Scrolling through my phone, I came across a bunch of pictures from the party last night of the entire gang. Juniper had posted one of all of us before the night went to chaos with the caption "My family ♥". I tapped on Mercury's profile only to see the newest photo she had posted of her and Pierce, where her body was pressed up against his. Rolling my eyes at the photo, there had been a knock at my door before Aster and Evangeline came in.

Evangeline sat on the edge of my bed while Aster leaned up against my door frame as their eyes both bored into me, already knowing this was going to be about last night. "Want to talk about last night?" Aster asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No." I stated bluntly, sitting up in my bed and continuing to scroll through my phone. "Aspen." Aster warned, making my eyes go from my phone to him "When I have to pick up my little sister crying from a party, that's not just something we're going to skip over."

I ran a hand through my hair and let out a sigh knowing Aster wasn't going to give this up and there was no point in even trying to lie because I know he already had an idea of what went on. "I drank a little too much and got into a fight with Mercury after walking in on her and Pierce- Xander and Archer found out and then Pierce got pissed at me. One thing led to another and things escalated. We were going to but then he just stopped. I was just humiliated."

"I'm starting to like him a little more now." Aster exhaled at the thought that Pierce actually was the one to stop us from having sex. "Aster." Evangeline sent him a warning look before turning back to me "Ok well, do you like him?"

I saw Aster's eyes widen in response to Evangeline's question and could feel the tension in the room rise. "No." I narrowed my eyes at her "It was just humiliating at the time, I'm fine. I do not need him and it didn't mean anything." My phone vibrated on my bed, and I picked it up to read the text message.

Pierce Gunner: Can we please about last night?

Pierce Gunner: Aspen answer me

Pierce Gunner: Aspen for christ's sake respond.

Pierce Gunner: If you don't answer me I'm not picking you up for the meeting.

Viewing all the messages, I read over them as Pierce would not stop blowing up my phone. I twiddled my thumbs over my phone screen before typing back.

Me: Juniper will pick me up.

"You sure?" Evangeline cocked an eyebrow and I nodded in response. She and Aster exited out of my room and I threw myself back onto my pillow and let out a sigh while staring up at my white ceiling.

~ ~ ~ ~

Juniper soon picked me up for the meeting and we both entered the warehouse where everyone was gathered in a big circle just talking to each other while Xander and Archer stood at the side, whispering to each other. "Hey." Triston smiled at both of us, both of us taking a seat next to her on the couch.

"How'd you sleep?" Triston asked curiously, and I shrugged in response before she went on to tell me about the rest of the night of the party. I could feel eyes on me and I glanced over to Pierce who was next to Cypress and Mars but was staring directly at me. Pierce soon got up from the couch and walked up to me. I looked up at him as he towered over me since I remained sitting on the couch.

"Can I help you?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. His face was pissed but stone cold at the same time. Pierce's grey eyes were dark and boring into me from above. Without saying anything he grabbed my wrist before pulling me off the couch and pulling me into a back room where no one was.

"Why the hell haven't you been answering my text messages?" Pierce asked with anger filling his voice.

"Because I don't have to answer to you and last time I checked you're not my boyfriend." I mocked him as he had said the same thing to me when I showed up at his house a few days ago to make sure he'd show up to the race.

"Is this about last night because-" Pierce started but I quickly cut him off? "Last night?" I crossed my arms and stood up straight "You're seriously still thinking about that? It was a mistake, just like you said. I was drinking and made a dumb decision, so what?"

Pierce looked at me shocked "So what? Do I need to remind you that you flipped the hell out on me after I tried to fuck my ex-girlfriend? Didn't just seem like a 'so what'."

"Well, it is." I uncrossed my arms "Thanks for stopping it, would've been something to regret later on." The only reason I was saying this to Pierce was that I knew him and I knew how his game worked. I couldn't let Pierce know that I was actually hurt by it because it would only give him more to feed off of. The persona I had to put on might not of being true to the fullest but it was what I was going to do to show Pierce I didn't care.

"What's going on back here?" A voice interrupted, making both our heads turn towards Mercury who stood there with her arms crossed in the entrance of the room. Pierce clenched his jaw and backed away from me "Nothing Merc."

"Yeah, nothing Merc." I smirked at her "Just making sure he didn't go through with his sloppy seconds."

"You fucking wish you were even close to his sloppy seconds." She snapped at me, and I walked up to her before facing directly in front of her. "Oh trust me I had a little more than sloppy seconds, I wasn't super impressed but I guess when you're a prostitute and all Pierce is like a sex god compared to all the forty-year-old men."

Her eyes turned into a glare and her facial expression was stern. She raised her arm in order to throw a punch but I quickly grabbed her wrist from stopping her and let the smirk on my face grow. "Try me, Sullivan."

Mercury's eyes bored into mine with complete hate, and I don't know what it was that made me get under her skin. "Hey, let's go." Tyson walked back "You know how Xander gets when we have to wait for meetings to start."

Mercury's eyes remained on mine and I let my smirk fall and turned my attention to Tyson before glancing back at Mercury for a split second. I walked out of the backroom, my shoulder shoving against Mercury's on the way out.

I joined Triston and Juniper on the couch while Pierce went over to join the rest of the guys. Xander clapped his hands together as he began to start the meeting "So apparently I need to go over this again. There is no dating within the gang, it causes way too much shit and if you feel the need to you will be kicked. No sexual relations either, do I make myself clear?"

We all nodded in response and I looked over to Pierce who snapped his head over to me, making eye contact before I averted my eyes away. Xander went on to continue with the meeting, and I found myself zoning in and out as I kept replaying last night over in my head.

"After the run-in I was alerted by Triston and Aspen at the mall with the Coinston's, I am ordering that no girls travel alone. Always have a member with you, they are becoming too much of a threat right now." Xander announced but was stopped short by Greyson.

"Why? I think we can handle ourselves, I mean I can't speak for all of us-" Greyson sent me a glare "But most of us aren't hopeless."

"Bitch." I muttered under my breath.

Greyson's head snapped over to me "What did you just say?"

"Bitch." I repeated loudly "I don't understand what your problem is with me, I never did anything to you. If you have a problem with me why don't you take up with me instead of the side comments and glares."

"Oh, you want me to fucking take it up with you?!" She shot up from her seat and walked over to me "Ok fine. You're a skank who walked in here thinking she can do whatever she wants but needs a babysitter cause she can't handle herself."

I stood up from my seat to face her, we both stood at about the same height and Greyson's anger was radiating off of her. "Oh right, because I'm the one that chose to join, and once again I didn't choose for Pierce to follow me around, did I?"

"Well, you couldn't fuck him if he didn't." She snapped back at me "Yeah that's right, I saw what happened last night between you and Pierce. You're the one to tattle on Mercury and Pierce but it's only so you can have him yourself."

Pressing my lips in a thin line, I stared at her blankly as I was taken back by what she had said. Did she really see what happened on Saturday night? I looked over at Pierce who had the same shocked expression as me.

"Um, what?!" Mercury spoke up out of the dead silence that filled the room. "You heard me, I didn't stay to watch the whole thing but I did watch Pierce and Aspen's half-naked making out on a bed right after the short little meeting about Mercury and Pierce."

Everyone was completely taken back and I couldn't believe how Greyson knew. I racked my brain for how she even saw and remembered the door being shut. Xander clenched his jaw and looked over at me and Pierce "Well, is this true?"

"No," Pierce stated, rubbing his jaw with his thumb and index finger while he stayed seated next to Cypress and Mars. "Oh, bullshit!" Greyson yelled over to Pierce "You know it happened, and you know what you two did."

"You're such a jealous little bitch Greyson." Pierce rolled his eyes, standing up from his seats "You're just mad it wasn't you, you are always willing to jump at me any chance you have. And if you did stay for the whole thing you'd see we didn't have sex and it was just a make out, nothing more. We made out, so what?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat as my face was heating up and I was sure I was bright red from embarrassment by now. "Who initiated it?"Sawyer interrupted with bluntness in her voice. Pierce and I shared a moment of staring with silence before Pierce broke his eye contact and faced Xander and Archer.

"I did."

"Aspen is that true? Did Pierce initiate it?" Xander cleared his throat and I nodded in response, as it was true that Pierce was the one to initiate it.

"Pierce do you have feelings for Aspen?" Archer asked, and I watched Pierce's expression intently. "No," He scoffed out a laugh, a smirk growing on his lips "Just seemed to be an easy fuck."

I averted my eyes and looked up at the ceiling as I bit my lip, holding back a scoff at Pierce's words. The words hurt, but any guy saying a girl was just an easy fuck would hurt anyone. I looked around to see Mercury's lips grow into a smirk and everyone else in a state of shock.

I bit my tongue to hold back my words before I flipped out and brought up all the text messages Pierce spammed me with although I was just an "easy fuck." "Pierce you're benched from this race this week. Tucker, you'll take over the responsibilities for Aspen this week since Pierce cannot fulfill them. You'll only do your task this week, otherwise consider yourself suspend." Xander demanded, Pierce muttered something under his breath before grabbing his leather jacket and heading out of the warehouse.

"Everyone takes a break, I need to discuss some things with Archer." Xander wrapped up the meeting and everybody returned to their conversations while all their eyes still stayed on me. I let out a deep breath and knew what I had to do, Triston and Juniper called after me but I headed out of the warehouse.

Running down the steps, I let the door swing shut behind me and ran up to Pierce who was about to get in his car. "Hey!" I yelled, jogging up to him but he continued to ignore me. Grabbing his wrist, he stopped and turned around to face me.

"What the hell was that about?" I asked, completely confused as to why Pierce was so bipolar in the way he acted towards me. "What was what about?" Pierce asked annoyed and aggravated.

"Just an easy fuck?" I quoted him "Really? Because if I was just an easy fuck why is you were the one to stop it? And what about all the text messages you sent me this morning?"

"Because I don't need you. God forbid I slept with you and the emotional baggage that it would come with. Probably would've expected breakfast in bed the next morning. You're not my type Ambrosio, why can't you just get that through your head?" Pierce rolled his eyes at me "And the text was so you wouldn't go and tattle today at the meeting about last night."

"Oh, you are so full of shit."

"Oh, I'm full of shit?" Pierce cocked an eyebrow at me "Listen to yourself, Ambrosia. You're not my type and you're in denial. I could have any girl I want, why the hell would I want you?"

"I swear to god you are the biggest dick!" I exclaimed frustrated at Pierce "You know what Gunner? You're not my type either. I like my guys, with a heart."

Pierce rolled his eyes one final time before getting in the car and reversing back before speeding off to god knows where. I watched him drive away and took a deep breath in before letting it out as I tried to control my aggravation that was started by the one and only Pierce Gunner.

"Aspen?" A voice spoke up from behind, I turned around to see Tucker standing there and I internally prayed he wasn't standing there the whole time. "You ok?"

"Yeah." I slowly turned around "Just peachy."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the meeting I decided to join Juniper and Triston for a girl's day and we decided to go to the Gunner's house.

"Are you sure Pierce isn't going to be here?" I asked as Juniper pulled up to the house and parked. "Why? Scared you just aren't going to be able to keep your hands off him? Maybe another make out session?" Triston teased in response.

I gave her an exaggerated eye roll in response and Juniper insisted he was probably off at some girl's house by now. We walked up to the house, and Juniper yelled "Mom! I'm home!"

A few seconds later Mrs. Gunner came down the staircase and greeted us with a smile "Hi girls. Aspen it's so nice to see you again."

"Hi Mrs. Gunner." I gave her a small smile. "Pierce is upstairs in his room by the way." She nodded her head towards the staircase.

I sent Juniper a look of "Seriously?" after an entire car ride of her insisting Pierce wouldn't be home as I didn't want to even seen him after our exchange earlier.

"Aspen isn't here for Pierce Mom." Juniper sent her a warning look followed by a smile "She's spending the day with Triston and I with no Pierce in sight."

"Oh I'm sorry." Mrs Gunner apologized "Well if you girls get hungry just let me know." Juniper took my hand and we ran up the stairs and up to the back hallway. I could here music blasting from Pierce's room but couldn't exactly make out the song.

Juniper pulled the both of us into her room only to see Reese dancing in front of her mirror dressed in one of Junipers dresses that was practically down to her ankles and one of her leather jackets.

"Reese!" Juniper shouted making Reese freeze and turn around to face us with an 'Oh shit' look across her face "I told you to stay out of my stuff!"

"Yeah girly, I think you're going to need a few more years to fill out that dress." Triston chuckled as she plopped down on Junipers bed that was covered in a peach colored comforter.

"Five siblings. Five. And not one of them will let me vibe." Reese tsked.

"Vibe?" Juniper raised an eyebrow at her "Ok I don't care where you vibe as long as it doesn't involve my clothes." Reese began to reluctantly take off Junipers clothes and showed the leggings and tshirt she was already in.

"Whatever." Reese waved her off in a sassy attitude before heading her way out of Juniper's room and shutting the door behind her.

I took off my leather jacket and plopped down on the bed next to Triston while Juniper took a seat at her desk. "Can't wait till she's a Crestmont. That attitude is going to drive Archer crazy." Triston chuckled.

"So does really every Gunner kid become a Crestmont?" I asked out of curiosity. I had know all of the Gunner kids have gone through intiaton of becoming a Crestmont but now much more.

"Every Gunner member goes through the Crestmont gang. It's not an option either, more of a requirement to keep the tradition going. It's a little confusing to get in the depth of it." Juniper explained as she kicked off her heels.

"Anyways... Aspen, are you a virgin?" Triston asked out of nowhere. "A little blunt much?" I Laughed a response.

"Yeah jeez Triston, blunt much."

"Oh shut up June you know we've all been wondering it." Triston rolled her eyes at her before turning her eyes to face me "Well are you?"

"No, I'm not." I answered honestly, shifting in my spot "I did it with my ex boyfriend, Cayde. We dated for about a year and half but ended it after that, he was just super toxic and red flags everywhere."

"So you're little exchange with Pierce last night was nothing new?" Juniper spun side to side in her chair as she awaited and answer in which I shook my head no. "Well what about Tucker?"

"What about Tucker?" I asked confused. "I mean what do you think about him?" Juniper continued, trying to bug at something to get answers.

"I don't know? He's sweet." I answered confused as to what she was trying to get at. Tucker was sweet but I never thought much more to it then that, we hadn't talked enough for me to really have much of an option on him but from when we did he seemed nice.

"Like do you like him?"

"Huh? No..." I trailed off "What are you talking about? I've barely talked to him and besides that isn't it against the rules to date within the gang."

"Yeah but to an extent. There's so many secret relationships that go on behind Xander and Archer's back that they don't even know about. Just like Mercury and Pierce being on and off. As long as they don't know it's fine." Triston explains "Although..Tucker does like you."

Tucker likes me?

I was taken back by what she said and shocked to hear that. Tucker didn't seem more than a friend to me and didn't appear to take any more interest than me.

"Yeah, Mars, Cypress, Pierce and Tucker were all talking about you the other night. Tucker kept going on about you and how pretty you are. The kid is a hopeless romantic to be honest but has had his heart crushed by Mercury before and was never the same." Juniper went on about what the guys were saying.

Of course Miss Bitch herself, Mercury Sullivan would be the one to break his heart. No shocker there.

"I didn't even notice-" I began but stopped when there was a knock at the door which soon opened. My stomach dropped when it revealed Mr. Gunner.

"Juniper I- Well, Aspen I didn't know you were here. What a pleasant surprise." His lips tugged into an evil smirk "What do we owe to this surprise?"

"Dad." Juniper warned, her voice stern.

"What honey? I'm just being friendly." He offered a smile and I swallowed a lump in my throat "I was just coming in to say that Mom just laid out a platter of food for you girls downstairs."

"Ok thanks. We'll be right down." She rushed and hurried up to shut the door behind Mr. Gunner before turning around to face me "I'm so sorry Aspen-"

"No June, it's ok. Don't apologise. We should go down, don't want to be rude to your mom-" I tried to reassure her, knowing she felt just as uncomfortable as I did.

"Yeah not your fault your dad's a creep." Triston pushed herself off the bed and headed downstairs. I followed behind the both of them as we made our way downstairs where Mrs. Gunner had an assortment of snacks laid across the counter.

We each started to pick from the tray of snacks while Triston and Juniper went on about some drama that happened at school with the football team. I couldn't help but feel on edge because of Mr. Gunner and kept replaying the comments and what he did to Pierce in my head. Everytime I replayed it, my stomach dropped and I couldn't erase it from my head.

"So Aspen I heard that you and Pierce really made a impression at the race the other night. Taking out a Coinston and a cop on your first one, couldn't even say I did that during my years of Crestmont."

"Impressive. No wonder Pierce has got such a grip on you. Give him a run for his money if you're as much of a hothead as it seems." Mr. Gunner sent me a wink and I felt a shiver go up my body and my stomach twist.

"In fact Aspen, I think you should come see some of the pictures I have from when Devon and I were in Crestmont during our years." Mr. Gunner offered.

"Vance." Mrs. Gunner sent him a warning look and he flashed her his white teeth with a cheeky grin "I'll be nice honey."

Before I could even look over to Triston and Juniper, Mr. Gunner had grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards the back of the house while I stumbled in my black high heels.

We entered a room which appeared to be a study with a desk in the middle. The desk alone was covered in small baggies with what I could only imagine was different drug paraphernalia from weed to cocaine.

We walked up to the a cabinet with glass doors attached that protected a bunch of framed pictures. The pictures showed Mr. and Mrs. Gunner as well as the rest of the Crestmont gang during their time.

"Now that's a gang. One of the most feared ones in the state of New York." He stared proudly "Not that bullshit Xander is running now. Come on, get closer. Take a look."

He urged me to inch closer, in which I did. I examined over the photos and couldn't help but see the striking resemblance between Mr. Gunner and Pierce, it's like they were almost twins.

No DNA needed I guess..

"Look at me, so handsome, so young." Mr Gunner stood closely behind me as we both stared at a younger photo of him where he stood in front of an old fashion challenger "Would you go for me?"

I stayed silent, pressing my lips in a thin line as shiver went up my spine and the hair on my arm stuck up straight in fear. I tried to not freak out and stay calm although the overwhelming fear of uncomfortableness was eating away at me.

After moments of silence, I kept my eyes staring at the photo as I hoped he would back away. Mr. Gunner inched closer to me as he stood behind me and I felt his warm breath falter across the back of my neck. He placed a hand to my back and my body froze in response and eyes widened.

"Would you Aspen?" He asked again and I swallowed a lump in my throat that had been building up. His hand slowly moved down my back and made its way to my lower back. He paused for a minute before his hand continued to move down my butt before his hand grabbed it. I froze in my spot and before I could do anything he squeezed harder before turning me around slamming my back into the case.

My head slammed back and I winced at the pain of my skull hitting against the glass. He pressed his body against mine and let his hands roam my body.

Before I could even say or do anything, I felt Mr. Gunner be ripped away from me as his hands let go and his presence no longer hovered over me. Whirling around I saw Pierce grab him by his shirt and he slammed him up against the glass covered book case that was stocked with pictures.

"Don't fucking touch her you fucking prick." Pierce shouted as he slammed him through the glass, making the book case collapse to the ground from the impact in which Mr. Gunner went down with it. He laid there as shards of glass poked at his skin.

Mrs. Gunner, Triston, and Juniper ran in and gasped at the scene. I had never seen Pierce more angry, as the energy radiated off of him. His fist was clutched and cut up from going through the glass, as he breathed heavy and could see the rise and fall of his chest. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were dark as he glared down at Mr. Gunner.

Mr. Gunner groaned as he pulled a few shards of glass out of him as he. I watched as Mr. Gunner forced himself off the ground and pointed a finger at Pierce "You! You ungrateful piece of shit! You were a mistake!"

With that Mr. Gunner lunged after Pierce, slamming him into the wall while he clutched onto his shirt. He clutched his fist and sent a punch directly into Pierce's face and he dodged it slightly, making it bust his lip and nose. Pierce pushed him off and sent a punch directly back before pushing him into the ground and sending punch after punch till Mr. Gunner was beaten to a bloody pulp.

Pierce was beaten just as bad as blood dropped from his face and had gotten glass caught in a few areas. Mr. Gunner groaned in agony and Juniper and Triston ripped Pierce off of him as they screamed. I watched in horror and everything seemed to go in slow motion while I was in a state of shock.

Mrs. Gunner's eyes were pricked with tears as she had just watched her own son and husband beat the shit out of each other. Mr. Gunner was easily passed out by now from all the punches and glass striking into him. I felt frozen and like I couldn't move.

Triston ran up to me and started saying a bunch of stuff but it wasn't processing as I stared at Mr. Gunner's unconscious body laying on the floor, not processing as to what just happened. Triston grabbed my shoulders and shook me for a response but I couldn't take my eyes away from Mr. Gunner. She waved her hand in front of me before yelling back to Juniper who was taking care of Pierce "She's in shock!"

I looked over to see Pierce who's face was beaten pretty bad as Juniper picked shards of glass out of his skin. Pierce looked over at me and his eyes bored into me while his face remained emotionless. Mrs. Gunner kneeled besides Mr. Gunner's body as she cried and Juniper screamed at Reese to go upstairs and lock her door.

Juniper helped Pierce up the stairs and Triston pulled me up the stairs as well. We entered Junipers room and Triston sat me down on the bed. I was still in the state of shock and everything still felt as if it was in slow motion. Juniper sat Pierce down on her chair as she grabbed paper towels to stop the bleeding.

Pierce pushed Juniper away and walked up to me before kneeling down in front of me. "Aspen?"

"Aspen!" Pierce's voice began to tell after no response "She's still in shock, her face is pale, pulse is rapid, and eyes are dilated. Aspen look at me, just breathe. You need to process this."

Pierce grabbed my hands in his and I could feel the warmth in his hands. He helped me slow down my breathing as he took breaths with me and kept checking my pulse to see if would slow down. I soon began to snap out of it and process what had just happened.

I moved my eyes to his and tears began to prick my eyes as I processed what had happened. I stared at Pierce's face covered in blood while his eyes stared into mine. Juniper ran out to grab Reese and make sure she was ok.

"I'm sorry." I began to cry as I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "Aspen it's ok. I'm fine, ok? Just try to relax." Pierce reassured and gave my hands a squeeze.

* * * *

A://N Ahhh 5000 words!!! Wanted to give you guys an extra long chapter since I missed last week (Thanksgiving was Thursday)

What did you guys think of this chapter??

Chapter dedicated to afinazir because you helped me out with this chapter in giving me ideas!! I always love ideas from my readers and take them into account.

I didn't know if this chapter needed a trigger warning or not and I didn't know what to put it as but if you guys think it needs one tell me what for and I gladly will do it immediately!!

Favorite moment?

What do you think about the rest of the gang finding out about Pierce and Aspen's moment at the party? Think it'll cause conflict?

What do you think about Tucker liking Aspen?

As you get to know the characters better, which one has become your favorite? Any different views on Pierce or Aspen now?

Thoughts on Mr. Gunner?

Thoughts on Pierce dealing with Mr. Gunner?

I always love to hear your guys feedback so if you'd like leave a comment and answer the questions above!

Also what do you guys think about the new cover? I have mix feelings on it.

And also we just hit 10k!! Please don't forget to share this story with your friends, this is the one story I'm actually proud to have published lol.

See you guys next week hopefully! (Exams are coming up)

~Ash