Page 296 of Cross Checked
After that, I refused to leave his side unless a nurse physically required it. Even then, I went only far enough to shower in the bathroom attached to the private room Harrison had somehow acquired like rich people could simply point at hospitals and make them rearrange. Aura brought me clean clothes. Charm brushed and braided my hair while I sat on the toilet lid and cried so quietly I thought maybe the water would hide it.
It didn’t.
They heard every broken breath and cried with me anyway. My pain was a heartbeat they felt beneath their own skin. That was friendship unfiltered, raw and real.
By eleven the first night, the whole world knew something had happened.
By nine o’clock this morning, Harrison Mercer had decided what the world was allowed to know.
The television mounted in the corner of the private waiting room showed Coach Little standing off to the side of a press conference beneath the banner of a local news station that had somehow gotten footage of The Furnace from the night of the attack. The image behind the anchors showed the hospital entrance where the news conference was taking place.
The headline beneath Cade’s name made my stomach twist so hard I thought I might be sick.
KFU STAR CADE MERCER INJURED AFTER POSTGAME ATTACK.
The volume was low at first until Briggs reached for the remote with a hand that shook more than he wanted anyone to notice.
My family, Cade’s parents, his closest friends, and the girls filled every inch of space around me while we watched what Cade’s father had allowed.
The news announcer spoke over footage of the hospital and the crowd forming outside it. “We are going live now to the press conference regarding Kimball Falls University hockey captain and center, Cade Mercer, who is currently recovering after a vicious attack Friday night following the Fury’s five-to-one victory over the Vancouver Icehawks. The Mercer family has asked Detective Knox Bennett with the KFPD to speak on behalf of the department due to his connection with both the victim and the alleged assailant. We take you there now.”
The screen shifted to Knox as he stepped behind the podium, his face drawn and pale beneath the harsh press lights. For one terrible second, he didn’t look like my brother. He looked like a detective. Like someone who had folded every personal thing inside him into a place no one could reach until the statement was done.
Then his voice filled the room.
“Friday night, after a hard-earned victory by the Kimball Falls Fury, Cade Mercer was attacked in a restricted service area of the Kimball Falls Hockey Dome by an individual who had no authorized reason to be in that part of the building.”
The words hit me wrong.
They sounded too clean. Too polished. Too far away from the hallway I hadn’t seen but had imagined so many times my brain had started building nightmares out of concrete and fluorescent light.
Knox looked harder than usual. Older. He wore his Kimball Falls police uniform and stood in front of a line of microphones with the Mercer family lawyer just visible off to the side and Sarah standing behind him, watching every word like it had been drafted, revised, and loaded into his mouth by people who understood damage control better than grief.
“Fury captain and center Cade Mercer sustained serious injuries during the attack,” Knox continued. “He underwent emergency surgery that lasted nine hours and is currently recovering at Sutton County Medical Center. His medical team is optimistic, and we expect Cade to make a full recovery, though that recovery will require time, privacy, and patience. I will now turn the podium over to Lansen Hawthorne, attorney for the Mercer family.”
The reporter questions began immediately, voices overlapping as Lansen took Knox’s place at the podium.
“Mr. Hawthorne, can you identify the attacker?”
Lansen’s jaw flexed once. “The alleged assailant has been identified by police as Luke Dempsey, a former KFU alumnus and former Fury goalie.”
A sound moved through the room. Not one person. Everyone’s body reacting at once to Luke’s name hitting the air while Cade lay down the hall with machines proving he was still here.
The polished lawyer held still while cameras flashed.
“Mr. Hawthorne, did Mercer know the alleged attacker?”
“Mr. Dempsey had previously attended a private family barbecue over the summer where Mr. Mercer was also present with his girlfriend, Bliss Bennett, at the home of her father, retired Fire Chief Daniel Bennett. Mr. Dempsey was a longtime family friend of the Bennetts. At this time, law enforcement believes Mr. Dempsey had become fixated on Mr. Mercer after that barbecue, and investigators are reviewing whether Mr. Dempsey was experiencing an acute psychological crisis at the time of the attack.”
My dad’s hand tightened around mine.
Girlfriend.
Cade’s girlfriend.
The one thing I had denied him was now the thing I clung to. I pressed one hand to my mouth and tasted salt on my skin.
A reporter shouted over the others. “Can you speak to reports of unusual injuries found on Dempsey’s body?”
