Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 42 part 1

Couldn't get on Wattpad last night. Sorry guys. So here is the part that was supposed to be up last night and I will have part 2 of this chapter up on Monday. The end is coming soon, BTW. A lot of people have been asking if it's coming and it is. Soon. When? You'll have to wait and see. Mwa ha ha! Lol.

<3 Nikky~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Joyce," I whispered. She was curled up in a little ball on the couch, looking like a little girl who had just been through the most traumatic experience of her life. And why shouldn't she look like that? There was a psychopath in her kitchen with a gun. He had left a couple minutes ago because he was a little hungry even though we had just eaten dinner not too long ago. I suppose it made sense. He WAS a guy. Joyce was taking deep, shaky breaths and closing her eyes to collect herself from her state of shock.

"Joyce," I whispered again. "Look, I'm sorry I never told you. I really thought that you would be better off if you didn't know."

"Yeah and look where that got me," she replied quietly. "I invited the person who wants my daughter's boyfriend dead and is using her as bait to my house. And me too! Hayley, if you told me then this wouldn't have happened! I'm supposed to be protecting you not the other way around!"

"I know, Joyce. I know," I whispered, looking down at my hands. "And I'm very sorry for that. I'm so sorry for getting you into this whole thing and...I'm sorry." She looked at me sympathetically and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

"It's okay," she said. "It's not your fault." I recognized the words from me when I said them to Damon when he started blaming himself for anyone else besides him being involved with this all. No matter how hard I tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault, he always went back to blaming himself. Now suddenly I realized how hard it is to believe those words when you know it is your fault.

"Just promise me something."

"Joyce-"

"Hayley, promise me something. I know that you're going to keep it no problem," she said. I inhaled and nodded my head. "Promise me that you won't keep any more secrets like this from me." I let out a breath. That I could keep. I guess it would be no big deal.

"I...I promise," I said even though the word was like poison on my tongue.

"Thank you," she sighed.

"No problem."

"Hayley, can I ask you something now?"

"Go ahead."

"How dangerous is he?" she asked. I really didn't want to answer her question. She didn't want to know. But, I suppose she was right. If I told her, then she would have a better chance of protecting herself.

"Very," I whispered. She froze.

"Would he...you know...kill us?"

"Not until Damon gets here. He would want to kill me in front of Damon."

"Oh, jesus. Hayley, I know I asked for honesty but can you at least censor some parts?"

"No problem. He can be dangerous at some points."

"That's better. Is there anyone else that I should know about that knows about this or is involved? Seth? Jordan? Aliyah? Anyone?"

"Seth, Jordan, and Aliyah all know about it though Jake's not particularly after any of them. They tried to help, but there wasn't much that they could do without getting too involved, so I didn't let them do much. And..." I trailed off, trying to think if I should tell her about Chris being involved or not.

"Hayley, remember. Total honesty."

"Yeah, no um..." I began. I mustered up the strength to tell her that the guy she was head over heels for pretty much used her to keep an eye on me for Jake. Stupid rat, I thought. "Chris."

"What about him?"

"He's involved."

"Did Jake threaten him?" she asked, a little scared. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's fine, I don't know, and not exactly," I said, answering her questions backwards.

"Well, how is he involved?"

"Joyce-"

"No more secrets."

"He's on Jake's side. I think he was friends with Jake's brother. That's how he was invovled."

"So that's why he called that day? To lure you somewhere?"

"I guess you could say that."

"I should have known something was wrong with him," she said to herself. "He kept asking so many questions about you and just...I should have known. I could kick myself for not paying attention."

"It's not your fault," I comforted her. "I didn't even know and I knew about Jake and his gang."

"There's a gang!" she whisper-yelled. Ooh, crap. I didn't tell her that much.

"Do you happen to have any chicken wings?" Jake called from the kitchen. Yeah, they're up your- "Never mind. I found something better." Oh hell no. He better not be eating my- He walked into the living room with a bag of Cheetos in hand. I would kill him.

"How long has it been?" I asked. He looked at his cell phone.

"Twenty minutes, babe," he answered. "Your man has five minutes to get here before I put a bullet through Joyce's head." Joyce glared at him as though he were a little boy who had just cursed ten times in the same sentence. A glare that had no effect on the douche at all.

"He'll get here in time," I said softly. Jake chuckled.

"Keep telling yourself that," he said. I wanted so badly to tackle him and beat the living crap out of him, but he had a gun and he could pull the trigger much faster than I could even begin to get up. At that moment, Jake lifted the gun to Joyce's forehead. "Where's the harm in doing this a couple minutes early?"

"No!" I shouted, standing up. The door burst open and a very angry and dangerous looking Damon stormed in with a scared Larry behind him. Why did Larry look scared? Shouldn't he have a smirk on his face? Shouldn't he be enjoying the thought of me at gun point? Shouldn't he be enjoying the thought of his brother dying? He had given me the impression that he would like that. I didn't pay much attention to Larry, though. I could only look at Damon and Damon only with tear filled eyes. He was alive. He had a cut on his left temple and a small bruise forming at the bottom of his jaw, but he was alive.

"This is between you and me, Jake," he said, glancing over at me. In that glance, I saw relief and love at the same time. "Leave them out of it."

"I don't know if I told you this, Damon," Jake replied, gun still on Joyce's forehead. He lowered it and came to my side, put an arm around me, and lifted the gun to my right temple. "But an eye for an eye is going to make me feel much better for what you did."

"Your brother tried to kill me, I had no other choice."

"You didn't have to kill him. You were always a good fighter, you could have fought him off! You didn't have to kill him, even if he DID try to kill you!"

"You don't want to believe me, fine!" Damon said firmly. "But that's the truth. Just let Hayley and Joyce go and we can continue this elsewhere."

"No, I like it here better," Jake said, stroking my hair. Damon's hands curled into fists and his jaw clenched. I hated to say something like this at a time like this, but Damon looked really hot right now. "I like having collateral on you. It gives me a sense of security."

"Why? Too chicken to face me on your own?"

"Says the guy who's been running for the past few months," Jake scoffed. Damon narrowed his eyes at him. "You know, Hayley isn't that bad of company to keep. I don't blame you for taking her all the way to Florida and keeping her with you for all that time. Hell, I would do the same thing."

"But you're not going to," Damon said darkly. Jake chuckled and kissed the top of my head. Damon looked murderous, which only made him look hotter. Why am I thinking like this at a time like this? Because it was the only thing keeping me distracted from the fact that there was a gun to my head.

"Does this bother you, Damon?" Jake teased. Damon remained in the same stance and didn't answer. "Larry, you've been awfully quiet. What's wrong, buddy? Cat got your tongue?"

"Jake, this is a little too far," he said, much to my surprise. Did he say that this was too far? Why would he say that?

"Dammit, Larry," Jake groaned. "We made a deal."

"And that deal is starting to expire, Jake. This is too far."

"Ah, Larry," Jake sighed, setting his chin down on my left shoulder while still holding the gun to my head. "I thought I convinced you to be on my side."

"Truth be told, I was never on your side. I only did what you told me to do so you wouldn't hurt my dad."

"That's a real shady thing to do," Damon said. "Threaten our dad in order to get Larry to help you against me. The kid acted like a little prick and this whole time I thought he was actually on your side when he was really only being your little slave so you wouldn't kill our dad."

"Since when do I care about being shady?" Jake asked, ignoring the rest of what was said. "As long as I get what I want, I don't really care who gets hurt."

"And that's why you don't have anybody who cares about you."

"My brother care about me," Jake snapped. "And you took him from me."

"I'm sorry I killed your brother," Damon stated seriously. "But I'm not sorry that I defended myself."

"Yeah, and I'm not sorry for this," Jake said. I closed my eyes, waiting for the end. I heard the gun go off, but I didn't feel anything. Joyce screamed. Could it really have happened that quickly and painlessly. I slowly opened my eyes to see Larry on the ground in Damon's arms. Jake's outstretched arm was still pointing at the area Larry was standing in. He withdrew his arm and put the gun back to my head. He shot Larry. Where he shot Larry, I didn't know, but he shot him. Damon sat Larry up and I saw that he shot him the chest area. There was no blood in his white t-shirt, so I could only assume and hope he had one of those bullet proof vests on. He may have acted like Jake in way too many ways in the time that I've known him, but it was for his dad and he didn't deserve to die for trying to save his father.

"You okay, man?" Damon asked his little brother. Larry groaned and rubbed where the bullet had hit, then nodded.

"Stings like a mother trucker," he groaned. Damon let out a small laugh and looked at Jake.

"Hm. I guess I'll have to aim for the head next time," he said, tapping the gun against the side of my head. Damon slowly stood with Larry, who was still rubbing his chest, and held up a hand.

"Don't kill her," he said. "She has nothing to do with what happened."

"But she means something to you," Jake explained. "I told you an eye for an eye, Damon. You killed the person I cared most about, now I kill the one you care most about."

"Jake-"

"Say goodbye to her, Damon," Jake said, cutting Damon off. I squeezed my eyes shut but once again, I didn't feel anything when the gun went off. I did, however, feel Jake's arm fighting with something. I opened my eyes and saw Damon trying to wrench the gun out of Jake's hand. Jake, who had been holding the gun above his head, had shot through the ceiling. A little white dust like plaster was raining down on my head as Damon and Jake continued their struggle. Eventually, Jake lifted his arm off of me and began fighting Damon. I moved out of the way by Joyce, who put her hands on my shoulder. I watched Damon as he punched Jake's jaw, sending him stumbling backwards. Damon walked forward and punched Jake in the stomach twice before Jake pushed him back and tried to kick him, but missed. He attempted to kick again, but Damon caught his leg and made him lose his balance. Jake went down, right next to the gun on the ground. He smiled devilishly and picked it up. Damon knocked it out of his hand by kicking it and sending it flying. It landed right in front of Joyce and me. Jake got up to retrieve it, but I dove for it before he was up. I picked it up and stood, pointing it right at him.

"Don't move!" I told him. He moved his jaw and stood calmly, hands in his pockets.

"Do it," he said. "You know you want to."

"Hayley, don't," Damon said, addressing me directly for the first time since he got here.

"You want to do it, but you can't," Jake taunted me. "You would feel like your uncle if you did." My jaw dropped a little. How did he know about my uncle.

"How do you know about that?" I asked, shocked. He chuckled darkly.

"What DON'T I know about you, Hayley?" he said. "Hayley Davidson. Born December twenty-sixth, 1992 in Brownville, Maine. Your dad owns a place called Davidson Manor. A house that was passed down from generation to generation until it reached him. Eventually, when he goes, it will go to you. Your mom, Maureen Willis, was murdered by her brother, 'Ed', when you were ten years old on December first at that hotel in Tallahasse. You were adopted by Joyce Fields and moved here in Aspen not too long later. Your closest friends are Jordan, Seth, and Aliyah who had been your friends since the beginning of middle school. Your best friend, however, is Jordan Parker. Your an A student with a few scattered B's here and there and your going to graduate high school this year in June. You plan on going to Princeton-"

"Okay, enough!" I cried out, still holding the gun at him. "HOW do you know all that?"

"I have ways of finding things out, Hayley," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. My breathing became less and less steady as my heart starting beating faster and faster.

"How-"

"Oh I forgot the most important detail!" he exclaimed, putting a hand to his forehead. "Your phobia of promises." My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. "You have that fear of promises still, don't you. It so seemed that it was getting better, but Damon re-built it after he broke his promise to stay with you always and never hurt you, didn't he? Your dad promised to find you, your uncle promised to take care of you, and Damon promised to never hurt you. All three were broken, weren't they?"

"Stop talking," I said, putting my finger on the trigger. He smiled evily.

"Am I hitting a nerve?"

"I'm going to be hitting one of your nerves in a second if you don't shut up!" I nearly screamed. Then it came to me. Chris. Chris was dating Joyce and Joyce said that he had asking her all of these questions about me. That must have been how Jake knew so much about me. Because of Chris being his little inside, undercover spy. Stupid rat, I thought again. Damon made his way to my side. He put his hand over his and slowly, and gently, took the gun from me. He kept it pointed at Jake and put his free arm around me.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in my hair. He kissed the top of my head twice. "I'm so sorry."

"Aw, sweet moment," Jake said, walking closer to us.

"Don't think I'm afraid to do it," Damon warned. "I assure you that I'm not."

"You wouldn't kill me, Damon."

"Wanna bet?"

"Actually no I don't. I change my mind, you..you might kill me," he nodded casually, not bothered at all by the fact that Damon was holding a gun to him. Damon's arm tightened around me and Joyce took my hand in hers.

"I'm just waiting for the cops to get here," Damon said.

"Cops?" Jake tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah," Larry said, snapping his phone shut. "Cops. You were too busy telling Hayley the story of her life to even notice that I was calling the damn cops on you. They're on their way over now." Why would- why would he tell him that?!

"Guess I'll have to make this quick then," he said, taking out a pocket knife from his pocket. "I can't believe you thought a gun was all I brought."

"I actually expected you to get cheap on me," Damon said. Jake smirked.

"So sorry to let you down," he said. He advanced on Damon and me with the knife in hand.

"Damon shoot him!" Larry shouted. Damon took his arm off me and put both hands on the gun. Jake suddenly stopped.

"You really would do it, wouldn't you?" he asked.

"Wanna see?" Damon challenged. Jake started with a mild chuckle and then it turned to hysterical laughter. Whoa, I thought I was exaggerating when I said that he was a psychopath before but now....well he really seemed like a psychopath! Sirens started blaring outside and I could see blue and red lights streaming in through the windows.

"We have you surrounded!" a cop on a bullhorn shouted. Jake smiled, at me specifically, and sighed.

"Larry, Larry, Larry," he said. "Bad idea." What happend after that happened so fast that the first thing I saw happen was Jake throw the knife and then I saw it in Larry's stomach. My eyes widened and I gasped. Damon shot Jake's knee cap and Jake went down. Damon then went to his little brother and stared in horror at the big pocket knife in his stomach. I looked behind me at Joyce who was staring at Larry in shock.

"He...he- just-"

"Joyce," I began to walk toward her, but stopped when I felt a hand clapse around my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. I stayed still and didn't speak. "I asked you a question."

"I was going to Joyce."

"Well now you're coming with me. I need to get out of here safely and right now, you're the only safe option I can stand," Jake said. He pulled me back toward the door. Damon looked up from Larry at us and stood up, pointing the gun at Jake who pulled me right in front of him. "You wanna shoot me, you're going to have to get through your girlfriend."

"Let her go, Jake. You know I don't have to shoot through her to hit you."

"That's true but if you shoot me, then I shoot her."

"How are you-" I began to ask, but stopped when he held a gun under my chin. Where did he stash all of these?!

"You have another gun?" Damon asked annoyed.

"Of course I do," Jake scoffed. "I just used a knife on your brother because I thought it'd be more fun. And I was right."

"You're not going to get out of here," Damon warned him. "The cops are probably on their way in right now."

"Well then they're going to be facing a hostage situation then, aren't they? If they don't let me go, then she's not going to live for another minute!"

"Who are you going to use then?! If you kill her, then you aren't going to have a hostage anymore. Larry's not going to be any use to you, I'm not defenseless, and Joyce isn't afraid of you," Damon hesitated to say the last part, seeing as it was obviously not true. Joyce was shaking out of her skin right now, staring wide eyed at Larry.

"They're not going to want to take the chance. They'll let me go to spare Hayley's life."

"Look, I'll make you a deal," Damon said. Jake waited a moment to think.

"Go on," he said.

"Let Hayley go and take me. I'm the one you want anyway, not her."

"Nope, I thought we made it clear she was the one I wanted. Eye for an eye-"

"Makes the whole world blind," I whispered. I doubted that Ghandi would bring sense to this guy, though.

"Quoting Ghandi won't work," he said. It was worth a shot.

"Last chance Jake. I'll go volunteeringly. Just let Hayley and Joyce go and let my brother get the medical help he needs."

"I really don't see what's in it for me with that scenario."

"You get out of here."

"It sounds like a good deal," he said. "Really, it does. But I think that I trust Hayley more to be the helpless victim than you, so not thanks. I like my plan better."

"Jake-" Damon began, but he was cut off by Jake firing the gun at him, narrowly missing his shoulder.

"I'll have to work on my aim," he mumbled to himself. He shot again, hitting the shoulder he had missed earlier. Damon's hand flew to his shoulder and he took a couple steps back, hanging on to the gun still. He let go of his shoulder and began pointing the gun back at Jake. Or he was trying to point it back at Jake.

"Crap," he muttered.

"And if I'm not mistaken that is the arm you use to shoot, is it not?"

"It's just my shoulder," Damon said. Jake shot again, this time hitting the forearm of the same side. Damon swore loudly and clutched on to it.

"Damon!" I shouted.

"And that's just your arm," Jake said. Damon switched the gun to his other hand and lifted it to Jake, shaking a little.

"I can work with my left."

"Damon, don't be an idiot."

"This is your last warning! Come out with your hands up!" the same cop from before shouted. I bet by now they had all their officers out there taking cover by their cars while holding the house at gun point just like they do in the movies. I didn't know if they did that in real life or not because...well, I've never been involved with something like this before in my life time. Damon looked thoughtful for a moment. Please, I thought. Just shoot him Damon. Just do it. If you hit me, I'll forgive you. Just stop him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~