Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

SLATE

T he morning after the wedding, I woke up to an empty hotel room. Sunshine poured through the tinted windows, letting me know that I'd slept much later than usual. I was naked as the day I'd been born and I sat up groggily, my head mildly sore from all the alcohol we'd consumed last night, but the rest of me was feeling pretty damn good.

Blinking the cobwebs of sleep away, I yawned and looked around, but Jess was gone. The shower on the opposite side of the bedroom area was empty, only a few drops from last night still clinging to the glass cubicle walls.

The beer bottles we'd consumed between rounds of truly energetic fucking had been collected and put in the recycling bin and Jess's side of the bed was neatly made. A piece of paper lay on top of the nightstand and I leaned over, recognizing the stationery as the hotel notepad, embossed with the place's emblem at the top.

Underneath it, scrawled in neat, loopy handwriting, was a note.

I had a great time last night. See ya around. XO ? Jess.

I smiled as I lay back down and hooked an arm under my head. Letting the note drift to the floor, I shut my eyes once more. I'd had a great time too. Honestly, she was the first girl I'd ever met who approached sex the same way I did.

It could be intense and satisfying, playful and fun, and not mean anything all at the same time. What I'd had with Jess had been all of those things. She'd kept up with me even if it had been ages and I'd been a little more controlling and needy than usual. She'd laughed and joked with me in between.

This was also the first time I'd been left like this. Normally, girls didn't walk away from me. I was the one who left in the morning. It was an interesting change of pace, to say the least.

After lying there thinking about her for a few more minutes, I checked the time on my phone and groaned. If I was going to be on time meeting Logan and Mira before they had to go to the airport, I had to get a move on.

Rolling out of bed, I took a shower, got dressed, and packed up. After dropping off my stuff at my apartment, I headed out to meet up with them at a café nearby, arriving just as they were sitting down.

Logan gave me one look and smirked, cocking his head and looking like he was about to ask, but I turned my attention to my sister instead. "This has to be important if you want to talk to me about it today. Aren't you leaving in a couple of hours?"

"Yeah, we are," she said. "You're right, though. This is important."

A server came by to take our order, and after we asked for a coffee each, I leaned forward, my gaze fixed on my sister's. "What's going on, Mira? Are you alright? Is it the baby?"

She nodded quickly and glanced at Logan, who gave her a reassuring smile before they both turned back to me. "So here's the thing, Slate. I've been doing a lot of soul searching and it's become pretty obvious you're not enjoying your work as much as you used to."

"What?" My head jerked back. "That's ridiculous. I?—"

"Let me finish," she said quietly but seriously. "Please, Slate? Just hear me out."

I huffed out a breath but nodded as I wondered what these two were up to this time. Logan reached for Mira's hand, giving her a meaningful look before he glanced at me. "No one's saying you're not good at your job, bro. You're the best, but you've been miserable and it hasn't gone unnoticed."

I frowned. "I'm not miserable. I'm busy."

Mira arched a brow at me. "I'm busy too, but it makes me happy. Not miserable. Let's just be honest with each other, okay? The oil business was Dad's passion, not yours. You ended up in his line of sight for succession and you took over because you felt like you owed it to him, but he's gone now, Slate."

"What are you saying?" I asked stonily, feeling like she was pressing a taser to the inside of my chest while simultaneously lifting the weight of the fucking world off my shoulders.

"I'm saying that I'm ready to take over," she said cautiously. "If you'd like to step down and try something new, that is."

My heart thundered, galloping to the point where it felt like it was going to explode. Shocked, feeling ambushed and betrayed, and yet so relieved that I couldn't move, I just blinked at her.

She rushed out the rest. "I've already managed to come up with the funds to pay you out for your half of Spieres Consulting. There's no pressure or expectation here. I just want you to be happy and I don't think you are at the moment, so I thought I'd offer you a way out while I could."

I glanced at her swollen stomach, ignoring the hopeful look Logan was giving me and focusing solely on my sister. "You're about to have a baby."

"Yes, I know." She flashed me a nervous smile. "Things are going to be up in the air for a bit once I go on maternity leave, but you don't have to worry about that. I have all my ducks in a row and I've already hired someone to be my representative onsite so I can be home with the baby."

I blinked a few more times. Hard. "What are you talking about?"

She inhaled deeply as our coffees were delivered. Decaf for her, full strength with all the caffeine for Logan and me. Mira glanced at the steam rising from the surface of her cup, but then she steeled herself and looked back at me.

"From now on, I'm going to be working from here," she explained. "I'll be staying in the city and running only one trip a month to the rigs. Only for a night or two and only once the baby is old enough, but we don't have to be out there every day anymore, Slate. We've more than proven ourselves and it's about time we hired some extra help to be our boots on the ground."

My knee started bouncing and sweat broke out across my brow. I couldn't fathom a world in which we did what she was suggesting. In which I sold my half of our father's company to her and did what?

"You love being on the rigs," I said, my eyes narrowing as they met Logan's. "Seriously? Day one of marriage and you're?—"

"This is coming from me. Not from him," she said evenly, shaking her head and pulling my attention back to her. "It's something I've been thinking about for a long time, Slate. You even knew about it. We can't both keep practically living on those rigs. I know we felt like we had to at first, but it's been years. No other consulting executives are as hands-on as we've been, and I don't think we need to keep going that way."

"I had nothing to do with this," Logan said earnestly. "As it happens though, I agree with Mira and it's not just because she's my wife. Think about it, bro. I owned that rig for over a year before I went out there, and I know I'm just the money guy, but consultants don't have to be on site twenty-four-seven in order to do their jobs."

I exhaled harshly. "Yeah, okay. I get that. You're not wrong. I've known for a while that we can ease up, but shit."

They'd given me a lot to think about. I picked up my coffee, burning my lips as I took a sip without even blowing on it first. Wincing, I cursed under my breath and set the mug down again. "Can I get back to you about this?"

"Sure," Mira said easily. "That's why I mentioned it to you before we left. This way, you'll have time to think it over. If, by the time we get back, you don't have an answer yet, that's also okay. I just wanted you to know that you have options."

You. Have. Options.

I was thirty-six years old and I'd never heard those words directed at me before. Mira was right about how I'd ended up as the CEO of Spieres Consulting. Building the company had been our father's life's work, and as soon as he had found out that his firstborn was going to be a son, it had been decided that I would take over from him one day.

The company had been my life ever since I could remember, but my sister was right about something else too. I had been disenchanted by the job for ages, but more especially so these last few years. At first, I didn't even notice it happening, but it was like something inside me had shaken out of place, and try as I might, I just couldn't quite get it to snap back again.

As whatever it was had come loose, the itch had started. A deep longing for more . What that meant, I didn't entirely know yet, but it had never been as powerful as it was now. I'd never felt quite as disconnected from life as I had been these last few months.

Every stint on the rigs was soul destroying, sucking the will to do anything more than survive right out of me. The deep water? Not my thing.

I'd always loved coming back to solid land more than I had going out to sea. All in all, Mira's offer was tempting, but I was unconvinced.

"Thanks for all this." I left my coffee almost untouched as I shoved my chair back and stood up, walking around the table to hug her goodbye. "You've given me a lot to think about, sis. Have a good trip, okay? I'll see you when you get back."

" If we get back," Logan mumbled. Then he winked at me as he shook my hand. "If I get my way, we'll just retire early and stay in the Seychelles forever."

Mira elbowed him and he laughed, rolling his eyes as he slung an arm around her shoulders. "Kidding. Jeez. We'll talk to you soon, Slate. Keep us in the loop, okay?"

"You got it," I said, meaning it too.

They really had given me a lot of food for thought, but as of right now, I was still the CEO of Spieres Consulting and not all of us would be spending the rest of the damn month in the Seychelles.

Some of us had to get ready to go back to the rig tomorrow, and that was what I did. Flying out felt different this time, though. Like just maybe, it would be the last time. At least for a while.

And what closed the deal for me was that I suddenly felt free. I didn't hate it at all that I didn't know when or if I would ever go back. I had options now, and as it happened, I really fucking liked having my future full of so many possibilities.