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Chapter 54

CHAPTER 54

MIRA

B ack on the rig, there was another storm brewing in the distance. The breeze had been warm when we'd arrived, but it was cool now, fast becoming cold. Dark clouds had gathered near the horizon and they were making their way toward us like an invading army of foot soldiers that moved as steadily as they did slowly.

A shiver skated down my spine.

It wasn't because of trauma. I really was okay after the last storm.

After all the years I'd been working on rigs, I'd seen much worse than some ass-bucket who couldn't follow orders and had ended up putting himself in danger.

What was getting to me now was that there wasn't only a storm brewing on the horizon. There was another brewing right here on the deck in front of me.

Logan had promised to keep a level head once we got here and he wasn't breaking that promise—yet—but his spine was as straight as an arrow and his eyes were narrowed to slits as he squared off with Slate.

My brother had finally come out of his office to see me—and then discovered that Logan was here too. He was furious, fire raging behind his eyes as he narrowed them right back at my boyfriend. "You're not supposed to be here. "

Logan was standing a few steps ahead of me, his shoulders broad but tense as he scoffed. "It's my rig."

Slate rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Logan. I know. Everybody knows. It's impossible to miss considering that you only say it about a dozen times every time you come out here." He gnashed his teeth before looking at me over Logan's shoulder. "When you're ready to get to work, come find me."

With that, he spun around and stormed off. Logan made to follow him and I took a giant step forward, wrapping my fingers around his forearm and holding him back. He twisted to glance at me, questions in his eyes until I held up a hand and shook my head.

"Just wait, Logan. Please? I'll handle this."

For a second, it looked like he was going to give in, but then Slate spun around to walk backward, sneering and hurling a few more insults in Logan's direction. "If you're going to insist on being on your rig, just stay out of my way. The last thing I need is to have to babysit a clueless city boy who doesn't have any business being here in the first place."

Logan's eyes closed for a moment and he took a deep breath, visibly fighting to keep calm, but Slate wasn't done yet. "The least you could've done was to give me a heads-up, but I guess that's too considerate for someone who's only interested in themselves."

Logan's jaw clenched, and his muscles bulged as he crossed his arms. "You wanna come say any of that to my face?"

I took a step closer. "Logan?—"

A bark of derisive laughter from Slate cut me off. "Sorry, man. Don't have time. Some of us are here to work, not just to swing our dicks around."

He spun around and marched toward the bridge to the production platform. Logan took off after him, probably seeing red too much to remember that he wasn't supposed to go over there. Work on the other side was in full swing, with crew members everywhere, their shift well underway.

I raced after Slate and Logan, anxiety skating through me. The wind was picking up, whistling past the corners and flattening my shirt to my back. I glanced up at the sky, noticing that the clouds were moving faster now but that it looked like the storm might miss us.

In the back of my mind, I went through the list of things to check just in case it did come our way, but mostly, I was focused on the guys. They were getting too heated, neither of them stopping as they kept marching along and yelling at each other.

"I didn't come here to swing my dick around, asshole. Being here is my business. All of this is. Besides, what are you doing here, huh? I thought you quit."

Slate scoffed. "You and I both know it's not that easy. I wouldn't just walk off a job and leave every member of the crew in danger just because you can't keep it in your pants. When I leave, I'll do it right."

"They wouldn't be in danger. I'm here, aren't I? You're not doing anyone any favors by sticking around when you're so pissed at me that you're not thinking straight. If anyone is putting the crew in danger right now, it's you, and that doesn't have anything to do with me keeping it in my pants."

My brother narrowed his eyes as he finally slammed to a halt and rounded on his friend, fury and aggravation written all over his hard features. He jabbed a finger at Logan's chest. "It has everything to do with you not keeping it in your fucking pants, and I'm the only member of my family that is thinking straight. I mean, why else are you here other than to rub your relationship in my fucking face?"

His comment about being the only member of our family thinking straight stung me to my core. But I stayed out of it. Someone had to keep a level head and it wasn't going to be either of them.

"We're not rubbing it in your face, Slate. We're here to work."

"No, Logan. You don't have any work to do here. Mira might've come for that, but you sure as hell didn't. It was bad enough that I had to find out about your relationship in a trashy article instead of you having the guts to tell me yourselves, but now you're flaunting it like this? It's total bullshit."

Frustration tore across Logan's handsome face and he shook his head at my brother. His nostrils flared, and his eyes shot to the sky. He put his hands on his hips before tossing them out at his sides .

"We're not flaunting it," he said, his voice laced with exasperation. "If you would just sit down and talk to us, we may be able to get it through that thick skull of yours that I didn't come here just so you would see us together."

"What other possible reason is there?" Slate spat. "You bought this thing over a year ago and you only showed up for the first time a couple months back. The rig was running just fine without you then and it doesn't need you now. So no, you came because of Mira, knowing I would be here and that I wouldn't have any choice but to see you together."

Some of Logan's frustration became mine now, too. Slate was being deliberately obtuse. He was completely ignoring anything Logan said that didn't fit his narrative. My brother and I shared a stubborn streak, but this was on a whole new level.

I'd never known him to be close-minded, even in his stubbornness. I took a few steps forward, putting myself between them and holding up my hands, fighting to control the volume and emotion in my own voice even though it was exactly what I expected of them. "You're causing a scene. Can we please go talk like civilized people in my office?"

Slate cut a glare at me. "No, we can't. If your boy here would just stop coming after me, I'd be able to get to work. So stay out of this, Mira. It doesn't concern you."

"It doesn't concern me?" Incredulity made me sound like a damn squeaky toy, but I didn't even care. "He came after you because you were baiting him. Insulting us. And now, you're just getting stupid."

Logan let out a long, deep exhale behind me, then put a gentle hand on my hip and slowly moved me back, his eyes soft as they met mine. "He's right that you should stay out of it, Mira. It's not you he's pissed at. Let him insult me as much as he wants, but don't get involved. Please? The last thing I want is to get between you two."

Slate huffed out a snort. "More lies. If you didn't want to get between us, you would've stayed the fuck away from my sister as soon as you found out who she was."

I looked from one of them to the other but fell back a little. To a certain extent, they were both right. As much as this absolutely was my fight as well, their quarrel right now wasn't with me. They had been friends for a long time and they were both feeling betrayed by the other.

Slate because Logan had gone behind his back, and Logan by everything Slate had been saying about him recently. I'd get my turn to have my say, but it looked like I was going to have to wait until they'd had it out.

Which was fine.

Unlike them, I didn't have to shout my business for the whole crew to hear. In fact, I would have preferred to talk about this inside, away from all the curious ears and, hopefully, once they'd calmed down. They weren't going to get anywhere like this. They weren't listening to what the other was saying. The two stubborn men in my life just dug in their heels and defended their own point of view.

Annoyed by the reminder that boys, I supposed, really would just be boys sometimes, I shook my head and threw my hands up. "Fine. Keep yelling at each other. I'll just be waiting right over there once you run out of steam and you realize you're not getting anywhere."

With that, I stomped toward the railing and wrapped my fingers around the warm metal. Leaning against it, I watched Logan move his eyes back to Slate's. I was still frustrated as all hell, but I was willing to wait until they were ready to listen.

"I tried to stay away from her," Logan said, a little calmer now as he tried to reason with his old friend. "I swear to you, man, I tried, but we care about each other. Whatever you think I'm doing with her, it's not that. Will you please just hear me out?"

Pride surged through me. At least he was acting more like a grownup.

But then my brother pissed all over the attempt. Slate laughed as he planted his feet about a foot apart and crossed his arms. "You expect me to believe you care about her? I'm sorry, but that's just not possible. The only thing you care about is money. That's the way it's been since you bought that lottery ticket and it's the way it always will be. Don't pretend to have the emotional capacity to care about anything else."

Logan's muscles tensed all over again, his spine snapping straight and his posture rigid. "You're really telling me not to pretend? If I have the emotional range of a fucking teaspoon, why have you been my friend for so long, Spiers? Why am I always the first call you make when you're in trouble? Why have I always shown up?"

Slate's jaw hardened so much, it was likely his teeth were about to crack. "I've shown up for you at least twice as much as you've ever had to do it for me, Jones. I've always been there when you needed me and then the one time—the one fucking time—that I ask you for something, you go and do the exact opposite. I was your friend because I thought that deep down inside, you weren't a bad guy. That there had to be a redeemable quality in there somewhere, but it turns out I was dead wrong. Money and your dick. That's what your life is ruled by. That's what you're all about."

Logan opened his mouth to respond, but he never got that far. While the boys had been hollering at each other, we'd all missed the warning signs that the rig hadn't been unaffected by the constant battering from the wind and all the rain we'd been getting.

Metal groaned loudly overhead, and as I looked up, the screeching groans continued and a part of the support structure tore loose. The beam detached from the rest of the structure and started falling—straight toward Logan.

I screamed his name and pushed away from the railing, but it was too late. There was nothing I could do to stop thousands of pounds of metal from bearing down on my boyfriend—a man I knew for sure in that moment that I'd fallen in love with.

"Logan, look out!"

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