"Yeah, Stainless Steel, wasn't it?" Kyle sniffed. He hated to admit this but… "I gotta say, as nicknames go, that's a fairly good one."
Steel shook his head. "Yeah, whoever came up with that must have thought they were pretty clever," he said bitterly. "Hard to shake a name that catchy, and that means it's hard to shake the reputation that comes with it, no matter how undeserved."
He leaned back and blew a stream of smoke up into the air.
"I guess I got the last laugh though. When they finally stuck me with something, it stuck good. Nothing but stains now. More like Rusted Steel these days." He threw his cigarette down angrily and ground it beneath his heel as though he were imagining he was crushing everyone who had ever accused him. He pulled a fresh smoke out immediately and lit back up.
"For what it's worth," Andrea said. "Cohen said you didn't do what everyone said you did."
