Author's note: Hello, here is the next chapter up a few days early because I won't have the opportunity for a few days after this to write much so I thought I'd get it posted early so no one's waiting around. So I hope you guys like this chapter and thanks to TheGoofyCat, CacklingCactus, Izout, Me (response below), NinaVuelta93, Horse Lover (response below), Entangler, NightThinker and Chailyn Kamaria for their reviews and thanks for any new follows and favourites. Anyway, enjoy and please review!
Me: hehe, sorry for last week's cliffhanger and all, I had been waiting to do that chapter for ages, and I honestly wanted to put 'THE END' at the bottom to be extra mean but then went back on it lol haha sorry for leaving you hanging and I hope you like the chapter, thanks for the review! :)
Horse Lover: Thanks for your awesome review! Thanks it really means a lot to her you love the story and my writing style :) I'm glad Ace's character when he's with Jesse is to your liking, I know how could anyone not love Ace, he's just awesome :D thanks so much for the review and the kind words, you rock! Hope you like the rest of the story :P
Disclaimer: I do not own Stand By Me, just my OCs.
"Where the hell did you get that?" I asked, my voice barely escaping, trembling as I stared at the chamber of the gun.
"Found it in the attic around New Year's, thought the old man took it with him when he left. Turns out he left it buried in the attic, it's a .357 Magnum Revolver. Pretty nice, right?"
I swallowed, "Yeah, and it's nice enough to get you put back in prison if you try to use it." I told him.
"Very true, but it only gets you in prison if they find out you use it, not a mistake I am willing to make."
"We're in the middle of town, someone'll hear that thing go off if you shoot me."
Magnet tutted, lowering the gun with a disappointed expression, "As if I'd ever shoot a girl. Like I said, this is for Ace, not you."
Panic started flowing through my veins faster than lightning, as I realised that if Ace came over here after ten minutes was up to see what was taking me so long, he'd be fucked.
"I don't know where Ace is." I said quietly.
Magnet raised his eyebrows, "You don't know where your boyfriend is on Valentine's Day? And he left you that pretty rose and everything."
I looked to see the rose still sitting on the counter, I forced a bitter laugh as I met Magnet's eyes, "Looks very romantic, doesn't it? We had a fight not that long ago and he stormed out, he could be anywhere."
Magnet searched my eyes, trying to find out if I was telling the truth. I kept my gaze even and he looked to the other two guys before back to me.
"We will find him, sooner or later, so if this is all some little ploy to keep him safe, you're only making things worse for yourself."
I shook my head, "It's not. I don't know where he is, I swear."
I had five minutes at the most. Five to somehow get this guy out of here and warn Ace he needed to watch his back before he gets a bullet in it.
"She's lying." Vic sneered from where he leant against the shelves.
"I am not." I snarled.
"Come on, Magnet, do you really think she'd tell you where he is?" Vic said as he walked up beside Magnet.
"Why are you even doing this?" I asked the three of them, they all turned from where they had shared a glance to stare at me.
"Why?" Vic echoed.
"Yeah, why? Why risk going back to prison? Why do you want to pull a gun on Ace? Do you really think you can kill someone?"
Magnet snorted, "Going for the old 'talk 'em out of it' strategy I see. Well for one ,going back to prison's not gonna happen, we take Ace out to the middle of nowhere where no one will hear a gun go off. We ditch it and go meet the other guys who'll give us alibis if the police come sniffing around. Highly unlikely, if they ever find Ace, they can work it out for themselves I'm just one person on a long list that could have the motive to kill Ace Merrill."
"You've just stood here and told me your whole plans, what's to stop me going to the cops?"
"Well you don't have any proof that I have done anything at all. Have you ever told anyone I beat up Ace? Have you ever told anyone I did that to your arm? Have you ever told anyone about me?"
I searched my mind for someone, anyone, who had seen us, "Joe." I blurted out, "That day you and Ace were about to start a fight and-"
"What exactly did Joe see?" Magnet cut me off, "Did he see me do anything? Or did he just see Ace about to hurt me?"
The ever-growing dread in my stomach increased ten-fold. Vic smirked from beside Magnet.
"You're fucked." Damn right, but I wasn't about to let him know that.
"Well Joe'll be here any minute to lock up so… You better beat it." If they left then I could run across the street and tell Ace what happened. I had four minutes.
"I thought you told Vern you and Ace had control of the shop all night?"
"Well the little shit got it wrong!" I told him.
Magnet exhaled sharply and looked around before his gaze landed on something on the counter. I followed his gaze and saw the keys I had been locking up with sitting on the counter.
"If Joe's coming over here to lock up, why do you have his keys?"
I swallowed, my throat was dry and my mind went blank thinking of an excuse. It didn't help the situation when Magnet raised the gun back up to aim at my forehead.
"Tell us where Ace is now, you lying little bitch." he said, his words slow and I shook my head. I had about three minutes.
"No."
"No?" Magnet echoed dangerously.
"Are you deaf as well as psychotic?" I asked, whoops, wrong time to be a smartass. Magnet pulled the hammer back on the gun. This was getting very bad, very quick.
"Are you stupid as well as suicidal? Mess with me again and I'll put a bullet between your eyes, it'll warm the gun up for when I do the same to Ace."
I forced a sneer on my face, "You won't shoot him, you don't have the guts. You think because you were in prison on some lame charge for a sham of a robbery that I'll believe you're gonna shoot me? You shoot me right now. Go ahead."
I could see Vic and Jerry look at me in shock, probably wondering if I was crazy. Magnet's eyes were cold as his gaze travelled past the gun to my face.
"You keep pushing me, I just might."
I shook my head, "Nah, because if you do, you go right back to jail where you belong. I'll make sure of it. If I have to get shot for doing it, fine, but you're not gonna point this gun at Ace because you like the cheap thrill of feeling like you have the upper hand. You guys have one last chance, you can put the gun on the counter and walk out of here, I get rid of it and we'll never bother each other again. You don't want to do this." I said the last part slowly, willing him to believe me.
"She'll tell. She'll go tell Ace and this'll get us all back in prison. Just shoot her and we'll go find Ace."
"You can't shoot me here, right Magnet?" I knew I had him there, the whole reason he was so cocky was he would bring Ace out to the middle of nowhere. Here, all the people in Irby's or around the street would hear him, and he couldn't have that.
"We'll take her with us, shoot her along with him." Vic was grabbing at straws, and Magnet's eyes flashed.
"Don't. Don't shoot me or Ace." I pleaded. Ace would definitely be getting pissed right now, I had about a minute left,at best.
"Jerry." Magnet said, a sideways glance to him, "Take those keys and lock that front door. We'll take Jesse out through the back and she can come with us."
My shoulders slumped slightly in defeat, but if we got out of here while Ace stayed in Irby's, he would come over and realise something was wrong.
Jerry took the keys and walked over to the door, locking the door before looking out the window.
"Holy shit." He muttered, Magnet turned towards him.
"What?"
Jerry glanced between the two of us and pointed down the street, "Someone's standing outside Irby's and I'm pretty sure it's Ace."
Magnet's eyes glimmered and he inclined his head quickly for Vic to go over as well. Vic joined Jerry and looked out the window.
"I think it is him."
Magnet turned back to me, "Well what do you know, he's been right across the street this whole time. Did you know he was across the street?"
"Maybe."
Magnet shook his head and tightened his hold on the trigger, "You know I was going to just drop you off in the middle of nowhere on our way back and leave you to hike into Castle Rock, now I think I am coming 'round to the idea of shooting you as well." Magnet said.
"Fuck you." I spat, if he was going to shoot me, he was going to know what an asshole he was every second until then, "Low-life son of a bitch, you're never gonna be anything so you're just gonna shoot everyone that makes you feel like shit. You're gonna have to live with this every damn day." I told him.
"No problem." He answered, his eyes glazing over as his finger flexed on the trigger. He wouldn't be stupid enough to shoot me here, but I'd bet anything he was sure as hell looking forward to doing it out in the middle of nowhere.
"He's starting to walk over." Vic said, and suddenly I lost it. Desperate measures flooded through my head and I realised I had a thirty second window to stand here and let Ace and I both get taken off to be shot, or I could do something about it.
At least the second option meant there was a chance I'd live to see tomorrow.
Magnet had a gun, presumably loaded and the hammer was pulled back. One shot would be all I needed to let Ace and everyone within a mile know Magnet had a gun in here.
Sudden flashes of stuff Ace had taught me in the past month filled my mind. Why the hell couldn't he have taught me what to do when a gun is pointed at you?
Magnet had just turned his head to glance at Vic, and I realised this was probably the last chance I would get.
I stepped out of the path of whatever bullet could come out, before I brought my hand up to hit Magnet's wrist and move it as far upward as I could towards the ceiling.
I never thought I'd be thankful Magnet's finger was pressed to the trigger and he wasn't expecting me to move. But in the second Magnet's hand moved as his finger increased pressure on the trigger, just enough to send a bullet flying up to the ceiling, I was never more so.
The bullet sent a blast of sound through the store that I swore people back in California could hear. It wasn't like the shotgun that farmer aimed at me and firedt, the hollow deep sound wasn't as bad as this. The Magnum's bullet cut a noise through the air that felt like whips cracking at my eardrums. But I had no time to react, like Magnet and the others did as they jumped in shock, I had to get out of here.
With my right hand that I hadn't been using, I snapped my arm forward faster and harder than I ever had in practice, it met Magnet's nose sharp and quick, the bone cracking against my knuckles. So Ace was wrong, when it came down to it, turns out I could hit hard enough to do some damage. While Magnet's other hand went for his nose, I slammed all my bodyweight into his midsection and over-balanced him. He fell back and I fell forwards but forced my body to run down the hallway. Get out the back door, get out the back door!
I arrived at the door and my hand shot to the handle and turned. Nothing happened. The door was locked. And Jerry still had the keys.
I froze in place as I realised I had left out a very important part in my brilliant plan to play the hero, I now had no fucking way to escape.
Too late I turned to try and find something to bust the windows with, I ended up leaving Magnet enough time to catch up.
I whirled round to see him only a few inches away, closing the distance fast. His hands grabbed the front of my top and pushed me backwards. The glass shattered against the back of my head as it slammed against it, and I saw a million stars flash in front of me as my skull hummed from the impact, black spots danced in front of my eyes.
Magnet spun us around and pushed me to the floor, I could hardly make sense of anything except a white-hot flash of pain across my shoulder as I landed on it.
My vision blurred and I blinked rapidly to see Magnet standing above me with a murderous look, oh shit.
Blood seeped from his nose and he wiped it away before raising the gun again, this time I swung my leg up to hit it. It was amazing I could form any thoughts at all, never mind figure out something to do to try and help myself out of this situation.
The gun clattered to the ground as it fell from his hand, I leant back on my arm and ignored the scream of protest from my shoulder as I launched myself at him, as he leant forward to get the gun.
I managed to knock him back and into the door again, we both landed in the mess of glass that had fallen outside and inside the window.
The space was limited in the small hallway, so when he shoved me backwards I didn't go very far, but the pain in the back of my head was almost twice as bad as it hit another surface. He leant past me to go for the gun lying a few feet away, and I swung my fist again to connect with the side of his head as hard as I could.
I was closer to the gun than he had been, so I reached forward to where it lay on the floor and smacked the top, sending it skidding up the hallway, right up to meet a figure making their way down quickly.
Ace.
I wanted to get up and run to him, but my head was pulsing and my vision was going in and out. He stopped running as he came to a stop in front of us, and he ran his eyes over me before the alarm in them lessened slightly, at least I hadn't been shot.
He didn't hesitate then to bring his foot up to meet Magnet's face, sending him back towards the door. Ace stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hauled him to his feet.
"Ace?!" I heard another voice shout along with the sound of the shop door creaking numerous times.
I craned my neck to see down the hallway, but it wasn't until another figure came down towards us, that I realised the voice belonged to Eyeball and there were others following shortly after.
"Take this piece of shit." Ace hissed, flinging Magnet at Eyeball who barely caught him as Magnet slumped. I hoped his face hurt like my head did.
Ace leaned down to meet my eyes, I could see his lips moving but my head felt like it was filled with jelly and there was still a slight ringing in my ears.
Ace waved his hand in front of my face and I forced my eyes to focus on him, "Are you okay?" I could vaguely hear him say.
"Yeah." I said and brought my hand up to massage my temple as pain pulsed over my skull. Ace's hands went under my arms to lift me and I cried out as the pressure on my shoulder caused it to throb.
Ace eventually got me lifted and helped me to walk down the hallway until we got up to the front. I could see some of the other guys around the place and I tried to stay focused but everything felt like it was a million miles away, my limbs moved like I was underwater and everything felt like it was slipping away.
Eventually someone joined Ace and I and Ace left my side to cross over to Magnet who leant on the counter with his nose dripping blood. I watched Ace hit him again and again, I wanted to tell him to stop or he'd kill him, but my lips wouldn't move.
I glanced up at the person I was leaning on and realised it was Charlie. Billy and Eyeball stood either side of Magnet as Ace continued to knock him into the middle of next week.
"Come on, man." someone said in a panic, as Ace kept hitting Magnet's face and torso, but he was beyond listening.
Whatever grip I had on what was going on around me faltered again and I saw nothing except black for a second, every sound became distorted until it seemed to focus again, at least enough for me to hear Ace say something.
"I'm going to fucking kill you." He said, pointing a finger at Magnet who barely looked able to stand against the wall anymore. It was only when Ace started to go around the counter again that I realised what he was doing. He was going to get the gun.
I lurched away from Charlie and blocked the doorway down to the hall before Ace could go down there.
"Move out of the way, Jesse." Ace said, his voice scared even me with how quiet and dangerous it sounded.
I shook my head then raised my hand to press to the back of my skull, which flashed with pain as I moved my head, "Don't do this, I already had to stop one person getting shot tonight. Call the cops and give them the gun." I told Ace.
"Move out of the way."
I took my hand away from my head to push both hands against his chest in refusal, "No." I choked out, meeting his eyes defiantly before I glanced at my hands on his chest.
I took the hand away from his chest that had been on the back of my head, it left a mess of red on Ace's chest as I brought it closer to my face to examine it.
Blood...
My hand went back round to my head and I registered the moist feeling my fingers met, and when I took it away again there was even more blood on my palm.
I looked up to Ace who stared down at my hand before his eyes flashed to my face in concern. Suddenly it all got too much and I lost whatever grip I had had on awareness and my vision faded. The last thing I registered was my forehead meeting Ace's chest as I collapsed and everything went black.
