Page 69 of Wild Thing
I braced myself, knowing I’d likely find at least one photo of Ally—but there was nothing. Not even one. I felt a rush of relief.
Leaning over, I showed Taylor my screen as I scrolled. “Do you think it’s weird Brax doesn’t have a single picture of his girlfriend?”
Taylor glanced at the screen, frowning. “No, not really. Cam didn’t put a single photo of me up when we were together. Some guys don’t give a shit about socials.”
That was true. Besides, Brax didn’t seem the type to doom-scroll anyway.
Still, I couldn’t help myself.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I went to his followers, typed in "Ally," and found her instantly.
I clicked on her profile.
Damn. It was private. But her last name was there.
Ally Woodridge.
I swiped out of Instagram, opened Google, and typed her name in. A few results popped up: a doctor, a university professor... none of them were Brax's Ally. Adjusting my search terms to include "Grey’s Forest," I pressed enter.
Bang.There she was.
In a Facebook picture with Brax.
His arm was draped around her, a grin stretching across his face, while Ally smiled sweetly at the camera. My stomach plummeted, bile rising in my throat.
She was pretty. Shoulder-length brown hair, blue eyes, petite... the kind of girl-next-door pretty that made me hate her instantly.
I clicked to enlarge the photo, my heart cracking as I read her caption:My everything.
Jealousy burned in my throat. I swallowed it back down.
Pathetic, basic bitch caption.
Taylor flicked me in the arm. “Stop it, Dyl. Don’t torture yourself. Hand over your phone.”
Grimacing, I passed it to her. She turned it off and shoved it back into my hands. “Put it away.”
Sighing, I obeyed.
It wasn’t healthy to keep looking at Brax’s girlfriend. Until then, she’d been just a name. But now that I had a face to go with it? She felt real which made me feel terrible.
And, if I was being truly honest? Fucking jealous.
Was I even allowed to feel that way?
After all, I was the other woman.
The jealousy quickly shifted to anger.
At myself. At Brax. At Ally. At Zack.
I didn’t know where to put all of it. Maybe that was the problem—I wasn’t processing it. I’d been acting without any thought for the consequences.
But wasn’t that how I’d always operated? Why change now? Maybe because now you're turning into the very person you swore you never would… No, fuck that. I was nothing like my Dad.
I sank back into my chair, forcing myself to focus on the discussion on stage.
But all I could focus on was the oily feeling in the pit of my stomach. And how there was a part of me that was beginning to really dislike myself.
