Ride Or Die | Book #1 ✓

Chapter 32

"Dad?!" I exclaimed, in complete shock. My dad smiled before sitting up and walking up to me, before pulling me into a tight hug. "Merry Christmas honey." He said cheerfully, his grip tightening on me. I wrapped my arms back around him, returning the hug but was still in a state of shock.

I couldn't believe my dad had been here, I had missed him so much since I moved to New York. After years of it just being my dad and me, it was weird to not have him around- especially on the holidays. I pulled back from him, as he grabbed my arms while scanning me over. His brown hair was combed while his short beard showed a little bit of gray, but his green eyes shined.

"I- I didn't know you were coming." I stuttered. "That would defeat the whole purpose of a surprise." He chuckled "I'm only here till the end of the night, I just wanted to stop in and spend Christmas with you guys. Wouldn't be the same without my Aspen."

"Oh, I've missed you so much." He pulled me back into a tight hug. "I missed you too dad," I whispered, looking over to Aster who had a pissed-off expression. I pulled away from my dad and looked back at Pierce then my dad.

"Pierce this is my dad, dad this is my friend Pierce." I introduced the two of them but I could feel Aster's green eyes boring into me. "Pierce?" My dad repeated, "Well that's an interesting name." My dad put his hand out to Pierce in which Pierce took.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Ambrosia. Aspen has told a lot about you." Pierce shook his hand. "Oh has she?" My dad sent me an amused look before dropping Pierce's hand. I was worried Pierce and my dad wouldn't get along, they both had polar opposite personalities that would clash any day of the week. Meeting the parents a day after dating...great.

"Well, dad if you'd excuse Aspen and me for a moment. She needs to help me bring down the presents." Aster spoke up, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the living room where no one had been. I prayed my dad wouldn't start asking Pierce a million questions and was glad Evangeline was still in the kitchen to mediate between the two.

"Where the HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Aster shouted at me, making me flinch at the loudness of his voice. I had known I was in the wrong, I shouldn't have fallen asleep at Pierce's last night with all the chaos going on. It was bad enough that it was Christmas day and I was late but that there was also supposedly a rival gang after me. Aster had been on edge since Archer had told him about the Coinston and how they wanted to go after me, rightfully so but the protectiveness became overbearing at times.

"I'm sorry, ok? I went back with Pierce to his house last night and had just fallen asleep- I didn't mean to." I explained but knew my apology was not going to suffice. Aster's jaw became clenched, his whole face had. His eyes were dark as he stared into mine and he shook his head back and forth at me.

"I cannot believe you, do you know how irresponsible this is?! I knew yesterday you started that fight with Mercury and let her take the fall. Then you leave with Pierce and suddenly disappear for the entire night while ignoring my text and phone calls! Do you even begin to know how worried I've been?!" Aster exclaimed and I sighed in defeat as I knew this was not a battle I was going to win.

"Why were you even with Pierce last night?" He continued "I do not like how much time you've been spending with each other lately. You know the rules and I am not going to deal with it when he breaks your heart. You two need to stay away from each other, it has caused nothing but problems in Crestmont since you've met!"

"Break my heart? Oh please Aster, Pierce is not going to break my heart." I crossed my arms over my chest, rolling my eyes "And why is it that you and Evangeline are allowed to date and no one says shit, you're both parts of Crestmont now."

"Because Evangeline was dating before we joined and are both grown adults. You two are both still in high school and don't know how to keep your emotions in check." Aster snapped at me "Wait a minute...Are you trying to tell me something?"