Page 14 of It's Never Not Been You

“What are you doing here?” she asked as soon as she approached me, making sure to keep her voice low.

“My number is still blocked,” I informed her, though I still probably would have shown up anyways. “So are Caspian’s and Troy’s.” I knew this because I’d had them try to call her, too.

“Since Caspian and Troy are working with Brooke and Ashford, I didn’t see the need to unblock them,” she shot back. “As for you, what’s the point of unblocking your number until I have some ideas to present?”

“Don’t play with me, Madison,” I warned her. “You know damn well why I want you to unblock my phone number.”

Ignoring that, she hissed, “This is my job, Raddix.” I nearly grabbed her at hearing my name on her lips after so many months. “I get that paying your bills might not be an issue for you anymore, but for the rest of us, we need our jobs to survive.”

“If you think that I give one fuck about my money, then you’re very mistaken,” I hissed back. “You have no idea what it took to make McKay Engineering what it is today, though I should probably thank you for that.”

Madison looked positively feral when she said, “Don’t you dare play the victim.” Her whiskey-colored eyes darted around quickly, making sure that we weren’t causing a scene. “You can play the part in front of whoever else you want to, but not me.”

It was taking everything in me not to grab her, hauling her to some place more private. “No one knows better than me how I’m the one that fucked up, Madison.”

Her dark eyes flared. “Then do the right thing and leave me the hell alone, Raddix.”

I stepped to her, not caring about the people coming and going in the lobby. “Never.”

“Don’t make me leave again,” she threatened.

“I didn’t make you leave the first time,” I pointed out. “Pure cowardice is the culprit for that.”

She looked like she wanted to slap me. “No,” she practically snarled. “Self-preservation is the reason behind why I left.” Madison was looking at me with so much hurt and hate in her gaze that it was threatening to drive me to my knees. “Finding out that the man I had agreed to marry didn’t really want to marry me will do that to a girl.”

I could feel my molars grinding down to nothing. “That’s not what happened,” I snapped, the truth much more complicated.

Madison let out a shaky breath as she smoothed her hands down the front of her skirt. “Look, I didn’t come back to Fidelity for this, Raddix,” she said, shredding what was left of my heart. “I didn’t come back for you. I didn’t come back to work things out with you or find closure.” Her eyes looked like she meant every word that was coming out of her mouth. “I came back because I was tired of missing my family. I came back because I wasn’t going to let the mistake of dating you define the rest of my life.”

I could feel anger, regret, and fear clawing their way at my throat. Madison sounded like she was done with me, and it had me rethinking Pierce Edleman. Could I have been wrong? Was she really dating him? Were they living together because things were that serious between them? Did she come back to Fidelity because she felt stronger with him?

I felt like I was about to lose my goddamn mind.

Worse than when she’d left me a year ago.

“You’re going to stand there and call fifteen years a mistake because you refused to hear me out?” I accused. “Seriously, Madison? You’re going to look me in the eye and call our entire relationship a mistake?”

“That’s what divorce is, Raddix,” she replied. “When one or both parties finally realized that their relationship is a mistake.” I could feel my lungs seize. “Luckily for us, we realized it before the wedding.”

“Madison? Mr. McKay?” We both turned to see Brooke walking our way, presumably coming back from lunch, a genuine look of concern on her face. “Is everything okay?”

Doing my best to ignore the volatile emotions threatening to make things worse, I said, “I was just apologizing to Madison about my upcoming schedule.”

“Oh.”

“A couple of things came up that I can’t rearrange, so I was hoping that Madison was open to a business dinner tonight,” I lied. “If not, then I’m not sure when I’ll be able to reach out again. I don’t want to impose on her weekends.”

Brooke looked wary, but we all knew that she couldn’t deny me this request if she wanted to keep McKay Engineering’s business. Had Madison worked for House Marketing longer than a couple of weeks, Brooke’s loyalty might have lied with her, but I knew better, and so did Madison.

“Well, House Marketing understands the value of working with our clients during difficult times,” she remarked professionally. “We do our best to accommodate the needs of our clients when possible.”

“Great,” I replied. “I’ll send over the time and place of the meeting.” Ignoring Madison, I reached out to shake Brooke’s hand. “McKay Engineering will also be picking up the expense since this is on us.”

Brooke gave me a tentative smile as she shook my hand. “That’s much appreciated, Mr. McKay.”

Dropping Brooke’s hand, I turned to face the furious brunette next to me. “You have my number should something come up and you can’t make it,” I told Madison, daring her to cancel on me.

“Of course,” she clipped out, doing her best to rein in her temper.

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