Wild and Free (The Wilder Brothers)

I turned the pictures around with my fingertips on the table, but my mind wasn’t on the design. My mind was on her. Jessica. I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind since the party a few days ago. I had her number, but I had been so busy with work and new projects that I hadn’t had the time to call. The mansion we threw the party at was already turning out to be a bitch of a project, and I’d ended up sleeping there more

times than not while trying to fix shit we didn’t foresee going wrong.

“Lucas!”

“What?” I asked, annoyed.

“Did ya hear a damn thing I just said?” Everett asked.

“You were talking?”

He gave me a deadpan stare before shaking his head. “You’ve been distracted the past few days. Drew was right about that.”

“I’m not distracted.”

“Yes ya are. You're practically a damn liability on site nowadays. What gives?”

“Nothing.”

“No shit, it’s nothing. What’s got ya all twisted up inside?” he asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Must be big if ya don’t. You’re a big proponent on talking about shit always.”

I shot him a look and watched a grin crawl across his lips.

“Spill to your brother. What's goin’ on?”

I sighed and shook my head as I pushed the pictures off to the side.

“There was this girl I met at the party we threw.”

“Wait a second, did ya find that girl you were jabberin’ on about?” he asked.

“She has a name. It’s Jessica. And yes, she was at the party.”

“Holy shit! We were all wonderin’ if she would show up. How did it go? Did she blow you off? That’s why you're mad?”

“No, she didn’t blow me off, asshole.”

“So she gave ya a good time,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You cut that shit out now,” I growled.

Everett’s eyebrows hiked up to his hairline before he crossed his arms over his chest.

“This is serious. I haven’t heard that sound come from you since Lindsey.”

“I haven’t thought about a girl like this since Lindsey, either.”

“I mean, that’s good, right? Lindsey was a high school sweetheart ya dragged on about for years before divin’ headfirst into work.”

“I don’t like being distracted at work,” I said.

“But she’s obviously on your mind. I mean, I’m impressed, Luke.”

“Impressed?”