Page 22 of The Arrogant One

I connected the call. “Brady, what’s good, my man?”

“Just checking to see how your stay was in our Laguna Beach location. You know, since I’m Mr. Customer Fucking Service.”

I laughed. “You’re hardly that, my friend.”

The Cole and Spade Hotel brand was made up of seven equal partners. Three Spade brothers, their cousin, and threeCole siblings. Out of all of them, Brady and Rhett Cole certainly took the crown for the grumpiest.

“And we both know that’s not why you’re calling. Is everything all right?”

“Everything is great. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be back in LA in a few weeks. It’s been a while since my family, the Coles, and your family have all been out. Let’s put something together and hit up the town.”

Most of the partners, when building or renovating a new hotel, ended up living on location until the construction was finished. My buddy had been all over the world with brief stints in LA between build-outs. And since he’d gotten married, I had seen him even less.

“Send me the dates,” I told him, turning at the light. “Maybe Beck will have a home game that night. We can start the evening in our suite and go out from there.”

“I like the way you think.”

My phone beeped, the dashboard showing Walker’s name on the screen. There was no doubt in my mind why he was reaching out this early.

“Fuck me,” I groaned. “I’ve got Walker calling on the other line, and I’m sure he’s about to ream my ass out.”

“Is it over a woman?”

I chuckled. “Isn’t it always?”

“Single and reckless—things I don’t miss.” He laughed. “I’ll text you the dates, brother.”

I said goodbye and clicked over. “Walker?—”

“How did it go last night?”

“Jesus,” I sighed. “How about agood morning? Or,Hart, are you on your way back to LA? Or,Did you get in safely?—”

“Whether you’re still in Laguna or on your way back doesn’t concern me in the slightest. Stay there all week if thatsuits you. I want to know about Horned, which is why I sent you there in the first place and why I’m calling this early.”

I turned down the volume to the speakers. “Did something crawl up your ass this morning?”

“The second I opened my eyes and lifted my phone off my nightstand, there was another glowing review for Horned on my fucking screen, saying how delectably ingenious of a restaurant it is. That’s one. Two, I have a tiny fucking window to talk to you before I’m headed into meetings all day, and then I’ll be in the kitchen for the unforeseeable future. And three, if you think I get off on calling you this early, I don’t. I’m tired, I’m overworked, and I want shit to get done the way I want it done. Since I can’t clone myself, I have to rely on the four of you. So, patience is not something I possess at the moment, Hart.”

Walker in the kitchen was like a surgeon in the operating room. A space where he was fully focused and didn’t want any interruptions. He was also the inventor of every dish that was served in our large collection of restaurants. Without him, we wouldn’t have a product or a billion-dollar empire. But that wasn’t where his attitude came from. That was because the man never slept.

“You have exactly six minutes to give me every detail,” he continued.

I glanced at the time on my dash. It was 7:54.

I slowed at the light and exhaled. “It’s not going to take me six minutes. It’s not even going to take two minutes.”

“I don’t like the sound of this, Hart …”

“What I’m going to say next, you’re going to like even less.”Fuck. Listening to him lose his shit wasn’t how I wanted to start this day. But I knew it was coming—and I supposed, in some way, I deserved it. “I didn’t eat dinner at Horned. I left after my second old-fashioned.”

“Explain yourself.”

It would be easier to tell him I hadn’t felt good and gone back to the hotel to crash. But I didn’t lie, and I especially wouldn’t lie to my brother.

I shifted into third, the engine revving at the same time I said, “I met a woman.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”