Page 10 of It's Never Not Been You

His head tilted to the side a bit. “I’m not the enemy, Maddie.”

My heart skipped at the familiar nickname. “Neither am I,” I reminded him.

“Well, I guess that depends on what your relationship with Pierce Edleman is,” he said, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “While no one would blame you for moving on, bringing another man back here with you probably wasn’t the wisest thing that you could have done.”

“How do you know about Pierce?” I asked, though it wasn’t hard to guess how he knew.

“C’mon, Maddie,” he drawled out condescendingly. “Everyone knows that you’re back.”

By ‘everyone’, he meant Raddix.

“Well, it’s no one’s business what I have going on in my life,” I informed him. “So, I don’t owe anyone an explanation about Pierce.”

Caspian stepped to me, and I wasn’t used to him looking so serious. Growing up, Caspian had always been the wild, easygoing, fun brother. Raddix had been the serious one, but the eldest siblings usually were. Troy had always been a combination of both, so when he had come onto the scene, it’d made sense that they’d all get along.

“Madison, I’m telling you this as a friend,” he started, making my back straightened at the gravity in his voice. “If you think that Raddix isn’t coming after you, then you never knew him at all.” My heart thumped painfully in my chest. “And if you think that he’s going to let a man-any man-stand in his way, then you’re really deluding yourself.”

“Your brother didn’t want to marry me,” I reminded him, not being able to say his name just yet.

Caspian shook his head. “That’s a conversation that needs to be had with him,” he said. “I’m not about to speak for him.”

“That’s a conversation that doesn’t need to be had at all,” I fired back. “It’s been a year.”

The gorgeous man’s head tilted a bit as a sexy smirk decorated his face. “How could you have been with Raddix for fifteen years and still know nothing about him?”

“A question I asked myself a lot after leaving the church that day,” I remarked.

“Like I said, that’s a conversation that needs to happen with him,” Caspian repeated. “However, if I were you, I’d warn Pierce Edleman that he might have bitten off more than he can chew coming here with you.” Caspian’s blue eyes regarded me sternly. “My brother is not the same person that he was a year ago, Madison. You have no idea what you leaving has done to him.”

My brows rose. “Oh, so he’s the victim in this?”

Caspian smirked again. “Not at all.” He rocked back on his heels a bit. “Let’s just say that Rad is very determined to take responsibility for his mistakes.”

“I’m not interested in his other mistakes,” I spat, my jealousy shining through, even though I had no right to be jealous of what Raddix had been up to this past year. After all, I was the one that left him.

The smile that graced Caspian’s face was wide enough to make me want to smack him. “Oh, Maddie, Maddie, Maddie,” he sing-songed. “If you only knew.”

Before I could ask him what he meant, Caspian was going about his business, leaving me standing next to the laptops, wishing that I had stayed in Coralship. If I was reacting this way to seeing Caspian McKay, then I’d only been fooling myself when I had convinced myself that I was strong enough to come back here.

I also hated the idea that I might have put Pierce in an awkward position by our living arrangements. Yeah, I had no doubt that Pierce could handle himself, but he didn’t need that kind of drama when he was still nursing a broken heart. Honestly, it hadn’t ever occurred to me that Raddix would care what I did almost a year later. Raddix McKay was the ultimate man, and I couldn’t see him lacking for female companionship, so why care about Pierce?

Pulling out my phone, I called my sister. Since she hadn’t gone anywhere, and worked at a salon, if anyone had gossip on Raddix, it’d be her.

When she answered, I asked, “Have you heard of Raddix dating anyone?” I couldn’t believe how much it hurt to say his name, but I needed to know.

There was a second of silence before she said, “The only rumors about Raddix are that he worked nearly around the clock to build McKay Engineering to what it is today. I’ve never heard of him dating anyone.” I could feel my stomach drop to my feet. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I’m coming over,” I told her, knowing that this wasn’t an over-the-phone type of conversation.

“I’ll get the wine out,” she replied perceptively.

Chapter 7

Raddix~

After Caspian had called me to tell me about his run-in with Madison, I’d been left with no choice but to make my move already. Our fight was long overdue, and I was ready and even eager to finally have it out with her after all this time. Yeah, I’d been the one to mess up, but after almost fifteen years together, she should have given me the chance to explain myself. Madison had deserved an explanation, and I had deserved to be able to give her one.

So, after speaking with Caspian, I’d ended up calling House Marketing to set up an appointment for some new advertisement. When Brooke Singer had taken my call, she’d been more than willing to rearrange her calendar to make the meeting happen. Not aware of my history with Madison, Brooke hadn’t asked any questions when I’d told her that I’d like to work with new blood, and she had specifically named Madison as one of her new executives.

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