Chapter Thirty-One

Can't Catch a Break

My face sunk as soon as I saw Jay outside of the house peering inwards at me. I knew I needed to talk to him and get him out of my life forever. But I knew that I shouldn't go alone. Considering what happened at Kyle's party and in Paris.

I searched for Chris through the crowd and found him standing in a group with Addison, Ryan, Lena and Kara. I walked over and he could immediately tell that something was off. I grabbed his arm and pulled him from the group.

"What's wrong Nicki?" he asked worriedly.

"Jay is outside"

"Right now?"

"Yep" I sighed glancing out the window still seeing Jay standing there.

"C'mon. Let's go take care of him" he said taking my hand.

I was extremely nervous and afraid while I walked towards the front door with Chris. He didn't seem affected at all by having to do this. He was completely confident and composed.

As soon as we stepped onto the front porch, Jay began to walk towards us. As much as I didn't want to be the girl to cower and hide behind her fiancee, I couldn't seem to help myself. Jay brought a fear upon me like no other person could.

Jay was a rather attractive man with a little bit of bulk to his arms and shoulders. But Chris was obviously much larger than he was. Jay was tall; about 6"2', almost the same height as Chris who was 6"31/2. Chris and I continued to walk towards Jay at a slower pace than he was walking towards us.

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked so calmly it was scary.

"Picking up my girl" he said "her and I have some catching up to do"

"I don't know about that" Chris replied.

I remained still and quiet, still desperately clutching onto Chris's hand, my other arm on his bicep hoping that my fear wouldn't show through. Jay feeds off of fear, it only encourages him.

Out of nowhere, Jay lunged for my arm and Chris pulled me back, but not far enough. Jay grabbed my hand and held something cold and hard to my spine. Chris's grip on my hand tightened, and the look on his face became solid and quickly turned into a glare.

"Let go Cowboy" Jay demanded.

Chris didn't let go of my hand. He slowly stepped closer so that it was almost unnoticeable.

"Let me try that again, let go Cowboy. She doesn't belong to you"

Chris hesitantly dropped my hand. I felt suddenly vulnerable and terrified. Jay yanked me around so that I was facing away from Chris. My eyes filled with tears but I tried my hardest not to let them fall. I couldn't let Jay know that he was breaking me. I couldn't.

He walked me over to his car and shoved me into the back seat. He climbed into the front and dropped the gun onto the center console. Then I noticed the driver. Kyle. Kyle Harper. My childhood best friend. Was he really going to help Jay potentially kill me?

"Drive Harper" Jay spat.

"Alright" Kyle replied.

Just as he turned the ignition, Kyle swiftly reached for the gun and pointed it at Jay.

"I'm getting her out of here" he said.

"No you're not you idiot. She's staying here with me where she belongs" Jay said his voice weaker than when he encountered Chris earlier.

"Yes I am. This isn't right; you following her like this. If you really loved her, you would want her to be happy. And by the looks of things, she's pretty damn happy" Kyle reached over the console and punched Jay in the face, giving me enough time to run like hell.

I opened the back door and didn't bother closing it. I ran like my life depended on it; which it probably did, and the collar of my shirt was pulled back by Jay. He had retrieved the gun and Kyle was lying on the ground. Jay had shot him. Tears fell down my face. He held the gun to me and Chris took a couple steps forward. Jay pointed the gun to him this time. Chris took a few more steps and the gun was back on me. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Good boy" Jay said, his voice filled with venom. This man was particularly evil.

I heard him play with the trigger before Jay collapsed to the ground unconscious and took me down with him. Ryan stood behind us and to the side a little, holding a Louisville Slugger baseball bat. I scrambled from Jay's grasp and ran to Chris while Ryan took the gun. I collapsed into his arms unable to breathe. Once I remained my breath, I slowly walked over toward Jay.

"Nicole, come back here" Chris said.

"Hold on" I told him.

I turned to Jay and kicked him in the ribs. Satisfied after hearing a crack, I looked over at Kyle. He wasn't dead. At least, not yet.

I ran over to him and dropped to my knees at his side. I turned his head to look at me.

"Hey bro" I said trying to keep him with me "c'mon look at me. Kyle, look at me"

His eyes opened and he smiled.

"Hi!" I said "we're gonna get you out of this alright? You've just gotta keep your eyes on me okay?"

"Someone get help!!" I screamed.

"Kyle, do you remember how much fun we had as kids? Huh? Do you really wanna throw that all away over a little scrape?" Tears fell from my eyes.

"Nicole" Kyle choked.

"Yeah bud?"

"I love you you know"

"Yeah I know"

"No I mean really. I love you"

"I love you too. You're my brother from another mother right?" I chuckled a little.

"Chris will take good care of you, I know that. I love you Nicole Collins" his eyes closed and his breathing seemed to have stopped.

"Kyle? Kyle!! KYLE" I screamed through my tears.

I fell limp on his still body. He was gone. My childhood best friend. The one I ate popsicles with in the treehouse. The one I played hide-and-go-seek in the forest with.

I cried into his chest, as if my tears could restart his heartbeat.

Chris and Ryan both came over to me and tried to calm me down.

I felt a sudden blow to the back of my head and then gunfire before I blacked out.

Wake up Nicole.

WAKE UP!

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Well, crap. What the heck?? Nicole just 'Can't Catch a Break' can she? hahahaha

Who shot the gun? Who received the bullet? All will be explained in Chapter Thirty-Two :)

Please don't hate me. I love you guys. Keep commenting and voting! Sorry this is so late I forgot it was Friday today haha.

Happy reading!

Eagle_Eye_13 xx