Ride Or Die | Book #1 ✓

Chapter 5

I twirled my food around my fork, resting my head on my palm with my elbow on the table. I wasn't hungry after being kicked in the stomach. Harley said I didn't have any real damage just maybe some bruising and that the puking was normal for getting the wind knocked out of me, and as long I wasn't pregnant there was no other reason to worry. 

A couple minutes went by and then I felt their eyes on me and saw them glance at each other. "Are you going to eat?" Aster asked, and I dropped the fork into the bowl before looking up at him.

"What were you talking about with Xander?" I asked bluntly, I don't know why but I couldn't shake it. There was something being hidden from me. "Why did they say you can't protect me? Protect me from what? Why did they ask me to join their gang?"

Evangeline and Aster looked at each worried before Aster turned his attention to me "They asked you to join?" 

"Yeah. They did. And what the hell is the RSP? And who is Westwood? And why were you and Xander talking like you know each other?" I babbled out questions but Aster stopped me "Aspen it's none of your business." 

"Oh really? None of my business?" I practically yelled "Right. Not like they're hiring Pierce Gunner as my personal body guard? That I got spit on, choked, and kicked all today at school. And that they kidnapped me yesterday!"

"They what?!" Aster screamed and Evangeline was holding him down from jumping out of his seat "So you lied to me, and that's why they didn't come home yesterday!"

Realizing what I had just said, I stayed silent in my seat. Aster started to shout at me and slammed his hands on the table "What did they do Aspen!"

"Nothing." I murmured looking at my bowl of spaghetti. 

"Do NOT make me repeat myself! What did they do?" He shouted. I sighed and mumbled under my breath "They just said I knew something about Westwood, and said they needed me to join or I'd get hurt but I declined.."

"You're fucking kidding me." Aster stood up, running his hands through his hair and pacing back and forth. "Aster, you need to tell her, she's going to get hurt. She needs to know what to be aware of everything." Evangeline said to him calmly.

"Aware of what?" I asked, and Aster shook his head "No. You're moving in with dad, I'll get you a flight tomorrow. Go pack your stuff."

"What?!" I exclaimed, shooting up from my seat "No Aster, you took me in! You're not just going to abandon me again like you did after mom died!" 

He sighed, and Evangeline got up and walked over to him, rubbing his shoulders while I waited to find out what was going out and why I was some bait. "Ok sit down." Aster stated, pointing to the seat as which we all regained our seats.

"I should've never moved you to New York." He admitted "There's a lot you don't know Aspen. The Crestmont gang has been around for decades, and of course you've met them. They're one of the most powerful and dangerous ones right now, with international members opened up for drug trade. The RSP is Recruiting Substance Proposition, it's a world wide drug trade between gangs and it's how they make their money. Lately the RSP got robbed here in New York, which means that a gang went after everybody else's trade so everyone started to point fingers. With the crestmont's  portion gone, they blamed the Westwoods but the Westwood's couldn't of done it."

"Why couldn't of the Westwood's done it?" I raised an eyebrow. Aster and Evangeline sighed looking at each other. Aster took a deep breath before exhaling "Because we're the Westwoods."

"W-What?" I stuttered, and I had felt like I had been lied to for years "Y-you're in a g-gang?"

"Aspen, please. I know it's a lot to take in. I debated for a very long time whether I wanted to take you in because I had been scared of this happening." Aster said wholeheartedly but didn't stop there "The Crestmont's are were our rivals. 5 months ago, we were at our warehouse and someone laid gasoline all around the perimeter of it and put a flame to it then locked all the doors from the outside and windows were too high to jump..Evangeline and I weren't there, we lost all our members. We have no idea who had done it, but we suspect it was Xander and Archer that had after what happened with RSP. But we didn't think at first, and so we thought it had been the Coniston Gang, which is one of our biggest rivals."