End of an Era (Book 7)

Party Crasher

|Logan's POV|

I was sitting at the table with Teo. Lauren was off playing with my little cousins. Erica was chatting with Amanda and Sasha. Erica looked beautiful tonight. I'll admit, it's been hard to keep my eyes off her.

"I know that look anywhere," Teo commented.

I looked over at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"The way you've been eyeing Erica all night."

I sucked my teeth.

"Sounds like you've been talking to Olivia."

"What?"

"She said the same thing earlier."

"Bro, why are you torturing yourself? Just ask her out."

I shook my head.

"A relationship with Erica isn't the priority right now. Making sure Lauren is good and our communication is in tact is what's necessary. I don't want to jump into anything right now. Navigating being a dad is my tunnel vision for the time being."

"Yeah, but they're moving to Cali with you. That has to mean something."

"Erica made the choice to move to Cali for Lauren's benefit. She didn't have to do all that, you know, uprooting her life. I appreciate her for it though. She'll have her place with Lo and I'll have mine."

"I'll say this and leave you alone about it. Hear me out."

"I'm listening."

"You love her. I'm not just saying as a friend either. You're in love Erica. I see the way you look at her. I see how attentive you are to both her and Lauren."

"I was raised to be a gentleman, Teo, so duh."

"You know what I mean. There's going to come a day when you're going to have to face how you truly feel about her. You'll have football to distract you for now, sure. When you come home at night and that's all gone, then what? How are you going to react to her dating someone? I get it, your priority is navigating how to be a dad. Just.... Don't turn off your heart in the process."

I nodded, taking in what he was saying.

"I've never stopped loving Erica."

He patted my shoulder.

"I know."

"Now just isn't the time for exploring a relationship with her. I know she won't wait around forever. I'm not expecting her to. I just don't want to rush into anything. Our relationship needs repairing on just a friendship level before I can even think of an intimate one. I would love nothing more than to be with her. My feelings haven't changed. Just, timing is everything and getting into a relationship when there's a lot of hurt in the mix isn't the best idea."

"I hear you, man. I can't imagine what you're going through. My bad for coming at you like that."

"It's all good. I know you mean well. When the time is right for Erica and I, I'll make that move. I'm not worried about dating anyone else. I'm good right now. If I wanted to be with someone other than Erica, trust me I would. I've dated in college, sure, but I've never felt the way I feel about her. I tried, really tried to move on. Just didn't work out."

"But you're open to it."

"For sure."

"Everything will fall into place, bro. Just know, I got you forever."

"I appreciate you always having my back."

We did our handshake and out of the corner of my eye, I saw my daughter running towards me.