Numbers.

{ A/N: NEXT CHAPTER IS WHEN SHIT GOES DOWN SO STAY TUNED. this one sucks btw and it makes my heart happy when y'all comment. k bye }

*Oli's P.O.V*

When I woke up this morning, I had realized that I only have two more days with Josh, and the rest of my life with Mike. And I think that terrified me to the point where I could barely function.

I opened my eyes, and felt around the bed, noticing that yet again, Josh wasn't lying next to me. I fought the urge to feel panicky, and just quietly got out of bed. I made sure to stay quiet, and I crept around the flat, stopping when I reached the doorway of the kitchen. I could hear Josh's voice, and even though it was quiet, I strained to catch every word, and I got most of it.

"I...I don't know. What do you suggest I do now?" Josh asks. There's commotion of the other side of the line, and Josh sighs.

"I can't do that...where would I even take him?" He pauses, and I assume he's waiting for an answer. "I'm furious, Vic. I'm not letting him stay here, though." Once I heard Vic's name, shit hit the fan and I calmly walked into the kitchen, and slapped on a smile.

"Who ya talking to?" I question as innocently as I could.

"Hold on." Josh mumbles into the phone before turning to me. "Hey, Ols."

"Hey, who is that?" I ask, smiling and tilting my head.

"Oh, it's my Mum." He lies. God, he's awful at it. His eye is all twitchy, he's rubbing his palms on his boxers. Hm, he hasn't gotten dressed yet so he must have decided on coming back to bed after he made his call.

"It's Vic. Lemme talk to him." I roll my eyes at Josh and sigh when he hands me the phone. "Vic?"

"Oli! Ohmygod, what is wrong with you?" Vic asks. His voice is angry, and filled with absolute hatred. I hoped it wasn't towards me.

"What's wrong with ME?" I question, using the same tone as him, just to drill it into his head. I've only gotten upset at Vic maybe once in my life, so let this be something he doesn't forget anytime soon. "What's wrong with your psychopath brother?"

"No, what's wrong with you for not telling us after the first time he did it?!" Vic says. I look around the room to find that Josh has disappeared.

"Did what?" I ask. I knew playing dumb wasn't going to get me very far, but I was willing to try anything,

"Oli, you know what I'm talking about." Vic says in a warning tone.

"Yeah..." I say quietly, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "How do you know Josh wasn't lying about the bruises?"

"He sent us pictures."

"Who's 'us'?" I ask, anxiety level beginning to rise. I didn't want Mike to feel too bad. I mean, this is me we're talking about. I'm practically useless.

"Tony, Jaime and myself." Vic answers, suddenly sounding unsure of himself. "That's not a problem, right?"

I feel my chest tighten as my eyes well up with tears. "I didn't w-wanna drag you guys into this, I p-promise. I didn't want t-to tell you but I just don't know wh-what to do anymore. I'm s-so sorry, Vic." I say, unable to contain myself and I just start crying. Jesus, I knew I'd be stressed, but this badly?

"Oli, please calm down. You didn't do anything wrong, okay? It's Mike's fault. Trust me, he is going to get what's coming to him. He's lucky he spent the night at the hospital. Tony looks like he's about to kill someone." Vic says, chuckling in hopes to lighten the mood. Yeah. That didn't work.

"C-Can I talk to him?" I ask quietly, looking to my left to find Josh sitting on the couch staring back at me. I try my best to force a smile, but it comes out as more of a grimace.

"Of course you can. Here, Tony-" Vic calls, and there's a bit of shuffling over the line.

"Oli? Are you okay?" Tony asks, his mellow voice filling my head and calming my body.

"I'm f-fine. Just a little bruised. It's not a big deal, really-"

"It is a big deal. How long has Mike been doing that to you?" He questions, seemingly clueless to the entire situation.

"Since tenth grade." I whisper, biting my lip as I wait for his response. After a couple moments, my teeth have sunken too far into my flesh and the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. Not like I mind.

"I'm gonna fucking murder him! How could he even think about laying a hand on you? You're the sweetest person I've ever met. Why would he think he even needed to hit you?" Tony exclaims, his normally quiet voice becoming loud and explosive over the phone.

"I'm sorry." I mutter, looking down at my black sock covered feet. I wish there was a black sock over my face right now. I bet I look hideous.

Tony doesn't reply, instead there's a static and more rumbling over the receiver. There's some yelling, and finally someone picks the phone up.

"Hey, Oli, Mike just walked in. I'll call you later, okay?" Vic asks, practically having to shout over all the background noise.

"Okay." I reply, taking a deep breath in. What were they going to tell my boyfriend?

"Stay strong, beautiful." And with that, he hung up.

"Josh." I say, holding out his phone. He gets up off of the couch and takes the phone from my hand.

"You said you weren't going to tell Vic." I say, looking up at him with a confused expression.

"I never said I wasn't going to. I said I wasn't going to last night." He points out, trying to be a clever little shit.

"You lied to me." I counter, hoping that was a good enough defense for him. Nothing I ever do is good enough for anyone.

"Mike is killing you, Oli. We have to go." Josh takes my hand gently in his. He pulls me off of my chair and walks me out of the kitchen.

"Where are we supposed to go?" I question, raising my eyebrows.

"They're coming back home later today. Unless you want to deal with Mike than we're going to Vic's house. Otherwise, do you have anywhere we could go?" He asks, leading me into my bedroom.

My mind flickers to Tom, but it immediately stops when I realized my own brother stabbed me in the leg with an eating utensil. I figured he needed another four years to calm the fuck down.

I shake my head. "No. My brother and I aren't on good terms at the moment." I motion to my leg, and Josh smiles.

"Right. Well, Vic's husband is there so, he's pretty nice." Josh shrugs.

"Why haven't I met him?" I ask, going under the bed and pulling out my suitcase.

"He's scared of Mike." Josh replies, taking most my shirts out of the dresser and putting them into my suitcase.

"Thanks." I smile, pulling my pants out of the same dresser and putting them next to the shirts. I was sort of off guard, and I jumped when I felt Josh's arms around my waist.

"Oh, hello." I say quietly, attempting to zip up my suitcase.

"Hi," He murmurs into the back of my neck.

"How are you?" I question, turning around in his arms to face him.

He stares at me for a moment. "Much better now."