Just One of the Guys
Forty Four

Knox

"Hey, uh, guys," Colt says, stopping in front of me and Averi, interrupting my thoughts. "I can't find Gentry anywhere and he's not answering his phone."

"You think he left with the blonde?" I ask, trying not to jump to conclusions.

He nods across the way, and I see her, the blonde sitting on another guy's lap a guy that is definitely not Gentry. "I would say no."

"Fuck," I sigh, dread beginning to coil in my gut. "Alright, let's spread out. Make sure you didn't just miss him. If we're unable to find or reach him, we'll head back and see if he may have caught a ride back to campus." Averi reaches out, twining her fingers through mine and giving my hand a squeeze. "Let's not jump to the worst case, okay? It may be nothing," she says, trying to keep me calm.

"Yeah..." The feeling in my gut says otherwise, but then I was wrong about her last time too.

With Averi at my side, we scour the area, looking at every face that we find, looking for Gentry.

Adrenaline is pulsing heavily through my veins, my senses almost hyper-aware from its surge. I find Colt talking to a couple not far from us, he looks up at me, both of us shaking our heads no.

"Dammit, Gentry," I spit, as fear causes the darkness to begin creeping in. With everything that we've talked about over the last few days since I found out who she really is, both the good and the bad, she probably knows what this is doing to

me.

Averi rounds on me, cupping my face in her small hands, looking into my eyes. "Breathe, babe," she encourages. "It's okay. We will keep looking, just breathe."

Colt rounds up a few of the guys, and I spot the last of the crew that came with us as we're heading towards my truck. "We're leaving, get in," I growl, opening the door, as Colt comes around the hood of my truck, moving toward his.

"You good to drive?" I ask as it dawns on me that he's been drinking, and I don't know how much he's had. Colt has a good head on his shoulders though and typically isn't one to do stupid stuff like driving while under the influence. "Yeah man, I'm good. Only had one, ended up getting water when I grabbed you and Averi's."

"Thank fuck," I growl, nodding at him and jumping in the cab after Averi and kicking over the ignition, my truck comes to life as the rest of the guys pile into me and Colt's trucks.

Averi dials Gentry as my tires hit the pavement, squealing as they work to get traction before allowing me to take off. Punching the gas, I speed down the road, hoping like hell that there aren't any cops out this way tonight. "Come on, Gentry," Averi repeats like a mantra, and she keeps redialing him with no success. "Dammit, what if something's wrong, Knox?" she asks, looking up at me, fear written all over her face. I almost don't hear her through the thumping of my pulse in my ears, her voice sounds so quiet it's like she's speaking through a tunnel, "I'm really worried."

"I know, baby, I know. I am too. We won't know anything until we get there." No use in giving false comfort when I don't know any more than she does what's going on with him.

Her phone chirps with a message.

"It's him," she breathes, bringing up his message.

I keep my eyes on the road but out of my peripheral vision, I watch her bring her hand to her mouth as her chest begins to heave.

"Crap, Knox. Hurry!" she screeches, and immediately dials him again. "Gentry, no! Don't do this!"

"What did it say?" I ask once she ends the call, not sure that I really want to know, but the need to know winning out.

"I think he's saying goodbye," she manages to force out but not elaborating at first on what she means. "He wants me to tell you that he appreciates everything you've done for him, that you've been a great friend and he expects you to take good care of me and to keep my secret. He says some other stuff like wanting me to know that I've been a good friend to him too and that we shouldn't blame ourselves. He says he just can't do it anymore. He's tired of faking it. He said he's just so freaking tired."

By the time she stops speaking, tears are pouring down her cheeks, the dread that had been lying low in my gut turns into full-fledged anger-laced fear.

"Mother fucker!" I shout, banging my hands against the steering wheel and pushing the accelerator down until it's against the floor, my speedometer reading 110 MPH.

"Knox, I want you to hurry, but please, calm down and slow down a bit." Averi asks, her hand clasped around my thigh, holding on for both her comfort as well as mine, "You're scaring me going this fast." "I'm sorry, baby," I apologize.

I let up just a bit, slowing down until the speedometer reads ninety, hoping that it's slow enough for her.

Campus comes into view up ahead. *Thank fuck*, I breathe, as I fly the last block, speeding through the parking area. I notice a familiar-looking Nova in the parking lot but shake it off, not thinking much of it as I jump the curb, stopping just before the dorms.

Averi and I both jump out, meeting Colt at the door at the same time as we all haul ass down the corridor until we reach Gentry's apartment.

"Gentry!" I holler, banging on the door after I find the handle locked. "Dammit, man. Don't do this!" I beg as I begin ramming the door with my shoulder, Colt backing up ready to ram it as soon as I break away from it, before charging at it again.

Between the two of us, we manage to bust the door in, then climbing over the debris, we charge into his apartment. "Gentry!" we all call, trying to figure out where he's at.

"Knox, Colt," Averi cries from the room over from the one I'm in. The tremor in her voice tells me that I'm not going to like what I find as I rush next door.

When I step inside, Averi has Gentry pulled against her, his head against her chest, and turned to the side as she's shoving two fingers down his throat, trying to make him vomit back up whatever he took.

Glancing around the bathroom, I find another bottle of whiskey, this one smaller than the one he had at the party, what looks like cocaine on the counter, one line already gone, another ready and waiting, and a bag of pills that's spilled out onto the floor surrounding both Gentry and Averi.

"Knox, please," Averi cries as Gentry lies lifeless in her arms, his skin almost white.

"Lay him down, let me see if he's got a pulse and is still breathing. Colt, call an ambulance and the headmaster. NOW!" I demand, leaning over Gentry's prone form, and placing my index and middle fingers against his neck where his pulse is located.

"Fuck! I'm not getting a pulse," I say as I lower my hand to his face, checking his breathing, "Dammit, man!" I curse as I help Averi lay him flat on the floor, pinch his nose and bring my mouth to his, breathing out until his chest expands with my air then I move to his chest and begin compressions. As I'm doing this, Averi is holding his hand, crying, and what sounds like praying.

"Ambulance is on the way; I'm trying to reach the headmaster now." Colt informs us as he steps back into the bathroom, "Anything?"

"Can't find a pulse and he's not breathing," I say, as soon as I finish breathing into his mouth again and move back to compressions. "Be ready to relieve me if I need it. Or better yet, get over here and either give him compressions while I breathe, or breathe into his mouth as I do compressions," I say as I work on him, losing count of how many compressions I've done.

"Come on you bloody bastard! You can't die on me, come on!" I growl as I continue compressions, Colt breathing for him.

"What the hell is going on?" the headmaster asks, as he barrels through the apartment, stopping just outside the bathroom door, "Oh shit!"

"An ambulance is already on the way," Averi tells him, still crying.

"What's going on here?" another person asks, joining the fray.

"D-daddy?" Averi chokes out. When I glance at her, her face is so white you'd think she'd seen a ghost. Her hands are trembling as she stares at the man the voice belongs to, unable to tear her eyes away.

As I go back to doing compressions on Gentry, I glance over my shoulder and see Kenny standing next to the headmaster.

I glance between Kenny and Averi, she's pale as fuck, on the verge of hyperventilating, and has tears in her eyes. Then it registers what she called him.

"Daddy?" I ask her and then look back at Kenny, the smile he's aimed at his daughter much more sinister than any of the ones he's given me before. "What's going on, baby?" I ask her, Gentry, momentarily forgotten. I hear Colt curse and then feel him begin compressions in my stead. "No, no, no, no, no..."