Stunningly Ruined

Nine - "I had to get you to leave!"

I wake up on the concrete floor of the unit, freezing and a puddle of blood around me. I groan as I push myself up to sitting. At least they had the courtesy to pull the shutter door down. I hobble upstairs and check myself in the mirror. Bruises and bust parts of my body are everywhere and I'm sure I have some broken ribs and a broken tibia. Fuck. I reach for my phone and notice there's a million messages in the group chat from the girls about Cole and I. He's obviously told them that we had an argument. I'll worry about that later, right now I need to call Blaine.

"Laurie! Long time no hear." He says down the phone.

"I need to borrow your car for a while, it's an auto, right?" I check.

"Yeah, yeah at the lock up?"

"No, on Blackstone Industrial Estate. Unit 9." I tell him before hanging up. I change my blooded clothes for fresh ones, with great difficulty, once I've cleaned the cuts then head downstairs to put granules on the blood on the floor. Hopefully, it'll soak up. Not long after I'd finished tiding, Blaine shows up alone. I step outside with the keys for the S14 and his face drops when he sees me. I limp a little closer to him and he goes to support me but I cry out at the pain it sparks.

"Jesus, what happened to you?!" He says and I shake my head.

"Take the S14, don't kill it or the money comes out the next load." I warn him as we swap keys. He looks unsure whether to leave me or not, but eventually he gets in the S14 to drive away. I carefully get in the Leon and stare around at the mess. Empty coke cups from various fast food chains and the whole passenger foot well is full of paper bags with rotting food in it. I screw my face up at it but begin driving to the hospital. Once I get there, I hobble to the reception desk. She takes one look at me and escorts me to a separate room before taking my details.

"A doctor will be with you shortly." She says before leaving the room. I grab my phone and text Cole telling him I need to see him. I owe him an explanation for how I reacted this morning. It's time he knew the truth about me because he didn't deserve to get hurt like he did this morning. At that moment, the doctor comes in and is a bit startled to see my state.

"Um..."

"Think I've broken a few ribs and possibly tibia or fibula." I do his job for him so he comes over and does the checks which 80% confirms my diagnosis but to be sure, he sends me off to X-ray. On the way, I check my phone and still nothing from Cole. I groan and text him again saying I need to explain some things to him before leaving my phone and other belongings in a locker to have the X-ray done then get taken back to the private room. I have to wait, what feels like forever, before the doctor comes back in with a moon boot and the results in his hands.

"So, you have a fractured tibia and a couple ribs are fractured as well." He shows me the X-ray pictures before showing me the boot and how to put it on and take it off. "For the ribs, we suggest you take it easy and do a couple of breathing exercises that are in this leaflet 3 times daily as well as taking these 3 times a day with food." He hands me a bag of meds and the leaflet. "If the pain in your chest worsens after 2 weeks, come back and we'll assess you again in case we need to operate." He explains and I internally scoff. Which pain are you referring to? My ribs? Or my heart? I nod at him instead and he presses his lips into a thin line before gesturing to the door.

"Just be careful Laurie, try not to get yourself in a state like that again." He mentions just as I walk out the door. I don't respond and instead, hobble to the Leon. I pull the sun visor down and retrieve some concealer out my purse to cover the bruises on any visible bits of skin and a bottle of water to swallow down a load of pain killers. The concealer did the best it could but it was still fairly obvious I was bruised. Lastly, I check my phone yet again and still nothing from Cole which sends my blood boiling. I put the Leon in Drive and speed to the DGC. I'm going to face Cole out whether he likes it or not. I swing into the entrance of the DGC which catches everyone's attention. I pull up next to the girls row of cars and hobble over to the crowd of them staring.