Wild and Free (The Wilder Brothers)

ONE

Jessica

“You know, I spend more time at this pub than I do with people my age,” I said.

“Or men,” Bianca said.

“Hey, I heard that.”

“Oh, don’t be so serious, Jess. I’m just picking on you. Sort of. But don’t feel bad either. I’m the same way. I work overtime at this damn pub and it leaves me no time to find a man to spend my time with.”

She wasn’t kidding, we were always here. And always together, she was my roommate after all.

“I don’t know if I want to find a man to spend my time with. What I do know is I need a decent foot massage.”

“A man could do that for you, and rub a couple other things too,” she said, winking. “Crap let me grab that table. Old guy looks like he’s about to fall off his stool. Also, table ten is waving at you.”

I sighed and took care of my customers, who had apparently been waiting for drinks they ordered from Bianca. Figures. I had been working at Southern’s Pub and Tavern in Charleston, South Carolina for damn near ten years. I started working there illegally right out of high school and never looked back. I took college courses when I could and eventually graduated with an associate degree that would aid me in becoming a dental hygienist, but I hadn’t spent the money or taken the time to test for some of my certifications in order to snag jobs in the field.

So, I was a full-time waitress and part-time bartender at Southern’s.

It took up most of my time and my life. I pulled a decent income, so I couldn’t complain. Enough to keep my head above water and pay off the couple small loans I took out for my degree. Living in Charleston was expensive, to say the least. Which was why Bianca and I bunked together in a very small apartment not too far away from the tavern.

But working fifty plus hours a week thrown into not having my own place of my own made for a very pathetic love life.

She wandered back over to me and set down an empty beer glass. “I cut him off, where were we… oh yeah your last love.”

“Derek. Yeah no thanks. I’ll buy me something I can stick my feet in that’ll massage them for me.”

“Fucking hell, Jess. Derek was five years ago. When are you going to get over that?”

“When are you going to get over Thomas?”

“Thomas was a dickhead asshole that I married who left me for a couple. Not a woman, and not a man. A couple and their kids. Because I didn’t want kids right off the bat. I mean, who even does that?”

“Thomas, apparently,” I said, grinning.

“At any rate, you and Derek only saw each other for a few months. I get you fell hard and I get he was an ass—”

“He was a manipulative ass. And I let him do it, too.”

“You didn’t let him do anything. You were just dickmatized. It happens.”

“He didn’t really have that big of a dick to make me ‘dickmatized,’ as you so wonderfully put it.”

“Then why the hell did you stay with him?” she asked.

“His tongue was fantastic,” I admitted.

“At any rate, I’m sure we could find you guy who has a nice tongue and cock. The two of us have been celibate long enough. I’m going on three years, and you’ve surpassed five. It’s unnatural, what we’re doing.”

“I bought a very decent boyfriend a few months ago, I’ll have you know.”

“Very decent? Every single man out there has something he’s ‘pretty decent’ in when it comes to the world of the bedroom. And he’ll pay for you. Dinners. Drinks. Lingerie. Get yourself a richer one and he’ll actually pay.”

“Are you talking about a sugar daddy?” I asked.

“No. Just a man who appreciates the fine woman he would get with you. Jess, set your standards higher.”

“If I went with all my standards, I’d be celibate for the rest of my life.”

“Or you’d find the man you’re supposed to be with.”

“At this rate, I don’t think he exists.”

“That’s it,” Bianca said as she slapped her rag onto a table.

“What’s it?”

“I’ve heard you talk like that long enough. We’ve been celibate for years, and not always by choice. So, I’m going to find us some men.”