In a nightmare of EMTs, ambulance drivers, emergency room personnel, then specialists coming in and out of his room, his parents heard the worst news of their lives.
“Are you the parents of Julius Henderson?” asked a doctor clad in a sickly green pair of scrubs.
“We are,” said his father standing to greet the man.
“Your son is a very sick young man. The steroids in his body are at a nearly lethal dose.”
“Wait,” said his mother, “steroids? Our son doesn’t take steroids.”
“Ma’am, I promise you that he does. His liver and heart are both on the verge of shutting down. We’re looking for possible donors right now. If he doesn’t get a liver transplant in the next two weeks, he will die. With the heart, we can keep him alive artificially for a few months but he’ll need a transplant there as well.”
“No. No,” said his father shaking his head. “Our son would never do something so reckless.”
“Your son might not, but according to him, the coach you hired damn sure would and did.”
“Can we see him?” asked the woman.
“Come with me. He’s resting for now but we’re going to be taking him in for a number of procedures - hopefully to help keep him alive a while longer.”
They held hands, squeezing their fingers together as they followed the surgeon down the long sterile hallway. As they stood in the doorway of their son’s room, they were horrified to see tubes and wires all over their son’s body.
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “Julius?”
“M-mom,” he croaked. “Dad. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” said his father. “Julius, did Coach Williams make you take steroids?”
“H-he injected us every day. At first he said it was just extra vitamin B12. Then, we all started noticing that we were getting bigger and stronger.”
“Is this why Brandon left the team?” asked his father.
“Him. And others. He said if we were going to be on his team, playing for him, we would follow his rules. We had to eat what he wanted us to eat. Take the shots and the supplements.”
“Your son has given me the names of most of what was given to him. Honestly? I’m shocked he isn’t dead. I don’t mean to be cold but he was basically given a cocktail of drugs that would kill most people. All of these kids are in danger and from what I understand, this is just a junior college.”
“It is. This coach said that he could get every player on the team to a Division I school by the end of the year. We thought he was helping our son. I mean, he’s got an amazing track record of kids in high profile schools, even the pros.”
“Good for him. How many did he bury?” said the surgeon with a tone of anger.
“I-I…” started his mother.
“Don’t be rude to my parents,” whispered Julius. “Please. They work three jobs to keep me in that school and pay for the extra sessions. I hid this from them. I just couldn’t do it any longer.” The surgeon nodded.
“I apologize. This just angers me and if I find out who this man is, I will have law enforcement investigate him.”
CHAPTER TWO
Keegan and Ramey rolled their eyes at their husbands as they dropped them off at the all-day spa continuing education program they’d enrolled in. It wasn’t even a full eight hours. It started at nine and ended at four. Yet their overprotective, alpha-male husbands refused to drive away.
“It’s no trouble,” said Hawk. “We’ll be right across the street at that diner.”
“All day?” frowned Keegan.
“Babe, I brought a book to read and we brought a chess board. We’ll be fine. We’ll grab some breakfast, have some coffee, then have some lunch. It will be fine.”
“Those poor people working in that diner,” frowned Ramey shaking her head.
The two men gave a little wave to their wives as they entered the huge gym. It was one of the major chains, complete with a salon, massage and facial services, nails, a daycare, multiple swimming pools and so much more.