Page 60 of Shark’s Edge

“You just had about nine points of self-discovery, didn’t you?” He laughed his trademarked throaty snicker.

“Shut the fuck up, Twombley. I don’t know why I let you in that door half the time. I don’t need this right now. You know that as well as I do. Seriously, man. You’re supposed to be my friend. I mean, you are, aren’t you?” I looked at him in utter bewilderment. He was the only person outside of Pia I showed weakness in front of. Definitely the only man.

“You’re my best friend, Bas. That’s why I don’t want to see you screw this up.” Sincerity filled his voice, his words reaching straight into my chest and putting my heart into a full nelson.

We were both quiet for close to a minute. Grant finally spoke first—he always did. He was more uncomfortable with silence than Vela, for Christ’s sake.

When he finally spoke, his voice was rough with emotion. “It was the way you were looking at her. Watching her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that look on your face before, and I’ve known you your whole life, man. At least the part that matters, anyway. There’s something different about that girl.”

Full nelson to a single leg takedown. The emotions referee smacked the mat. One. Two. Three. It was an easy pin, and Grant may as well have raised his arm in victory.

“She’s so young, dude,” I finally offered in defeat. “I’ve got a dozen years on her.” I tried to come up with any sort of reason I should stay away from Abbigail Gibson.

He grinned widely, knowing he’d just taken a cool W. I’d made it too simple. “So what? I mean, she’s legal, right?” At least he spared my dignity and played along like we were still trying to argue about it.

“Yeah.” I hung my head, feigning shame. If I were honest with myself, it stoked the fire hotter. “But barely,” I said, exhausted but slightly lightened by the thought of pursuing her again.

“That might even be fun.”

“You’re such a dog.” I knocked him in the side of the head, messing up his perfect hair before it flopped right back into its perfect place.

“I’m just saying what you’ve already thought.” He shrugged, still grinning like the scoundrel I knew he was.

“With my luck, she’ll tell me she’s a virgin or some shit. Jesus Christ.”

“Oh my God. Don’t even joke about that shit,” Grant said, sobering.

“I know, right?” With a deep, cleansing breath to banish the horrifying thought, I went back to sit at my desk. “Let’s get to work. Freight doesn’t move itself.”

“True story. Do you ever just take a minute to appreciate how far we’ve come?” My best friend was still in the mood for the touchy-feely stuff, apparently.

“Every single day, Grant. There will never be a day I take it for granted. I know what everyone thinks of me. I know people think I’m a giant asshole, that I sit up here in the penthouse suite, acting like the king of all things. But I will never—not for one single day—forget how much blood, sweat, and tears it took to get here. Whether it was mine or someone else’s is beside the point. Fluids were spilled. And someone paid in pain. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was another. But every day, I remind myself of that.”

“That’s why no one will ever get the upper hand on you, man. As long as you want to stay on top of the logistics game, you will,” Grant added thoughtfully.

“We will. You’ve been right beside me from the time we hustled to get jobs in the neighborhood in East LA, doing courier jobs on our bikes. Now we’re moving full shiploads across oceans, Grant. We did this together. That’s another thing I never lose sight of. You are my brother. My family. In all the ways that matter. You will always be taken care of like my family.” I waited for him to meet my gaze; the touchy-feely sort of talk wasn’t something we usually dealt with. “I hope you realize that,” I finally added when our eyes locked.

“I do. Why are we getting all creepy this morning?”

I laughed. “I have no idea. This has gotten a bit heavy though, hasn’t it? Don’t think I’m going to hug you or any of that shit, though. So, what do you have today? Aren’t you meeting with the city?”

“Yes, finally. After two canceled appointments, I’m finally meeting our appointed Development Services Case Manager from the city’s Department of Building and Safety.”

“Damn. Are you kidding? I really thought that happened weeks ago.”

“Nope. I guess the guy had kidney stones or something, but he swears he’s the picture of health now and we have his undivided attention. The beauty of being accepted into this program is that they hold your hand and walk you through the phases that can get really tricky with the city, like permitting, entitlements, public improvements—especially the parking situation, which we still haven’t seen a viable solution from the architect, I might add—other public improvements the city will probably require, and utility design.”

I held up my hand up in a full stop motion. “You’re giving me a headache, man.”

“I know, it’s stressful. That’s why getting in with this management program with the city is golden. They liaise with all the different bureaus on our behalf. They know who to go to with what questions and problems. They cut through the red tape for us.”

I twisted my face. “What’s in it for them?”

“The city wants you to build your building here, Bas. Not in Houston—or Boise, for that matter. People are leaving LA faster than they can pack their two point five kids in the minivan and get the hell out of Dodge. They want to keep your business and all the future business you will bring with you right here in the City of Angels. Makes perfect sense.” He shrugged and rightfully so. It wasn’t rocket science.

“Well, keep me in the loop. What time is your meeting?” I asked, looking at the octagonal bezel of the Audemars Piguet on my wrist. Expensive timepieces had always been one of my personal indulgences. The one I wore today was a favorite of mine, even if on the casual side of my collection.

“My meeting is at ten, so I need to get over to the conference room. Do you want to have lunch today? Oh wait, I forgot about LuLu’s. Message me the time on that, will you? I’ll keep my phone on silent, but I’ll sneak a look when it vibrates. It’ll give me something to look forward to so I can get through the snore-fest of a meeting.”