Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 33

IT'S ON TIME!!!! That's probably what I'm most excited about here. It's a longer chapter and....yeah. Something in here might surprise you a little bit. Oh and I skipped the whole part where Hayley tells Aliyah and Jordan the whole story about what happened to her mom and all that stuff, because we all know the story and yeah. Aliyah and Jordan didn't say anything while she was telling it, we'll just go with that. And.....yeah. Enjoy.

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

"Are you kidding me?" Jordan exclaimed after I had finished telling him and Aliyah the whole story of what happened in my past, with the support of Damon and Seth. Aliyah got right up from her seat and sat on my other side and threw her arms around me.

"Oh my god, Hayley! I'm so sorry, I had no idea that you went through all of that in your past!" she cried. I hugged her back and fought back my tears. I hated crying more than anything and I notice that I've been doing it a lot lately with going to see Uncle Ed again and remembering my mom and everything. AND finding out about my dad coming to see me and Mom refusing to let him. Why did that all have to make me cry? Just, why? Damon held on to my hand still as I gave Aliyah a one armed hug.

"So are you planning on calling your dad now?" Jordan asked. I pulled away from Aliyah and looked over at him warily.

"I think so," I nodded. Aliyah placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It would be good for you," she said. "He DID try to look for you, after all."

"I know," I said. "I just feel so guilty for thinking badly about him when I was younger for not coming to find me and breaking his promise when he never did break it. He kept it, but it was Mom who stopped him from seeing me."

"And then my suckish 'father' had to go kill her because of his 'anger issues'. Like that's an excuse," Seth scoffed. Jordan looked at him.

"I still can't believe you and Hayley are cousins," he said. "I still can't believe that your mom cheated on your dad."

"Yeah, neither can I," Seth grumbled. "I need a drink." I narrowed my eyes at him and cocked my head.

"I thought you said you stopped drinking."

"The urge comes back when I'm miserable."

"Well, get out of your misery because you're not going to start drinking again," Jordan said.

"Fine, I'll start smoking."

"Like hell you will," Aliyah scolded. "You are NOT going to start smoking."

"Not even cigarettes?"

"If you start smoking ANYTHING I will kick your ass, got it?" I said. He pouted but nodded.

"Got any chocolate at least?" he brightened up. Chocolate. The cure for everything.

"Yeah, but it's mine," Joyce said as she entered the living room. I stood up.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked her.

"Yes," she replied, a little surprised. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well...because when you got home you were acting a little...strange."

"Oh, I was just tired, honey. Nothing to fret over," she assured me. She went into the kitchen and the door shut behind her. For some reason, I didn't believe that she was okay. She was acting way too down to be okay.

"What's with her?" Aliyah asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Your guess is as good as my answer," I said, sitting back down between her and Damon.

"Do you think it has anything to do with Chris?" Damon asked me. I shrugged again.

"For all I know, it could be all about him."

"Who's Chris?" Aliyah asked.

"Her boyfriend," I said. "The one she went to Florida with."

"Oh, the one who was with her when she almost caught you and Damon at the hotel?" Aliyah asked, wagging her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, that one."

"Hm...wanna try asking her?" Jordan asked me.

"I will, but not right now," I said. Joyce walked back into the room with a stack of Hershey's chocolate bars and one open one in her free hand. Aliyah and I tilted our heads at her and she gave us a questioning look.

"What?" she asked, mouth full of chocolate.

"Do you have any idea how bad that is for you complexion?" Aliyah asked her.

"I didn't even know we had that many chocolate bars in there," I said. She shrugged.

"It's not like I care anymore," she said to Aliyah. Then to me "And I bought them the last time I went to the grocery store."

"Okay," I said slowly in unison with Aliyah. Joyce returned upstairs and I watched after her until she was gone.

"Something is really wrong with her. I don't know her that well and I even know that something is," Damon said.

"I'm thinking Chris did break up with her," I said.

"Idiot," Aliyah mumbled. I shook my head and stood up. That's enough, I thought. I can't take not knowing what's wrong with my 'mom' for another second.

"Is it okay if I leave you guys down here and see if she's okay?" I asked. All four of them nodded and told me to go up, so I did. I came to Joyce's closed door and knocked on it.

"Joyce?" I said. "It's me. Can I talk to you?" There was no answer, but the lock clicked open. I opened the door and saw her lying flat on her face on her bed. "What are you doing?"

"Mourning," she answered simply. I was right, wasn't I?

"Over?"

"Chris," she cried. Yeah, I was right.

"Did he break up with you?"

"Oh god," she huffed, sitting up. "I lied to you Hayley," she admitted. Well, duh, I thought. I already knew that, but she didn't know that I already knew that. So I had to act stupid about it.

"What are you talking about?"

"I WAS in Chicago at first," she said. "Then I went to New York with Chris. He wanted to take me to see the Statue of Liberty and then we went to Florida. I was with him the whole time I said that I was on the business trip." Damn, I thought. She did some running around. I was surprised she wasn't horribly jet lagged.

"Really?" I asked with fake disbelief. She nodded, more tears sliding down her cheeks. Joyce was really pretty, but when she cried it was an ugly sight. It was ugly because it really hurt me to see her hurt like this. I sat down on the bed next to her and put my arms around her shoulders, resting my head on her. "Then he doesn't know what he's missing." She laughed without humor.

"I guess so," she said with no confidence whatsoever. I pressed my lips together, trying to think of something else to tell her. I never actually had to deal with this before. I mean, Joyce went out on dates, but her relationships never lasted long enough for her to develop any serious feelings for the guy. When Mattie dumped Jordan, he didn't want any comfort. He assured me that he was fine and that I shouldn't worry about it, but I could tell that he was heartbroken. Any other girlfriend he had that broke up with him- which was a total of two not including Mattie- he didn't make a big deal from it. The other three girlfriends he had were the ones that HE dumped. Seth didn't really have any serious girlfriends to break up with, mostly one night stands- yeah he was that kind of guy. The guy I thought Damon was. The only difference between him and Damon, though, was that Seth knew better than to put the moves on me after he became like that. We knew each other for too long a time for him to see me as anything more than a sister when he started hooking up with random girls like that. Like Damon did. Aliyah, on the other hand, has had several boyfriends in her lifetime. She was never the dumpEE, she was the dumpER. She has broken tons of boys' hearts. I know what you're thinking, what a total slut, right? But she's not. Most people were actually surprised to learn that she was still a virgin, something that will soon change with this boyfriend she has now. I feel so bad. She was my best girlfriend, my sister, and I barely remembered her boyfriend's name...Whatever, the point here was that I never had to comfort anyone with heartbreak and I most certainly never had to deal with it myself. Not this kind of heartbreak, anyway. I was the least experienced person out of every one I knew in the romance section. The only way I knew about what was romantic for a guy to do and what wasn't was from Joyce and Aliyah's experiences and crappy romance novels.

"Joyce," I said. "Why did he break up with you?"

"I don't know," she sobbed. "That's what's really getting to me!"

"He didn't tell you why?"

"No, he told me why."

"Well don't tell me he just up and said that your relationship wasn't working out and that it was over."

"That's EXACTLY what he did. We were fine, talking and laughing, when he just suddenly said that we weren't working out and that he thought it was time we saw other people. I thought he was joking at first, but the look on his face...I knew that he was serious by the look on his face." I looked down. What the hell? I thought. There was no way that he seriously did that. From what I saw, they looked so happy together and he ended it just like that? It didn't make any sense. Joyce's cell phone rang and she looked at the caller i.d. Her face fell even more and she showed me the screen. It was HIM.

"Do you want to talk to him?" I asked. She shook her head. "Okay," I said. "I will."

"Hayley." Too late, I thought as I opened her phone and put it to my ear.

"Joyce's phone," I answered.

"Hello, Hayley. This is Chris."

"Yeah I know. It's called caller i.d, Sherlock," I said bitterly. He sighed.

"I take it Joyce told you about what happened."

"Of course she did. Why wouldn't she?"

"Hayley, you don't understand-"

"You're damn right I don't understand," I said. "Now you have two options here, you can either hang up and leave her alone or you can drag your ass over here and apologize to her and then leave her alone."

"Could you just let me talk to her now?"

"Mmm, no I'm sorry, that's not an option."

"I have to explain to her."

"Dude, are you not getting the hint that she doesn't want to talk to you?"

"Can you just look outside?" he begged. I stood up and went over to the window and looked out. I didn't see anything.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Joyce came by my side and looked outside too.

"What? You don't see it?" he chuckled. Is he seriously laughing right now? Aw, that just made me want to punch him even more now.

"Look if this is some kind of joke, it isn't funny so just knock it off, will you?"

"I can't believe you can't see it Hayley," he chuckled some more. This time, there was laughter in the background too.

"Who are you with?" I asked.

"Why don't I just let him explain himself?" Chris said. I heard him hand the phone to someone and soon a voice I dreaded filled my hearing.

"Hello Hayley," he greeted. My face paled and I nearly dropped the phone from my hand. There was no way. There was just no way. How the hell did Chris know Jake? I quickly left Joyce's room despite her calling after me and went downstairs by Damon. Aliyah and Seth must have been in the kitchen or something knowing those two because only Damon and Jordan were in the living room when I came in. One look at my face and Damon knew something was wrong and he knew exactly what it was. Jordan on the other hand just looked confused.

"How- how do you know him?" I asked, finding my voice again.

"How do I know who?"

"You know exactly who."

"Oh, Chris? He's just an old friend of mine. He used to be best friends with my brother," he said. My knees buckled. That's just great. He freaking had connections to EVERYONE, didn't he?

"Who is it?" Damon whispered. I looked at him gravely. He knew I was talking to one of THEM, but he didn't know exactly who. I mouthed 'J' to him and he looked pissed to the extreme.

"What do you want?" I asked Jake.

"Oh, that's a silly question for you to ask," he said. "You know what I want."

"You're not going to get it," I said.

"What about the other thing?"

"What other thing?"

"I don't think you've noticed this, but I've taken a liking to you Hayley. I'm not just going after you to get to Damon now. I want you for myself."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not interested."

"I didn't ask you. I was telling you that I'm going to have you for myself."

"And I was telling you that there's no way in hell that that's happening," I retorted. Joyce walked into the living room with a very confused look.

"You know, I could just send my guys in your house right now if I wanted to."

"No you couldn't. You're bluffing, I know you are."

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm...sure," I said, becoming a little less confident.

"Hmm...why don't you try looking outside again, then?" I did as he said and went to the living room window and looked outside. This time I saw it. A silver SUV parked directly across the street from my house. I sucked in some air and wondered how I didn't see that before. Maybe they weren't there then.

"You wouldn't," I said, thinking that he wouldn't really send them in. Who was I kidding, of course he would freaking send them in! Damon came to my side by the window and looked out. He looked pissed to the max.

"How did they find you?" he mumbled to me. I looked at him in my peripheral vision and shrugged.

"Do you see your gift?" Jake asked. I mustered up the little bravery I had left and answered him.

"I see it," I said. "Of course I think that you could have gotten me something better."

"What? Did you want me to come to your front porch with a big red bow?"

"That would be a punishment gift."

"You know you love me as much as I love you."

"You don't know me. Besides, I love Damon." Damon had enough at that point. He took the phone from me and put it to his ear.

"Jake," he growled. "I want you to get your little croonies out of here and leave my girlfriend alone." He must have told Damon what he told me concerning what he wanted with me now because Damon's hand curled into a fist and his face grew murderously dangerous. I put my hand on his shoulder and turned him so that he was looking at me. That softened his face a little bit when he looked at me, but he was still mad.

"Damon," I whispered, side glancing over at Jordan and Joyce who were watching us in confusion. Aliyah and Seth walked in and looked confused about what was going on too. Damon's face calmed down more after he saw that we weren't the only two people in the room.

"I'll meet you then," he said. "Where?" Jake answered him and then must have hung up on him. Damon closed Joyce's phone and handed it back to me, giving me an emotionless look the whole time.

"What?" I asked. He continued looking at me.

"I have to go meet him," he said.

"You aren't going alone," I said quickly.

"I know. He wants you to come."

"Come where?" Joyce asked. Aliyah folded her arms across her chest and waited for our answer while Seth and Jordan exchanged glances and watched us expectantly. I looked back at Damon, who was still looking at me, and thought about what to tell them. He took a lock of my hair and tucked it behind my ear and dropped his hand to my shoulder and kept it there. I closed my eyes and he pulled me into his arms. I held him and laid my head on his chest so that I was looking out the window at the SUV instead of at the four people who were still waiting for me to answer them.

"Tell them what ever you want," Damon whispered in my ear. "I'll back you up on it." I nodded and kissed his shoulder.

"Thank you," I whispered to him. He kissed my forehead and I looked at Joyce, Seth, Jordan, and Aliyah. Their expressions showed confusion mixed with worry.

"What's going on?" Aliyah asked. I looked at Damon and he gave me an encouraging nod.

"The thing is..." I began. Then something came to mind. I thought back to the conversation I had with Jake and decided that I would give the lie I came up with a go. "Damon has this little brother and he's...not. All. There. In the head." Damon nodded in agreement.

"Go on," Jordan said, sitting down on the couch in front of me and Damon. I took a deep breath.

"He's got this interest in me and it's getting a little bit too far and he said that he has this gift for me and he wants me to go to his and Damon's house and he's been trying to convince me to go over there without Damon, but I told him that that wasn't going to happen. Now he's threatening to kill himself," I lied. That was one of the best lies I've ever told. It came out so easily it scared me.

"That's a little scary," Seth commented.

"That's my brother," Damon said.

"Anyway, now we have to go stop him and it's just a mess."

"What's with the car out there?" Joyce asked. I looked over my shoulder at them and Larry waved. I flipped him off secretly as I turned back to my friends and Joyce.

"They're just some of his friends," I said. They didn't look like they exactly believed me, but they took it.

"You should probably go stop him then," Joyce said.

"Yeah we should," I said quickly. Then, taking Damon's hand, I walked quickly to the front door. "I'll call you guys later!"

"Be sure you call for help!" Joyce called after me.

"Believe me, we will!" I said, opening the front door. Damon and I quickly went outside and I marched up to the SUV right behind Damon. No one was paying attention to us, at least the two in the front weren't. The guy in the driver's seat was looking in the back while Larry was looking down at something that may have been his phone. Damon pounded on the driver's window and the guy jumped, but smirked when he saw who it was. He rolled down the window.

"We were expecting you," he said. "Hop on in back. I'm assuming you need a ride by the way you ditched your car, dear Damon."

"Just open the stupid door," Damon said darkly, taking my hand. The door closest to us opened and Damon let me get in first before climbing in himself. After he closed the door again, Larry turned and grinned at us.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked.

"Shut up and turn around before I punch you, Larry," Damon warned. Larry snickered and obeyed his brother. Damon lifted me onto his lip, slid over, and sat me by the door. He was now the one between the guy that was sitting behind Larry and me. He leaned his forehead against the side of my head.

"I didn't want him to try anything," he whispered. I nodded knowingly and squeezed his hand.

"It's going to be okay," I said.

"For you," Larry mumbled under his breath. It took a lot for me not to just jump and attack him then, but I could tell that it took more for Damon.

"YOU don't speak to her," he hissed.

"You aren't in any position to be threatening me, bro," Larry said humorously. Damon put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. This was going to be a long ride with two quiet gangsters and two feuding brothers. Great, I thought. Just freaking great.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sorry to all you Chris lovers! But he's a traitor! Best friend to Jake's dead brother that Damon killed in self defense! Terrible, right? Ah, don't worry. I'll let Joyce find someone else. And you'll all know about him. Tee hee, but it's going to be a newer character, not someone who has been in here the whole time. That's later, though.