Always My Home (The Aster Lake Series Book 2)

by Alora Kate

  They made their way around the side of the house and walked up the steps and stopped on the porch.

  “Then why doesn’t she believe you?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “You’re not trying hard enough.”

  Her comment offended him; considering the progress he had made, even if it was just a little. Madi was stubborn. And in denial.

  Adalyn reached into her pocket and pulled her phone out. It was vibrating and she flashed the screen at him, showing him it was Madi. She swiped her finger across the phone and put it up to her ear before a grin spread across her face.

  “Hey, Madi,” she greeted before she shoved the phone towards Rocco, who took it. Adalyn mouthed, “You’re welcome,” then rushed into the house.

  He put the phone to his ear and Madi was still talking.

  “It’s just insane and I know my pieces aren’t going to cut it, but the best part of it all was the confession booth. It was a car! Can you believe that? We sit in the driver’s seat and talk into the camera that’s right in front of our face. It’s an old junker but it’s a pretty cool idea since we’re playing in the junk yard all day.”

  Rocco smiled and continued to listen to her sweet soft voice. She was happy and talked so fast Rocco couldn’t butt in if he wanted to.

  “Oh and Isaac. He’s a contestant and thinks there’s this hidden twist in the game just because we sat next to each other on the van. I think it’s ridiculous, but he’s not bad to look at and he likes my ass.”

  Rocco gripped the phone and grunted.

  “Adalyn?”

  “Hey, Madi,” he growled.

  “Rocco?” she whispered. “Why do you have Adalyn’s phone?”

  “I’ll get her for you.”

  He dropped his hand but he still heard her yelling his name. He ignored her, walked into the house, and found Adalyn in the kitchen. Her smiled died as she took the phone from him and he rushed out of the house without saying goodbye.

  Chapter 4

  “He’s sooooooooo mad at me,” I told them for the hundredth time. Sam and Steph met up with me for dinner but I wasn’t hungry so I drank instead. Tequila. Way too much fucking tequila. But I deserved it. I’m a bitch.

  Shit, tomorrow was going to be awful.

  “It was a misunderstanding, Madi,” Sam said.

  “After you explain that in no way are you into Isaac, he’ll understand,” Steph explained.

  I started banging my head lightly on the table. “He won’t talk to me.”

  “It’s only been a few hours,” Sam reminded me. “You’ll be fine.”

  “I like Isaac, he’s nice and sweet in a weird confusing way, but I…” I felt a tear slip out and down my cheek. I slowly lifted my head up. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Why?” Sam asked scooting next to me and at the same time slipping an arm around me. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I’m so confused,” I admitted.

  “And drunk,” Steph added with a small smile.

  I stuck my tongue out at her then dropped my head into my arms and started sobbing. My life was a mess. What the hell was I doing here? I should have stayed home. I’ve been gone only a few days and I’m falling apart.

  “Let’s get you home,” one of them said and I felt someone rub my back. “Come on, pretty pants. Get up.”

  I brushed my hair off my wet cheeks. “I don’t wear pants,” I informed them again, standing tall on my own two feet. I stumbled but they both had an arm, preventing me from falling. I needed my bed. Not the hard bed with the constant noise keeping me awake in my tiny, temporary apartment; no, I needed my bed, my beautiful comfortable bed in Aster Lake. In the home I owned, where I was safe. And comfortable.

  “Two blocks honey,” one of them said.

  “You got this,” the other one encouraged.

  My stomach coiled. “I don’t feel good.”

  “Breathe the fresh air.” I heard. “Breathe in through your mouth and out your nose.”

  I focused on that and knew I had to try to call Rocco again. Explain to him that I was just telling a story to Adalyn, not to him. And why did he have her phone? He was at her house again?

  I missed him.

  Oh God, I missed Rocco.

  Shit, I’m going to be sick.

  “We have to take the elevator.”

  “No, she’ll puke everywhere.”

  I could barely keep my eyes open. I wasn’t sure if I was sitting or standing, and had to put my faith into my two new friends to get me home safely.

  I felt light on my feet, almost as if I was floating in the air when I heard a voice say, “I’ve got this.”

  I knew that voice. I was mad at that voice. It was all this voice’s fault!

  “Leave me alone,” I muttered. I tried to move but nothing happened.

  “You can’t just take her!”

  “We’re on the same floor.”

  “We’re going with you.” This time I knew it was Sam. “I’ve got her keys anyway.”

  “I’m her friend.” I felt his chest vibrate when he spoke, the thump of his heart beat echoing in my ear.

  “Isaac?”

  “Yeah,” he said much softer.

  “Oh my God!” Sam squealed.

  There was a pause and I heard the ding of the elevator door. I wasn’t sure if we were going up or had already been in the elevator.

  “I’m tired,” I whispered.

  “Almost there,” he soothed.

  “I’ve got the door.”

  “Grab her shoes.”

  “I can take care of her, ladies.”

  “We’re not leaving her alone with you!” That was Sam again. “We don’t know you.”

  “We’re on a TV show together and I live next door.”

  He lived next door!

  “I’m gonna be sick!” I slapped my hand over my mouth while they guided me to the toilet.

  “Get these damn shoes off of her!”

  “Hold her hair.”

  The next thing I remembered was waking up next to a large warm body. I was comfortable as I breathed in the soft scent of cool mint and snuggled closer. My head was pounding and I knew the alarm clock would be going off soon, but I wanted to savor this moment with Rocco. I wasn’t sure why I was so adamant on not letting him spend the night.

  “Madi.” A deep voice hummed and vibrated against my body. One that didn’t belong to Rocco.

  I scurried away, fell off the bed in the process, and found myself clinging to the wall. “What the hell?” I gasped and the worse possible idea came to mind, I’d slept with him! I’d slept with him and didn’t even remember!

  Not good, Madi, not good.

  He sat up in bed, fully clothed, dropping both feet to the floor. He must have put his clothes back on. Who does that?

  “How do you feel?” he asked making eye contact.

  “I feel violated.”

  “Why would you feel that way?” he spat back.

  I pointed at the bed. “Did we?”

  He stood. “Are you serious right now?”

  “I just…”

  He stepped towards me slowly and put his hands in his pockets. His jaw was tense and I could tell he might be a tad frustrated with me. “I saw you in the reception area last night. Clearly, you were wasted and your girlfriends were trying to get you upstairs.”

  “Oh,” I said softly, a blush creeping up my neck. Now I understood why he was frustrated. He had to take care of the drunk girl.

  “You puked. Your girls changed your clothes while I was in the other room.”

  “That was nice of them,” I muttered.

  He continued, not even acknowledging me, “Your girls gave you some pills before they left to help ward off the hangover.”

  “Right,” I mumbled and relaxed, letting the wall hold me up. I didn’t feel sick, but my head was pounding.

  He lowered his voice and said, “I’d never take advantage of a woman. Never. So again, Madi, I ask, how do you
feel?”

  I shrugged a shoulder feeling awful. Awful for thinking Isaac was that kind of man. I hardly knew him, but I knew he’d never take advantage of me.

  But I woke up in bed with a man. Something I haven’t done since Landon. Even though we didn’t do anything, I had used him for a pillow and I enjoyed it. I didn’t think I would.

  Rocco’s been begging me to stay the night but I won’t. I had no reason other than we were just friends with benefits. It made sense to me, plus I was a bed hog. And a light sleeper. I could barely deal with Landon in my bed. He didn’t snore but just hearing him breathe bothered me, so I always had the fan on high even in the dead of winter. It was the only way I could sleep.

  “I guess I’m okay,” I finally said.

  “You only puked a few times,” he commented.

  “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” I pushed off the wall. “I need to pee,” I said passing him.

  “The van will be here in about an hour,” he said behind me.

  I shut the door and stared at the train wreck that was my reflection. My mascara had run down my face, and dark purple eye shadow was smudged all over my eyes. My curly hair was fuzzy and sticking out everywhere. It was horrible and I had no time to fuss. I’d have to kick myself in the ass later because I had to make myself look camera-ready. Today was our first elimination.

  Right, I have an hour to make this presentable.

  I showered as quickly as I could, pinned my hair up while it was wet, and put on minimal makeup.

  I had no clean clothes with me so I poked my head out of the bathroom and yelled for Isaac. Not hearing him I slipped out, dressed in a hurry, and grabbed my purse and phone. The battery was dead so I ran back into my room for the charger.

  I ran out the front reception doors just as the vans pulled up. Everyone sat in the same seat as the first day, which meant I was sitting by Isaac. He didn’t say anything and I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

  “Thank you,” I said lightly and glanced his way.

  “Yeah,” he returned but kept staring out the window.

  “I’m sorry for what I thought happened between us.”

  “It’s fine.”

  I thought about yesterday and the fact that we hadn’t talked since then. He ignored me on the ride home and we went our separate ways after getting off the van. I upset him and I wasn’t sure why. But then he took care of me last night so I guess he wasn’t that upset.

  I was confused.

  “I’d apologize for yesterday, but I’m not sure what I did to upset you.”

  “Its fine,” he said again looking out the window, still refusing to look at me.

  No one on the van talked the rest of the way there. We had to finish our frames and wait to be judged.

  I popped a few more pills before we arrived to keep my headache from progressing. I felt better than I should. Normally that much tequila would have ruined me for days.

  I went through the motions, standing where I was told and eventually got to my container. I plugged my phone in and waited a few minutes to turn it on.

  I never explained to Adalyn what happened. I chickened out and blew it off.

  Sixteen messages from Adalyn. Sixteen missed calls from Adalyn. Two messages from Sam and Steph asking me to text them when I woke up.

  My heart sank; nothing from Rocco.

  I closed my eyes and pressed my hand to head, not knowing what to do. Texting something would just be lame, I needed to call him as soon as we were done today. We only had a few hours to finish our pieces and place them at the back of the container. The judges had up to three hours to do their thing and then we’d film the judging and be done for the day. Unless I was eliminated, then I’d be going to the airport.

  Time passed slowly once I got my pieces finalized. They were all circular, no surprise there, and nothing special but it’s all I could come up. I made use of the records and one of the car parts. The car part was exactly what I had thought about the first time around. I cleaned it up and bolted a small CD to the back of it so it could hang on the wall and called it good. The other three frames were made from the large records. I cut a hole in the middle of one of them, a square in the middle of the second one and then a triangle in the middle of the third one. One of them also had a piece of red leather on it. I did it because I hoped that Isaac would laugh about it.

  Technically they were all different. And boring. But I prayed it was enough to get me through this round. I’d do better in the next challenge as long as we kept our own wagons.

  We all waited in the cafeteria while our pieces were being judged. I nibbled on some vegetables, which satisfied my belly and calmed my nerves. I was sitting by myself, while most everyone was talking in a group. A few people looked extremely nervous and normally I’d look like that as well, but I had way too many things going on in my head, plus I was still hungover.

  I wanted Isaac to talk to me.

  I wanted to sleep.

  I wanted to call Rocco.

  A small part of me wanted to go home.

  I don’t think I’d be upset if I was kicked off the show tonight. I could go home and get back to my job. Teach another class about picture frames with real supplies, not junk. I’d hang out with Adalyn as much as possible so I watch her belly grow and help with the kids.

  “Attention!” I heard the high pitch voice bounce around the room and I rolled my eyes. “Follow me.” She spun around fast enough to make her ugly gray dress twirl. We all followed through the back door and behind a set of the containers; the side mine was on. The warehouse was much larger than I thought. There was a small stage where the judges sat, three of them against the far back wall. All of our pieces were out on display in front of them. Six in each row from what I could tell.

  We were instructed to line up on the strips in front, all colored to match us. I could feel Isaac’s eyes on me as he stood behind me, but I kept my eyes trained to the hosts in front of us. They explained what would happen and I braced for the cameras to start rolling. The judges talked about all the pieces and asked us a few questions. As soon as I saw Isaac’s pieces, I knew right away that he’d be a favorite. I’m not sure how he managed to make them look delicate and new, but he did. He cut the shiny flat pieces I had found into strips to make two small frames and put some kind of wire mesh around the outside. It almost looked like tiny metal vines growing from the picture frame. The other two matched but didn’t match. The wire mesh design was formed into a square. That’s all it was. Simple. Unique. Shiny. His frames looked like something you would buy from that fancy Pier One store.

  “CUT!”

  I could feel Isaac right behind me and his lips were at my ear. “Nice job.”

  I turned my chin slightly to his but stopped. Any further and our mouths would be right in front of each other. “Yours are beautiful.”

  He grinned, I swallowed the lump in my throat, and he leaned back into his spot.

  Matt was talking to Nicole and I saw Jane and Bobby behind us sitting in chairs. They were both on their iPads not paying attention to what was going on.

  “Alright everyone, it’s time for the winners announcement,” Matt informed us as he walked by. Nicole and Cole got in their spots again and the three judges remained seated. They were the same three judges from last season. Two men, one woman. The two men were older, and the woman was younger and from design magazine I hadn’t heard of.

  Cole talked first, telling us all how we did a great job, blah, blah, blah, and then Nicole finally opened up the envelope she had clenched in her hands.

  “Isaac,” she smirked, like it wasn’t a surprise to her, “congratulations.”

  Everyone started clapping and I could feel his excitement radiating into my back. I was happy for Isaac and a little disappointed to find out my scores were so low. I was third from the bottom, but at least I wasn’t eliminated. I hated feeling this way. I’d have to do better next time.

  Cole got everyone to settle down to give u
s more news.

  “This round we have a surprise immunity.”

  He paused for a dramatic effect and I could hear the other contestants muttering to themselves.

  “This is the one and only time we are offering immunity. Since Isaac won, based on the contents of his wagon…Madi wins immunity for the next challenge. Madi, if you have the lowest score on the next challenge you won’t be eliminated, however the person with the second lowest score will be eliminated.”

  Holy shit!

  All cameras were zoomed on me. I just stood there with wide eyes and I’m sure a horrible look on my face. My poor heart was racing so fast it felt tight against my chest, and I held my hands together digging my fingers into my palms to try and keep myself from passing out.

  “Congrats, Madi,” Cole said.

  “Kind of ironic considering they also sat on the van together,” Nicole said sarcastically.

  What a bitch!

  “CUT!”

  I turned around and saw Matt giving Nicole the finger. Not the middle finger but the one that said, Come here right now. She stomped away and Matt yelled, “Cole, pick up where we left off. Without Nicole.”

  Cole finished by announcing the eliminated player. One of the guys from the other van received the lowest score from the judges. Everyone was silent as he nodded his head and shuffled out of the warehouse. When it was all said and done, I turned around and threw myself at Isaac. “Thank you,” I whispered into his ear and then quickly let go.

  He was grinning, but not because he had won the challenge. “I won the bet.”

  “What bet?” I asked as we started walking out of the room and towards our container. I needed to get my purse and phone. Even though I wasn’t allowed to discuss the show, I didn’t care. I had to tell my best friend.

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  “Didn’t it have something to do with the seat on the van?”

  “Yeah, didn’t you hear Nicole’s comment?”

  “You mean her rude ass comment.”

  “Yeah, she seemed upset by it,” he said holding the door that led us to our workstation open for me. “Weird.”

  “It had nothing to do with the van. It was the wagon, you heard them.”