Page 11 of It's Never Not Been You

Walking into the lobby of House Marketing, Troy was all grins as we approached the receptionist, and I was regretting letting him come with every step. Yeah, he’d made a good point about having legal representation in case I went off the rails, but still. Caspian was also all smiles, admittedly coming along just to watch the fireworks.

They were both assholes.

When we reached the reception desk, I said, “Hello. I’m Raddix McKay, and I have an appointment with Brooke Singer at three.”

After giving me a professional smile, she started clacking away on her computer, and when she found my appointment, she looked back up at us and said, “Yes, let me phone her to let her know that you’re here.”

As she went to inform Brooke that we’d arrived for our appointment, Troy muttered, “I still think ambushing her at work is a bad idea.”

“Noted,” I muttered back.

“She’s not being ambushed,” Caspian argued. “There’s no way that Madison has forgotten who owns McKay Engineering.”

“That still doesn’t mean that Raddix didn’t ambush her with this meeting,” Troy countered.

“It was this or show up at her door, and no one thought that showing up at her door was a good idea,” I reminded them.

“Yeah, I can’t see Mom and Dad happy to see you in jail,” Caspian snorted.

Being as close to our parents as we were, they knew what was going on. They knew that Madison was back in town, that she was living with some guy, and that I was losing my rabid ass mind with each passing day. Glad that I hadn’t lost myself at the bottom of a bottle, I knew that they were worried about me, but this wasn’t like when Madison had left me. I’d done my best to explain that to them, but they were parents, so they were always going to worry.

Before I could tell them both to shut up, Brooke Singer was walking towards us, a huge smile on her face. “Mr. McKay,” she greeted, shaking my hand as soon as she was close enough. “It’s so good to finally meet you.”

I smiled back. “Hello, Ms. Singer.” I gestured towards the two idiots with me. “I’d like you to meet Caspian McKay and Troy Bentley.” As they shook hands, I added, “Caspian is McKay Engineering’s CFO, and Troy is our head legal counsel.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” she replied professionally. “If you will follow me, we are all set up for you in Conference Room C.”

With each step, I could feel my heart threatening to beat out of my chest. I had no idea how I was going to be able to keep it together, and I was going to have to thank Troy for his insight later. It actually wasn’t a bad idea to have an attorney here with me, because I could see things getting really ugly really quickly if Madison pushed me.

As soon as we entered the conference room, it was to Madison and another executive sitting at the table, and my first thought was that he was sitting too close to her. My second thought was how fucking beautiful she looked. Her dark brown hair was thrown up in a professional hairstyle, her large brown eyes still reminded me of Bambi, and that fucking face of hers was still as perfect-looking as ever. With minimal amount of makeup on, she still had those brows arched with attitude, long lashes adorning her eyes, a pert nose, full lips, and rosy cheeks that turned spotty in the cold. She was sitting down, but heels would only add a couple of inches to her five-foot-three frame.

As for her body, Madison had always had the ideal frame on her. Ever since puberty had hit us all, she’d always had a flawless figure. Her tits were a perfect handful, her waist slim, and her hips wide enough to give her a subtle hourglass figure, though nothing exaggerated. Madison was all natural, and I hadn’t ever heard her complain about what she’d been blessed with.

“Mr. McKay, Mr. McKay, and Mr. Bentley, allow me to introduce Madison Amber and Ashford Simpson,” Brooke said, making the introductions. “Madison just started with House Marketing, and Ashford has been with us for about three years.” Gesturing towards the seats on the opposite side of Madison and Ashford, she added. “Please, have a seat.”

As we pulled out our chairs, I noticed that Madison refused to look at me as Ashford reached over the table to shake our hands. Madison hadn’t bothered, but I knew that Brooke wouldn’t think anything of it. Though uncommon, it was acceptable if a woman didn’t shake a man’s hand upon introductions. Men were not allowed to touch a woman without her express permission, so if it wasn’t given, then that was that. In a perfect world, that distinction wouldn’t need to be made, but we didn’t live in a perfect world.

“Now, as McKay Engineering has its fingers in a lot of pies, what can we help you with specifically?” Brooke asked, getting down to business.

When I didn’t speak up immediately, Caspian answered for me. “We have a new subsidiary that we’re planning to announce in a couple of months, and we’d like to do it with a fresh look. While it will be every bit a part of McKay Engineering, we want an independent look for it.”

“Oh, great,” Brooke beamed. “A new brand, so to speak.”

Caspian nodded. “Yes, a new brand.”

“May I ask what the business is?” Ashford asked.

“It’s a venture to help animals in crisis,” I answered, looking directly at Madison, noticing how her fingers were tightening around her pen.

“Animals in crisis?” Ashford echoed, looking for clarification.

“Now that McKay Engineering is out of its infancy, we’re looking forward to giving back to the city of Fidelity,” I replied. “Helping animals is on that list.”

“Oh, this is perfect,” Brooke gushed. “Madison loves animals.” She looked over at the woman in question. “Don’t you, Madison?”

Doing her best to remain professional, Madison smiled at her. “Yes, I do.”

When Madison finally looked my way, it was to shoot daggers at me. She was pissed, and I didn’t blame her. Though the project was very real and had come into the works way before Madison had returned, we both knew why I had chosen that particular venture. When we’d been eighteen, buying our first lotto tickets together, Madison had mentioned using all her millions to save all the animals that needed to be saved, because people were ungrateful where animals weren’t. Well, now I had fucking millions, and I was going to save all of Madison’s animals if I could.

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