Accidentally Wild (The Wilder Brothers)

“Everett answered the door and they came barging in here, hot-headed and yelling.”

“What?” she asked.

“Yeah. His father loomed over me and put his finger in my face. Started calling me things like ‘gold-digger’ and ‘selfish’. Said I had no right to his son or his money and that I had intentionally gotten him drunk to marry him.”

“And Lucas didn’t kill him on the spot?”

“No, Jessica. Your best friend didn’t kill his father on the spot. You want to know what your best friend did do, however?”

I watched her face fall as I took another bite of ice cream.

“He stood back and agreed,” I said.

“He did not.”

“He did.”

“Lucas wouldn’t do that,” she said.

“He would, and he did.”

“He’s not like that. He’s kind and sympathetic.”

“No, he’s not. He’s a hot-head, like his father. But more than that, he started blaming the fire on Everett,” I said.

“What?”

“Everett was talking with me last night over a dinner I cooked for us and he said they had just found out a competitor burned down their mansion.”

“Wait, what!?” she exclaimed.

“Yeah. Said some guy is trying to muscle his way into the real estate marketplace of South Carolina or something like that, and that he’s targeting the Wilder family. Then, all of a sudden, Lucas starts blaming everything on Everett.”

I watched Jessica’s lip quiver before she came and sat beside me. I passed her the ice cream and she took it willingly, then took a couple of bites as tears spilled down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Andrea,” she whispered.

“It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay that you prioritized a multi-year friendship like ours over some guy you’ve been seeing for a few months, but other than that, it’s okay. I get it. You don’t want to be alone, and neither do I. But maybe it’s time for you to re-evaluate who you’re spending your time with. Because the Lucas that barged into my apartment with his hot-headed father is not the kind of man I know you want to spend your time with,” I said.

Tears silently dripped down her cheeks as she continued to eat the ice cream.

“I fucked everything up so badly,” she said.

“You did, but at least you’re owning up to it,” I said.

“You’re upset with me, Everett’s probably upset with me, and now I don’t even know if Lucas is the man I thought he was.”

“He might not be.”

“Is Everett okay?”

She panned her eyes over to me and I shook my head.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think so. He’s very upset with his family right now. I had to threaten to call the police just to get them out of my apartment, and even then they all stood at their cars and kept on bickering. The only thing I heard from Everett while they were down there was when he yelled to tell them both to shut up or something like that,” I said.

“Oh my gosh, I’m such a fuck up. What am I going to do? This entire thing is a giant mess, Andrea.”

“Well, I can tell you the first thing that’s going to happen.”