“Took off? Where to?”
Letty shrugged. “I lost touch with her for a while. But, it’s good to have her back. We were supposed to go out for a drink tonight. Catch up.”
“Hell, invite her along. It’ll be good to see her. She was always like the kid sister I never had,” Cole said tugging on one of Letty’s dreads with a teasing grin.
“You don’t know how lucky you were, Cole. Kid sisters can be a pain in the ass,” Crash advised him with a wink at Letty.
“You love me, and you know it.”
“Yeah, but you were still a pain in the ass. Always wanting to tag-a-long. Shit, I remember being scared to death you’d end up some brother’s ol’ lady.”
Letty’s hands landed on
her hips again. “Would that have been so horrible?”
“Uh-oh. She’s getting the pissed off ‘I-am-woman, hear-me-roar’ look in her eyes, Crash.” Cole grinned.
The corner of Crash’s mouth pulled up. “Don’t tell me that surprises you, Cole?”
Letty slugged Crash in the arm. “Still the smartass, I see!”
“Ow, woman!”
Ace chuckled. “Glad to see I’m not the only one she slugs.”
Crash rubbed his bicep. “Yeah, and I’ll have the bruises later to prove it.”
Ace grinned. “I’ll give y’all some time alone to catch up, and I’ll get back to work.” He pulled Letty close with one arm and kissed her forehead. “Later, baby girl.”
Crash turned to watch him walk out the backdoor, and then looked back at his sister. “He your man?”
She nodded. “I love him, Ty. He’s the most sensitive soul I’ve ever met. And his big muscled body gets me hot.” She grinned and waggled her eyebrows.
Crash held up his hand. “Don’t need the dirty details, Letty.”
She laughed and grabbed his hand and nipped at his fingertips. “This is a nice surprise. Seeing you. You been by to see Gram yet?”
“Nope. This was our first stop.”
She linked arms with him, turning him toward the door and said over her shoulder, “Come on, Cole. She’ll love to see you both. I hope you’re both hungry, you know she won’t let you out of the door without feeding you.”
“Damn, I hope she’s got some cornbread. I haven’t had any of that in years. And some sweet tea,” Cole replied.
“I guess they don’t have that on the west coast, huh?”
“Nope. Closest thing you can do is order iced tea and dump some sugar in it, but it ain’t southern sweet tea. Not by a long shot.”
“Or there’s that Chai tea shit,” Crash put in.
“Fuck, don’t get me started on that crap. Angel loves that shit.”
“So, you can close up the shop, just like that?” Crash asked his little sister.
She grinned up at him. “Being a business owner has its perks.”
“Like smoking pot in the back room?”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I never could slide anything past my big brother.”