The Rise Of Us

Chapter 49: Birthday Party part 3

Amberlee gets done putting on her purple one piece swimsuit, it looking like a body suit swimsuit spaghetti strap. She goes to put her hair up in a high ponytail, her taking the makeup off of her face before she makes her way out of the door to her room, her going over to the living room.

She raises her eyebrows a little when she doesn't see Ryder, her looking around but not seeing them in the kitchen. She sees most of everyone outside, her going to open the slide door and make her way out of the house. "Ryder?" She questions, still looking ahead of her.

"Right here darlin."

Amberlee looks over to her left, seeing Lucas and Ryder sitting in the chairs with beers in their hands. "Oh." She replies. "What are you...guys doing?"

"Talking." Lucas responds.

Amberlee nods her head, her looking over at Ryder and him giving her a nod. "Okay." She replies, looking back at Lucas. "Daddy..."

"Just talking Angel." Lucas says again.

Max opens the slide door, Annalise giggling as she runs over to the pool. "Hey careful baby!"

"I got her!" Steve says while in the water. "Jump to me Anna." He says while holding out his hands.

Annalise jumps to Steve, her having her floaters on her arms. "Yaay!"

"Nice jump!" Steve gives her a high five.

Max looks over at Ryder and Lucas, giving a double take on them before her eyebrows raise in suspicion. "What's going on here?"

"Just talking, for the upmost time that I said it." Lucas replies.

"Alright." Max responds, her giving Lucas a kiss. "Behave." She says in his ear.

"Yes love." Lucas replies, Max and Amberlee going to walk over to the pool. He looks over at Ryder, seeing him look at Amberlee while he takes a slow sip of his beer, him leaning forward a little. "Watch your eyes Parker." Lucas says while drinking some of his beer.

Ryder chuckles, leaning his elbows on his knees while leaning forward a little. "I'll let you start."

Lucas nods while looking ahead of him. "I know I can seem to be a bit much, maybe I am but at least it has left my family protected, my girls protected. So many people have come to us in the name of sincerity and friendship but that was not the case. People have tried to come into our lives solely to just ruin it. So yes because of that I have grown to be more protective. Chester...he left a big trigger on me, a big warning sign to let me know to pay extra careful attention to see who tries to come into my girls lives for the wrong reasons."

"Then you come along, having your 'I live by my own rules' type attitude and going after my daughter who was fourteen at the time." Lucas says before going to look at him. "You think that's right?"

Ryder looks over at him. "She was fourteen I was seventeen, I did nothin illegal. I know that ain't the answer you want to hear but it's the truth. Now when yo daughter said how she didn't want it to happen again I respected her wish, because she came to me and spoke her mind about it without disrespectin me. I understand yo come up I got triggers too, I understand lookin out for yo family that's real, you don't see a lot of fathers doin that for they wives or kids these days. But I ain't gone listen to a dude that disrespect where I came from and my grind, because unlike you I had to fight for every single step I took, I had to kill to survive. So yeah I did have the I live by my own rules mindset I still do, but that ain't gone stop me from respectin wishes, but you gotta earn my respect to get my respect."

"How do you expect me to respect you when you were the one doing things I clearly didn't approve of?" Lucas questions.

"You stopped me in that classroom to tell me you didn't want me around yo daughter, which I would have listened to if you didn't throw in and trash where I came from, that was when respect was lost." Ryder responds.