My phone rang loudly in the middle of the night, waking me up.

I reached out, tiredly, and answered the phone, not bothering to look who was calling, my eyes closed and head pounding as I put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I groan out tiredly as Donovan shifts behind me, hugging me tightly with his head pressed into my neck.

"Evan baby? It's Momma" My mom's voice comes through, her voice low and shaking, as she sniffles through the phone... like she's been crying.

I pull the phone from my ear and look at the time, seeing it's 4 AM.

You've got to be fucking kidding me. "Mom? What's wrong? It's 4 in the morning."

She starts crying hard, making me open my eyes and try and sit up, moving Donovan's heavy arm from my waist, making him open his eyes and look at me tiredly, half asleep as I hold the phone close to my ear.

I hear a police radio in the background, and the worst possible scenario pops into my head, thinking she's been arrested, or worse. "What's going on? Where are you?" I ask, sitting up.

"I'm sorry for waking you, my sweet boy." Her soft voice breaks as she apologizes. "I-I'm at the hospital, can you come? T-They won't let me leave, and they keep asking me questions."

"What?" I hiss out, rubbing my forehead. "What happened, mom? Where's Roy?" I ask as Donovan wakes up beside me, sitting up in the bed, and looking at me, concerned.

"We had a fight, he h-hit me, the neighbors called the police and they arrested him." She sobs out. "C-Can you come? Please, baby, I-I don't know who else to call."

"I'll drive you." Donovan says beside me, hearing every word of the conversation from next to me.

He got out of bed and turned the bedside lamp on, before I could say anything I get out of bed too, reaching for my underwear on the floor and putting them on.

"I'm on my way, which hospital are you at?" I ask, and she tells me where she's being treated as I lean the phone against my ear and shoulder as I put my jeans on.

She starts crying into the phone, thanking me over and over, not fully making sense as I see Donovan reach for his keys, dressed in casual clothes and ready to drive me.

"Mom, I'm coming okay? I'll be there in 20, just wait for me to get there, I'm coming." I say as best as I could without letting my frustration get out.

After she calms down, I tell her again that I'm coming and we both hang up, leaving me following after Donovan as he leaves the bedroom with his keys in hand, fully dressed.

"I'm so sorry about this." I say to Donovan, jogging down the stairs. "Are you sure you want to come?" I ask, not wanting him to meet my mom like this. "You haven't even slept much Donovan, you shouldn't be driving."

"I'm driving and I'm coming with you." He says, his voice leaving no room for discussion as we head into the elevator, Donovan pressing 'P' for underground parking.

I lean against the elevator and sigh, feeling myself get angrier with each passing second.

"I knew this would fucking happen." I hiss out my blood boiling. "That piece of shit, putting his hands on my mom... If I see him, I'll fucking kill him!" I snarl out, wanting nothing more than to smash my fist into his ugly fucking face.

"Has this happened before?" He asks me, and I shrug as the elevator doors open to the parking lot.

"You have no idea." I shake my head following him to his car.

"But she's never ended up in the hospital, usually it's just a drunken screaming match and a night in the drunk tank."

We both get in and Donovan starts the car, driving out of the underground parking lot, my mind everywhere at once, hearing my mom's scared voice in my ears, her crying for me... a familiar feeling that leaves me numb.

It feels like so long ago now, calling me crying, she hasn't done that since my dad died, making it one of the worst days of my life, seeing my mom so broken, I couldn't remember what I was feeling then, I was so lost, I couldn't believe he died, I thought my mom was lying.

Donovan makes it to the hospital in 15 minutes with no night traffic, I rush into the hospital and go straight to the front desk.

"Hi, I'm here for Judy Conway." I say to the young woman at the desk, Donovan beside me. "I'm her son Evan."

She looks at me and then at the computer in front of her.

"She's in room 42, down the hall to your left." She tells me, I thank her and head down the hall, looking at the numbers on the wall, for the room she's in.

I see police standing outside a room, making me walk faster to see they're outside room 42, the room my mom is in, once I get there, I see my mom being treated by a doctor, as she talks to a police officer.

When I see her face, my stomach drops and my blood runs cold.

He didn't fucking hit her, he beat her up black and blue, her eye and jaw were swollen, her face was covered in blood and her shirt was ripped, her hair was everywhere and her eyes were swollen from crying.

I'll fucking kill him.

"Mom." I call out, heading into the room, to her side.

Her head lifts up and she sees me, and instantly starts crying once she sees me, her face twisting in pain as I reach her, wrapping my arm around her as she grips me tightly, her blood-stained face staining my white T-shirt.

"What happened?" I whisper into her hair, tears filling my eyes. "Mom, what the fuck did he do to you?" My voice breaks, pulling back and getting a clear look at just how badly beaten she was.

"Excuse me, are you the son?" A male officer asks me and I nod my head. "And you sir?" He asks Donovan.

"He's with me." I say before he could say anything. "He's family." I state, glaring at the cop as he nods his head and walks out of the room, making me turn to the doctor on my left.

"How is she? Can I take her home?" I ask the doctor, holding onto my mom's hand as the doctor puts a bandage over the gash on her forehead, which looked like a piece of glass cut her.

The male doctor sighs, looking at me and Donovan then my mom. "She's free to go, but I'd like to keep her for the night, she's got a concussion from the bottle hitting her head and a few bruised ribs." He says.

"I'd like to keep her in for observation and to clean the cuts to prevent infection, she should be fine to go home tomorrow." He tells me and I nod my head as he excuses himself from the room.

"Jesus christ mom." I rub my face tiredly, noticing her look at Donovan, who was standing by the door.

"Whose your friend?" She asks, changing the subject, trying her best to smile with a swollen face, making me frown deeply.

Donovan comes forward and holds his hand out, a gentle smile on his face as he looks down at my mom, not with pity, but with concern in his eyes.

"I'm Donovan, I'm a friend of Evan's, I drove him over here." He says politely, shaking my mom's hand as she nods her head slowly, looking at me.

"So early?" She frowns, looking at me, guilt in her eyes. "W-What a good friend, thank you so much, Donovan." She says, squeezing my hand.

My stomach twisted in guilt and I hate that he introduced himself as my friend, it was not what I promised him, and I don't want to hide our relationship, not from my mom, and not when this is the first time meeting my mom, despite the circumstances, I want to start this relationship off as honest, as I promised.

"He's my boyfriend." I reveal, looking at Donovan, seeing his eyes widen. "He's not my friend mom, he's my boyfriend." I state proudly, smiling at Donovan, then looking to my mom, for her reaction.

My mom's eyes widen as she looks from me to Donovan, nodding her head slowly, a look of pure surprise on her face as she keeps looking between us, not saying a word.

After a long few seconds, my mom smiles as tears start falling down from her eyes, using her dirty sleeve covered in blood to wipe her face.

"I-I'm so glad." She sniffles out, her throat crackling. "That makes me s-so happy baby, t-thank god you f-found someone."

"Thank you." She says to Donovan, with tear-soaked eyes. "F-For looking after my boy."

Donovan comes and grabs her hand, despite it being bloody and dirty, and sits down next to her as I watch with tears in my eyes, seeing Donovan being so nice to my mom, despite meeting in this horrible situation, at almost 5 AM in the morning.

"Please don't thank me, I'm lucky to have him in my life." Donovan answers, his eyes meeting mine.

My mom looks at Donovan, and her eyes widen. "I recognize you." She mumbles out, making me pale as Donovan looks at me, a look in his eye.

"What did you say your last name was?" She asks him, and my stomach drops.

The room falls silent as Donovan shifts his eyes from mine to my mom's, in a painfully slow motion that makes my gut clench.

"Steele." He says. "Donovan Steele."

My mom looks at me and then her eyes drop to the ground as Donovan moves his hand from hers, then she raises her head to look at me, a look of sadness and regret in them before she turns and looks at Donovan as he moves from the bed.

"Did... did your parents tell him everything?" She asks, her voice quiet and filled with regret.

Looking at me, he nods his head. "Yes. He knows everything."

I didn't want to have this talk... not like this, not here, not when she looked like this, and I'm already so emotionally drained, angry and tired, not when Donovan came here to support me.

"Mom-"

"I'm sorry Evan, I should have told you." She says, her eyes closing. "I should have told you." She repeats, tears falling from her tightly shut eyes.

My heart feels like it's being squeezed in my chest seeing my mom cry... despite how angry and hurt I felt knowing the truth, I never wanted to make her cry, I could not like her, but never hate her, despite everything... I loved her more than anyone in the world.

I wrap my arms around her and bring her into my chest as her wet tears soak through my T-shirt. "It's ok." I whisper into her hair. "We don't have to talk about this now ok?" I tell her, rubbing her back and comforting her as she nods her head against my chest.

Donovan comes next to me and puts his hand on my back, letting me know he's here for me as I whisper soft comforting words to my mom as she cries in my arms, telling me how sorry she is, over and over again.

Exhaustion, anger, and frustration... I feel like I've been through it all tonight, but knowing that Donovan was here for me made me feel like my world was spinning less out of control than what I was used to.

My mom needed me and I was going to do everything in my power to help her get sober, and get her life back on track, knowing how hard it's going to be, physically and mentally, but I'm willing to try again, to have a relationship with my mom.

This time it has to work...

After a while, I say goodnight to my mom as one of the nurses helps her get cleaned up and escorted her to a private room in the hospital, which Donovan insisted he pay for, and all of her medical bills during her stay.

Donovan and I make it back to the penthouse, I was too tired and emotionally exhausted to talk on the way here and once we got inside, once my head hit the pillow I feel my body start to relax and unclench.

Donovan gets into the bed next to me, wrapping my arm securely around me, bringing me closer to his chest as I close my eyes.

"Thank you." I whisper out, too tired to open my eyes or move my body.

The last thing I feel is Donovan kissing the back of my head with his arms around me, and the soft sound of his deep voice saying something before I let my exhaustion take over and fall asleep, in Donovan's arms.