Figure Eight Teaser

The next few days were spent watching tapes of the short program with Liam and Carlisle, adjusting our free skate and working out. They both offered some suggestions for our next competition but were very pleased with the performance. We then spent time running the long program. The new footwork wasn’t as clean as I would have like it to be. We practiced until I had a nasty spill when Edward threw me into a double axel. I hadn’t fully rotated and landed on my hip.

“Bella!” Edward yelled as he slid to his knees, putting my head on his lap. “Are you okay?”

“Ow,” I grumbled. Carlisle and Liam were on the ice next to me, looking over my body.

“What hurts, Bella?” Carlisle asked professionally.

“Hip,” I grunted out. “I hadn’t finished the second rotation when I realized I was on the ice.”

“You’re working too hard,” Liam said. “I don’t know, Carlisle. I think we need to give them a break. The free skate is the day after tomorrow and she may have bruised her hip bone.”

“Edward didn’t throw you too hard?” Carlisle asked.

“No. This was all me,” I said as I sat up. “Shit, that hurts…”

Edward bent down and gingerly picked me up, cradling me to his chest. My bruised hip was barking like a rabid dog with mange and I was trying my hardest not to cry. Carlisle was on the phone with Jasper. I heard them hissing that Jasper would meet us at the hotel to examine my hip. Edward was beating himself up for unintentionally hurting, even though it was my own clumsiness that caused me to fall. Once we got off the ice, Edward removed my skates and cleaned off my blades. He did the same for his own skates and handed our bags to Carlisle. He went to pick me up.

“I want to try and walk,” I said. Edward furrowed his brow but held out his hand. I stood up on my left foot, hesitant to put weight on my right. With a grimace, I put my foot down and groaned. “God, this is going to suck on Friday.”

“Bella, we can pull out of the competition,” Edward rambled on. “I don’t want you hurting.”

“No. I’m a big girl. I’ll just have Jasper take a look at it and Emmett massage it and I’ll be fine,” I shrugged.

“You’ve only put your foot down. You’ve yet to try and walk on it. Or land on it,” Edward murmured sadly. With a determined scowl and took a step with my left foot. No pain. Then, my right. Fucking agony. I crumpled but Edward caught me before I was back on the ground. “Bella,” he whispered as he held me. He picked me up tenderly. He carried me out of the rink and gently placed me into his car.