Page 3 of It's Never Not Been You

“Since River had made it sound like Madison was back, Bernie looked up housing and employment records for her, and he’d been able to find out that she got a job working for House Marketing right here in the city of Fidelity.”

I could feel my hands clench and unclench. “She’s back,” I murmured, still not ready to believe that Madison could really be back in town.

“Raddix, there’s more,” he said, and he looked like he would rather slit his own throat than utter his next words, which wasn’t good.

“Just tell me, Casp. Rip the fucking bandage off already,” I told him.

“It looks like she didn’t come back to Fidelity alone,” he said, stealing the breath from my lungs again. “She’s living on Del Cedar, and she’s not living there alone.”

I started shaking my head. “No,” I bit out. “There’s no way that Madison has moved on.” I could feel my fists turning bloodless. “I don’t believe it.”

“Bernie has pictures, Rad,” Caspian announced, slicing me right down the middle of my chest. “He showed them to me, and…well, they were pictures of them moving into their condo, but they looked friendly and intimate together.”

“Intimate?”

Caspian shrugged a shoulder. “There are some pictures of the guy with his arm around her shoulders and a couple of him kissing her on the head,” he informed me. “Stuff like that.”

With my legs no longer able to work, I sat back down in my chair, my arms on the desk. While I could read between the lines of what my brother was telling me, I still refused to believe that Madison had moved on with someone else. Even as mad and hurt as she’d been on that horrible fucking day, the love between Madison and I had been created to stand the test of time. There was no way that she didn’t still love me, and I didn’t give one fuck what Bernie’s pictures suggested.

Looking back up at my brother, I said, “Unless you want to see me locked up for murder, I suggest that you call Bernie and have him find out everything about this guy and his relationship with Madison.” I could see Caspian’s shoulders sag a bit. “Whatever he is to her, he is not her boyfriend, Casp. I know that like I know my own name.”

“A year’s a long time, Raddix,” he remarked softly.

“It could be ten years, and it still wouldn’t mean shit,” I spat. “There’s no way that Madison would ever fall out of love with me; I don’t care the reason.”

“Raddix, she can still love you, but still choose to move on,” he pointed out.

“Call Bernie,” I repeated. “Call him before I go knocking on Madison’s front door, Caspian.”

My brother gave me a solemn nod before walking out of my office and leaving me to come to terms with the fact that Madison was back in Fidelity. She was back in Fidelity, and now that she was, I was going to do everything in my power to win that girl back.

Chapter 2

Madison~

“This city better be everything that you promised, Blue.”

I grinned at the grumpiness in his voice. “To be fair, I didn’t exactly twist your arm to move here, Mr. Edleman,” I pointed out. “You arrived in this fine city of your own free will.”

Pierce shot me a look over the kitchen bar. “Did I really, though?”

Now, though I’d already had a best friend in River Primrose, Pierce Edleman was a close second to River. While River had claimed the title for the past seven years, Pierce had really put in the work these past twelve months, so he definitely deserved some credit.

Of course, River and Pierce weren’t the only wonderful people in my life, something that I never took for granted. My parents, Wayne and Caroline Amber, were the best kind of parents that a girl could ever have, and I did my best to let them know it every chance that I got. My father was a pediatrician, and my mother was an arts professor, but they hadn’t ever let their demanding careers take precedence over their children. My parents had put in the effort and hours to keep things in our household balanced as we’d been growing up, and they were still my life’s safety net, always there for us.

In addition to my parents, River, and Pierce, I had a younger sister, and Eris was what I wanted to be when I grew up. While I wouldn’t call her spoiled, she definitely danced to her own music. In fact, she was the kind of person that might hijack the DJ booth, unafraid to dance to whatever the hell she wanted. Eris owned a beauty salon, and my sister was in her element when she was playing hostess at her shop. She was a real people person, and she couldn’t have chosen a better career.

As for River, she was a high school PE teacher, and she had the body to prove it. Though River was curvy, they were toned curves, and she wasn’t afraid to show them off. With her auburn hair, green eyes, and five-foot-three frame of pure energy and drive, River Primrose was a hell of a catch. We were the same age at thirty-one, but River always seemed way more worldly than I was.

When I had first introduced River to Pierce, she’d been surprised, but accepting. It also hadn’t hurt that Pierce was certified eye candy. He was six-foot-one of pure muscle, had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and the guy was smart as hell. He had also managed to get a job with House Marketing, only as a graphic/app designer and not a marketing executive like I’d had. Pierce Edleman was definitely easy on the eyes, and the fact that he was a great guy made him a certified unicorn in a world of donkeys.

Now, when I’d gotten the job at House Marketing, I really hadn’t been expecting that Pierce might actually want to move to Fidelity with me. After making the decision to finally come home, I’d never guessed that I wouldn’t be coming back alone. It also wasn’t easy moving to a new town, but Pierce had embraced the new job and new adventure like a pro. He’d also been eager to meet my parents, Eris, and River. Even though I’d been gone a year, I had stayed in touch with my family and River through millions and millions of video chats, so Pierce had been adamant about wanting to finally meet them all.

I cocked my head as I looked over at Pierce. “Are you suggesting that I might have kidnapped you?”

“Are you suggesting that I would have allowed you to return home alone?” he countered, arching a perfectly sculpted brow. I was pretty sure that Pierce woke up looking perfect.

The day of my disastrous wedding, I’d gone straight back to my parents’ house, had called up my Aunt Sheryl, then had gone all Mission Impossible on everyone. With the help of my parents, Eris, and River, I had managed to make it to Aunt Sheryl’s without leaving a trace of where I’d gone. After my dad had driven me six hours away from Fidelity, he had convinced a stranger at the train station to purchase a ticket for me, lying about me running away from an abusive ex. Once I’d gotten on the train, my exhausted emotions had finally caught up with me, and I had slept for most of the trip to North Dakota.

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