

And I won’t have her tossed out there to the wolves any more than I will have you hurting for your friends. “You and I both know who they expected to pay.” And she understands what it will cost you to pay extortion money.

She made her choices, and she knows they were bad ones. “I can handle whatever comes.” My voice is soft, but strong. “You say that you’re strong enough to handle seeing that shit with me and Carmela, and I believe you. Now he turns to look at me, and what I see in his face is no longer flat, but fierce. “I will pay,” he repeats, as if he is responding to a question I just posed. This time I will wait for Damien, because I know that he will take what he needs from me, just as he lets me take what I need from him.Ī moment passes, and then another.

Telling myself that, I open my door and move to stand beside him, though this time I do not touch.
