24. Seth
“Are you sure you don’t want to go with us?” my roommate asks from where he’s standing in front of the door to the hotel room. “The other team said this was the place to be.”
I hold up my book and say, “I have a date with a serial killer.” Plus, they’re going to be in big trouble when Coach finds out, and he always finds out.
“You and your books,” he says with a snort.
“Don’t get shit-faced,” I warn. “And if you do, don’t call me to come and get you.”
The last time the team went out before a meet, G.L. ended up starting a fight with somebody’s boyfriend when he stared at the girlfriend’s ass too long, and then the whole team had to get into it. Coach made us all do extra-heavy workouts for a week after that. Plus, we’d had to all chip in on the damages at the bar. I hadn’t even been there.
I’m not a big fan of alcohol, acting like a fool, or watching other people drink alcohol and act like fools. I usually end up being the responsible one, the one who makes sure everybody gets home safely. I didn’t want to do it tonight, particularly since Gabby went to her room right after we got to the hotel.
I text her really quickly, just in case.
Do you want to go and get something to eat?
No response.
I toss the phone down and try to concentrate on my book. A few minutes go by, and I text her again. I can’t get her off my mind. That seems to be pretty standard lately. I don’t like to sleep without her. After bed checks, I might be able to sneak out and go to her room.
Gabby? Are you around?
Still no response. I toss my book to the side.
My phone rings, and Mrs. J’s phone number pops up. That’s weird. She usually just texts random cat pictures for me to send to Mrs. Collins. I answer, “Hello.”
“Seth?” she says, sounding frantic.
I sit up. “Yes.”
“Oh, thank God,” she says. “I’m sorry to bother you. I know you’re away at a meet.”
“It’s fine,” I reply. “What’s up?”
“Have you seen Gabby?” she asks.
“Not since right after we got here,” I admit. “Why do you ask?”
“She texted me earlier to tell me that she was going out with Tasha and the team. She really didn’t want to go, but Tasha was determined to go, and she didn’t want her to go alone.”
I reach for my shoes and start to cram my feet in them. “She told me she was going to bed.”
She heaves a sigh. “That was her plan, but the plans changed.” She stops for a beat. “Then she sent me some strange texts. Kind of garbled.”
“What did they say?”
“I don’t know. That’s what has me worried. I couldn’t understand them. Are you with the team? Do you see her anywhere?”
I toss the phone onto the bed and pull a hoodie on. “I’m not with them, but I know where they are. I’ll go find her. Don’t worry.”
“Will you call me when you find her? I’m worried, Seth.”
So am I. I am already running down the hallway toward the elevator. “I’ll call you as soon as I set eyes on her, Mrs. J. I promise.”
I can hear the smile in her voice. “Just Katie will do, Seth,” she says. “Call me back,” she adds, and then she hangs up.
The bar is two doors down from the hotel. I know that much because G.L. had laughed about the name. It’s in the lobby of the hotel, where one of the other teams is staying. I run down the street, stopping when I walk into the lobby. It’s all oranges and reds—a travesty to the eyes. I look around and finally find a sign pointing toward the pub area.
I walk in, and a cheer goes up among my teammates, most of whom are already trashed. I can tell them from the others because they are all wearing team gear. I look around, but I don’t see Gabby.
“I thought you were staying at the hotel,” G.L. says as I walk up to stand next to him at the bar.
“Have you seen Gabby?” I ask, my eyes raking the crowd.
G.L. looks around. “She was here just a minute ago. She was with Tasha.” G.L. stands taller than me, so he gazes around. “She’s wearing a red sweater,” he says absently as he scratches his chest and searches the room.
Suddenly, a flash of red in the doorway catches my eye. I see Gabby and Tasha being led to the door by two men. The man with Gabby has his arm around her waist, his hand under her sweater, against her skin. She leans heavily against him.
“Dude,” G.L. says. “Something’s not right.”
He puts his fingers between his teeth and whistles. The room goes silent. I am already across the room.
“Gabby!” I call. She doesn’t even look up. Her eyes are mere slits, and most of her weight rests on the man holding her up. “Gabby!” I call again. I grab the man holding her, who is more than a little startled, jerking him back into the doorway. The other man lets Tasha fall against the doorway as he turns and runs.
“Dude,” the first guy says, “not cool.”
“Gabby,” I say, taking her by the shoulders so I can look into her eyes. She can’t focus.
“Seth,” she mutters. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Get her,” G.L. says as he jerks the man back and tosses him into the pile of my teammates crowding the door. He leans down to where Tasha drops on the floor, unable to hold her own weight, the man who had been with her long gone.
I hook an arm around Gabby just before she drops like a stone right into my arms.
One of the other trainers on the team rushes forward just as I scoop Gabby into my arms and lower her to the carpet next to Tasha.
“This isn’t alcohol,” the trainer says.
“It’s a date rape drug,” someone nearby says. “I’ve seen it before. At a frat party.”
Gabby’s head lolls to the side. I gently pat the side of her face. She doesn’t wake up.
G.L. calls 9-1-1, and I wait. I wait with my heart in my throat.
It feels like it takes forever, but finally, sirens outside begin to bleat, and a team of paramedics crashes through the door. They load Gabby and Tasha onto gurneys and start toward the street, where two ambulances wait.
“Can I go with her?” I ask as they lift her unconscious into the ambulance.
“One of you,” he says, as he eyes the team standing right behind me. G.L. gets into the ambulance with Tasha with nothing more than a nod in my direction. I climb in with Gabby. They make me buckle in, and I can’t even reach to take her hand.
I take out my phone and call Mrs. J. back. “I found her.” My voice cracks. I try to explain. I try to soften it as much as I can as I watch the paramedics start an IV and hook her up to monitors.
“There are no more flights tonight,” Mrs. J. says. She remains amazingly calm despite the frantic clicking of her fingernails as she taps the keyboard.
I can hear Gabby’s stepfather in the background.
“I’m with her in the ambulance,” I say. “I can take care of her.”
“Take care of her until I get there, Seth,” she says. “I will find a way.”
I call Aunt Sky, the only person I want to talk to right then, and tell her what’s happening. I hear her pull the phone away from her face and speak to Matt. “Give me her mom’s number. I’ll work everything out,” Sky says when she comes back.
My eyes burn with tears as I give her everything she needs to contact them.
“I’ll be there in a couple of hours, Seth,” she says.
“You don’t have to,” I begin, but she cuts me off.
“Don’t even try that,” she all but snarls at me. “I will always be right where you need me to be,” she says. “I’ll take care of things with her mom. Hang up now, Seth, and just keep an eye on Gabby. Tell me if anything changes, okay?”
“Okay,” I say. I swipe a hand under my nose and use my shirt to wipe my eyes. I put the phone back in my pocket.
Gabby’s head lolls with the motion of the ambulance. I sit back and wait, getting out of the way as they unload both Tasha and Gabby at the hospital. I try to follow, but someone pushes me back with a hand on my shoulder.
“You’ll have to stay in the waiting room,” a nurse says as she spins me around.
G.L. stands with his hands on his hips, watching as they roll Tasha and Gabby away and the doors close. “Dude,” he says with a growl.
“I know.”
“I had just talked to her a few minutes before that. She was fine. I walked back to the bar to get a beer, and I saw those two guys walk up to talk to them. The bartender had just delivered two drinks, and I just thought it was a normal pick-up.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I should have been paying more attention.” He lifts his cowboy hat and scrubs a hand through his long hair.
I sink onto a chair. Almost two hours later, Sky and Matt rush into the emergency waiting room. G.L. is still pacing when they walk in, and he freezes straight away. “Holy shit,” he says. “Your parents are here.”
I blink. “Yeah. My parents are here.” My eyes well up, not because of Gabby but just because they showed up. They always show up.
“What’s the status?” Sky asks. Matt sits down across from me.
“They won’t tell me anything because I’m not family.” I gnaw on my thumbnail until it bleeds. Sky absently swipes her hand against my arm to get it out of my mouth.
“Stop that,” she says, like I am a two-year-old. “I’ll see what I can find out,” she says.
She comes back a few minutes later. “She’s okay. They pumped her stomach and gave her medicine to help with the nausea.” She takes my hand. “There were traces of a date rape drug in her urine.” She squeezes her eyes shut, like she’s trying to compose herself. “But she’s going to be fine. Tasha too. They’re together in one room, so she’s not alone.”
Matt’s phone rings, and I watch as he walks toward the window to answer it. He smiles. “Okay. I’ll let them know. Thank you.”
“What was that?” Sky asks.
“They got both guys,” Matt says.
“How do you know?”
He shrugs. “Gabby’s stepfather used to work with the police. He called some people. The people talked to the one guy your team held for the police to get there. He gave up the identity of the other guy. They have them both in custody.” He blows out a breath. “They got the bartender too because he delivered the spiked drinks to them, knowing what they were planning.” He winces. “They better be glad Katie’s dad’s not in this state yet, or he would have done something drastic.”
“More drastic than sending them to prison?” G.L. asks.
“A lot more drastic. Paul has been talking to him while they set up the plane, and he got the whole scoop.”
I scratch my head. “Wait. What plane?”
Suddenly, a woman barrels through the doors and goes straight to the information desk. She has long, dark hair that’s piled on top of her head, and she’s wearing jeans but no coat.
“She made it,” Sky says, relief obvious in her voice.
“That was Gabby’s mom.” I am so confused. “I thought there weren’t any more flights tonight.”
Matt chuckles. “There’s always a flight. Paul called in a favor. Private plane.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
He grabs my arm and gives it a squeeze. “It was just a plane.”
Just a plane. It was just a plane.
It’s always just a wrestling meet, or just a cup of coffee, or just a pair of shoes for a friend, or... just a motherfucking plane.
After a few minutes, Mrs. J. comes through the doors. “She’s okay,” she rushes to say when I scoot to the edge of my chair. She motions for me to stand. “Can I hug you?” she says, and her voice finally breaks as she falls against me. I catch her against me, looking over my shoulder at Sky and Matt, who just smile as Sky wipes a tear from her eye. “If you hadn’t gotten there when you did,” she begins as she pulls back and looks at me. She squeezes my bicep. “But you did get there. Thank you,” she says sincerely.
She sits down and faces Matt and Sky. “Both girls are all right. They’re kind of groggy but coherent.” She squeezes my knee. “Gabby wants to see you.”
My heart leaps. “Can I go?”
“One person at a time,” she says. “Go ahead. I can wait.” She smiles at me.