Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

LOGAN

B ack in New York, I was all up in my head about Mira. For a little over a week now, she'd been pretty distant with me. Pretty much since I'd left Slate's office that day on the rig.

I'd been trying to riddle out if I'd done something wrong, but I was coming up empty. She'd been fine with me until I'd left her alone with Slate and I was starting to wonder if he'd said something about me that had pissed her off.

Knowing he had the answers and sick of speculating about it, I'd called him up and invited him out for a beer under the pretense of catching up outside of work. So here I was, sitting in a sports bar and waiting for my friend to show up so I could discreetly question him about why his sister was all but ignoring me.

Fuck. When did I become this guy?

Unfortunately, I didn't have the answers to that question either.

The door opened and Slate appeared in it, silhouetted by the dim light inside until he took a few steps further in. I smiled and lifted my hand, and he saw me immediately, pivoting to head my way. He slid onto the stool next to mine at the counter and tipped the bottle of beer I handed him toward me.

"Thanks. How did you know I needed one of these immediately? "

I shrugged. "Call it a feeling. Something happen?"

"Nah, not really. Just work. It's never-ending." On that note, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it, a move he repeated several times a minute from there on out.

Clearly distracted, he glanced at me, getting the "how are yous" out of the way but still constantly keeping an eye on the phone in front of him. Eventually, I motioned toward it. "If you'd rather do this another time, that's fine."

"No. It's okay. Sorry. It's just that duty calls, you know?"

"Do I ever," I agreed. "It never seems to fucking stop calling these days."

Slate laughed. "Someone in some part of the ocean always seems to need me, but I don't mind. I like the grind. I worked hard for it."

"Sure, but have you thought about what we spoke about the other day?" I asked as he checked his phone again. "About slowing down?"

"I thought about it, but it sounds boring." He smirked at me. "I love what I do and I get to do what I love. What's not to love about that?"

"You said the L-word way too many times in that sentence," I joked. "I tune out when I hear that word."

He laughed again. "Don't I know it. So, uh, how are you really doing? You haven't called to grab a beer in a long time, bro. It makes me think there's something going on."

"I just heard you were in town and I thought it would be nice to catch up without only having to talk about deadly storms rolling in and wayward contractors trying to get themselves killed."

"Ah." He smacked his lips after he took another sip of his beer. "So that's what this is about. You traumatized by that experience?"

"No," I said. "It was dramatic and you know how I feel about drama, but I'm not traumatized."

He had given me the perfect way to segue into what I really wanted to talk about, though. I just had to find a way to do it without being obvious about it, so I beat around the bush for a while. "I'm just glad it happened before I signed the contracts. Having to pay them for a meeting and site assessment that never even happened is a lot easier than trying to get rid of them after the fact. "

"Yeah, but storms out there can be scary. Are you really telling me you're fine, even if you thought a man might've died?"

And there it is. My casual opening. "Yep. Why? Is Mira traumatized after everything that happened?"

"No, of course not. Why would she be?" He studied me carefully as he asked the question. "That wasn't her first rodeo, Logan. She's been through hundreds of storms on the rigs and at least a dozen that were way worse than that one."

"Sure, but like you said, in this instance, a guy could've died. I mean, fine, I'll admit that I was rattled for a little while there. It was fucking unnerving knowing that he might've been bleeding out or worse and we didn't even know about. It makes sense to me that she might've been rattled too. I have a feeling that she'd have felt responsible if anything had happened to him. Anyone would be rattled after something like that."

Slate shook his head. "Anyone but Mira. She's seen some crazy shit, Logan. Much crazier than that."

"Yeah, maybe." I drew in a breath, wondering how much further I could push the issue before he got suspicious. "I guess I'm happy to know that she's okay, then. I've been worried. That was a hell of a day for her and those guys didn't exactly make it any easier with the way they treated her."

He sighed. "Occupational hazard. Don't get me wrong, I hate the way some of the men in the industry treat her, but she knew going in that it was going to be hard. She wanted to do it anyway, and I respected that. Thankfully, she knows how to kick ass and take names. You shouldn't be so worried about her. She doesn't need you to save or protect her."

"Oh, right. No, of course, she doesn't. She's miles tougher than I am, man." I kept my tone light, but the words were still very true. "You're sure she's okay, though? I don't know why, but I've just been getting the feeling that something's going on with her."

"She's fine, dude. I swear. The guy pissed her off, that's all. I saw her yesterday and she was all good. "

"You saw her yesterday? Really? I didn't even know she was in town."

He chuckled. "Should you have known?"

"No, I suppose not, but in the past, she's let me know when you two are in the vicinity in case I wanted to meet with you in person."

Eyes still sparkling with those chuckles, he averted his gaze to his beer. "If she's keeping her distance, it might be because I told her to."

My stomach dropped. What does that mean? Why would he have felt compelled to tell her that?

I waited, not wanting to give myself away if I was totally off base. I did raise a surprised, questioning eyebrow at him when he looked up again, though.

Slate laughed. "Last week, it sounded like Mira might be developing a tiny crush on you. I figured that especially since you two accidentally hooked up before, I should let her know that she was barking up the wrong tree. She doesn't need to be catching feelings for a guy who'll never have them for her, right?"

Shit. Fuck. So that's why she's staying away.

My heart throbbed, my chest feeling like someone was pressing a hot scalpel to the center of it. I cleared my throat to get rid of the sudden, unfamiliar wave of emotion clogging it.

"I, uh. Wow. You already told me to stay away from her. You can't really believe she's crushing on some guy she hooked up with a year ago just because he's back in her life?"

He took a long sip of his beer before he glanced at me again. "I don't think it's just about you being back in her life. I just think she's realized you're not a guy who she hates as much as she thought she did."

"Riiiiight." I dragged out the word. "So, uh, you told her she was barking up the wrong tree, huh? Why's that?"

He scoffed back a loud burst of laughter and rolled his eyes at me. "Come on, man. You're not a one-woman guy. I just made sure she knew it. I didn't use those exact words, obviously, but it'd make things too awkward if she came onto you expecting something when we both know you've long since moved on. "

A very real, undeniable fear raced through me, making my heart pound and my blood run strangely cold. "Of course."

He picked up his beer and held it out to mine. I clinked my bottle against his, but I'd lost my appetite—even my appetite for beer, which was saying something. I'd known Slate didn't want me with her or anywhere near her, but obviously, she'd believed what he'd told her.

That had to be why she'd been distant ever since they'd had this conversation. He also wasn't wrong. I wasn't a one-woman man, or at least, I hadn't been. Not until I'd met her.

It was only in that very moment that I even realized how long it'd been since I'd pursued another woman. I hadn't so much as glanced at a tight ass if it walked past me in months.

"And naturally," he continued as if the pause hadn't happened at all. "I don't want you sniffing around her. No offense."

At least he didn't seem to be furious at me about it. His features were friendly and open, humor even dancing in his eyes, but none of that brought me any comfort right now.

I thought she knew me better. Well, actually, I didn't know what I'd thought, but I did know that I didn't like that she believed what he'd told her about me. Believed it enough that she hadn't even told me she was in town.

When he looked at me again, I forced a smile and nodded my agreement, focusing on my beer as if none of this had had any effect on me at all. Inside though, my mind was racing and my organs seemed to be burning.

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with me, but I didn't like knowing what she thought of me now. I didn't like it one little bit and I didn't intend on letting the impression he'd created with her stand.

What he'd told her had been true once upon a time, not even a very long time ago, and while I honestly didn't know what the hell it meant, I knew that it definitely wasn't true anymore. The inferno currently raging in my chest was all the proof that I needed.

The old Logan—that Logan—was gone. I guess it's time for me to figure out just who he's been replaced by.