Page 19 of It's Never Not Been You

“Raddix-”

“Let’s go, Madison,” he ordered, cutting me off.

Even though I didn’t like the idea of going to Raddix’s home, if either of us had any chance of moving past this, then we needed to get it all out and have the epic fight that I should have been strong enough to have a year ago. No matter what I believed, it was clear that Raddix was on a mission to win me back, and I needed to make him realize that he couldn’t.

I stood up, not saying anything as Raddix dropped three one-hundred-dollar bills on the table. It was excessive but deserved. We had wasted everyone’s time, not to mention the disgusting waste of food. If things weren’t so damn volatile right now, I’d ask for a to-go box.

Like the good server that she was, as soon as Valencia noticed us leaving, she walked over, wanting to make sure that our leaving wasn’t her fault. “Is everything okay here?”

“Everything was excellent,” Raddix assured her as I felt his hand on the small of my back. “We’re just in the middle of an epic fight, and we both feel it would be best if we took this elsewhere.”

Valencia’s eyes rounded with Raddix’s honesty. “Uhm…oh…uh…”

“The service and food were excellent,” I said, trying to stop Raddix from embarrassing us some more. “Our apologies.”

“No…uhm…” Valencia glanced over at the table, eyeing the untouched food. “I can…if you want to wait a couple of minutes, I can box up your dinners.”

I was about to object, but then Raddix said, “Thank you. That’d be great.”

“Just give me one moment,” she quickly rushed out before leaving to grab a couple of boxes.

“What’s the point, Raddix?”

“It all reheats well,” he replied. “We can eat it later.”

“You’re assuming that I’m going to have an appetite after our talk,” I huffed under my breath.

“Madison, I’m doing my best to keep it together,” he said. “Quit pushing me.”

Before I could say anything more, Valencia was back with two to-go containers, and we both watched silently as she boxed up our dinners like a professional. She didn’t touch anything with her bare hands, and it was a rather impressive feat. She also went so far as to bag up the boxes, and it was quite obvious that she was good at her job. Watching her, I felt better about the outrageous tip that Raddix had left her.

Handing the bag to Raddix, she said, “I hope your evening turns out…uhm, better.”

“Thank you,” we both said in unison.

She scurried away as Raddix’s hand pushed against my back, escorting me out of the restaurant. Once we were outside, I felt like I was finally able to breathe some. The night air felt cool in my lungs, but it also felt sobering. My emotions still felt a little chaotic, and we still had an argument to have.

“Are you following me?”

I looked up at Raddix. “You’re out of your mind if you think that I’m going to your place without a means for escape when I finally get tired of your shit.”

“Trust me, Madison,” he drawled out. “If I don’t want you to leave, then you won’t be leaving. I fucked up in that regard once already.”

“You keep saying things that make me want to not go to your place, Raddix,” I informed him.

Ignoring that, he said, “Let’s go.”

“You’re going to have to give me your address,” I said, wondering why I had to state the obvious.

Raddix’s eyes glowed an eerie blue and white. “Considering that you lived there with me for almost a decade, I imagine that you should be able to find it easily enough.”

My heart caught in my throat.

There was no way that Raddix was still living in our old house. I mean, why would he be? By all accounts, he was worth millions, and our average suburban house was not a place that a millionaire lived. Unless he’d done some renovations, it had three small bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and a decent backyard. There was nothing remarkable about the place, and we’d actually bought it as a starter home. The third bedroom had been converted to an office for Raddix, and the second bedroom had been our semi-attempt at a gym.

“Why are you still…still living there?” I stammered out.

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Madison,” he replied coldly. “Better yet, don’t ask questions that you already know the answers to.”

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