“When the Crabs announced that both Eric Dennings and Ben Turner would be inactive today, it came as a shock.”
“Oh shit.” E’s curse has me snapping out of the half-awake daze I’d started to fall into.
“G, turn it up,” Bette instructs as my eyes blink the TV hanging on the wall into focus to see the Crabs’ pregame show playing on it.
“With the news of Dennings’ sister being in the hospital breaking, it now comes as no surprise he is missing today’s game.”
“She’s going to freak when she hears they’re talking about this in the pregame,” JT says, leaning back in his chair.
“What about Ben Turner?”
As the broadcast switches back to the on-field reporter, the screen splits to show her side by side with a post from B’s Instagram of him and E mugging it up for the camera at Thanksgiving the other day. Just as the tension in the room starts to ebb, the blood in my veins turns to ice.
It’s not the new picture of the most famous bromance in the NFL that does it. No, it’s both what they are doing in the shot and who posted it—UofJ411. Sonofabitch! How did they get a picture of them in the waiting room last night?
“It’s common knowledge that the two players share a close bromance both on and off the field,” the sideline reporter explains. “I know I wasn’t surprised to see he would be with his friend in his time of need. Details of what led to the younger Dennings being hospitalized have not been confirmed, but one thing is for certain…the Crabs offense certainly has their work cut out for them today if they are going to pull off a win against Cincinnati.”
Not one person says a word, the only sound coming from the furious tapping of Jordan Donovan’s nail as it flies over the screen of her iPad.
“What did they mean by ‘news breaking’?” Kay’s voice, still slightly scratchy from being intubated from surgery, jerks everyone to attention. She was asleep, and I was hoping she’d stay that way and we would be able to come up with the best way to tell her about this.
#Chapter16
My back arches as I wiggle first to the left then to the right, trying to find a comfortable position. I’ve been sleeping in spurts throughout the day, but I wouldn’t say any of it was restful.
Though I was touched beyond words by how many people wanted to be here to show their support, the increased stimuli of cramming so many bodies into one room wreaked havoc on my senses thanks to the effects of my concussion.
Bette stepped in and mommed the crap out of everyone, a nice change seeing as I’m usually the only one who gets to experience that type of treatment. Thanks to her logic, Trav and the guys didn’t put up a fight—well, not a big one—when she convinced them to head back to campus. Thanks to the win against Penn State, the Hawks will be playing in the Big Ten conference championship this upcoming weekend. It’s bad enough Mase will be missing practice tomorrow; we can’t have all the captains absent if they want a shot at clenching a berth to a playoff bowl game.
G and the girls left for a similar reason, though they were more reluctant to go than the others.
I agreed to taking a week off from classes to recover from my injuries. It’ll be a few days before I’m permitted screen time, making it an easy decision, and CK clinched the deal for me when he offered to gather anything I might need to help keep up with my coursework once I can read without the result being a pounding headache.
“What do you need, babe?” Mase asks when I attempt to beat one of my pillows into submission without much success.
I blow out a frustrated breath and lift my gaze to his. He’s the only person who held steadfast in his resolve to not leave my side. To be fair, I think knowing Mase would be with me is the only reason E and B agreed to Jordan’s suggestion of moving things to the offices at All Things Sports. With the press being aware of the reason behind them missing the game today—Baltimore losing to Cincinnati by two touchdowns—my brother has been even more adamant about figuring out the best way to get ahead of the story so we aren’t blindsided like we were with all the media attention surrounding Dad’s