Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 40

You. Guys. Will. Hate. Jake. Well, more than you do already I guess. Just sayin'. Lol. Please enjoy! Or don't. Whichever you choose.

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

"What do you want?" I asked him venomously. He held up his hands innocently.

"Chill," he said. "I was invited here."

"The hell you were," I said with disbelief. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, but I didn't have to look to know that it was Jordan.

"So are you going to let me in or not?" Jake asked. I scoffed.

"Are you insane?" I asked him.

"A little bit."

"Do you really think that I'm going to let you in my house?"

"I told you that I was invited."

"Yeah, show me where the proof of that is and then I'll believe you," I snapped. I started to slam the door in his face, but he stopped it with his foot. Annoyed, I opened the door wider and glared at him.

"That's not very nice," he said.

"What isn't?"

"Slamming the door in someone's face."

"Ask me if I care."

"Do you care?"

"Nope," I said, slamming the door right in his face. He started tapping on it. "Go away or I'll call the cops!"

"Hayley, who is it?" Joyce asked, coming in by Jordan and me.

"Just another one of Hayley's admirers," Jordan lied. Well...he didn't lie. I guess Jake did qualify as an admirer. As a really creepy, hateful one. I nodded at Joyce to confirm what Jordan said.

"I didn't know you had admirers," she said, wagging her eyebrows. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I am expecting a visitor so yeah."

"A visitor?"

"Yes, I ran into him on my way home."

"You were in a car accident?"

"No, god no! Not a car accident. He was pulled over on the side of the road because one of his tires blew out," she explained. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was talking about Jake. His tires blew out when he and his followers had me hostage in that damn SUV, and that was how I got away from him then. My guess was that he was pretending like his tire blew out just to get Joyce to pull over. The question remained on how he knew Joyce. How he knew who Joyce was, I mean. How he knew what she looked like and what she was to me because this wasn't a coincidence.

"Okay, I can let you know if they ever get here," I said smiling. She smiled back and nodded.

"Alright," she said. She went back into the dining room where everyone else was and I let out a huge sigh.

"He is never stepping foot in this house," I said.

"I should hope not," Jordan said. "Because that would suck. It'd be like inviting a vampire in here or something! He would just keep coming back as he pleases or something like that."

"Stop reading Vampire Diaries."

"The sad thing is I don't read them, Becca does. And she talks about them constantly."

"Well, I guess that's your problem," I said, looking at my phone to see who called.

"Shut it," Jordan teased. I nearly dropped my phone when I saw who called last. I felt the color drain from my face and my eyes widen. "Hayls? What's wrong?"

"I...."

"What's wrong with Hayley?" Aliyah whispered loudly as she walked in by us with Seth right behind her.

"I don't know," Jordan said to her. "Hayley, who called you?"

"It...It- I..." I couldn't form a sentence, so I just handed my phone to Jordan for him to see for himself.

"Why is this institution place calling you?" he asked, confused. I shook my head and looked at Seth, who looked warily back at me.

"Do you think it's him?" he asked me. I shrugged tiredly.

"I don't know, Seth," I said honestly.

"Who are we talking about?" Aliyah asked. I answered her without looking away from Seth.

"My uncle," I said.

"You think your uncle is calling you from prison?" Jordan asked.

"It's a good chance," I sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Do you think he's trying to get you to go see him again?"

"I don't know. I kind of hope not."

"Did he leave a message?" Seth asked as Jordan handed my phone back to me. I checked my messages. There was one new voice mail, but I wasn't sure who it was from.

"Someone did," I said.

"Check who," Aliyah encouraged. I called my voice mail and listened to the message. Whoever it was didn't say anything right away, but I could tell they must have been thinking of something to say because I could hear them breathing and muttering to himself.

"Hayley," it finally began. My head snapped up to Jordan. It was Damon. "I know you must hate me by now, after all I did break a promise to you." Damn right you did, I thought. You promised not to hurt me and that's EXACTLY what you did.

"Who is it?" Jordan asked. I held up a finger and listened to the rest of the message.

"Please know that I had to do what I did," he said. "And I want you to know that I love you. More than anything else in the world. More than my own life. Which is why I'm willing to risk it for you." Tears started slipping at this point, but I mustered up as much strength as I could so I could finish listening to the message."I have to go now, we're almost there. If I don't make it.....well......I love you." The message ended after that and the voice mail machine stated that I received the message yesterday.

"Who was it?" Aliyah asked me gently. I looked up at my three friends and bit my lip.

"It was Damon," I answered as Jordan wiped my tears away.

"Damon?" Seth repeated. I nodded.

"What did he say?" Aliyah asked. I shook my head and handed her my phone so she could listen to the message. I didn't want to recite what may have been the last words I'll ever hear from him. Seth put his ear on the other side of the phone so both he and Aliyah were listening to the message. Jordan held his arms out for me and I stepped forward and layed my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and stroked my hair.

"It's okay," he assured me when the water works started up again. I took deep, shaky breaths to stop myself from crying anymore. Aliyah stuck my phone in my pocket and put her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine," she said. "Don't think negative thoughts about what might have happened. Think positive."

"I've tried that but the more I do, the less convinced I am," I said. Tapping noises started up again from the door and I glared at it. Did he really have the nerve to- forget it. I wrenched myself out of Jordan's arms and whipped the door open to give Jake my darkest glare. When he saw my face, he stepped back a little bit.

"Whoa, there," he said. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Yeah right," I spat. "What did you do to Damon?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Don't give me that bull crap! What did you do to him?!" I demanded. He smirked a little bit.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," he said. I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped out and closed the door behind me, only to have it open again when Jordan, Aliyah, and Seth came out too.

"You know what I'm talking about," I said firmly, getting in Jake's face- which I was more than certain he was enjoying.

"No, I don't," he said humorously, leaning down closer to my face. I took two steps back away from him.

"Where is he?" I asked, tears starting to rim my eyes.

"How about we talk about this over dinner?" he offered.

"You buying?"

"Of course."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"No. Where is my boyfriend?"

"I don't really think it's nice to get a guy's hopes up like that."

"I don't care," I growled. "Now I'm going to ask you one more time. Where. Is. Damon?" He sighed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked teasingly. I pulled back my hand and let it fly forward to punch him hard on the jaw. His face flew to the side and his eyes widened in surprise. I shook my hand to rid some of the pain that came with punching him that hard. It may have hurt my hand to do it, but it felt SO good at the same time. He turned his head back in my direction slowly and glared at me.

"You made a big mistake," he growled.

"Are you sure? I rather enjoyed it," I said. He drew back his hand to punch me, but Jordan hit him first. Jordan hit him so hard that Jake flew backward from the force.

"Don't even think about it," Jordan said darkly to the jerk. Jake glared at the both of us and rubbed his jaw where he had just been punched again.

"You think that's the way to see your boyfriend again?" he asked.

"Where is he?"

"I asked you a question."

"I've been asking you the same one for a while now."

"He's somewhere. Safe, I suppose. But not for long," he said. "You, Hayley, can change that. I'll make you a deal." I watched him for a second with observant eyes. He had Damon somewhere and now he was making deal with me that could save his life. Damon, you said that you love me enough to risk your own life for me. Well, I love you all the same.

"I'm listening," I said after a moment of thought.

"Hayley!" Aliyah whisper scolded.

"What are you doing?" Seth groaned at the same time.

"Don't listen to him," Jordan whispered to me. I ignored all three of them and watched Jake smirk.

"I'm willing, to let Damon go for a price."

"That price being?"

"You let me in for dinner, because your foster mom in there invited me and you damn well know it, and you introduce me as your new boyfriend to everyone else in there."

"Are you kidding me? Joyce knows about Damon, do you really think that she's going to believe that you and I are going out?" I asked, a bit disgusted by his offer. Any girl would be all 'oh, he's SO hot! Do it! What's wrong with you?' but when you've been through all the crap this guy has put me through, it's a bit of a turn off.

"They will believe it if we put on a convincing act," he said. I shook my head.

"Not happening, think of something else."

"Well you see, the problem with that is," he began, stepping a little too close for my liking. "There is nothing else that I want from you. I don't want your money, I don't want that little pendant of yours there, I don't want your car but what I do want is you."

"No," I shook my head as he began to stroke my cheek gently as though I were a porcelain doll.

"Hayley," he sighed. "I told you that there's nothing else I want from you. You either be my girlfriend, or you can say goodbye to your little boyfriend." I looked down and avoided his eyes. I hated him. I hated him so much.

"Don't do it, Hayley," Jordan said.

"Please Hayley," Aliyah begged.

"He's lying, Hayley," Seth said. He didn't know that. I didn't even know that and I didn't want to take the chance and have him kill Damon. Jake paid no attention to them and stared down at me, his thumb moving down to my lips and he started stroking them like he stroked my cheek.

"So, what do you say Hayley?" he asked. "Do we have a deal?" I didn't answer right away. It would kill me to introduce him as my boyfriend to Joyce and everyone else, especially after yesterday when Joyce saw me so broken hearted over Damon. She knew me too well. There was just no way that she was going to believe that Jake and I were now going out. I didn't want her to believe it. God, why didn't I call the cops when I had the freaking chance?! None of this would be happening right now if I had called yesterday.

"Hayley?" Jordan said.

"Come on, Hayley," Jake said. "You've got people waiting inside to meet me. Do we have a deal or not?" Reluctantly, I nodded my head.

"We have a deal," I said. Jake smiled.

"Great," he said. "Then let's get inside."

"Hold on," I said. "I do this, you don't hurt Damon."

"Eh..."

"You already did, didn't you?"

"It's inevitable."

"Fine, you don't hurt him anymore and you don't kill him."

"Done, but I control how long this goes on."

"I won't go past a week."

"That's not long enough for me."

"How long do you want me to do this for?"

"How does a year sound to you?"

"Screw that, it's not happening!"

"Do you want Damon to stay alive, or not?" he asked threateningly. I glared at him and then sighed madly.

"Fine. I...I could do a year," I said.

"Hayley!" Aliyah scolded again.

"Why don't you three shut your traps? I've had enough of you already."

"Yeah, well I just met you and I've had more than enough of you," Seth snapped, advancing toward Jake. I stepped in front of him to stop him from getting closer to the douche.

"Stop," I told Seth. "Just don't."

"Hayley-"

"I don't care, Seth. Just please don't do it."

"Okay," he said softly. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope so too," I whispered. He stepped back behind Aliyah, in front of the door, and I turned back to Jake. "Is that all?"

"I'm sure there will be more," he said. "But for now, that's all. The rest I'll tell you later."

"Okay," I said, turning to the door. He grabbed my upper arm and spun me to him.

"Give me your phone," he ordered.

"What? No way."

"Give me your phone."

"For what?"

"I can't have you secretly texting anyone, now can I?" he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I sighed and took my phone from my pocket and held it to him.

"Here," I said.

"Thank you for being so cooperative," he smiled. Then, he looked at Jordan, Seth, and Aliyah. "You three will keep your mouths shut or you won't live to see another day." Did he really just...JERK! JERK! DOUCHE! I HATE YOU! I screamed at him over and over again in my head.

"Enough said," Seth said.

"Fine," Aliyah said while glaring at him. He looked expectantly at Jordan, who only glared at him in return.

"Do you understand?" he asked. Jordan nodded slowly after a moment.

"Yes," he said.

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I understand," Jordan said through gritted teeth.

"Good," Jake said, satisfied as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I resisted my urge to throw his arm off and run inside up in my room and lock myself in for the rest of my life. At least there I wouldn't have to see him again.

"Whatever," Aliyah snapped, turning on her heel to go back inside. Jake chuckled darkly and looked at me.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing after Seth and Jordan who had gone in after Aliyah. I didn't answer him as I walked inside my house, ready to lie my ass off to everyone in there. Damon, please forgive me for what I'm about to do. Please know that it's for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~AH! What the hell?! What do you guys think? Comment and tell me what you guys think of this chapter or what you think of this whole deal thing. Vote too if you want! :p Love you all! Peace!