“Really? I work with metal, too. Mostly cast iron pieces.” He nodded toward the sculpture Crash had been admiring. “Sculpture mostly.”
“That so?” Crash turned to take in some of the big pieces. “You made these?”
“Yup.”
“Ace is one of the resident artists out at Sloss,” his sister bragged, linking her arms around one of Ace’s big muscled arms.
“Sloss? Sloss Furnace? The historic old ironworks?” Cole asked.
“That place we went on field trips to as kids?” Crash frowned.
“Yeah. I remember you made a cast iron tile and brought it home, so proud. Gram still has it. She uses it as a trivet,” Letty informed him.
“Yeah. I think that was sixth grade.”
Letty turned to Ace. “You should take him out there. Show him the facilities.”
“Hell, I’d love to see it,” Crash admitted.
Ace nodded. “I could take you out there. How long you gonna be in town?”
“Couple days.”
“I was heading over there in about an hour or so. I could take you then if you want. That give you enough time to go see your gram?”
Crash looked over at Cole who shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, brother. We don’t have to be at the clubhouse for a few hours yet.”
Crash turned back to Ace with a smile. “That’d be great.”
“You two in town for a reason or did you just ride twenty-three hundred miles just to see little ol’ me?” Letty batted her eyes and tossed her head flirtatiously.
“In town for a funeral.” Crash’s eyes moved from Ace to Letty. “You remember Bulldog?”
Her voice got soft as she dropped the flirtatious pose. “Oh, no, it’s not Bulldog’s funeral, is it?”
Crash nodded. “Cancer sticks finally got him. He’s been battling lung cancer the past year.”
“I’m so sorry. I always liked him. He was kind of like the uncle we never had.”
“Yeah. He was a good soul. Saved me and Cole when we were stupid punks who thought we knew it all and were determined to fuck our own lives up.”
“He’s the one that got you in the club, isn’t he?” Letty asked.
“Yeah. Found me and your brother down in Southside. Back then it was a drugee’s paradise, and we’d fallen in with the wrong crowd,” Cole explained.
“When’s the funeral?”
“Tomorrow. The clubhouse is having a party tonight. Kind of our version of a wake. You should come,” Cole invited.
Letty smiled. “I haven’t seen any of those guys since you both moved out to California. It would be fun to catch up.”
“Yeah. I remember you and Skylar used to love coming to the Dead parties.” Cole smiled.
“When my big brother would let us.” Letty stuck her tongue out at Crash, teasingly.
“How is Skylar? You two were always like two peas in a pod,” Crash asked.
“Funny you should ask. She just got back in town. She took off not long after you two left for Cali.”