My eyes flickered open and the surrounding environment wasn't my room. I shot up in the realization that I fell asleep at Pierce's last night when I was supposed to get home before Aster so he wouldn't notice I had been gone. I grabbed my phone, looking through the text from Evangeline and Aster as well as the many missed calls.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath as I threw the blankets off of my body and started strapping my heels on. Pierce groaned before rubbing his eyes and sitting up in bed, the blanket falling to his lap only to reveal his built chest. "What the hell are you doing? It's nine in the morning." Pierce's voice was filled with raspiness.
"I was supposed to go home, Aster is going to kill me!" I ran a hand through my hair as I stood up straight after strapping on my heels. I looked at Pierce, sending him a look that he needed to bring me home immediately. Pierce groaned as he forced himself out of bed and grabbed a pair of black jeans and a plain white v neckline t-shirt. Pierce searched for his keys and I walked out of his room as I twiddled my thumb over my screen; not knowing what to send Aster.
"Aspen?" A voice questioned in confusion. My head snapped up from my phone as I stared at Juniper who stared back at Pierce and me confused as to why we were coming out of his bedroom. "What are you doing here? And why are you still in your clothes from last night?"
Her eyes glanced between Pierce and me, making me freeze in my spot. Think! I racked my brain as I tried to figure out what else to say. "Uh.." I trailed off "I just um, last night I came back with Pierce for a bit and I just got really tired and fell asleep."
"Why did you come back with Pierce?" She narrowed her eyes at me, and I knew the interrogation was about to come. Juniper was going to tell Triston, they were both going to blow up my phone all day wanting to know why I came back with Pierce last night after the party. It was already suspicious enough because they both knew I like him, it was just a matter of time before one of us slipped up.
"We have to go, June." Pierce sent her a glare before grabbing my wrist and pulling me down the staircase. We managed to slip out the front door, avoiding Mr. and Mrs. Gunner. I didn't know how much more interrogation I could take, knowing I'd be hit with a thousand bricks when I got home to Aster. I buckled up in the passenger seat before Pierce slammed on the gas as he drove down the street.
"Where was Reese?" I asked, knowing I didn't see her downstairs. At her age I loved Christmas and opening all the presents, I would wake my parents up at the crack of dawn every year. "Asleep." Pierce muttered, "We don't really do Christmas in my house, so she doesn't rush to wake up."
Doesn't do Christmas? I wasn't surprised though after thinking it over. I hadn't even seen a tree put up in the living room let alone presents underneath to be opened. My thought was that it was an act of the Grinch himself- Mr. Gunner. He was selfish and probably refused to spend any money on anyone else, the holiday spirit may do him some good though.
"What about June?" I asked, knowing that Pierce would get the same interrogation when he got home. June would be the most suspicious of us, but she wasn't who I had been worried about. I had no idea how Aster, Archer, or Xander would take it. I wasn't ready to handle Mercury either but I was ready to see the look on her face.
"I'll handle her later." Pierce's eyes rolled "She's going to ask me a million questions, I'll just come up with some excuse and tell you what it is later. It's not June who I'm worried about."
We soon came to my house and Pierce pulled up the side of the curb, before walking me inside. I began mentally preparing myself for Aster to freak out on me as I entered the door, while Pierce shut it behind him. The door entered right into the kitchen and my eyes widened in response as I looked around the kitchen table.
"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?"
"What? No, I'm not." I denied immediately, knowing Aster had been catching on "I was just pointing out the hypocrisy that is in the gang."
"Aspen! Aster!" My dad's voice called out to us and Aster sent me a look before pointing his index finger at me "I will deal with you later, but for now do not bring up anything to dad. Nothing about mom. Nothing about Crestmont."
I nodded in agreement before we both headed back to the kitchen where Pierce sent me a look immediately, the look that said You're-Dad-Has-Been-Interrogating-Me. I pulled Pierce outside, escaping from my dad and closing the door behind me.
"I'm sorry, I had no idea he was going to be here," I admitted, feeling bad for how my dad may have acted. Ever since Cayde, my dad was super strict when it came to guys, even the ones I had only been friends with.
"It's fine Aspen." Pierce stopped me before I babbled on anymore "I'm going to get going though." "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I mean since your family doesn't really do anything for Christmas-" I began to offer but Pierce shook his head in response.
"No, I'm not super into Christmas. Spend the time with your dad, text me later." Pierce looked around, making sure no one was looking or seeing us before pressing his lips to mine. Pierce left a soft gentle kiss on my lips, pulling on my bottom lip before a smirk appeared on his lips as he pulled away.
"Merry Christmas baby." He left a kiss on my forehead. "Merry Christmas Pierce." I smiled back, his hand squeezing mine before he walked off to his car, getting in and taking off down the street. I sighed as I turned back around to walk into the house, earning looks from everybody. I decided to ignore them, not wanting to come up with lie after lie. I rushed up to my room to get changed and ready for the day before going back downstairs. I followed Evangeline, Aster, and my dad into the living room before Aster began to set the presents up around the tree.
"So Aspen." My dad tapped on his coffee mug "Have you thought about coming to college in North Carolina so you can stay with me?" My dad had wanted me to go to college in North Carolina because, by the time I finished my senior year, he would settle in one state instead of moving around constantly for work. My plan was always to come here for my senior year so I didn't have to constantly switch schools then once I graduated I would go down to North Carolina.
"Uh I was actually thinking about going to Emerson, it's right outside of the city. Half an hour from here." I explained, not knowing how my dad would handle the news. My plans have changed since I got to New York, this was my new home. As much as I missed and loved my dad, my life has changed so much since I got here. Living with Aster gave me a new sense of newfound freedom that I know would disappear with my dad's overprotectiveness.
Ever since joining Crestmont, I finally felt like I had belonged. I made friends and now I couldn't imagine just up and leaving for North Carolina. I didn't even want to think about leaving Pierce or how he would react as a whole, but I knew it wouldn't be good. My new life was New York and I didn't want to leave anytime soon.
"But I thought the plan was for you to come back to North Carolina after your senior year. New York tuition is going to be so much more expensive-" My dad began and I could hear the defensiveness in his voice as he spoke.
"Dad." Aster stopped "Can we please not talk about this right now? It's Christmas and graduation isn't for five more months." My dad gave up his defense as Aster warned him, knowing that this would only cause chaos on Christmas. We started to exchange presents and my phone continued to vibrate in my pocket.
Juniper Gunner: Want to tell me why you walked out of my brother's room this morning?
I knew June wouldn't be mad if I told her, I felt guilty for keeping her in the dark. It was just difficult because I couldn't tell her and know she wouldn't slip up. Anyone who knew was just a risk for Xander and Archer to find out. I stared down at my screen before putting my phone down and hoping Pierce would just come up with some explanation when he got home.
"So Aspen," My dad began, making my eyes snap over to his "How has the school been going? It seems that you made a lot of friends already. I saw the pictures on Facebook of you at some party. And are you sure that Pierce guy is just a friend?"
My dad had been talking about the photos from Pierce and Juniper's birthday party the other week. I didn't even think about my dad seeing it when I had posted them but it didn't draw any suspicion to the gang. "I have." I forced a small smile "And yes Pierce is just a friend."
They all gave me a look before returning back to the presents. I let out a sigh, knowing this day was going to feel a lot longer than it actually had been. I loved my dad but I hated keeping secrets from him and every second longer he had spent here was another second I felt the guilt of lying. About the gang, Pierce, and even my mom.
* * * * *
The night had gone by as smoothly as possible. I hadn't heard from Pierce all day but was just as occupied with my dad being here. It was nearing the night and all the conversations were pretty basic, most about school and what I was looking for in the future. I felt the urge to fight back telling my dad everything or even letting something slip. I had to watch every word that I had said, making it have no correlation to the gang.
There was a knock at the door, making me get up from my seat and rush to the front door while everyone else stayed in the living room. The knocking turned into pounding and I wondered who could possibly be here. I whipped the door open only to reveal a distressed Pierce who leaned against the doorway. I cocked an eyebrow at him but my confusion wasn't answered as he pushed his way into the house.
"Aspen! Who is here-" Aster's voice began but came to a stop when he saw Pierce standing in front of the door. I looked back at Pierce, wanting to know what had been going on and why he showed up out of nowhere without telling me that he had been coming. Pierce's face was filled with worry but anger at the same time, his eyes tired while his jaw was clenched.
Pierce looked off to the side before his eyes flickered back to Aster and me. "I was just on a drug run. It was with a guy named Nathaniel Davidson, he's usual. Middle age always buys coke but he told me that he had come across Nixon Kingston. Nixon was trying to pry information out of him because he knows that he always buys from Crestmont." Pierce began "Nixon told him they were after their newest member because of what happened with RSP."
"Wait who's Nixon?" I asked, stopping Pierce in his tracks. Who was this Nixon guy and why did he know me to let along want to be after me? I had heard about Nathaniel Davidson before, he was usual that Pierce had talked about before. He uses to be a member of a gang called the Vipers - a gang that was primarily on the west coast but had disappeared over the year after losing so many members. All members were pretty much all retired from the gang world.
"He's the leader of the Coinston's." Pierce explained "Nathan said that they would start with your house first, within days they would show up. That Nixon would not stop till he got you, they are tracking your information by the minute."
Aster stretched his arms behind his head as he paced back and forth, rubbing his face in his hands. "Fucking Christ." He muttered under his breath, Aster stress over this didn't make me feel great about this. I could feel the anxiety begin to rise in my body, I had no idea what to do or what to even say. Why were they after me for what happened before I even got here?
I remembered back to when Aster explained the conflict that happened with RSP. The RSP was the recruiting substance proposition and it was a worldwide drug trade between gangs. The headquarters had gotten robbed in New York. Coinston, Westwood, and Crestmont all pointed fingers at each other. Evangeline and Aster aka the Westwoods had immediately thought it was the Coinstons and they set fire to their meeting place. Many Coinstons were killed and they soon went after the Westwood's members. Killing everybody except for Evangeline and Aster.
As I put everything together in my head, it still didn't answer my question as to why the Coinston's had been after me. I wasn't involved in RPS or any gang when the chaos happened, I moved to New York two months after it had happened. There was more to the story that we didn't know. We knew they were after me but for it to come out now that it was all because of RPS and the fire that happened, it didn't make any sense.
"What happens now?" I glanced between Aster and Pierce who had both been at a loss of words. "You have to get out of here. It's not safe here, they'll find the address in no time with a few searches." Aster sighed, glancing back at the living room where Evangeline and my dad had sat "I'm going to call Xander, you need to go pack."
"What about dad?" I brought up, knowing my dad would be suspicious of where I had gone if I disappeared into my room. Aster waved me upstairs, Pierce following behind me as I searched in my closet for a suitcase. I tore clothes out of my dresser drawers, throwing them into the suitcase as I packed it to the brim.
"Hey." Pierce grabbed my hand, pulling me over to him "It's going to be ok. We're going to get you out of here and they won't be able to find you." My heartfelt like it was going to jump out of my chest with the anxiety that filled my body. My arms and legs became weak and shaky, my hands became clammy. My head was heavy, a consistent throbbing in the center of it. I didn't know what to do, I was only seventeen and most wanted by a rival gang. Most kids my age were worrying about their date to prom and going to Friday night football games.
"What about you? I can't just leave you-" I began but Pierce pulled me closer to him while tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm going wherever you're going, I'm not going to leave you," Pierce reassured, making my heartbeat steady slightly. I returned back to packing while Pierce helped me fold a bunch of clothes.
"Hey." Evangeline knocked on the open door "Need any help? Aster told me what's going on." I shook my head no, as I finished up gathering the majority of my stuff that I would need. I had no idea how long we would belong or where we would even end up. Anyone's guess was as good as mine.
"Aster is about to drive your dad to the airport. You should go hug him goodbye." She added. Pierce said he'd finish up the folding as I walked downstairs, only to say goodbye to my dad. I knew I had to hide the panic I was experiencing. My hand ran down the staircase while I walked down each step before approaching closer to my dad who looked sad to go. He and Aster pulled away from the hug they shared when my dad's eyes landed on me.
He sighed before pulling me into a tight hug, which I returned. "Just remember how strong you are." He whispered to me before pulling back. I raised an eyebrow at him, pondering as to what he meant. Remember how strong I am? "Just don't forget it." His lips tugged to a small smile "I was glad I got the chance to see you. I'll try and get up soon again, ok? Remember to focus on school for now and just think about North Carolina."
I nodded in agreement, not wanting to discuss the topic of me going to college in North Carolina again. It had been out of the picture for me but I didn't know how to tell my dad that after his heart was set on me moving back with him. "Merry Christmas. I love you, Aspen." He placed a kiss on my forehead before falling Aster outside of the car.
"Love you too dad," I said as I held back tears in my eyes. I didn't know why I was emotional, it had been a mixture of things. Between saying goodbye to my dad and a rival gang being after me, I had a lot on my plate that I was not ready to take on.
I rushed my way back upstairs as the door shut behind Aster, leading on that he was about to take my dad back to the airport. I grabbed a few last things as I went over everything making sure I had my essentials. Pierce took a phone call before putting it on speaker as Xander began to speak through the phone.
"Aspen are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here." I sighed, listening closely to the phone. "Pierce is going to take you to a house I have outside of the city, it's about two hours away from here. We need you to get out of that house as soon as possible. I've alerted everyone about what has happened, we will all gather at the house. If you're at threat, we all are." Xander said calmly over the phone "It's going to be ok, Archer and I have a plan but first, we need to separate you from your house, that is the first place they will look."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was Christmas night and I was packing my bags to go to some deserted house that was two hours away in order to avoid being attacked by the Coniston. I zipped up my suitcase as Pierce talked to Xander about a few last minute things before hanging up.
I hugged Evangeline goodbye before rushing out to Pierce's challenger that was parked by the sidewalk in front of the house. Popping the trunk my eyes glanced to the letters that sat in the back from his Aunt Deliah. Pierce quickly grabbed my suitcase before throwing the suitcase over them in order to cover them. I played it off as if I didn't see it, not wanting to throw any more drama into the mix of what had already been happening.
We moved to the front of the car before Pierce slammed his foot on the gas, making my body jolt forward before slamming back against the seat. I stared out the window, resting my head on my hand. Pierce's hand grabbed my hand before he pulled our hands into his lap. His thumb rubbed the skin of my hand softly while staring ahead at the dark road.
"It's going to be ok baby." Pierce's voice broke the silence that filled my head "I know you're scared but it's going to be ok. I'm not going to leave you for a second, they're not going to put a fucking hand on you."
"I just don't get it, I mean why me? I wasn't involved in RSP and the fire that killed most of their members." The idea racked my brain, as I didn't understand why it all led back to me "Something isn't adding up. First Tucker talks to the Coinston's and now this shit. I'm not getting the full picture."
"We'll figure it out. I promise." Pierce's words ran through my head. Would we figure it out? Was this all going to blow over like the way I hoped? I knew I was safe as long as I was with Pierce, knowing he'd kill any guy who looked at me wrong but for some reason, my self-consciousness told me I was in some deep shit.
* * * * *
A://N Happy Happy Thursday! I've been trying to update at least twice a week (Tuesday and Thursdays) but I also do not know if it will continue to be two once I got back to school.
I also cannot believe how many tags this book is ranking is!
Thoughts on this chapter?
How do you think June is going to react when she see's Aspen now that she is definitely suspicious?
Were you surprised to see Aspen's dad? Do you think he is as clueless or do you think he knows something? If so, what?
Do you think Aspen moving to North Carolina is going to be a continuous conflict? Why or Why not?
What do you think is going to happen with the Coinston's? Why do you think they're after Aspen? Any conspiracies?
What do you think is going to happen in the next chapter? Any guesses as what will happen at the house when the whole gang is there?
Favorite quality about Aspen?
Favorite quality about Pierce?
Also I'm still waiting for my covid test since I was exposed at work again. Send luck that it comes back negative! As of right now I have no symptoms.
~Ash