Page 6 of Echoes of You

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NASH

God,she was beautiful. Even with her midnight hair tangled in a knot on the top of her head and covered in dust. My gut clenched. I’d missed Maddie like a limb—some intrinsic part of me I didn’t walk right without.

I’d choked on my coffee when Grae had called to tell me that Maddie was back. I hadn’t believed her. Never would’ve thought my best friend in the entire world would make plans to move cross-country back to our hometown without even bothering to text me.

Anger lit somewhere deep within me. What the hell had happened to us? We used to share almost everything. Somewhere along the line, things had shifted—not long after she moved to Atlanta to be with that douche canoe.

Her calls had slowed, and when Ididget her on the phone, she got off quickly if he was around. But I’d still get glimpses ofmyMaddie. The one who’d laughed without holding anything back. The one who gave me hell when I needed it but always managed to have my back at the same time. It killed me that I knew she was holding herself back from me.

Then again, Maddie had always been good at keeping secrets. I had to ferret out the truth like an expert CIA interrogator. But I could almost always get it. Almost.

Typically, she held back because she thought whatever she was working through would be a bother. She never trusted that I wanted all of her—her joys and her burdens.

Maddie pushed stray black strands from her face. I’d always loved that hair. Raven-black. So dark it almost held a blue undertone, only magnified by piercing blue eyes that saw straight to my soul.

“Nash,” she croaked.

I didn’t move. Didn’t say a word. It was as if I couldn’t respond. Because how could the person I’d cared about most in this world not call?

Maddie fidgeted, tangling her fingers, telltale signs of anxiety sweeping through her.

That hint of nervousness broke my trance. I’d never been able to deal with her discomfort. My legs ate up the space between us as I strode toward her. Then, in one swift move, I hauled her into my arms.

Maddie tensed at first, and I almost let her go, but then all her muscles eased, and she melted into me. How many times had I held her like this? Hundreds? Thousands?

We’d been affectionate even in elementary school, holding hands and hugging. People around us thought it was weird, but it was just…us. The holding-hands thing had fallen away as we’d gotten older, but the hugging never had.

Maddie gave the best hugs. As if she could say everything she needed by that action alone. And I was always surprised by her strength. The ferocity of her hold.

My mouth ghosted over her hair. “Missed you.”

Maddie shuddered. “I missed you, too.”

I heard something in her voice. Something wrong. As if she were fighting to hold back a wave of emotion.

I loosened my hold so I could pull back, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. My gaze swept over her face. Maddie had always been fair, but her skin was too pale now. And dark circles rimmed her eyes.

My stomach knotted itself into an intricate tangle that wouldn’t be undone until I was sure she was okay. “What happened?”

That should’ve been my first thought, not bitterness at not being informed about Maddie’s return. I should’ve known that she wouldn’t take off and move across the country without a word if everything was peachy. And I hadn’t seen any sign of the douchebag.

“Nothing, I just—”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t bullshit me. We don’t do that, remember?”

Maddie’s eyes glistened, and those fathomless ocean depths filled with pain I would’ve done anything to take away. She stared out the window. “I messed up.”

I brushed the hair out of her face. “Then we’ll fix it.”

She let out a shuddering breath. “I already have—fixed it, I mean.”

“Gonna need a little more to go on, Mads.”

Her lips flickered, and something in me eased at the motion.

“You were right about Adam.”

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