Page 31 of Wild Thing
“Tell me something real Dylan.”
“Like what?”
“Like what went through your head when you saw me yesterday?”
I paused before I answered. There was zero point in lying. Plus, I was really feeling those few glasses of red. “I felt like my world stood still.”
“Mine felt like it was set on fire.”
“You should go stand outside in the rain.” I grinned, breaking the tension just for a moment.
Brax chuckled quietly. He had always loved my banter.
“Are you happy, Dyl?”
I stilled as I felt his foot gently, slowly graze up my leg from underneath the table. I swallowed hard, from both the question and the touch. “That’s a loaded question.”
“It’s not a hard question though.”
“I-I don’t know…” Avoiding eye contact, I ran my thumb over my fingernails, smoothing out invisible polish. “It’s complicated.”
“Not really. Are you happy or not?”
I felt a flash of anger. It wasn't that simple and he knew it. Nothing was ever black and white. It was time to turn the tables on this motherfucker.
“Well, areyouhappy?”
“I asked you first.”
“Is anyone ever truly happy?”
“Okay. I’ll take the dodging of the answer as a no.”
I sounded like I was in denial. He read me so easily. I hated it as much as I loved it.
Shaking my head in frustration, I took a sip of wine. “What the fuck is this, Brax? Therapy?”
“Well, you’re not drawing. You’re dodging questions. You don’t seem happy,” Brax stated simply. He wasn’t wrong. “What’s missing from your life, Dylan?”
You.I answered in my head. You.
“I don’t know… something. The spark. That feeling of truly living life.”
The reflection of the candlelight flame danced across his deep sea eyes. “Aren’t you living it?”
Lifting up my wine glass, I considered admitting to Brax that, no I’m not living. I felt out of control, pressured, and fearful that I was falling into the monotony of life with a man that was totally wrong for me.
Before I could stop it, the words came cascading out of me.
“The truth is, I feel like I’m suffocating. In all aspects of my life. Nothing feels… right," I said, oversharing, which I absolutelyhated.
I placed the wine glass back onto the table and began twirling it around from the base.
"I feel caged. Like an animal pacing the walls of a pen. Desperate to escape… but can't.”
Brax leaned over the table and put his hand on mine, stopping the wine glass from spinning.
“And what about with him? Are you happy?”
