Path To Realization (Fighter's Den, #4)

Chapter 19 - Aria

PRESENT

I take the last suitcase out of my car trunk before slamming it closed, wheeling the suitcase along the pathway that leads to the villa's entrance. I forgot how big it is and I'm left briefly gaping at it as I make my way inside. It's been well over a decade since I was last here and, for that reason, it looks entirely new.

The homely and wooden layout is nothing short of inviting. The living room is the first thing you step into upon entering, with its plush sofas surrounding a circular throw rug and a sleek TV. To the right is an open-concept kitchen that is part of the living room, the only thing dividing the two rooms being the tiled floor where the kitchen behinds and cuts off from the rest of the wooden structure. Even the stairs that curve up in a spiral toward the second floor just on the left of the first floor is made entirely of wood. It disappears into a small circle opening that, if you peek through, showcases the large second floor where all the rooms are located. Five, to be exact, alongside three bathrooms and a game room that I know to be furnished with a pool table, more couches and a large TV, and a poker table.

"Remind me again why we don't live here?" I hear Mia holler from upstairs.

I ditch the suitcase along with the rest piled up to the side—unpacking can wait—and bound upstairs where everyone else is. Immediately upon entering the second floor there's a main area with some bean bag chairs and a small round table. My sisters have taken up the space while the parents duck into the rooms and decide which one they want. Asher leans against one of the walls with his arms crossed. His face is impassive, his head still in that dark place and overcrowded with the demons he was supposed to leave behind in the city, and I vow to make this a weekend where he can forget. I want to give him a shred of his regular life back, if even for a moment.

"This place is not meant for civilization." Lexie says in response to Mia's question. "The wifi is shit, there isn't anyone around for at least two miles, and driving to the local stores would easily take over half an hour. Unless you plan on starting a farm, there isn't much to do."

"Not true." I defend. "This place is meant for you to enjoy the natural world, not the man-made one. It's perfect timing that we came in the middle of the winter because the lake must be frozen for ice skating and the hills are covered in sheets of snow for sledding and skiing. It's going to be a great weekend."

"I could get used to this." Eleanor sighs and curls by the fireplace that's already lit up, sinking into her bean bag chair and cracking open her book. I knew she'd take to this place the fastest. All my sweet girl needed was her books and a quiet place with a view.

"Who are we sharing rooms with?" Harmony cuts to the chase and the rest of my sisters nod in agreement. I roll my eyes. They lasted all of three minutes before their first-world problems came up.

"We get this room!" Darren hollers from down the hall. His head peeks out and Abigail follows a minute after. They're both grinning wide. "It's the biggest one. You snooze you lose, suckers."

"Real mature, Darren." Mia laughs.

"We got the second biggest one, losers." Dad gloats and pops his head out of the one next to Darren's room. Mom rolls her eyes behind him but she does look pretty smug.

"Who are the parents here again?" Lexie asks in all seriousness.

"Definitely us." Abigail winks. "Besides, the parents are the ones that need bigger rooms for our busy nights."

The girls and I all call out a chorus of ew's, booing them with our thumbs turned down while they laugh and retreat back into their rooms.

My laughter gradually dies out when I notice Asher still sulking, looking down at the ground but not quite seeing. My heart constricts painfully. Everyone has him read so wrong. After the match yesterday, and I'll admit he was unbelievably ruthless to his opponent, everyone was convinced that Asher was vicious and unkind at heart. That he didn't feel. But couldn't they see? He is hurting badly and in plain sight, trying to hide behind cunning smirks and cold laughs. His opponent might have lost yesterday's match but Asher is the one who's still bleeding out. He calls me his princess when he's my knight in broken armour. I meant it when I said I would save him and this weekend is just the beginning. I won't stop until I see him laugh and smile with the genuineness that has been missing for years.