Forever My Home (The Aster Lake Series Book 1) Read online

  “You would do that.”

  “Damn straight.”

  I reached for her hand. “I’m sorry, Madi.”

  She pulled her hand away, turned to me, and put her hands on my shoulders. “Are you still going through your midlife crisis?”

  “A little. I’m trying to shake it off, move on and what not.”

  She let go of my shoulders and stood back up on her stool. “Rocco!”

  He glanced down at us with a grin, said something to his customers, and then headed our way.

  “He’s handsome Madi, and funny. You should give him a chance.”

  “Hah!”

  “You’ve already kissed him.”

  “It was like kissing my brother.”

  “But you grabbed his ass.”

  She hit my leg. “Shut up he’s coming.”

  Rocco leaned on his elbows bringing his dark green eyes closer to us. “Hello my beautifuls.”

  “We need more Tequila.”

  He kept his eyes on Madi. “You have a ride home?”

  “Don’t ask stupid questions, Rocco.”

  “You could put Adalyn in a cab, and come back to my place.”

  “Tempting,” Madi said like she was bored out of her mind, and tried to repress the smile that was begging to break across her lips.

  “You know where I live.”

  “Yes. I know.”

  “Where?” I interrupted. “Where do you live?”

  He pushed off the bar. “Upstairs.”

  He left to get the bottle of Tequila and Madi watched him walk away.

  “So are you?” I asked.

  “Not sure.” She turned her attention back to me. “Tonight’s about you anyway.”

  A few shots later and I was definitely drunk, trying not to fall over while dancing. The music was much louder now, and the bar was packed full of people. The air was foggy because The Can still allowed smoking, but the mixture of smoke, perfume, cologne, and alcohol was turning my stomach. I was having fun, laughing and singing to songs with Madi. No one really paid us much attention anyway.

  Rocco put our purses behind the bar and introduced me to another bartender named Sarah, who happened to be his older cousin. She couldn’t be much older because she looked like she was in her twenties. She had long blonde hair, and green eyes just like Rocco. She seemed nice, and was very pretty. The customers loved her, I could tell by how full her tip jar was. On the other hand, her tits were hanging out, so maybe that added to her overflowing jar of bills.

  “Water!” Madi yelled and at the same time pointed towards the bar. We started to make our way through the thick crowd but didn’t get very far. A guy in a green shirt pushed someone, and he fell back into me. He lifted his arm, I’m assuming to hit the guy in the green shirt, but when his arm came back, his elbow made contact with my face. I don’t even remember falling.

  Chapter 7

  Archer had a few days off to spend time with Bailey, Scott insisted on it, and they were adjusting to their new life but there were still cases that needed his attention. They had made several visits to the station already that week. Bailey loved going to the police station and meeting everyone; she took a liking to Margie, who was the receptionist at the front desk. Margie knew everything there was to know about the station, since she has worked there since her high school days. She was in her fifties, but didn’t necessarily look her age. She did have an afro, not a huge one because her hair was short, but it was her signature style. They’d only been there for about an hour and Archer was finished with his paperwork. He tried to leave but he didn’t get very far.

  “Archer,” Margie said as he passed the front desk. He did not want to stop; he wanted to continue as if he never heard her. He knew it was important, and when he turned around, Bailey mirrored him, keeping their hands entwined. “We got a call from Rocco’s.”

  “Have James check it out,” he told her.

  “He’s on the other side of town and has someone pulled over. We’re only a mile away.”

  “I’m not even supposed to be here.”

  “But you are here.”

  “Yes I am here, but I have my daughter.”

  “It’s okay Daddy, you can go to work.” She let go of his hand, and an excited tone said, “I’ll stay with Margie!” She skipped over to the desk and Margie picked her up and set her on top of it. It was a large round desk, at least ten feet long and curved around in a circle. Her desk was a rich dark brown color and made of solid wood, nothing like the standard gray metal desks the officers and other staff had.

  “You better hurry,” Margie said. “Heard the girl got knocked out, bloody nose and all.”

  “You’re sending me to a cat fight?”

  “Nope, the Anderson girl just happened to be in the way.”

  “Adalyn?”

  “Yep, and if you take her to the clinic I’ll keep this little girl for the night,” she said as she placed her hand on Baileys head. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

  She twisted her head and told Margie, “I would love to see your house.” Margie and Bailey had formed some kind of a connection, but this would be the first night Archer would be without her and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

  “If it’s not too late, I’ll come pick her up,” he said turning and heading out the door. He jumped in his truck and headed to Rocco’s. Occasionally, a fight breaks out but there hasn’t been one in a few months, at least not any he’s had to respond to.

  He arrived at the bar a few minutes later. He walked in and saw Madi sitting on the floor holding Adalyn in her lap with a rag to her face. Archer had a hard time imaging the splotchy, bloodstained rag being its original white color. His hands grew into fists as he looked around to see if the dumbshit was still around. Most people had left and he saw Rocco rush out from behind the bar with another clean rag.

  “Sorry man, the guys took off and they weren’t from around here,” he said and Madi jumped in. “Thank God you’re here, she won’t wake up.” She had dried tearstains on her cheek and her hands were shaking, but she was doing a good job of holding the rag to Adalyn’s nose and keeping the pressure steady.

  Archer responded by kneeling down and scooping Adalyn in his arms.

  “Grab your shit,” he growled and headed out the door.

  Madi scrambled off the floor, then ran to the bar and grabbed their purses. Archer very carefully placed Adalyn in the back seat. Madi climbed in and put Adalyn’s head on her legs.

  “Call John, let him know we will meet him at the clinic,” Archer told her while he climbed in the truck and turned his police lights on.

  Dr. John White took calls anytime of the day, every day of the year. He lived in the house next to the clinic so he would be there immediately.

  “What happened?” Archer asked turning the corner. There was a lot of blood and he was afraid she might’ve broken her nose.

  “Some asshole pushed another asshole and when he went to punch him, his elbow got her in the face,” Madi faintly said through another round of tears. “She was standing right behind him.”

  “Do you know who they were?”

  “No. It happened so fast and we had been drinking.”

  “I’ll talk to Rocco again.” He parked the truck and turned it off. He jumped out and ran to Madi’s side. By the time he got Adalyn out of the truck, John was walking out of his white house, which matched the white clinic standing in front of him. Archer told him what happened as he opened the door and put her in an exam room.

  “Give me a few minutes to check her over and do some x-rays,” John told them. Archer wasn’t happy about it, but he went and sat in the hallway so the doctor could work. He had three exam rooms, all of which were tiny, and the hallways were just large enough that a wheel chair could roll through. Everything was white; the walls, the concrete floors, and even the damn chair cushions were white.

  “I begged her to have drinks with me. She was homesick and in a really bad mood; I just wanted us t
o have some fun.”

  “She’ll be fine Madi, but I’m pretty sure she broke her nose.” Archer had seen a few broken noses in his life and even suffered one himself when he was in the academy, because of Ian.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What for? You didn’t hit her.”

  “I know, but I feel like it’s my fault,” Madi insisted and Archer wasn’t sure anything could help her feel better.

  “Let’s just see what the doctor says.”

  Maddie nodded and Archer pulled his phone out. He sent a quick text to Margie letting her know he was at the clinic. Then he sent a text to Rocco and asked him to ask around to see if anyone knew who the men were. It was an accident, but still someone got hurt in the process. They should not have been fighting to begin with.

  The minutes ticked away and felt like hours before the doctor came back out. He asked to speak with Archer alone.

  “It’s a simple fracture and I was able to straighten it since the bleeding has stopped.”

  “No surgery?”

  “No Son, but she needs rest. I don’t know her health history, or if she has any allergies so I gave her a small shot of acetaminophen for the pain.”

  “She’s awake?”

  “Not yet. I think she may have suffered a small concussion. She can’t be alone; I need someone waking her up every few hours, just to make sure she wakes up. But just for the next twenty-four hours, then she should be fine. She’ll need to ice it to help with the pain and swelling. I’m afraid she’ll have a lot of bruising, it’s already starting.”

  “Can I see her?” Madi asked interrupting them from her chair.

  The doctor waved Madi into the room, while they stayed in the hallway. “How well do you know her, Archer?” John asked.

  “Not well.”

  “I’ve heard a few things going around town, not sure what’s true, but there’s something I know for sure.”

  His curiosity was piqued. He hadn’t heard anything from Ian since they last spoke.

  “What?”

  “She wears a blue contact.” John said.

  “And?”

  “The blue contact covers a green eye.”

  “People wear colored contacts all the time,” he told him and then wondered what she would look like with green eyes. He was sure no matter what color her eyes were she would be beautiful.

  “Do you know what Heterochromia Iridium is?”

  “No.”

  “She has one blue eye and one green eye. Those are her natural eye colors.”

  “Her eyes are blue.”

  “With her contacts they are.”

  How did Archer not know this? And why hasn’t Ian found this out already? This just added a hundred more questions to Archer’s list of Who is Adalyn Anderson.

  “Let’s keep this between us okay, John?”

  “Sure thing. I’ll give you a few minutes and then I’ll come check on her again.”

  The questions were starting to pile up. His confusion spiked. She really was running from somebody. She was hiding her natural eye color, trying to blend into a small town, and weary of everybody. The only logical explanation is that she’s running from an ex-boyfriend or ex-husband. It could be a domestic situation and could explain why she’s jumpy around him.

  “Madi,” he said entering the room. Adalyn was lying on the bed with her head propped up. He stood on the other side of the bed and looked Madi in the eyes.

  “You’re scaring me; what’s wrong with her, Archer?”

  “I need to know something and if you lie to me, I’ll know.”

  He watched Madi cross her arms on her chest “Why would I lie to you?”

  “Do you know about her contact?”

  Madi pursed her lips together and Archer knew immediately she did. She must also know that Archer now knew. “She didn’t tell me, Archer, it was an accident.”

  “What’d she say about it?”

  Madi looked at her, and so did Archer. The doctor taped her nose, setting it in place, and tried to clean up the blood on her face. Her eyes and cheeks were already swelling up.

  “She said people teased her so she started wearing the contact to hide it.”

  “When?”

  “Um, when she was a kid. Not sure what age. Why?”

  Archer only had eyes for Adalyn as he wondered what she looked like with two different eye colors. She had no one here but Madi, and she couldn’t be alone over the next twenty-four hours. Archer had a lot of shit going on in his life and she just made it more complicated. He wasn’t complaining though. He’s never had a woman in his bed. He also needed to have a very serious and grown up talk with his daughter. He realized the first day that he had her that she acted older then her age. He didn’t like the life she’d had or the way Shawna mistreated her.

  “She’s coming home with me,” Archer told her, ignoring her question.

  Madi snorted. “I figured that.”

  “My house. Not upstairs. She can’t be alone for the next twe-…um few days.”

  “Oh.” He noticed her smile even though she tried to hide it.

  “John’s worried she might have a small concussion.”

  “She got hit pretty hard,” Madi said softly holding Adalyn’s hand.

  “I’ll watch her; you get someone to help fill her shifts at the store.”

  “Sure, I’ll call Harry.”

  “Can someone give you a ride home?”

  “Um, yeah. My mom said she would but it’s too late now. I’ll just call Kellie for a ride.”

  Kellie was like a taxi service; whenever someone needed a ride home, Kellie would do it, no questions asked. She did it free of charge but people always tipped her. Sometimes she took people to the doctor or the store, but most times she was a designated driver, like tonight.

  “Why don’t you do that and I’ll get ahold of you in the morning.”

  “Are you sure? She could stay with me?”

  “You’ve been drinking and need to sleep that shit off. I got it handled.”

  “What about your daughter.”

  “She’s staying at Margie’s tonight.”

  “Oh, that’s nice of her.” Madi turned around and grabbed her purse. “This is her purse, cell phone is inside.”

  Archer nodded while glancing at her purse.

  “She’ll be okay?”

  “Yeah, just busted up for a few weeks.”

  Madi stopped by his side and peered up into his eyes. “Please go easy on her. She said she was having some kid of midlife crisis and needed a break. That’s why she moved here. Now she’s homesick and won’t go home. She’s different Archer, and I’m worried about her.”

  “She’ll be fine, thanks for the info.”

  “Oh,” she said turning around, “don’t tell her I told you. She’d kill me or make me date Rocco, and I’m not sure which would be worse.”

  Archer wasn’t sure what that was all about, and a few minutes later Adalyn started to stir. She was mumbling something that made no sense, but he found it cute and adorable.

  “Here are her prescriptions,” John said coming back into the room, noticing Adalyn’s mumbling. “That’s good.”

  “It is.”

  “Ask her about allergies tomorrow and get back to me. You sure you got this?” John asked handing him the papers, which he folded and tucked into the back pocket of his jeans.

  “Can I take her home?”

  “Yes, remember to keep her head up on a few pillows, no other medicine than what I prescribed, ice, and…”

  “Got it, Doc.” He slid a hand under her legs and one behind her neck, and pulled her up into his arms. He held her like she was a newborn baby and got her home safely.

  Chapter 8

  Archer slept with his alarm clock going off every four hours. He would gently touch Adalyn’s shoulder and say her name. She’d stir and mumble incoherently to herself, but she was still out of it. However, it was enough to let Archer know that she was okay. He wasn’t sure how
she was going to react to the situation when she was truly awake. A smile broke out on his face when he thought about it. She wasn’t going to be very happy, but like the doctor said, she needed someone to look out for her. Archer was the type of person to react first and deal with the consequences later.

  Archer sat up in bed and glanced over at Adalyn one more time. She wasn’t allowed to wear her contact and he knew this was going to be a problem for her. She wasn’t going to be able to work or leave the house unless she wore sunglasses all day. He understood if she was hiding from somebody that she needed to look different, but her eyes were too swollen and bruised to wear the contact. To make matters worse, and possibly piss her off further, the doctor lost it. He stood from the bed, walked across the hardwood floors of his room, and entered his private bathroom. He was picking up Bailey soon and he needed to have a conversation with her about Adalyn. It might be awkward, but it had to be done.

  Adalyn and Bailey were both staying.

  He showered, wore his standard jeans and t-shirt, tossed his police hat on over his wet hair, and left to get Bailey. Margie lived on the other side of town so it would take at least ten minutes to get to her place. He had no doubt that Margie fed her, so he grabbed a quick sandwich from the gas station and ate on his way.

  Archer texted Margie when he was on his way, so by the time he pulled into the driveway, Bailey was already standing on the front porch waiting for him. Her excitement to see him rolled off her in waves as she waved vigorously at him, jumping up and down, as he pulled up and turned the truck off. She was wearing the same clothes as the day before, a pair of jean shorts and a pink tank top. She needed a bath and new set of clothes as soon as they got home.

  “Daddy!” she squealed again as soon as Archer picked her up.

  “You ready sweetheart?”

  “Yes,” she whispered into his ear.

  Margie came outside the front screen door. “She can stay anytime she’d like. Got good manners that one. I let her sleep in a t-shirt and washed her clothes last night.”

  Archer dipped his chin to her. “Thanks.”

  “Like I said…any time.”

  Archer turned to leave and Margie asked, “How’s the girl? Heard she got knocked around pretty bad.”