Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

LOGAN

A riane's birthday was a low-key, lighthearted event at their house—and it was also my second official date with Mira. I held her hand as we walked in, making Flynn and Jude who were standing together at the bar do a simultaneous double-take.

"What's this, man?" Jude asked as he raced over to us with two extra beers in his hands. "Don't tell me you've finally come over to the dark side?"

Mickey elbowed him in the ribs when she joined us, clearly having overheard what he'd said while she'd been on her way over here to greet us. "Don't scare them off, babe. You should approach them slowly, like you would a wild deer."

He snorted, but Flynn gave her a long look before he shrugged at his brother. "She might not be wrong. Let's dial it back a bit."

He turned to us, smirking, and he slowly lifted his hands and showed us his palms. "We come in peace."

Mira snorted in an attempt to hold back her laughter, then wrapped her hand around Mickey's wrist and tugged her into a hug. "Come here, you. God, I've missed you."

"Same here." Mickey hugged her back tightly, squeezing her hard before she finally released her and turned to face me. "Well done, Logan. I'm glad you finally stepped up to the plate."

"He so did." Mira winked at her friend, giving her a conspiratorial look that told me she'd probably be giving her more details later.

It didn't bother me, though. I was damn proud of having her on my arm, and if she wanted to tell her friend how it had happened, I wasn't going to keep her from it. Meanwhile, Ariane, Maverick, Karson, Penny, and Payton had now also realized that we were here, and Mira and I broke away from the group we'd greeted first to go say hi to the birthday girl.

Mira handed over the gift-wrapped package we'd brought along, bending her head to Ariane's as she hugged her. "Happy birthday, babe. It's good to see you. Thanks for inviting us."

Ariane chuckled. "To be fair, I thought I was inviting each of you separately, but it's damn nice to see you here together. How on earth did this happen?"

I stepped in to give Ariane a hug of my own, congratulating her before I answered the question. "I took your advice. That plus a little bit of luck and voila ."

She gave me a quick squeeze, smiling as she pulled away from me. "Now you better just behave, Logan Jones. Winning her heart is one thing, but keeping it? That's another."

Her heart?

Habit made me want to protest loudly that I wasn't after her heart , but thankfully, I had the good sense not to follow the instinct. Instead, I nodded and bent over to brush a kiss to Mira's cheek. "I'm going to grab us a drink. What are you in the mood for?"

"Mom sent over a few cases of wine," Ariane interjected. "That's what you want to drink, trust me. She sent us the good stuff."

Mira grinned at me. "You heard the girl. A glass of their best wine, boyfriend."

Hearing the word from her for the first time warmed me up and froze me all at the same time. The freezing was that same old instinct, though. Old habits really do die hard, I guess.

The warming, however, was all new. I had no idea what to do with it, so I just nodded and started backing away from them. "A glass of their best wine coming right up."

With that, I spun and headed over to the bar, where Maverick, Flynn, and Jude had gathered after we'd left them. Flynn glanced over my shoulder when I stopped next to him at the counter, a soft smile spreading on his lips at whatever he saw.

I twisted around to take a look. Mira and Ariane were already deep in conversation at their table out on the deck. When I turned back to him, he was still smiling. "Ariane has been dying to know what's happening with your attempts to make the rig greener. I know you and Mira being together is the hot topic tonight, but I'm willing to bet that's an environmental conversation."

I chuckled. "Fine by me. We got those first consultants out, but it was a bit of a disaster. I'm sure Mira will tell Ariane the whole story, but suffice it to say that I'm still in the market for a company to help me make the rig greener."

"And Mira?" Jude asked, coming into the conversation by leaning over from the other side of the bar. "I could've sworn she was also interested in getting into that game."

"She is," I confirmed, thinking back to the conversation we'd had about it. "At this point, she's only interested, though. She's been doing a lot of research for a long time, and she's definitely after gaining some practical experience, but I doubt it's a project she'd take on by herself right now."

Flynn sighed. "Pity, but I get it. It's a damn expensive endeavor. If she fucks it up for you, she'd never forgive herself. Who needs that kind of pressure when a relationship is just starting out?"

Jude nodded his agreement but then slid his elbow onto the bar, angling himself to be facing me fully as his eyebrows swept up. "Speaking of a relationship starting, tell me about yours, Casanova. How the hell did you make this happen?"

"Magic." I waggled my brows at him, sensing Maverick and Flynn listening even though they were both trying hard not to make it look like they were .

I laughed, shaking my head when Flynn raised an eyebrow at me. "You're curious. It's okay. Just get it over with."

"Fine," Jude said immediately. "How did you make it happen, then? Personally, I feel like you might've found the one, but I've been told to approach you like I would a scared animal, so just pretend I didn't say that."

"I thought you weren't a fan of the idea of Mira and I being together?" I said. "If memory serves, you told me that pursuing her wasn't a good idea."

"Yeah, but that was before you dug your heels in and kept asking for advice from everyone," he replied easily. "You've never done that with a woman before, which tells me that you're serious about her. I'm good with that. As long as you're not fucking around, I'm happy for you."

"I'm not fucking around," I said, repeating dutifully after him. "It just works, man. She and I, it works."

"She fits in well with the group," Maverick commented as he watched her and the others at the table. "I think I might agree with Jude. It looks like you found the one."

Flynn reached out and clapped me on the shoulder, giving me a pretend apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, Logan, but it looks like your days of chasing tail are over."

Part of me wanted to scoff at them, but again, I resisted the urge. None of this came naturally to me. All this talk of the one definitely would've made me cut and run before. I'd have been out of here like a bat out of hell, and I'd have happily left my date behind for them to deal with.

Since it was Mira we were talking about though, I had zero inclination to head for the hills. If anything, I was still brimming with pride and excitement over having her here with me. They could give me as much shit for it as they wanted.

They'd all gotten earfuls from each other when they'd settled down. At least, that was the way I'd heard it from Jude. It was only right that they got their turn to dish it out now, and besides, if they could take it, then so could I .

Jude drew my attention back to him when he started a slow clap. No one else joined in, but it didn't seem to bother him. He grinned at me like a game show host and pumped his eyebrows. "Well done for still being here. We're proud of you, man."

"You're making it sound like that was a test."

He shrugged. "Maybe it was. Either way, you didn't punch me or run away, so you passed the test. You picturing a future with her yet?"

Maverick groaned. "Jeez. Let the man get a drink before you start asking those kinds of questions."

Jude nodded at the beer he'd handed me when we'd arrived. "I gave him a drink already. It's not my fault he's not drinking it."

At the reminder, I cracked the top and took a long sip, using the time it bought me to think about how to respond to his question. Jude was my friend, but he was married to Mickey, who was a good friend of Mira's. Whatever I told him now would, eventually, get back to my girl.

Since I wouldn't expect him to keep anything from his wife, I couldn't even be annoyed by the knowledge that it wouldn't stay between us. I swallowed my beer, feeling three sets of eyes boring into me.

Three that became four when Karson joined us at the bar and Maverick gave him a quick summary of where we were at in the conversation. He let out a burst of booming laughter. "Shit, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes anymore, Jones. Take it from me though, it's more fun on this side of the fence. Get engaged, get married, and leave the playing to the younger crowd. I know it was fun while it lasted, but this is better. Seriously."

I glanced at him, then finally spoke to them all when I answered the damn question. "If it was up to me, I think I'd have been ready to join your side of the fence tonight, but it's not only up to me. We'll see how it goes, but Jude asked if I saw a future with her, and damn straight, I do. Now it's only a matter of finding out if she sees it too."

A few cheers rang out from the Neidums, Jude applauded me again, and Flynn groaned and patted me on the back. They gave me some more shit for a while after that, but it was clear that they were all happy for me.

"This is not the Logan I know," Jude said as he finally filled the glass of wine Mira had asked me for. "I have a feeling this Logan is going to be even better, though."

"Yeah, so do I." My heart thudded dully in my chest when I thought about it, but I really did agree with him.

I hadn't gone into any of this wanting to change my ways, but pursuing a woman the way I had been doing with her definitely wasn't my speed. She'd made me want to do things differently and now I wasn't interested in getting back on the apps or meeting new people.

Mira had filled that restlessness in me. She got me in ways nobody else ever had and I couldn't imagine anyone else ever would. Now if only it wasn't costing me my best friend, that really would've been fucking great.

But it was. And that was the only thing that kept me from being the happiest and the most fulfilled I had ever been. Slate was gone from my life and I wasn't quite sure if I would ever be able to get him back into it.