Accidentally Wild (The Wilder Brothers)

And it felt empty some nights.

I’d never admit that to any of my brothers, but there were days where I got lonely. Days where I wondered if I’d spend the rest of my damn life sleeping in a king-size bed by myself. Being almost two hundred and fifty pounds didn’t afford me the possibility of Sleeping in a bed any smaller, which only reinforced the notion of it being so lonely. I didn’t even have any other choice to make it not feel so lonely. Maybe Lucas was right.

I mean, I wasn’t gonna hook up with his girl’s friend, but maybe I could go out and find someone to bring back to my hotel room for a night, even if it was just platonic or some shit. I didn’t need to get laid, but waking up to someone would be nice. Fixing breakfast for someone would be nice. Waking up to a warm body curled into mine with soft legs hooked over my thigh would be really nice. Maybe a little sex would be nice, too.

If she was up for it.

I jerked awake to my phone ringing out in the other room. I listened to it as it shot itself to voicemail, then the ringing promptly started up again. Fuck. It was probably Lucas calling me from the airport or something. I pulled myself off the couch and shuffled into my room, groaning with every step. I hated mornings. Early mornings. Late mornings. I hated them in general. I sat on the edge of my bed and picked up my phone and took in Luke’s name scrolling across my damn screen.

“What?” I asked as I answered the call.

“Just making sure you were up. The plane leaves at seven. It’s already four thirty.”

“It’s a red eye flight to Vegas. No one’s in the damn airport.”

“You hear this?”

I rolled my eyes before a dull roar kicked up in my ear. People were shouting and children were crying. I furrowed my brow as I cleared my throat, standing to my feet.

“The hell’s all that noise?” I asked.

“The people in the airport that you think aren’t here. Now splash some water in your damn face and suck it up. You’re going to Vegas. See you in an hour.”

Then, my brother hung up the phone.

I cleaned myself up really quickly and changed my clothes. I sure as hell didn’t wanna fly in some tight ass jeans and slick black socks. I shouldn’t have slept in them either. I pulled out some sweatpants and a t-shirt before I slipped into a pair of flip flops. If I was gonna be flying to Vegas on a red eye flight full of assholes all morning, then I was gonna be comfortable doing it. Hopefully Lucas purchased us all first-class tickets.

I made myself a cup of coffee to down before I headed out, then I grabbed my suitcase, shut down my television, and turned off all the lights, then set my security system. Normally, I didn’t use it. But I wasn’t takin’ any chances in my life right now. I locked the door and shut it behind me before I made my way to my car. I knew I could summon an Uber or get a taxi or some shit. But I wanted to ride in my own car to the airport. I’d park it for the weekend and use my pocket change to get it out. No big deal.

At least it was somethin’ I was in control of.

I tossed my shit into the back, chugged the rest of my coffee, then shook my head. I slid behind the wheel of the car and cranked it up, heading my happy ass to the airport. I knew my brothers would wanna go out the first night they were there, but I’d make it very clear that I was only going out that first night. The rest of the nights were up to me, and they weren’t forcing my hand in the matter. If I was gonna be forced to do some stupid ass vacation, I was at least gonna be given the option to do it how I wanted to do it and on my own time.

And if they didn’t like it, they could all kiss my ass.

SIX

Andrea

“Please go to Vegas with us? It’s going to be fun,” Jessica said as we walked down the street towards my place.

She drank her coffee while I sipped on a smoothie. We skipped dinner. Too much else to focus on.

“I haven’t seen you since you walked away from me at lunch, and now you suddenly want me to come to Las Vegas for the weekend?” I asked. I tugged on my dark curly hair. I didn’t like where this was going.

“We fight all the time. You brought me food afterwards. We’re good.”

“I brought you your leftovers.”

“And that sweet tea. You know that’s the way to my heart. Please, Andrea? It’s going to be a lot of fun. You’ll get to meet Lucas and see for yourself the kind of man he is, and some of his brothers are going.” She had a point; the sweet tea was an apology tea. I was king of pushing my plans on her that day. It wasn’t fair. Especially when she was all giddy like this. Giddy enough to make me sick.

“You’re not hooking me up with a Wilder brother.”

“I didn’t say a word about it.”

“Your wiggling eyebrows did.” There was no way in hell I was sleeping in some cheesy hotel wrapped around a Wilder boy. “At any rate, is Everett going on this trip?”

“So, you do know one of the Wilder brothers! Do you like him? Is he cute?”