Page 150 of Saving the Halfback

Someone’s phone was going off, the vibrations humming against the bed. Chase groaned but made no attempt to stop it.

“Hey,” Ethan answered, his voice still full of sleep. He let go of me and sat up. “Where?” he asked, more awake now. I rolled onto my back to watch him, curious who had called. “We’ll be there.” He hung up the phone and turned to me. “Nolan needs us.”

That woke me up fully, any hint of tiredness disappearing. “What’s wrong?” I sat up, giving Chase a little shake until he opened his eyes.

“Lachlan has him. They are on the trail, and he passed out. That’s all I know.”

“I’m up.” We all got out of bed at the same time, Chase and Ethan reaching for their pants that were on the floor and slipping them on.

“What time is it?” Chase asked.

I checked my phone. “Five.” Nolan’s dad was still making him work out before practices.

I rushed to my room and grabbed the first pair of sweats my hands touched, slipping them on over my pajama shorts beforetugging a hoodie over my head. Ethan and Chase were right behind me when we ran down the stairs.

“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Dad asked as we burst through the door. He and Mom both sat on the porch with their morning coffees.

We all stopped and looked at one another for a second before I took a deep breath. We were all family. “Nolan needs help. I don’t have time to explain, but I might not make it back for chores.”

Dad stood up. “Do you need me?”

I shook my head. “Probably for the best you stay.” I spoke honestly, but his eyes narrowed, and he still took a step forward. “Nothing dangerous has happened. I promise to call you if I need you.”

Mom grabbed Dad’s arm, and he stopped, nodding at me. “Be sure you do.”

As we ran to the truck, I heard Mom say behind us, “It’s time for the next generation.”

“They are just kids,” Dad said.

“So were we.”

As soon as we got into the truck, I called Lachlan. “He’s okay,” was the first thing Lachlan said, and I fought to calm my breathing. It was hard not to think of the worse-case scenario.

“What happened?” I asked.

“He called because he pulled his muscle running. I was going to meet up with him, but he didn’t show. When I walked down the path, I found him passed out.”

“Is he awake now?” I tried but failed to keep the frantic edge out of my voice.

“Now and then. He’s not hurt. I just think he’s exhausted.”

I nodded. Rage boiled inside me, and all of it was directed at Nolan’s father. “We’re almost there.”

“Go to the end of the riverside trail. You know where the backside parking lot is?”

“The dirt one?”

“Yeah.”

I relayed the message to Ethan. Twenty-three minutes, that’s how long it took us to get there. Each second was an agonizing hour, but I had to remind myself Lachlan was there. Nolan was safe. The sun was coming up as Lachlan emerged from the end of a trail, alone.

“I need a hand moving him,” Lachlan said. “He’s dead weight.”

“Don’t say it like that.” Chase was upset, and I wasn’t sure why that shocked me. Perhaps it was because he’d never given any indication that he cared about Nolan before, not like he did Ethan and Lachlan. Maybe Nolan had grown on him.

We’d run down the path only a little way before Nolan’s form came into view. He was rolled onto his side in the recovery position, with a hoodie bunched up under his head. I walked up to him and knelt, my fingers brushing the hair off his forehead. He stirred.

“Nolan, you okay?” I asked.

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