Aria left me in charge of Walter so she could take Wyatt shopping with Nikki. And when she held out her hand asking for my credit card, I knew what that meant—she's buying Wyatt more clothes and toys—noisy toys. Toys he doesn't need, but because of the mood Aria's been in, I wasn't about to argue with her about how I felt Wyatt not needing more toys, and smiled while handing her my card, telling her to have fun and not to leave me broke.

Walter, however, thought it was funny and teased me about wanting to make a bet on how many noisy musical toys she'll be bringing home, hoping to annoy me. I didn't bet him because I knew he was right. Anytime I go shopping with Aria, she can't help herself whenever we walk by a musical or talking toy. Knowing how noisy toys aren't my thing, Aria will have fun playing with them, hitting all the buttons the toy has, so the entire aisle sounds like we're at a concert.

It always has me wondering who the kid is? Wyatt or her? Aria's always claiming it's me who's the kid, but the truth is, everyone can be a kid at heart.

Not long after Aria left, Walter claimed to be bored and asked that I help lay him down so he could take a nap. And since Aria was enjoying her freedom and taking advantage of her time away from training and working out—something she hadn't been able to do since Wyatt was born. I knew she wouldn't be home for a while, so I called Justin, asking him to come over in hopes he'll answer questions I had so I could learn more about hers and Justin's past—something, for whatever reason, Aria seemed to want to hide from me.

It's not that I'm trying to go behind Aria's back to get information she doesn't want me to know from Justin; I feel to understand more of what's going on with her is to hear from someone who's known her the longest. And from one who also went through the same as Aria all those years ago.

Hopefully, he'll open up to me and not beat around the bush as Aria does.

"Can I ask you something?" I curiously asked while Justin had fun hammering at the speed bags.

"What's up?"

"When you and Aria were kids. Did you fight a lot?"

The corner of Justin's lip curled upward into a smirk, telling me they did, but it wasn't what he admitted. "Not really. We had our typical sibling moments like all brothers and sisters do. But we never got physical with each other or argued very much. Why?"

"Since I never got to experience growing up with any siblings, and because I know how close you and Aria are, I was curious if it was always that way when you were kids. For someone who always claimed to have hated fighting, sure enjoys it now," I grinned.

Justin chuckled, stopped hitting the bags, then turned to me. "Yeah, she does. And I'm still surprised by her wanting to do what you do. Never did I ever see her doing anything such as this."

I laughed. "Me either, bro. Me either."

He turned back to the speed bags and hit them slowly. "Although I should confess, I did pick on Aria a lot when we were kids because of how mad she'd get. She'd get so pissed and worked up every time I did that I fed on it. And I'd do or say things hoping she'd hit me, hoping it would help her quit being a wimp. But the funny thing about it is, I only did it around my father."

"How come?"

"Because she was an attention seeker, always squealing and trying to get me in trouble. But all that did was get her into trouble. My father hated tattling. So to make her a stronger person, I constantly picked on her with the hopes she'd learn to stick up for herself."

"Did it work?"

I don't know why I asked that; she was obviously hiding behind her skin when we first met.

He turned toward me, shaking his head. "Nah. Not really. After my father left and my mother got sick, all she learned to do was keep to herself more. Then, of course, the tattling she enjoyed doing stopped. But it was only because my father quit seeing us, and my mother hid in her room crying all the time."

"Aria mentioned you fought a lot when you were kids."

He chuckled. "Yeah. When we were kids, the other kids around town knew how Aria was, and after they'd see how I'd pick on her, those kids thought they could get away with it too and tried egging her on to see how mad they could get her. But them doing that to her only pissed me off. It's one thing if I picked on her, but there was no way I wanted them doing it to her and think they'd get away with it. So then I'd take matters into my own hands, and I would kick their asses. Aria hated it, and every time she saw the sight of blood, she'd get sick."

That's really funny.

Now Aria gets a thrill from seeing blood. I laughed and shook my head. "It's funny how things change."

"All because of you," Justin breathed as he stopped punching and bent over to take in some deep breaths of air. "Had I not brought Aria to your fight that night? She'd still be the same weak chicken shit she made herself grow up to be."

"I can't take all the credit. You also need to take some of that credit."

"Shit. It fucking took me like eighteen years to work with Aria. With you, it only took a matter of weeks for her to come out of her shell."

I side smirked and shrugged a shoulder. "What can I say? She loved my smile and my fucking body, along with something else," I snickered, knowing that was something he wouldn't want to hear.

"I don't want to hear about it," Justin groaned, walking away from me and over to the weight bar. I followed behind him, helped set up his weights, stood behind the bar, and then I helped lower the bar when he asked.

Justin's eyes rolled back to me. "Has she opened to you about my father yet?"

I shook my head. "Very little; it's like she wants to keep it a secret. But she did tell me that your father left your mother for a younger woman."

"Much younger," he exhaled while pushing the weight bar up. "She was my dad's assistant."

Something told me that was most likely the case. It always seems that older men meet younger women in bars, strip joints, or at work. "Aria never mentioned that. But I did wonder if that's what happened."

"I never told Aria this, and she'd probably kill me for keeping this from her. But two years before my father left my mother, I walked in on my father having an affair with Stacey—."

"Stacey?"

"She's the woman my father left my mother for. At the time, I didn't think Aria would understand and felt she was way too young for me to tell her what I saw. Hell, even I was young and didn't understand it much. But I was old enough to know what he was doing was wrong."

"Did you ever tell your mother?"

"No. I was only eight when I saw my father cheating on my mother, and when my father saw me walk into the room, he was always bribing me with toys, treats, and other stuff, hoping to make me happy afterward. So, I'm sure that's why I got away with so much with him. Of course, I always wanted to tell my mother, but after watching her health dwindle and witnessing her depression, I felt it was in everyone's best interest that I didn't say anything to anyone. Not even Aria."

When Justin was finished, I reached for the weight bar and placed it back on the rod holder. The longer Justin and I talked, the more I noticed he seemed more at peace with what happened with his parents than Aria. I haven't figured out if it's all an act and that he's hiding how he truly feels or if he's accepted what happened and has moved on.

I swapped his weights for mine when Justin got off the bench, and then, as I laid and reached for the bar, I had to ask something that's been on my mind since I got Aria to open up to me, "Are you still in contact with your father?"

"No. But I did run into my father's wife a few years ago at the grocery store. I immediately knew who she was, but I don't think she recognized me. At least I don't think she did, since I was much older than the last time she saw me, but I never forget a face. Especially a face that ruined my family."

Maybe he is still hurting by his father's actions and has been trying to remain positive and strong for Aria.

"Did you say anything to her?"

"I said hello when I walked by; then she asked if I could reach something for her on the top shelf. At first, I wasn't going to. But then I got curious to see if she would recognize me. So I grabbed the box, and as I handed it to her, I stared at her, waiting for her to say my name, but all she said was thank you before walking away. After that, nothing more was said between us."

Wow, just wow. And the more Justin opened up to me, telling me everything he knew, the more I understood why he kept things from Aria, and the more I sympathized with how Aria's been feeling and why she's chosen not to talk about that dark part of her life.

Justin didn't want to talk about his parents anymore and changed the subject by asking if I would teach him some moves he always wanted to learn how to do. I didn't blame him for wanting to talk about something else, and since he told me more about their past than Aria has, I felt it would be fair to teach Justin some combo punches that would help him if he ever got himself in a bad situation.

I showed him a couple of different boxing combos and one of the best ways to knock out someone. And just when I told him I wanted to see him do a four combo punch—one, two, five, four—meaning a jab, cross, lead uppercut, power hand hook, I heard Aria say my name and turned my head while Justin was in the middle of shooting his fist at me. I did what I've told others not to do, and that was I let my guard down, allowing Justin to knock me to the ground.

Aria laughed, then as she walked toward us, she mocked, "Haven't you always instructed not to let anyone distract you?"

Yes, I have...

"We were only messing around," I smiled while pushing myself up, not wanting to admit to my screw-up. As I watched Aria come closer, my eyes lowered to the bags she was carrying, then back up to hers. "What did you buy?"

Aria's eyes brightened like a clear blue sky, and then she brightened the room with her smile—looking excited to show us what she bought. And just as I thought, she came home with more noisy toys. One by one, she removed a toy from the bag, pushing the toy buttons to show us what each one did when she pressed them, and then she set the toys on the mat for us to look at.

Justin grabbed one, and as he looked at it, he shook his head. "Our parents never bought us any noisy toys like this, and if they ever bought us a toy that happened to be noisy, the batteries immediately came out."

I laughed. "That explains everything."

"They were no fun," Aria scoffed. "I want to be the fun parent. A real parent, something we never got to experience, so hush your mouth," she snapped while snatching the toy out of Justin's hand.

Justin and I both looked at each other, shrugging our shoulders. Of course, I was only teasing Aria about the noisy toys, and I'm sure Justin didn't mean anything by what he said either.

"Aria, I didn't mean to upset you," Justin sighed.

Aria looked away from us and down at the toy. "I'm not upset. I was only telling the truth." She turned around, and as she walked away, she hissed, "Why don't you two carry on with what you were doing? Nikki and I have some things to do in Wyatt's room."

Great. Wyatt isn't even a year old, and he has more toys than the toy store, so I can only imagine what she'll be doing to his room.

I wanted to ask what she was doing, and I contemplated saying anything, but I didn't want to start any arguments because Aria looked happy and stress-free for once. So instead of asking or saying anything that would piss her off, I smiled. "You two have fun."

Aria and Nikki headed towards the stairs, but she stopped and quickly turned around with a worried look on her face when she got to the steps. "Gunner? Where's Walter?"

"He got bored that Wyatt wasn't around and asked that I lay him down."

Her eyes squinted, and with heat in her voice, she asked, "How long ago?"

I looked at the clock, raised my shoulders, and tightly pursed my lips after realizing I had laid him down nearly four hours ago. Then, I scratched the back of my head and nervously said, "Maybe you should check on him?"

I was so busy talking with Justin. I completely forgot about Walter.

Crap...

"Gunner? How long has he been asleep?" Aria pressed, looking even more worried.

"I'm not sure how long he's been sleeping."

"How long?"

The look in her eye and the tone of her voice told me that if I didn't confess, there'd be no loving for me because she'll demand that I sleep on the couch tonight.

"I laid him down about four hours ago," I finally admitted, feeling like the biggest piece of shit for forgetting about him. And when Aria's eyes widened in fear, I knew I was in deep shit. The look on her face told me I was sleeping on the couch tonight. So to ease her mind and calm her down, I presumed, "But that doesn't necessarily mean he's been asleep that long. He could be lying in bed thinking about how to take you away from me," I added with a grin, hoping she'd find humor in it.

She didn't think it was funny, and instead of responding to me, she hurried up the stairs.

"I think you're in for an ass-whooping after Nikki and I leave," Justin teased while watching Nikki walk up the stairs with Wyatt.

I turned to Justin and chuckled. "I like Aria kicking my ass. It brings me great joy."

"You really are just like me," he teased. "I used to love saying and doing things I knew would rile Aria up and upset to the point where she'd hit me," he added, reminding me of what he told me earlier.

"Hopefully, Walter's okay. Otherwise, what I think will be a fun ass-kicking won't be so fun. The other night she surprised me by using some moves I had no clue she even knew how to do."

"Aria has always been an excellent observer. As much as she claimed to hate fighting, I know she still watched me beat up the kids that teased her, and I'm sure after watching you fight, she soaked it all in, remembering every move that worked."

"I think Neron has a lot to do with it, as well. I'm sure he's been teaching her moves that he never told me about, hoping to surprise her challengers and me when and if she uses those boxing moves."

"True," he acknowledged with a nod.

I didn't hear any yelling, screaming, or crying coming from Aria or Nikki, and I took that as a good sign. I climbed out of the ring, reached for my towel, and wrapped it over my shoulders. "Thanks for telling me things Aria has refused to talk to me about."

"You're welcome."

I jutted my chin toward the stairs. "Maybe we should call it a day. If I don't go up there to see if Walter is okay, I'll never hear the end of it."

***

"Well. Well. Well. Look who decided to show his face finally," Walter growled when Justin and I entered the dining room.

I walked over to the table and sat across from Walter, folding my hands. "What do you mean?"

"I could have been dead, and you would never have known. Not once did you come to check on me," Walter scowled, shoving food in his mouth. "You're lucky Aria came when she did. Now you owe me for ditching me like a dirty rag."

I laughed. "Dirty rag? I don't think so."

His brows scrunched together. "What would you call it?"

"I apologize for not checking on you. And I'm sorry you feel like a used rag. So, ole man, what would you like for my carelessness?"

"A date with Aria."

I looked at Justin and grinned. "I can arrange for that to happen." I leaned back in my chair. I assumed he'd ask me to allow him to do something else. Like getting him drunk without letting Aria know. But this works for me, too, as it'll keep me from getting in trouble with Aria if I were to give in and get him drunk.

He lowered his head, shaking it. "You're too easy."

"Easy?" I asked, leaning forward. "How is that being easy?"

"Never ever give your wife up that easy," he scolded, confusing me.

It's Walter, and it's not like I have to worry about him trying anything sexually on her, so why would I deny him a date with my wife? I chuckled. If Walter thinks I would just let anyone take out my wife. He's wrong. "It's only you, Walter. You're not some random guy asking to take out my wife."

He laughed, lowered his spoon into the bowl, then raised his head, greeting his eyes with mine. "I know I'm not some random guy. But you're not even curious why I'd like to take one of the most beautiful girls in the world on a date. The same irresistible woman you claim to be the love of your life?"

Justin's eyes widened. He looked from me to him, asking, "You're not ready to leave us, are you?"

"Hell, no," he groaned. "I've got things to do—people to see. Mission's to accomplish. And I've got many more smiles to add to faces. So no. I'm not ready to leave this glorious world just yet."

I see it written all over his wrinkly face. He's got something up his sleeve, and I'm about to find out what he's got cooking in his mind. But Justin beat me to it, so while he asked Walter the same questions I had, I listened quietly while thinking about everything Walter had brought up to me lately. But then, something he said made me think, 'Never give your wife up that easy.' Since there's always a meaning behind everything, Walter says, I felt a bit puzzled by that remark. Walter knows there's no way I'd give her up that easily.

"What are you up to, Walter?" I asked, interrupting Justin's interrogation with Walter.

Walter looked at me with a look in his eye that said, I better listen to him. "While you two hotheads were downstairs doing your thing, acting like I was a nobody and leaving me thirsty and hungry, not caring if I died of starvation and thirst, I got on the laptop Aria bought me, and I did some digging."

"What kind of digging?" Justin asked.

Walter looked at Justin, then at me, while pointing at Justin. "Does he know what's been going on with Aria?"

"What's going on with her?" Justin asked, furrowing his brows, looking back and forth from Walter to me. "Is that why she's been walking around looking the way she has and the entire reason you were asking about my parents?"

I nodded. "Aria finally admitted that she's been thinking heavily about your parents and said she would like to visit your mother but refuses to see your father."

"She says that. But I don't think that's the case," Walter hinted. "Anywho, what I was trying to say is. I dug into your parents," he said, looking at Justin and studying him like he knew Justin was hiding something from everyone.

"There's no need to do any digging. I know where my mother is, and I know where—"

"You know what?" Aria asked, standing behind Justin, looking confused.

Justin snapped his body around, and when he looked at Aria, he stuttered, "I-I w-was just saying; I know where mom is."

"I do too. But why are you all talking about our mother when you already know mom refuses to see us?"

"I was trying to tell these two knuckleheads that you and I are going on a date," Walter enlightened happily. "I have some things I would like to talk to you about."

I looked at Justin, and I glared at him when he looked at me. It almost seemed like he was about to tell us he knew where their father was. And if that's what he was about to say. He better fucking tell me where he lives because I'd like to pay him a brief visit.

Hope the chapter was okay!🤞🤞🤞🤞