"Happy Thanksgiving!" Voices erupted through the crowded living room of Xander's mansion, the lights beaming down on a group of familiar faces. A smile broke out on my lips as a wave of warmth ran through my body. Pierce pulled me close to him, my body digging into his side as his arm situated across my shoulders.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" I bid back my cheer, content with where I was at right now. Since moving to New York, my life had been a rollercoaster--but for the past year and ten months, the once thrilling ride with loop after loop seemed to come to an appeasing end. The kind of end where you can catch your breath, adrenaline shooting through your body and trying to take on whatever had been next.

It was Thanksgiving and I was feeling grateful for every aspect of my life. Everybody in my life. Crestmont was my family and this was exactly where I wanted to be.

"Ugh, I've been waiting for you!" Juniper rushed across the living room, closing the distance between us while Cypress followed shortly behind her and pulled Pierce into a hug. June and I exchanged a hug, our arms wrapped around each other tightly as we took in one another embrace. Vanilla perfume filled my nose and the warmth from June's skin erased my goosebumps. We broke away after a moment, June's hands clutched around my upper arms as she looked at me with a wide-eye look. "I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks."

"A week and a half." I narrowed my eyes at her, a chuckle escaping from my lips. "I'm sorry, I've just been so busy with finals. I can finally breathe now that it's break. I've missed you so much-" Remember that rollercoaster? Well, it wasn't completely gone---it was just now nursing school. I had just finished my final semester of college and would officially be graduating early---in just a few weeks.

I took twenty credits every fall and spring semester, as well as taking two additional summer semesters and a winter. It was hell but I had finally done it and would officially be a registered trauma nurse as long as I had passed my certification exam. Pierce was my entire support system through it all, he stayed up countless nights with me studying, grabbing me midnight snacks for "fuel", and cheering me on for every exam I took. I had taken my final exam yesterday, just waiting for my grades and to walk across the stage at graduation. I was done. I made it.

"I cannot believe you did it!" June screeched, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "I am so proud of you, Aspen. Look at you, I mean just look-this is huge. You're graduating from nursing school---and you did it in only two and a half years! I know that was it was painstaking but your hard work really pulled through."

"That it did." A voice rang through my ears, my mother appearing from behind June. Her blue eyes were wide, a smile that reached her eyes danced across her lips as she pulled me into a tight hug. "How did your last exam go? I called last night but Pierce said you had passed out."

"Sorry, I did. I was exhausted, I've been up studying for the past week non-stop. It went well...I think. I'll get my grades back by the end of Monday."

"Your father and I are so unbelievably proud of you, Aspen. This is amazing, you should be beyond proud of yourself." Her smile didn't fade for a second as she pulled me back into another tight hug. I could see tears began pricking her eyes, a sniffle escaping from her nose---I knew my mother was just thrilled to be able to share this moment with me after missing so many.

"I can't believe I still have another year left-" June groaned at the thought, making me chuckle lightly. Juniper was in her junior year---I was supposed to be in my junior year. But after working my ass off and taking as many credits as I could, I reached enough credits to technically be a senior. I had always been academically motivated in school, but this was no easy task.

"And what about you?" My mother's tone shifted as her eyes darted towards Pierce. Her eyebrows shot up as she crossed her arms over her chest, her finger impatiently tapping against her forearm. It was clear she wasn't happy with Pierce's somewhat-recent-decision. I wasn't thrilled either but I understood.

"I'm not going back, Ashlynn-" Pierce started, his tone defensive. The rolling of his eyes showed his pure annoyance, agitated that my mother consistently brought this up.

"Pierce Henderson Gunner, do you even know how stupid you're being?!" My mother snapped at him, her arms uncrossing and hands falling at her side. "What are you going to do for the rest of your life? Do you really want to be a mechanic for the rest of your life? Even when you're sixty?"

"Don't worry, Ash, I'll deal drugs too." Pierce's tone was sarcastic and clipped, not wanting to continue to bicker with my mother. Pierce had dropped out of Emerson after we gained custody of Reese. When the fall semester began, he never had returned. The truth was, Pierce never had any interest in college---Xander practically forced him. When Reese moved in with us, it became to hard to balance our class schedule and her going to school. I didn't want him too but he didn't have an interest. In the end, I was going to support what he wanted to do because that's what he had done for me.

Pierce had been working three jobs. He was still a mechanic at Aster's shop five days a week, doing deals for Xander, and working at the Lily as well. It was amazing that we even saw each other with how busy both of our schedules had been, let alone taking care of Reese---but we made it work. And by we, I meant all the Gunners helped us out.

"Don't worry, Ash---Pierce has been more than busy." A voice rang through my ears, my eyes flickering over to Xander. Standing behind my mother, an arm clasped around her shoulder as he looked between her disapproving look and to Pierce and I. Xander wasn't lying, he had been keeping Pierce busy---too busy. It was frustrating because it felt as though Xander was stepping back, forcing his responsibilities onto Pierce. He wasn't the heir to Crestmont, Xander was.

"I will leave you to talk." My mother cleared her throat, her eyes dancing between the three of us before looking direcrtly at me. "Save you a seat at the table?" I nodded in agreement before promising to meet with her soon.

"Happy Thanksgiving." Xander flashed us his million-dollar-pearly-white-smile before pulling us both into a hug. It was a moment later when we broke away, Xander turning his attention directly to Pierce. "Pierce, I wanted to talk to you about picking up a new route next week. A shipment of product just came into RSP and-"

Too busy.

If I heard about RSP another time in the next week, I would lose it. It had all I had heard about for the past few months. The headquarters were back to a full capacity, recovering from the whole "stolen product incident."

"Xander. We can talk about this later." Pierce's jaw clenched, his eyes glancing slightly over to me as he shifted between the two of us. Pierce knew had agitated I had grown over the responsibilities Xander had thrown at him.

"Pierce, a shipment of Angel Dust has just been flown in---"

"Angel Dust?" My lips parted, the words breaking from my word as I grew increasingly worried. The normal product that Crestmont bought into was your normal street drugs---weed, cocaine, heroine. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to get involved with any drug but it was the lesser in a world of evils. "As in PCP?"

PCP also known as Phencyclidine. I had learned about in nursing school, it was a drug developed sometime in the 1950s with the purpose of being an anesthetic. It became banned, doctors no longer able to administer it based off the intensive hallucinations and erratic behavior it has caused.

"Yeah..." Xander trailed, hesitation furrowing in his arched brows. His gaze danced between Pierce and I, confused as how I would know what they had been talking about. "Aspen, how did you know that?"

"Learned about it in nursing school." I forced out the words, sparing an uneasy glance to Pierce---I was incredibly uneasy. I already hated how much he had been dealing, I thought it was too much of a risk but it had been that way since high school. Although I couldn't get behind the idea of him dealing out pcp to customers. It caused overdose after overdose. "I had a patient come into the Emergency room about a month ago. I was there during my clinical hours. Young kid, only fifteen---his mother found him in his room on the floor in cardiac arrest because of a PCP overdose. He was rushed in and shocked with an AED."

"Did he make it?" Xander asked.

I shifted uncomfortably, my lips pressing in a thin line as I swallowed back the lump building up in my throat. I loved nursing and I loved the rush of working in the emergency department--and most of the time, being able to see people walk out after being treated. But some days they wouldn't be able to walk out. Those days hit hard. "N-no...He didn't make it." 

My heart broke for his mother, watching her collapse in the waiting room as the doctor went out to deliver the news. As a student, I stood from the sidelines and watched as her world collapsed around her. He apparently was a student at Northeast. We did everything to save him...but it wasn't enough. I remember breaking down once I had got home. I collapsed as soon as I shut the kitchen door to our apartment, Pierce came running in to find me. I told him everything in, and he just held me in his arms and let me cry for hours---the two of us sitting on the kitchen floor the entire night. The problem with being a trauma nurse is that I wouldn't be able to save everyone. It would crush me but Pierce told me to focus on the ones I did. It was a hard realization I would have to come to terms with.

I felt Pierce shift beside me, recalling that night just as I did. His hand snuck behind me, placing against the small of my back and rubbing up and down softly. Pierce knew how hard that night was for me. He was just a kid...

"Shh, shh." A voice cut in, but I had been thankful to see Phoenix approach us with wide arms. She sent her husband, Xander, a warning glare as if he been talked to about this previously before our arrival. "Xander no work talk on Thanksgiving, we talked about this."

Figures.

"Happy Thanksgiving to my favorite brother-in-law." Phoenix's cheesy grin as she pulled Pierce into a tight hug, her arms wrapping around him tightly, the material of his suit scrunching under her hold.

"Phoenix, that means absolutely nothing when I'm your only brother-in-law." Pierce retorted, rolling his crystal gray eyes as he broke away from her. "Well, you're still my favorite." Phoenix teased, bouncing on her black stiletto heels before moving over to me and pulling me into a hug. I broke away, amazed by how much had changed in the past few weeks.

"Oh my god, Phoenix..." I was in disbelief as I broke away, a smile breaking across my lips.

"I know, I know, it feels like I'm about to pop any day now but still a month to go." Phoenix chuckled, grabbing onto Xander's arm and leaning into his side. Phoenix was officially thirty weeks pregnant as of tomorrow with her and Xander's first child. Pierce and I had found out when she was only four weeks pregnant, mostly—actually, fully—because Xander was too excited to keep it a secret from everybody. After a year of trying, Phoenix was struggling with fertility issues but in April she finally became pregnant. The both of them were over the moon.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, glancing between her Xander. I could see how ready they were to officially be parents. It had been the main reason why Xander had thrown most of his responsibility to Pierce but Xander was still expected to run Crestmont until his son would come of age. It was just how the tradition worked.

Zaden "Zade" Gunner. The soon to be first born of the next generation of Crestmont. Xander had picked the name, claiming he wanted something "strong" as his son would follow in his footsteps. My skin crawled at the thought. I couldn't imagine how it would feel to watch a baby be born, knowing the fate of their future and the reality they would be exposed to.

On a lighter note---Xander was already in full mama-bear mode. He had been running around like a lunatic, preparing Phoenix's hospital bag everyday of the week. In which I mean he unpacks and repacks it everyday, just to make sure nothing went missing since the day before. He has also had Pierce over every night for a week straight trying to put together a crib. Pierce just about lost it when Xander sat there spewing instructions at him while Pierce did all the manual labor. Although it was entertaining to watch two grown men argue about a baby crib.

"Good. So ready, but nervous. But I'm just ready to meet him." Phoenix nodded with confidence, her hand rubbing against her large baby bump that had grown significantly in the past few weeks.  I could sense in her tone that she was trying to convince herself that she had been truly ready.

"Don't worry, you will do great." I smiled tightly, trying to take away her worry. During my clinical studies at the hospital, I had never helped with the process of labor and delivery; instead I only observed once for the experience but it wasn't exactly something we had seen in the emergency department.

"Oh, speaking of which." Xander cut in, "Pierce could you tighten up the bolts to the crib, I don't think-"

"Xander, I swear to fucking god if you bring up that damn crib one more goddamn time, the only bolt that will be tightened is the one I'm shoving through your fucking head when I kill you." Pierce gritted, annoyance growing in his voice. Phoenix said the truth that Xander had passed the crib building onto Pierce was solely because he had tried to do it himself prior. He freaked out and broke the entire thing, resulting in having to buy an entirely new crib.

"Fine." Xander's eyes narrowed with a glare, knowing not to push Pierce any further than he already had. "Not very uncle-y of you."

"My uncle-y-ness ended after a damn week of putting that crib together. It is fine, Xander. It's not just going to collapse. You've made me put take it apart and back together three times and not once did it fucking fall apart." Pierce mocked, his hand clutching around my waist as he kept me pinned into his side.

"I'll remember this for when you have kids-" Xander began.

"And I'll be able to build my own kids damn crib myself." Pierce cut in, his eyes narrowing towards Xander. "Without throwing a tantrum and breaking it."

"Phoenix." Xander's eyes widened in disbelief, his face flushing red with embarrassment as he quickly looked back and forth between his wife and brother. "That was private information—"

"Oh please," Phoenix waved him off, her chocolate brown eyes rolling in annoyance. "You seriously think I wasn't going to tell Pierce the truth after you made him take it apart, then back together, then apart, then together—I told him the only reason he was asked to do it was because you couldn't handle it."

"Unbelievable," Xander muttered, shifting in his own embarrassment as he cleared his throat—a feeble attempt to escape this conversation as the truth unveiled itself. "Well, if you'll excuse me; I need to announce dinner is ready."

Xander hurried away, gathering everyone together and directing them towards the dining room where dinner would be prepared and sprawled out delicately across the luxurious table put together but Xander's private chef that was hired every year.

"Please, excuse him." Phoenix apologized for her husband's behavior, her hands placed gently against the round bump of her stomach. "My pregnancy hormones are affecting him. I'm not going to lie—he's been a real pain in the ass lately. He's just nervous...you'll both understand when you have kids one day."

Everyone was nervous about having children. It was change—something we would all face but there wasn't a manual to go along with it. Although when it came to Xander and Pierce, I knew their worries didn't stop at becoming a father. That worry continued, spiraling into what father they would be. Neither of them wanted to be like Vance. And neither of them ever would but whether they'd admit it aloud or not, it was a concern buried with the back of their mind.

"Which better not be anytime soon." A voice interrupted in a matter-of-fact tone, Aster standing directly behind me. I didn't need to turn around to see him, his presence was suffocating enough. I let out a sigh, knowing that the conversation from earlier today would not be over.

Aster walked around me, approaching to my side with a glass of whiskey poured over ice in his hand. Phoenix noticed the tension between the two of us, while Pierce remained as nonchalant as ever.

"Right..." Phoenix trailed off, pulling me into another quick hug. "Well, I better get to the dining room."

"Okay." I returned the hug. "If you need anything Phoenix, let me know." She bid her goodbyes to both Pierce and I, leaving us to be left with Aster's strangling presence.

"Aster. We are not talking about earlier, again—"

"I hope you two are being safe." Aster interrupted me before I could speak any further. His words rang through my ear at a shrieking pitch, my face becoming heated from the embarrassment.

"Okay first off—ew. And second off—we are, not that it is any of your business." I retorted, snapping with no patience left for him.

Pierce and I had been safe since we first started dating. After we became engaged, we stopped using condoms. Before we had started dating, Pierce made some stupid condom to me about how sex felt better without one—and I hated that he was right. I upped my birth control and made sure to remain regimented with it. My doctor advised that it was safe as long as I stayed on track with it; which I had.

"I mean it, Aspen," Aster narrowed his eyes to me. Where was this coming from? Aster wasn't dumb, he obviously knew about Pierce and I's existent sex life—but what was the sudden concern. "With Xander and Phoenix's baby on the way—"

"So that's what this is about." Pierce cut in, stepping closer towards Aster and shielding part of my body as he drew a distance between my brother and I. "You're worried about the fate of Crestmont."

"Well isn't it obvious." Aster's muscular arms crossed over his chest, his green eyes narrowing down at the two of us. "Pierce, you're going to have to take over Cresmont. Everyone's talking about it."

What.

My eyes grew wide, fear pressing against my chest. I swallowed hard, trying to process Aster's words. Pierce couldn't take over Crestmont—he wasn't the Gunner legacy, only Xander was. And the rules were rules, Xander would lead until his son would become of age.

"What?" Pierce scoffed in the same disbelief, not buying into it for a second. "No, I'm not. Xander is the heir to Crestmont, he leads till Zade is of age. Vance was the leader until Xander was of age—well technically Ashlynn–but one generation stays in till the next can come, it's not just passed down within the same. It's always worked like this."

My heart plummeted into my chest as I thought about everything. Pierce was right, that was how it always worked—but with Xander dropping immense responsibilities on Pierce lately, it only made sense that he was trying to gradually hand over Crestmont.

"That's not the word going around...." Aster trailed off, his brows furrowed in confusion. He had assumed Pierce had known this but it was far from the truth. Pierce had picked up Xander's slack while he's been helping Phoenix through the pregnancy but he wasn't expecting to be leading Crestmont. "Xander hasn't said it, but that's what our mom had said she thinks is going to happen...Pierce it's going to be handed off to you. You're going to be the next leader of Cresmont."

The words hit me like a freight train. My entire body froze, my chest tightening and my throat beginning to close with the panic that arose. My head spun as I looked over to Pierce through my blurred vision. I watched as his face fell in defeat. His skin was flushed white, losing all color to his complexion. His crystal gray eyes were widened, his pupils shrinking into his irises. The rising and falling of his chest quickened, reality setting in.

"I don't fucking want Crestmont." Pierce gritted, shaking his head as if he was trying to get rid of the idea forever. Pierce never wanted to lead Crestmont. He had told me even as a kid he was grateful he wasn't the oldest male in his family. Crestmont was an unforgivable amount of responsibility. Everyone's lives were in his hands.

One thing was for sure—Pierce had quadrupled the amount of enemies that Xander had. If he were to take over Crestmont, it would put a target on all of our backs and a bullseye right on his forehead.

He had seen what Crestmont had done to his father. He was so caught up in trying to be nothing like him. Pierce was afraid. Afraid to resemble the slightest ounce of the person Vance was, and being the leader of Crestmont would only shove him that direction.

"Hey." Aster put his hands up in surrender. "I don't know...I'm just telling you what the speculation is. Again, no one can get it out of Xander but I don't know...if I were you, I'd expect to be the next Crestmont legacy."

"Pierce." I swallowed, turning my gaze towards him. His face was stone cold but panic filled his wide eyes. His entire body was tense—frozen in place as he processed what Aster had been telling him. He didn't answer my voice, stuck in a state between reality and his spiraling mind. "Pierce." I spoke again, reaching out and placing my hand against the arm of his suit jacket.

Aster took the hint, feeling the tension. He bid his goodbyes before hurrying off to the dining room. By this time, Pierce and I were the only ones left in the living room. An echo of voices played in the background, demonstrating the distance from here to where everyone had been gathered at the dining table—ready to dig into the Thanksgiving meal.

"Pierce, talk to me."

"Aspen..."

"Don't panic. We don't know if that 's true. You know how Crestmont is, everyone talks." I pleaded with him to try and stay calm but I knew his head was spinning. Pierce never wanted Crestmont in his hands.

He didn't want that blood on his hands.

He didn't speak a word. Instead, his body pushed past mine, his eyes dark and boring ahead. I watched as his steps became heavy, moving with speed across the living room and towards the dining room.

"Pierce!" I shouted after him, rushing behind him. This wasn't the time to do this. It was Thanksgiving, the last thing we needed was for a fight to break out. I didn't know how far Pierce would go—but I did know that Xander had pushed him to his limit lately.

"Pierce." I breathed out heavily, grabbing onto his hand and pulling him back when he was only a foot from the dining room. "Pierce, do not do this. Not right now."

"Don't do this?!" His voice raised, making me shudder at the sudden change. But I knew it wasn't at me. He was angry with the situation. "Do you hear yourself? He knows what the fuck he is doing!"

He tried to push past me, his body still fuming with anger radiating off every muscle. I slid on my feet, stepping in front of him to stop him from walking further. Pierce's eyes caught mine, the crystal gray boring into me with narrowed eyes. His jaw was clenched, his tongue sucked at the bottom of the top row of his teeth, an eyebrow cocking as he waited for me to say something.

"Phoenix is seven months pregnant. Confronting Xander now is not the time for this, it'll only stress Phoenix out." I tried to reason with him, my words settling with him as his jaw unclenched, his lips pressing together and he shook his head slightly to himself.

Xander had been planning this all along. But it was wrong. He couldn't step down from Crestmont just because he was having a child, it wasn't how it worked. That didn't stop him though, it was clear he was setting this up all along.

I was worried about the stress a fight between Pierce and Xander would bring onto a seven month pregnant Phoenix. I was also worried about another holiday breaking out into total chaos which seemed to be a trend every single year.

"Fine." Pierce reluctantly agreed, but he knew it was for the better. "But if he says anything, I will bash his head in." A huff left from his chest, parting his lips as he walked away and headed into the dining room.

"I don't doubt that you will." I sighed, bracing myself for what was to come. I made my way into the dining room, my eyes landing on a polished wooden table dressed with decorations and professionally prepared food. The table was enough to sit thirty people, almost every chair filled. All of Crestmont in addition to my parents as well as Mrs. Gunner. I smiled to myself as I took in the moment, an overwhelming feeling of security washed over my body.
"Hey, you sexy-motherfucker." A voice called to me, my eyes flickering to see a familiar blonde walk up to me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Hey, Grey." I smiled, hugging her back tightly. She broke away from me, her hands remaining on my arms as her brown eyes bored into me with deep anticipation.

"So...."

"So?"

"So, will I be receiving a ticket to graduation for my favorite nurse?"

"Not a nurse yet." I narrowed my eyes to her, earning a frown in response. "You know I still have to take my NCLEX after graduation."

Nursing school exams were hard enough but I was more than anxious to take my NCLEX. I was going to take it in the springtime, take some time after working my ass off for the past two years before jumping into the workforce. It was a privilege I had been extremely grateful for. All graduated nursing candidates had to take the NCLEX-RN—National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses. Once you passed the exam, you could apply to the state to gain your official nursing licenses.

"Oh don't give me that bullshit, Ambrosia. You know you'll pass it. You were at the top of your class in high school and that was even after missing school for months because of being kidnapped by your psycho ex-boyfriend. And graduated from fucking nursing school in two and a half years—I think the least of your problems." Greyson rolled her eyes, reminding me of my painful past.

Greyson and I had grown extremely close over the past two years. What once started as enemies, was now a friendship—one of my closest friends. She had been my rock throughout the breakup and it was because she treated me like a person. Most people walked on eggshells around me, scared I was going to break. But Greyson didn't, she was honest—-and sometimes it was brutal but I appreciated that she treated me just like everyone else.

"I'm so glad that your confidence is so high in me, Crawford."

"Why wouldn't it be?" She narrowed her eyes to me, standing at my side and locking arms with me as she pulled me closer to the table. She whispered into my ear, "By the way, you've got eyes on you."

"What-" I began before my eyes immediately landed on Mercury. She sat near Mars and an empty seat which I assumed was Greyson's. Her long blonde hair was curled to be wavy, her dress clinging tightly to her body. Her brown doe eyes bored into my direction as she lifted a glass of wine to her lips, the red liquid sloshing around the inside of the glass.

"Oh." I sighed, not needing any further clarification as to what Greyson had been suggesting. The eyes were of course Mercury—my favorite person. Our relationship was weird to say the least, complicated. After the incident that happened with Cayde and Mr. Gunner, Mercury had been different from me. But it wasn't because she liked me. It was pity.

She had backed off from tormenting me to an extent after that. But we both still shared tension with one another. The night Pierce and I had gotten engaged, Greyson said she had fallen into  a depression. Mercury was forced to realize that she would never get Pierce back despite how hard she tried.

Recently, she was pissed at me because of what had happened at the club. Reluctantly, Pierce had been pimping for her in the back of The Lily. He was typically in charge of helping out Greyson, something I was once uncomfortable with but had no issues with now. Greyson would never try to pull anything with Pierce. Mercury was a different story.

Due to Xander recently throwing all these new responsibilities onto Pierce, he was now pimping for Alexandria, Greyson, and Mercury. The other day I walked into the club, only to find Mercury trying to throw her naked body at Pierce. He wasn't interested and told Xander he was either quitting The Lily completely or he needed to take Mercury off from his caseload. Xander had no choice but to take Mercury off his caseload and for that she was pissed, believing it was entirely my fault. But who the fuck throws themselves at someone else's fiance and expects it to go well?

"What did she seriously expect to happen?" I scoffed in disbelief, my arm unlocking from Greyson as we came to a halt.

"That Pierce would see her and turn her around fuck her on the spot, finish, get down on one knee, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after while they both die from lung cancer at the age of forty from all the years of being heavy smokers." Greyson's voice dripped with sarcasm, painting a horrid picture for me. I shudder at the thought, not wanting to think that was a serious possibility if I never had moved to New York. "Just ignore her, she'll get over it."

"Oh trust me, I try." I let out an exasperated sigh, recalling the past three years of my life was a constant battle of trying to ignore mercury.  Greyson let out a chuckle before breaking away from me entirely, the two of us going our separate ways to find our seats.

"Hey honey," My dad gave me a wide smile, stopping his mid-conversation with Pierce and standing up to pull me into a quick hug. "I know it's probably all you've talked about and are sick of it but call me sometime this week to tell me about how exam week went, okay?"

"Okay, dad." I nodded, grateful that he didn't push. He knew I had been stressed about the past week and he knew it's also all I had talked about. I took my seat between Pierce and my mother, my mom sending me a wink as I sat beside her.

"Welcome everyone!" Xander stood at the head of the table, holding a glass of champagne in his hand. The room fell silently, everyone's eyes intently on Xanders. "And thank you for coming to our annual Crestmont Thanksgiving dinner. Another year has passed and I am so grateful for you all to be here, because at the end of the day–Crestmont has always been family."

Pierce reached beneath the table, his hand sliding onto my thigh. I felt his fingers dig into my skin but grazing the tips along my skin, sending goosebumps down my leg.

"It is my honor to lead Crestmont and be able to call you all family." Xander continued, "It would be an honor for anyone to call themselves the leader of Crestmont."

Pierce's grip tightened around my thigh, squeezing tightly as our eyes ripped from Xander and towards each other. We both shared the wide-eye-knowing look. That wasn't a coincidence...was it?

"I don't want to bore you all with my speech, so please-DIG IN! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!" Xander raised his glass of champagne, the rest of us doing the same. "And to the soon-to-be-newley-weds in just two days, Evangeline and Aster."

We all clanked our glasses together before digging into the prepared plates. I sunk back into my chair, weary about what was to come.

Why can't we not have drama for once?

* * * * * *

Hello Happy Friday! 

I'm going to try and update as consistently as possible but my schedule gets a little crazy!

What did you think of this chapter?

Xander and Phoenix are having a baby!!! Thoughts???

Aspen is graduating early to become a trauma nurse, what are your thoughts?

Thoughts on Pierce dropping out of college in order to keep up with the demands of Crestmont?

Gossip is that Xander is stepping down and Pierce will have to take over, thoughts on Pierce being the leader of Crestmont??

RSP will play a much bigger role in this book, any guesses what will happen?

Your favorite character Mercury has been brought in. Guesses for her this story?

Predictions for what will happen next?

~Ash