Background
I wasn't the best player on the on my high school football team but I was the most dedicated. Thanks to my supportive but strict parents and steady girlfriend I avoided the drink/drugs/delinquency that befell many of my team mates and peers including our start quarterback Butch.
At college I continued to play and was part of the team that won the college bowl that year. I graduated and got picked in the NFL draft, married my high school sweetheart and lived happily ever after - almost.
Actually I had a promising first year and was on the verge of becoming a first team regular at the start of my second year when I picked up a serious injury in training and lost most of that season to recovery. Thanks to some bad form and hard work on my part I managed to force myself back into contention for a starting place towards the end of my third season, but at the start of the fourth we got a new coach and signed a bunch of new players and I knew my time was up.
Thus began a nomadic career that lasted another ten years until I hung up my boots at the ripe old age of 35. By this time we had two kids Max (14) and Mike (13) and we settled down in my old home town. I got a job as an estate agent, coached football and did some after dinner speaking. My wife got a job as a teacher back at our old high school.
Fast forward five years, Max (19) and Mike (18) are at college and my wife Stacy and I are still happily married. I was lucky enough to make some smart investments and with my classic all-American good looks I managed to keep some sponsorship deals after my career finished so we were comfortably well off, being back in my home town also had the perk of being treated like a minor celebrity. Life was good.
Except for Butch. Butch and I started off as friends in middle school, we lived nearby and had the same taste in music and movies. When we went to high school we both joined the football team and Butch became our star quarterback. As the popularity went to his head, his girlfriend Stacy dumped him and she started going out with me. Our friendship suffered to the point where we ended up as enemies. Butch never got over Stacy leaving him and never forgave me for going out with her. Even though it was clear that he was cheating on her as well as becoming an abusive asshole and the biggest bully in school so everyone understood why she left him. We were so good together that most of our mutual friends quickly forgave me for my 'betrayal'. Thanks to his partying he barely graduated high school, never made it to college and had to watch as the town hero-worshiped me thanks to my college bowl victory and NFL career.
History repeated itself with our sons, his son Zak and my son Max were friends during high school. Max had inherited my blonde hair, blue eyes and athletic figure, Zak had his fathers' black hair, dark brown eyes and constantly had to watch his diet to keep his weight down. This time though Max was the football hero and Zak stole his girlfriend Jessie. Actually Zak got Jessie drunk at a party, filmed himself fucking her while she was black out drunk , uploaded the video to several porn sites and sent it all round school. Max was heartbroken and couldn't bring himself to forgive either Jessie or Zak, the old rivalry was reawakened and while the majority of the town was on our side there were a few who still supported Butch and Zak.
Present
Back to the present and Max and Mike are home from college for the holidays. Most of their old friends from high school have moved or got jobs and can't meet up to hang out during the day so much to my surprise Max starting hanging out with Zak again. Zak worked as a courier most days, which left him with plenty of time to smoke weed and play video games when he wasn't driving round town.
Time had not been kind to Butch, he had gone to seed in a big way. His hair was crew cut short and greying at the temples, he had bruises under his eyes and stubble all over his jowls and double chin. He had always fought a battle with his weight when he was younger and it was clear he'd given up that fight years ago. Unless you had a fetish for borderline obese forty somethings with a foul breath and a worse temper he was no one's idea of attractive.
There were glimpses of the old magnetic personality, flashes of the killer charm but it was hidden under the fat, the smell of sweat, engine oil and cigars and the roughness of working a thankless, low paid job for 22+ years, with nothing but a string of failed relationships and a son that would never live up to his own warped memories of his faded glories.
First Friday night with a full house again and we all sat down to dinner as a family, it felt just like old times, banter, squabbles and all. Then Max called a cab to head into town and Mike headed upstairs to do some gaming or streaming or something and my wife and I settled down to popcorn and a movie.
After the movie finished I messaged Max to remind him about the midnight curfew and he messaged back saying he'd been invited to an after party and was crashing there, I smiled thinking back to my college days, locked up and went to bed.
Saturday morning rolled round and Max still hadn't returned, I wasn't too worried as he was probably sleeping off his hangover on a couch somewhere, swearing he'd never drink again. He finally returned just after lunch, stinking of booze and looking like death warmed up. I made him drink a glass of water mixed with rehydration salts, several aspirin and ibuprofen and gave him the gel filled sleep mask I keep in the fridge and sent him up to bed. We didn't see him for the rest of the day but considering the state he had come back in, none of us were worried, he'd wake up Sunday morning, take his telling off like a man, eat two breakfasts and go for a run as usual.
Sure enough Sunday morning Max came down the stairs very sheepishly, apologised for staying out all night, ate two breakfasts and went for a long run with his brother. My wife Stacy went out for the weekly shop and I had arranged a round of golf with a few of my buddies, unfortunately they began to drop out one by one until my plans for a morning at the golf club were cancelled on me. With all the notifications going off I missed one from a number I didn't have saved. Once the dust had settled on the golf plan there was still one unread message, curious I opened it.
It was from an unknown number, it said "I'd like to discuss your son's future."
Fear and dread suddenly filled my gut like a lead weight. I messaged back "who is this??" The unknown number replied "an old friend that has your family's best interests at heart."
"Who are you? What do you want??" I sent.
"Be at this address in 30 mins, come as you are, the door will be open."
I looked up the address, it would take 30 mins to get there. I messaged back asking for more time to allow myself to get ready and compose myself. The mystery number just replied "20 mins now, tick tock."
I drove over bare foot in my dark blue satin pyjama suit that I had slept in the night before, hair still damp from the shower.