CALL YOUR MOM | ln4

twentyfive.

"What the fuck?"

Those were the only words I could manage to get out of my mouth when my body collided with the stone sidewalk. My hip and my head had taken the brunt of the impact, much to my misfortune.

A scream ripped through my throat when my vision cleared. Tyler was standing above me, his fist being thrown toward me. I groaned in pain when it collided with my jaw.

That's gonna bruise.

I could hear Ruthie yelling at him, even trying to pull him off of me, but he shoved her away. That's about all I could decipher, seeing as the punch to the jaw had made my ears start to ring.

I groaned in pain, again, when his foot made contact with my ribs. And from the searing pain that followed, I know he'd done some decent damage.

The assault continued and I couldn't do anything to defend myself. I felt so useless. I felt weak. I should be able to protect myself, but the injuries he's causing me are causing pain so blinding I can't manage to do anything else but sob.

I'm glad my ears were still ringing because I couldn't hear the insults he was most definitely sending my way. Why wasn't he stopping?

I could feel myself slipping from consciousness. He's definitely hurt something else by now, but the pain is all blending in together. When will it stop?

•

{ lando }

I had to hold onto the countertop to keep myself from falling over. She's got to be joking, right?

"What do you mean she's in the emergency room, Ruthie?" I begged for an answer through the phone.

I was just about to leave to meet up with Daniel for dinner when my phone rang, signaling a call coming through. I figured it would be Daniel cancelling on me, but when I saw Ruthie's contact showing, my blood ran cold. She never called me. I had given her my number in case she couldn't reach Jonesy when we were both gone.

But she's meant to be with Jonesy now.

Her shaky breath came through the speaker, "We didn't even see him, fuck! I was opening the door to the restaurant and just heard her hit the ground and, and, I couldn't stop him. I'm so sorry, Lando. Someone from the restaurant had to come get him off of her."

"Who, Ruthie? Who attacked her?" My knuckles were white from how hard I was gripping the counter. Jonesy had been attacked and was now in the emergency room with who knows what injuries.

She was quiet for a second and I nearly asked her again.

"Tyler, her ex." She sounded hesitant to tell me. I don't blame her though. My blood is no longer cold, it's boiling. "The cops took him away, though. Promised me that they'd do something to rectify it, even planned on setting up a restraining order."

"They better be fucking glad I wasn't there because that bitch ass, sorry excuse of a man would be dead right now."

I couldn't think straight right now.

"Lando." She sounded like Jonesy when she warned me against doing or saying something.

"Don't 'Lando' me, Ruthie! He attacked her for no reason." I pushed off of the counter, reaching for my keys and heading for the door. Daniel will have to be okay with a raincheck. "I'm driving to Nice right now, I'll be in sometime tonight."

"No, Lando, stay in Monaco. I wasn't even supposed to call you. Jo told me in the ambulance not to tell you because she knew you'd flip out. We'll see you Wednesday, okay?"

I furrowed my brows. "We?"

"Yeah, I'm coming with Jo. She gave me one of your free passes, I hope that's okay." She explained like that was what I had a problem with.

I shook my head, gripping my keys tightly in my hand. "No, no, no. She's in the ER and she's still coming to the race?"

"You clearly don't know Jo well enough if you think she'll miss work because she's hurt. That girl is fiercely loyal to everything in her life."

"I don't even know her injuries and I still know that she's going to need to rest for at least a week." I'm dumbfounded. Is Jo really planning on coming to the race?

I could hear Ruthie curse under her breath and I immediately grew nervous. Did things get worse? Is Jo's health plummeting and I'm in a different country?

Next thing I knew, there were muffled sounds coming through the speaker and a different voice flooded my ears. I immediately sighed in relief.

"I heard her on the phone." Jo sounded exhausted and my heart stuttered at the sound of her voice. She's okay. "Made her promise not to call you 'cause I knew you'd flip. And I assume you did because I heard her tell you to stay in Monaco. Were you really about to drive to the airport?"

"Of course, I was, Jo. Your ex fucking attacked you for no reason!"

Okay, maybe I shouldn't yell at her right now.

"And the police are setting up a restraining order for me. Said they were going to make sure the fine for him breaking it was so high that he wouldn't even consider coming near me again."

That made me feel a little better.

I crossed my arms over my chest, "You're not coming to Spain this weekend. Flying can't be good for your injuries."

I could hear the smirk in her voice. "You mean the injuries you don't even know the extent of?" She hummed afterward. "I'll be fine, I'll use makeup to cover the bruises and I'll have plenty of pain meds that I won't even be able to remember I'm hurt."

I fear she's a risk to herself.

"What's hurt, Jo?" I softened my voice.

"My hip, jaw, and a couple of ribs are bruised."

"And?" I knew she was leaving something out. I could feel it.

She sighed, obviously knowing I had found her out. "And I've got a broken wrist. They're sending me home with a brace today and I'll come back on Tuesday for a hard cast."

My stomach sank.

"He broke your fucking wrist?"

Oh, he's lucky I'm not in London right now.

"And he's spending the night in jail, potentially getting some time for assault too, in addition to the restraining order," Jo explained, obviously trying to make me feel better. It wasn't really working. "Also, the doctors cleared me to fly. Just told me to take it a bit easy this weekend, can't go too crazy."

She was trying to lighten the mood.

I decided to give in. She deserved it. She was the one in the hospital after all.

"So, no club on Wednesday night?" I joked, going with her attempt to lighten the mood.

Jonesy laughed and then immediately cursed. Probably the bruised ribs.

"Oh no, we're still going to the club. I'll just lay off the pain meds for the night and stick to no dancing. No way I'm giving up seeing you make a fool of yourself at a club in Spain of all places."

A smile tugged on my lips.

God, I love this girl.

•

double update

i couldn't leave y'all hanging for long