“He cuts back inside at the thirty, breaks one tackle, and he’s still on his feet! Samuels is dragging this defense with him!”
“And he gets hammered near the twenty-two-yard line! What a play by Samuels, but he is slow getting up after that hit.”
The whistle blew while I was still holding onto the ball, because if Miami thought they were getting that muthafucka loose, they had me fucked up. Two of their defenders were on the ground with me, one across my legs and the other rolling away after coming in high. The first thing I did was check the ball. Still tucked. Still ours. First down.
The second thing I noticed was my left shoulder. I stayed down longer than I wanted to, because the second I tried to push myself up, I knew something wasn’t right with my shoulder. I shifted onto my right side and sat up, trying to work through it before anybody made a big deal out of it.
The second I sat up… Tatum was already there.
“You good?” he asked, extending a hand.
I grabbed it with my right and let him pull me to my feet. The movement sent a reminder through to my shoulder, and I immediately kept my left arm tucked against my side.
Tatum noticed it too.
His eyes dropped briefly before coming back to my face.
“You—”
Before he could finish, the trainers were already jogging onto the field. Briggs wasn’t far behind them, followed by Steele.
I looked toward the bench and shook my head.
“I’m good.”
The trainer stepped in front of me before I could go any further.
“Where’s the pain?” He asked.
“My left shoulder,” I mumbled through the pain.
“Can you move it?”
I started to lift my arm and immediately knew I fucked up.
“Yeah.”
His expression let me know he knew I was lying.
The team doctor joined us while the trainer carefully examined my shoulder. I stood there letting them do their job, but the longer it took... the more pissed off I got.
Coach Briggs finally made his way over.
“Talk to me.”
I rolled my shoulder once and regretted it immediately.
“I landed on my shit wrong,” I grit.
Neither the trainer nor the doctor looked convinced. Coach’s jaw tightened as he listened to whatever they were telling him, and that was enough for me to know they weren’t about to slap some tape on it and send me back out there.
The crowd was still buzzing around us as I looked toward the family section. Mama and Lani were both on their feet, and neither of them looked particularly happy. Pops had his arm around Mama, and his face was riddled with concern.
My eyes eventually landed on Tink. She was still sitting, but her attention hadn’t left me. Even from that distance, I could see the concern on her face. I gave her a quick nod, hoping it would do enough to reassure her, but her expression never changed.
If anything, she looked even less convinced than the trainers standing around me.
I turned my attention back to the trainer and Coach and they both looked like they were about to piss me off.
