Accidentally Wild (The Wilder Brothers)

“And he believes that whatever he’s gotten himself into now involves us.”

A telling wind kicked up around the property, rustling the trees in the distance. The leaves rustled and the wind howled, wrapping around myself and my brother. Shivers inched their way up my spine and my fists clenched involuntarily. My eyes dilated and scanned the edge of the property, almost as it my body sensed something I didn’t.

“You feel that?” Lucas asked.

“Uh huh.”

“It feels like we’re being—”

“Watched,” I said. I looked over at my brother before he nodded his head.

“Let’s go have that conversation,” Lucas said.

“Should we have it with all of the brothers as well?” I asked.

The wind kicked up stronger than ever, blowing soot and charred twigs in our direction.

“First, I want to know what you know. If it still requires a lot of research, we can make that happen before we talk to them. To be honest, I think we all could use a trip out of town.”

“Really? You’re planning a vacation during all this?”

“Fine. Let me rephrase that. I’ve been ignoring the fuck out of Jessica and I think she and I could use a trip out of town. Maybe we could make it a group thing, have a fun weekend, then come back and tackle all of this later.”

“I tell ya there’s a good chance this was foul play and that Colton Braxton is somehow involved, and ya wanna take a trip to Vegas with your girlfriend.”

“Proof before the pudding. We go talk, we sort things out, then we take it to the brothers. We’ve all got enough on our plates, and if we want to stay in the game, we have to find time to decompress.”

“Oh, shit. Ya only use that word when talkin’ about one place.”

And the grin that slid across Lucas’ face made me groan.

“Damn it. I can’t believe we’re going to Vegas again.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “We’re going to Vegas again.”

FIVE

Everett

Two Weeks Later

“I still don’t think we should be goin’ to Vegas,” I said.

“Everett, it’s been a very rough couple of weeks. For all of us,” Lucas said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean now is the time to get out of town. The fire marshal is almost done with his formal investigation. The insurance company is gonna be waitin’ for our call.” I wasn’t in the mood for this trip. I didn’t need to blow off some steam in Vegas. I needed to plan our next move. Or fix a house, work with my hands, something. And for Luke to be the one pushing this trip? It made no sense. Sure he could be a bit on the trouble side, but work always came first.

Well family, then work.

“No, the insurance company is going to be waiting for my call. And anyway, the fire marshal’s got my personal information. If he concludes his investigation while we’re out of town, he’ll call me. Simple as that.”

“I still think this is a shit idea.”

“You always do because you work too hard, Everett. When’s the last time you went on a vacation?”

“The last time ya dragged me to Vegas.”

“Everett, that trip was seven years ago to celebrate the official declaration of Wisteria Lake Designs. If you haven’t taken a break since then, no wonder you’re strung so damn tight.”