost out of medicine."
"Again? Didn't you just get a refill a couple of days ago?" Sed asked.
Trey avoided his gaze. "I spilled about half the bottle down the sink. I'm such a klutz since my surgery." He ran his fingertips along the scar under his hair. You couldn't even see it now unless he pushed his hair up.
"You're a terrible liar."
"I'm not lying."
"Sed, get off his case. Why would he lie about being a klutz?" Brian handed Trey several pieces of music. "What do you think of this? Do you think you can handle it? It's got a lot of triplets, and I know those are still hard for you."
Trey frowned as he read over the lines of notes. "I'll get through it somehow. I'm getting better."
"Yeah, I know." Brian patted Trey on the thigh. "Do you want to practice for a while?"
"Yeah, okay. Get my guitar out. I'll be back in a minute. I need to use the bathroom." He climbed to his feet and headed toward the back of the bus.
Sed glanced at Jessica again. She nodded, her expression sad as she watched Trey amble past and slip into the bathroom again.
"We've got to do something, Jess," he murmured.
"I think so too," she whispered so only he could hear, "but what do we do?"
"Let me talk to the other guys first. See how they want to handle this."
She nodded. "I'll help any way I can."
He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Thanks."
Sed slid from the booth and sat next to Brian, who was tuning Trey's acoustic guitar on the sofa. "We need to do something about Trey."
"He's doing the best he can, Sed. His fingers are getting stronger every day. Don't be so hard on him."
"I'm not talking about his guitar playing. I'm talking about his painkiller addiction."
Brian's fingers stopped moving over the strings and he looked up at Sed. "What do you mean?"
"You're his best friend. How can you not notice? He's in the bathroom right now poppin' another pill or three. He's going to end up killing himself."
"He's just using the bathroom, Sed. No need to call in the Feds."
"He just went to the bathroom ten minutes ago. And do you really buy that story about him spilling his pills down the sink? Come on, Brian, look at the signs. We saw this happen to Jon and we ignored it until it was too late. I'm not going to let it destroy Trey too."
"In case you've forgotten, Trey has a prescription and he needs his meds. Jon was abusing illegal drugs."
"Addiction is addiction. Percocet is a narcotic. He was only supposed to be on it for two weeks and it's been over a month. How does he keep getting refills? Something is not right here."
"If it will make you feel better, I'll ask him about it."
Sed didn't think Brian was taking him very seriously. The bathroom door slid open and Trey emerged. He paused next to Sed, unsteady on his feet.
"You okay there, bud?" Sed asked.
"Just a little dizzy. I need to sit down."
Trey nudged Sed closer to Brian and sat heavily on the sofa beside him. "So does Jessica help you write songs, like Myrna helps Brian? I guess not, since you haven't finished a song all summer. Have you run out of things to say or what?"
Trey obviously wasn't thinking clearly. "Actually, as you should know, we've written several songs for the new album. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"I feel fantastic. Brian, hand me my guitar. Let's see if my stupid fingers want to cooperate today."
"See, Sed. I told you he was fine." Brian handed Trey his guitar.
Trey glared at Sed. "Are you talking about me behind my back?"
"I think you need to stop taking those painkillers."
Trey ducked his head. "I can't play without them."
"How would you know? You haven't tried. Your head doesn't hurt anymore, does it?"
"It doesn't hurt because I'm taking my pills."
"How many have you had today?"
"Two."
"Today, Trey, not in the past ten minutes."
"Get off my case, Sed. If it weren't for the pills, I wouldn't be able to play at all. If I can't play, you'll kick me out of the band."
"If you get messed up on drugs, then I'll kick you out of the band."
"I'm not messed up on drugs!"
Jessica appeared before Sed and took his hand. "I've got an itch only you can scratch, stud."
"I'm sort of busy at the moment." He couldn't believe she'd just barge in the middle of his conversation with Trey.
She glanced pointedly at the bedroom. "I really want to get you alone." She pulled on his arm until he relented and climbed to his feet.
"Jessica, now is not the time—"
She covered his mouth with her hand. "Come with me."
Sed tugged her hand from his mouth. "I'm not going to let this rest, Trey," Sed assured him as he allowed Jessica to pull him to the bedroom.
She closed the door behind them.
"I hope you didn't bring me back here for sex," Sed said.
"Of course not." She moved to the bed and shook Myrna's shoulder. "Myrna, are you awake? We need to talk to you."
Myrna took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "Jessica?"
"Yeah, and Sed."
She blinked heavily and sat up, holding the sheet over her naked breasts. What in the hell was Brian doing to her that left her in such a state of exhaustion?
"What's up?"
"We were hoping you could talk some sense into Brian," Jessica said.
Myrna looked entirely confused. "Huh?"
Sed sat on the bed next to her. "We think Trey is abusing his pain meds. Brian doesn't seem to recognize it."
"Abusing? Do you have proof?"
Jessica hesitated. "He keeps getting refills."
"And he needs a prescription for those refills, so he obviously needs them."
"Something doesn't add up, Myrna."
Myrna collapsed back on the mattress and covered her head with a pillow. "Did you already accuse him, Sed? Jesus, what are you thinking?"
"I'm not going to let him throw his life away on drugs."
"He's having a really rough time. You letting him know you don't trust him will make it worse."
"You've got to be kidding me," Sed grumbled. "You don't see this as a problem either? I thought you, of all people, would recognize the slippery slope he's sliding down."
"Sed, he has a prescription. I don't know why you're equating this with a problem."
"He's taking more than he's supposed to. A lot more."
"Where's your proof?" She slid the pillow from her face and looked up at him. "You have a tendency to jump to conclusions and assume you're always right. Maybe you're wrong. And you know what I see? I see Trey getting back to normal. The way he used to be. You don't see that?"
"All I see is him heading to the bathroom to secretly take another pill when anything bothers him. Even little things. He's not dealing with his problems. He's trying to cover them up."
"You've seen him in the bathroom taking pills?"
Sed sighed in frustration. "Not directly. No."
"Maybe he just needs a moment to himself."
"Maybe." He knew that wasn't the case, but Myrna wasn't going to listen to him. She'd already decided he was off base. He'd been counting on her support to get Brian in his corner, because Trey would listen to Brian. Now what was Sed going to do?
"Myrna," Jessica said, "I think Trey's abusing his painkillers too. The longer we wait, the more addicted he'll become."
"His prescription will run out eventually and then you won't have anything to worry about. Can I go back to sleep now?"
"Yeah, fine. Whatever." Sed stood, took Jessica's hand, and headed for the door. At least Jessica was on his side. It made him feel a little better about doing what he knew he had to do. No one was going to like it. Least of all Trey.
***
Jessica closed the bedroom door behind her and grabbed Sed's arm, hoping no one could overhear their conversation in the main cabin. Trey and Brian were quietly strumming their guitars while Jace and Eric listened to them play. The bus slowed as it entered the exit ramp to a midsized town.
"I'll go inside the pharmacy with Trey," Jessica whispered. "He'll be less suspicious of me."
Sed nodded. "Yeah, we need to be careful or he's going to become better at hiding it from us, which will make it harder to help him."
She touched his face. He really did care deeply about people. She didn't know why she hadn't seen it before. Jessica leaned against him, resting her face against his chest and murmured, "You're a good man."
He chuckled. "Nosy, you mean."
She smiled. "That's one way to put it. Righteous is another."
"Self-righteous?"
She laughed. "That's not what I meant, but yeah, sometimes."
"I really don't know if you're insulting me or complimenting me."
She leaned back to look up at him. "I like it when you do what you think is right, even if you have to go it alone. It shows your strength."
He stared down into her eyes and lifted his hand to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. She tilted her head back to accept his kiss, but the bus pulled to a stop. Jessica braced herself so she didn't topple over from the momentum. "I'll try to see if I can find out how he's getting all these refills."
"Don't blow your cover." He kissed her forehead and slipped through the bathroom door, closing it behind him.
Trey set his guitar aside and climbed to his feet. "I'll be right back. Anyone need anything?"
"I do." Jessica stepped forward. "Just a few feminine products. Tampons, maxi pads (the overnight ones), panty liners, a disposable douche, body wax. You guys will probably appreciate me having some Midol on hand and—"
Trey winced. "I'm not going to buy all that girl stuff for you. Get it yourself."
Jessica huffed with annoyance. "Fine. I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like the clerk is going to think it's for you."
He opened the bus door and Jessica followed him. "I'd end up getting the wrong thing and you'd send me back in there for more." He shuddered.
She laughed. "Probably." Well, now she had a legitimate reason to be in the store with him. She just hoped the aisles were arranged properly for eavesdropping. She walked beside him across the parking lot, trying to think of something to say that might get him to reveal something. "I was listening to you play back on the bus. You sound great."
He stroked his eyebrow with the side of his finger. "You think so? I still can't get my middle finger to go where I want it, but the rest are back to normal. Mostly."
"Just think where you were a month ago. None of your fingers would go where you wanted them."
He smiled slightly. "I guess so. Maybe I'm getting better faster than I think."
"You're doing great, sweetie." She rubbed his back encouragingly. "I'm amazed by how hard you've been working. I don't know where you find the will to carry on. It must be frustrating."
He looked away. She caught a flash of guilt on his face before he smiled. "Yeah, well, I know the guys are counting on me. And the crew… The opening bands… The fans… The record label…"
"That's an awful lot of pressure." When he started fidgeting with the chain dangling at his hip, she decided to drop the subject.
They entered the chain drugstore through a pair of sliding doors. Trey examined the layout of the establishment and located the pharmacy counter at the back.
"You don't have to wait for me," he said. "If you just want to get your stuff and go, that's fine."
She nodded, deciding it would look suspicious if she dawdled while he waited on his prescription. While she pretended to shop for vitamins near the prescription counter, she kept an eye on Trey out of the corner of her eye.
He opened his wallet and presented a prescription slip to the technician at the counter. "I need to have this filled."
The technician read the prescription. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Trey.
"Head injury," he said, pushing back his hair to show her the wicked scar that curved across the side of his head. "I need those quick. I ran out of my last prescription a few hours ago and I am supposed to take my next dose in a few minutes."
"You need to be careful about running out of these things. I hear the withdrawal symptoms are horrible."
"Yeah. I was going to wait until Monday, but my doctor told me to find the nearest pharmacy and get it filled."
"Do you have an insurance card?"
Trey made a big deal about riffling through his wallet several times. "Shit. I seem to have lost it." He sighed and buried his forehead in his hand. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"If you have a credit card—"
Trey looked through his wallet again. "I'm sure I have enough cash, I just hate to see my insurance company get out of footing their part of the bill." He grinned at her. "Leeches."
She smiled. "Maybe if you keep your receipt they'll reimburse you. Or you could call them and get your prescription card number."
He sighed. "I think they're closed on the weekends, but you're a real sweetheart for helping me out." He pinned her with those sultry eyes of his and Jessica knew the sweet thang behind the counter didn't know what hit her.
The technician blushed. "I'll just call your physician to make sure this is legit and put it in with the pharmacist."
Trey's face fell. "I know my doctor doesn't work Saturdays. Is there any way around that? I kind of need this now."
"It's company policy." She shifted from foot to foot.
Trey brushed his hair back from his scar. A move that seemed inadvertent, but Jessica knew better.
Staring at the side of his head, the young woman clutched the prescription slip to her chest and winced with empathy. "I know you're in a bind. I'll take care of it." She typed something into a computer and winked at him.
His smile of gratitude probably set her socks on fire. "Thanks. You're a doll."
Biting his lower lip, Trey tapped the counter with his fingertips and pushed off its edge with both hands. He turned and his gaze landed on Jessica. She started and knocked half a dozen bottles of vitamins off the shelf. She squatted to pick them up.
Trey's hand came into her line of sight as he retrieved one of the bottles. "For prostate health," he read off the bottle. "Either you're the best transvestite I've ever seen or you're spying on me, Jessica Chase. Did Sed put you up to this?"
She snatched the bottle out of his hand. "No, I was just… just looking for the… uh… iron supplements. I get sort of anemic this time of the month." She glanced up at him and smiled. "Blood loss. You know how it is."
He paled and cringed. "No, actually, I don't. Thank God." He stood and scanned the shelf. He quickly found the iron supplements, plucked a bottle off the shelf, and put it in her hand. "There you go. Now go find the rest of your girly stuff and head back to the bus."
Jessica bought all the stuff she'd told Trey she needed. She tried to see what he was up to while she stood in the checkout line, but her line of sight was blocked by a display of cheap stuffed animals.
Sed was waiting for her outside the bus when she left the store. "Well? What did you find out?"
She sighed. "Not much. He had a new prescription slip and he didn't have his insurance card with him so he paid cash. He somehow talked that poor girl into not calling his physician for verification. She'll probably get fired."
"He had a new prescription slip? He didn't try to get a refill or trick them with that bullshit story about him spilling his pills down the sink?"
"Nope. He handed the pharmacy tech a new prescription slip."
Sed looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder how many of those he has."
"Sed, I feel sort of bad sneaking around trying to catch him doing something wrong. He's been through a lot."
"Yeah, I know. But if he's using, I'm going to put him through a hell of a lot more."