Disclaimer: I don't own The Black Donnellys. I just love them to death.
Spoilers for "When the Door Opens".
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"You used Joey Ice Cream as bait?"
Tommy looked over at Kevin. Kevin just sort of shrugged meekly. They both looked at me, and I had a damnably hard time not smiling. Because, seriously, you weren't supposed to give a childhood friend a piece of meat and then make him lure away an attack dog.
...but still, the thought of Joey hauling ass with a rottweiler behind him, clutching a hunk of hamburger was pretty fucking funny.
However, there were pretenses. "You used Joey as bait?"
"He didn't get bit or nothing," Kevin said, hoping that would make it all better.
"You used Joey as bait!"
My face must have slipped because now Tommy was trying not to laugh. Poor Kevin--always the last to figure stuff out. "We would have taken you along," Tommy said, reaching out and taking my hand, "But they were throwing water balloons full of piss—I figured you wouldn't be too upset about missing out."
I pretended to think on it a moment as he smoothed a calloused finger over my knuckles. We'd been back and forth—the three of us—since the night in the Firecracker. Nobody knew quite what to say, so in true Irish fashion, nobody said anything. Instead, it was the little touches like this that let me know that maybe everything would be okay.