Page 157 of Wild Thing
"God, I can't believe he did that to you. Fucking jerk."
I nodded in agreement, sighing. I didn’t want to talk about Steven anymore. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his dead ones.
Maybe it was a trauma response—I didn’t know. What I did know was something awful had nearly happened to me. Something that would have changed me forever.
But wasn't I already changed forever? I'm going to need a lot a therapy.
“Have you spoken to Zack?” Taylor asked, breaking my thoughts.
“Yep,” I said, shaking my head. “I called him to tell him what happened. The first thing out of his mouth was that I shouldn’t have been drinking with Steven, that I must had sent mixed signals.”
Taylor's jaw dropped open. "What the fuck?
"Doesn't surprise me.”
“Did you tell him about Brax yet?”
“No,” I said softly. “No, he doesn’t know.”
We fell into a comfortable silence, watching as a large passenger jet took off from the runway into the open, clear skies above.
“Dyl, are you okay?” Taylor asked eventually.
I shook my head. "No," I said flatly. “I’m a homewrecker. A whore. I was nearly raped. My career is in the bin. My life is falling apart…"
“Dylan, the assault wasn’t your fault.”
“Everything else is.”
“Steven didn’t attack you because you had an affair. He attacked you because he’s an opportunistic predator, a psychotic loser. It wouldn’t have mattered if you were having an affair or not. He saw a chance, and he took it. This wasn't the universe punishing you. C'mon girl, you're smarter than that.”
I appreciated her rationality—I really did. Maybe one day I’d agree. But right now, all I could think was that this was karma. There's no way this wasn't the universe's way of saying 'fuck around and find out'.
I just didn't think it was a coincidence the worst thing that had ever happened to me, took place in the middle of some of my worst behaviour.
“So, what’s the status with you and Brax?”
“It’s over.”
My eyes glazed over as I watched a young couple take a seat near the viewing platform. The man lightly stroked the back of the women's neck.
Fuck, everything reminded me of him.
Taylor shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. This is the sound she made when she was getting sick of my shit.
"I love you, but you’re so frustrating.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“You’re always finding something wrong, or some way to leave or run away. You don’t tackle the hard stuff, which is a shame, because it’s only by going through the shit that you get to the good.”
“That’s not true.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Taylor, now is not the time to be cryptic.”
“Listen,” she said, her tone shifting to something firmer. “Here’s some tough love and hard truths. You’re a runner. Out of you and Brax,youare the runner. And it’s because you’re scared. You’ve convinced yourself that you don’t deserve happiness or that depriving yourself of a happy relationship makes life more exciting. But you know what I think? You’re a little girl, Dylan. You make impulsive decisions because you’re addicted to the drama. You haven’t loved Zack for a while, but instead of ending it, you ran into the arms of your ex. You complicated everything when you didn’t have to. And now, you’re about to run from the man you just spent the past week running towards.”
