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

Chapter 33 - Aria

PRESENT

The hand on my shoulder barely touches me before I jerk awake with a gasp, my eyes snapping open.

"It's just me." Lenny whispers, holding both of her hands up and smiling sympathetically. "Didn't mean to scare you, hottie."

"Hey. Sorry." My apology comes out raspy with sleep. I sit up in my chair with a soft groan, my bones creaking and protesting from the angle I was slumped in for—I glance at the clock—three hours. So much for sleep.

"You should go home and rest." Lenny urges, reading my mind. "Sleep. Take a shower. Eat something. You'll feel much better."

"No." I shake my head violently. My eyes go to the hospital bed and my heart gives up on me all over again. "I'm not leaving him."

"Honey, he'll still be here if you take a few hours to yourself."

"I'm not leaving. Not until he wakes up."

"But we don't know when that will be." Lenny's voice softens with sympathy. "He's been unconscious for two days and you haven't left his side since. You'll burn out, Aria. Just take a few hours to recharge and then come back."

I glance back at Asher and feel an immeasurable pain. Seeing him in the hospital bed hooked up to all those wires, he looks so frail and broken. Nothing like my strong, stubborn Asher who didn't let anything or anyone stop him from doing what he wanted. He's been a fighter his whole life and today, he looks defeated. It's terrifying.

"I'm worried about you." Lenny's soft but firm voice drags my gaze back to hers. She stares at me knowingly. "You're exhausted. You haven't been eating or sleeping and you almost passed out earlier today."

It's true. I was pacing the hall while Asher's doctor did a check up of his vitals to try and determine when he might wake up when I was hit with a wave of dizziness that blurred my vision for several moments. If it hadn't been for Nate, who immediately leaped out of his seat to hold me upright when I stumbled, I would have fell face-flat on the floor. I got a few choice words from him that sound exactly like what Lenny is telling me now—that I need to go home, sleep, and eat.

"I don't know. It feels wrong to leave him. He needs me."

"Exactly. He needs you. Right now, you're a weaker and burned-out version of yourself and that's not who Asher needs. He needs you to be strong and fight with him so he can get through this. When he wakes up and sees you like this, you'll only worry him more and that won't help anyone."

"Nice touch of blackmail in that speech." I mumble and Lenny smirks a little. I sigh, already standing up. "No, you're right. I need to get myself fixed up or he'll find a way to blame it on himself. This is why I don't tell him these things."

"Like the time you were going to admit your feelings and caught him kissing another girl instead? And then you met..."

Robbie. Who's now dead.

When I first burst into that bathroom I didn't even notice his body. All I could see was Asher who was bleeding out all over the floor, face pale, eyes squeezed shut, and mumbling to himself. He looked so scared and so alone that all I could think about was making sure he was okay. I immediately crouched down beside him and wiped the tears from his face, holding him in my arms and whispering that I was right there. It was the scariest moment of my life because I wanted nothing more than to get him some help but we couldn't leave. Not when Greg and Mitch were fighting Christian out in the main room. I had no choice but to hold him and silently plead he wouldn't give up on us.

Before that, all of us except Nate—who was back at the house in case somebody came by looking for Greg and Mitch—were parked in a van outside the house and trying to come up with some sort of game plan. Then that first gunshot went off and I couldn't sit there, taking off while Greg and Mitch called after me in alarm. I was the first one inside the house and the only reason Christian didn't shoot me was because he was too startled that we'd burst in on him. Greg grabbed me and shoved me behind his huge body just as Christian raised his gun. Mitch sent off a few shots that instantly brought Christian down and then Mitch and Greg were on him. Through all the commotion, I could only focus on the pool of blood spreading out from the bathroom and took off for it. The image of Asher bloodied and barely holding on is something that remains haunting me.