Ali was sitting at the rubber-covered picnic table holding a bag of ice on her forearm with tear tracks down her face.
Dropping my hockey bag from my shoulder, I jogged over to her. “What happened?”
Her small body was trembling wildly as her teary brown eyes went up to mine. “I was doing a combo jump and fell weird. I fell on my arm.”
I smoothed a hand over my mouth, trying to settle my nerves. This girl was constantly getting hurt and it was hard to watch. “Can I see it?”
As soon as she lifted the ice bag, I sucked in a sharp breath.
“What?” she cried, looking up at me with panicked eyes that were quickly filling with more tears.
“No, no, no, you’re good, you’re okay,” I said as calmly as I could. But I didn’t need to be a doctor to know that her forearm was literally bent where it should’ve been straight. “Put the ice back on,” I advised, even though I wasn’t sure how much ice could even help in this situation. “When did it happen?”
She winced. “Like, five minutes ago?”
Damn. She should’ve been screaming in pain. Her body was probably in shock. She needed to get to a hospital.
“Your dad is coming?” I looked around the lobby for signs of him. I wanted to whisk her away and drive there right fucking now.
“Yeah, I texted my dad.” She sniffled. “And Mark.”
“Need help taking off your skates?” I offered. I needed to do something, anything, for her.
“Yeah, can you?” She sniffled again and tried to wipe her tears away with her good hand.
Bending down, I quickly started unlacing her skates, careful not to move her body. I ran my tongue over my teeth, absolutely hating this.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a teary voice.
My face fell. “What? No, Ali, why are you sorry?I’msorry. I’m just…” I shook my head.
“You’re what?”
“I’m mad,” I said hoarsely. The entire summer was morphing before my eyes, taking her out of it completely, and that just wasn’t… That wasn’t okay. It wasn’t fair.Our group had so many plans. We even had a plan for tonight. We were going to invite the girls to a bonfire at Kappy’s. Now that she couldn’t come, I didn’t even want to go.
She shrunk back. “At me?”
“No, absolutely not,” I swore. My hand went to her thigh, trying to comfort her. “I’m mad at your bones, your genetics, your butt for crushing your arm, your sister for sucking up protein from you in the womb.” That earned me a little wet laugh. “The ice, the person who sharpened your skates, your coach,” I continued. “I don’t even know. I’m mad you’re hurt, b—” I stopped myself before calling her ‘babe.’ I hardened my jaw to reign in my emotions. “I’m mad you’re hurting, Ali. Here, put the ice back on.”
“Don’t touch it,” she hissed with feral eyes.
“I won’t,” I said calmly. I put the ice bag in her left hand. “Where are yoursoakers and bag?”
“Locker room,” she murmured.
Nodding, I went to stand, but she grabbed my shirt.
“Can you stay with me? Just give my stuff to Annie?” she asked desperately. Anastasia, her twin sister, recently broke up with her last ice dance partner and was now training at Centre Ice again for the summer.
“Yeah.” I gently sat beside her on the bench, careful not to move her. She laid her head on my shoulder, and I barely breathed. I needed to soak up this time, her touch, because I had a feeling she’d be gone from the rink for a long time.
“You okay?” I asked.
“This hurts really bad,” she said in a tiny strained voice. “It’s getting worse.” Her lower lip trembled. “I’m scared, JP.” She could’ve just speared me through the heart with those words.
“I wish I could help,” I rasped. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Oh, shit!” Kappy’s voice called out.
