Accidentally Wild (The Wilder Brothers)

I sat back into my chair and grabbed my sweet tea. Jessica was so innocent. So doe-eyed and girlish. She had no idea the type of men that preyed on women like her. Especially the Wilder brothers. They were known around Charleston for their Wild Parties. They essentially threw them so all of them could get laid one proper time. It was the reason why I never went to them, though not for lack of them trying to invite me. I literally ran into Everett Wilder one time and he slipped an invitation into my purse after catching a whiff of my hair.

Creep.

“Did you at least enjoy your date with Lucas?” I asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. In fact, I don’t want to talk at all. It was good seeing you again, Andrea. I hope things at the center are going well.”

I sighed as Jessica stood from her chair and gathered her things. I waved off her money, letting her know I’d pick up the meal. I didn’t mean to piss her off. I only wanted to protect her. I loved Bianca, but sometimes that girl could be wild. Jessica didn’t have family in town, not after they moved all the way to fucking Oregon. So, I sort of took it upon myself to look after her. She reminded me of some of the underprivileged children I worked with at times.

I picked up my fork and pushed my food around as the sweet Charleston wind kicked up. If things worked with her and Lucas, then I’d be happy for her. She seemed happy. The last time she was this smitten with a m

an, they’d dated for two years before he cheated on her. And not the sneaking around cheating either. The blatant “she walked in on them and they kept going” kind of cheating. He knew she was standing at the doorway watching and he didn’t even bother to stop at look at her. I still wanted to wring that man’s throat.

I didn’t like the fact that she’d thrown my dating life in my face, though. So what if I hadn’t dated since high school? That was my business. I fell in love and got my heartbroken just like every other teenage girl, but I didn’t want to try it again. I didn’t have a craving for men, nor did I have a craving for companionship. My kids filled that void for me.

My kids at the center, that is.

They were my world. After growing up in the poorest city of South Carolina, I saw what happened to underprivileged youth. I saw how they got flown under the radar and passed up grades because no one wanted to pay attention to them. I sat beside three kids my entire eighth grade year that had no idea how to read. Read! Almost in high school and the poor things didn’t know how to fucking read. It was disgusting, and something I wanted to change.

I graduated from Holly Hill high school, got government grants and aid to go to college, and majored in Psychology with a passion for social work. I looked around for jobs my senior year, and the only one I could snag was at the youth center in the middle of Charleston. It wasn’t what I wanted to do at the time and it didn’t pay nearly what I needed to keep myself afloat, but it was all I had.

I took the job at twenty-one, and eight years later I was running the entire operation.

I worked with the less advantaged youth of the area and ran all sorts of services for them out of the youth center. I budgeted for renovations, opened the place up on Friday and Saturday nights to give them a safe place to go, and ran all of the regular services during the week, like tutoring, free meals, food deliveries, and after-school activities. Everything from music lessons, sports, chess games, and video game tournaments. The place flourished under my tutelage. I was lucky to have the job.

I grew close with the original establisher of it when I took the job. His name was Mr. Wilson, and he reminded me a lot of my father. At least, what my father should have been. He was an older man with no family and grew up underprivileged himself. He opened the place up as a passion project with his retirement money with the saying, “If I can’t spend it on my wife, I’ll spend it on my kids.” I learned his story and grew to love the man, and when he passed away three years ago, I found out he had willed the entire place to me. It still brought tears to my eyes to think about.

“Miss?”

“Mhm?”

“There’s no rush, but here’s the check whenever you’re ready. Would you like a to-go box?”

She pointed to Jessica’s meal and I nodded. The least I could do was take it to her, so she had something to eat for dinner and apologize for pushing my ideals onto her.

“And a to-go sweet tea as well. Actually, make that two,” I said.

“Of course. I’ll be right back.”

The Charleston wind was strong that day and so was the smoke in the air. It seemed as if the entire town had been blanketed in a fog of smoke all damn week. I looked at my watch and saw it was approaching three in the afternoon. The kids would be out of school soon and my day would start.

Summer was approaching and that was always my busiest time. Unlike most of the youth centers in the state, I kept my doors wide open for full business hours during school breaks. The parents in Charleston did the best they could to provide for their children, so during the summer we ran very cheap, state-funded daycare and summer vacation programs out of our building. I was lucky to have the volunteer help I did from the community to help out coordinating and organizing all the programs we had going throughout the day, but I knew this summer would be tough. I was down four usual individuals that volunteered because they were aging and couldn’t keep up any longer.

I took out my purse and slid my card into the check billfold. I needed to get to my office before all of the kids descended after school. I had a lot of things that still needed to fall into place before school let out for the summer in two weeks, and it would take a lot of reorganizing to make sure we were in ratio.

The state required one adult to every twelve children, and right now we wouldn't be at ratio with the number of kids to adults that had signed up.

I paid for the ticket, gathered all my things, and headed for my car. My first stop was Jessica and Bianca’s apartment. When I got there, I set the tray of food and the sweet tea in front of the door before I knocked, then turned my back to leave. When Jessica got upset, she needed space. I didn’t want her to think I was crowding her, but I did want her to know that she was being thought of. I turned around just in time to see her door open before the elevator doors closed, then I clasped my hands in front of my body and sighed. Time to get to work.

Twenty minutes later, I walked into my darkened office. I turned on the light and headed straight for the fan. The air conditioning in the building wasn’t working like it needed to, as I was only repairing it as necessary. And I didn’t consider my office space necessary. A box fan in the window did just fine, then I took showers when I got home. I stood in front of the flowing air and groaned at its comfort, trying to buy myself a few more minutes before I looked at the reality in front of me.

The budget this year was rough. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. The plumbing backed up so badly that every single toilet spewed soiled water onto the floors. They had to be snaked and the flooring had to be replaced. The playground equipment needed to be updated and new basketball goals had to be put in on all the courts. The kitchen kept breaking down as well. I could do basic repairs. I’d taught myself over the years to save money. But once the repairs got to a certain point, I had to bring in a professional, which always cost more than I was comfortable paying for.

What we didn’t raise in the community, the state provided for us. But some months, it still wasn’t enough. Some months I took a cut to my paycheck just to pay down credit card payments on things that snuck up on us. The food for the kids was getting cheaper and cheaper, which meant it was getting more and more unhealthy. And as I sat at my desk and punched in numbers, I felt tears rise to my eyes. Some days I didn’t feel like I was providing the best care I could to the kids of this city.

I scribbled down numbers and organized receipts. I struggled with the old-as-hell computer, watching as it lagged and rebooted. Lagged and rebooted. Shit. I had to put updated technology on the damn budget.

That alone would eat up most of what we had for the rest of the year.