Road to Respect ~ Sopranos

Chapter 32

Joseph

"How much longer?" Alex asked, sounding like a petulant child on the other side of the table. "I came over late so I wouldn't have to wait."

Antonio lightly slapped the back of his son's head to get him to shut up. "Where's your brother?"

"I dunno." Alex shrugged and leaned back against the booth. "He came home late last night."

Joey hummed and placed down another stack of cash onto the table. Talia wordlessly grabbed it and wrapped a rubber band around it before putting it into a briefcase. The two haven't spoken at all since they arrived at the bar for the family dinner, and the tension around the two was getting thicker. Talia tried to apologize many times, but Joey didn't want to hear it.

there was a knock at the back door. Felix opened it up to reveal a tired Bruno and Jimmy. Jimmy, being the fat ass that he is, immediately went to the back to see if he could get some free samples. Bruno however, walked towards the table.

"You look like shit." Joey said to Bruno and Bruno only grunted and placed down an envelope filled with cash. "Another one?"

"Some office building by the airport." Bruno sat down next to father and Antonio wrapped an arm around him. "All night, dealing with airplanes coming in and out. The fucking noise there."

"Need an Advil?" Alex asked and Bruno huffed and nodded. Alex got up to get the pill for Bruno.

There was another knock on the door which confused Joey. Everyone who should be here was already here. Joey turned and nodded to Felix with a finger up. Signaling to the native Italian to get his gun ready. Felix nodded back and opened the door slightly with his gun behind his back.

Felix sighed and listened to the person behind the door for a moment before turning to Joey. "It's those two gay guys." Felix said in Italian.

"Eddie?"

Felix shook his head. "Bruno's gay guys."

Joey raised a brow to Bruno who shrugged in confusion, but Alex walked downstairs with a pill and a paper cup filled with water. "Ah, you invited your boyfriends?"

Bruno flipped off his brother and took the pill from him. "Let them in." Joey said to Felix, ignoring the little spat between his two cousins. Felix opened the door and revealed the two other guys Chris worked with.

"Ah, fuck." Both Joey and Bruno said. Joey turned around and went back to counting his money while Bruno got up and walked into the kitchen.

"Um, uh, hey Joey." One of them said, Joey glanced at them for a second. Matthew was the one who greeted him while the other, Sean, stood behind him, looking like he didn't have a thought in his head. "I, uh, I think we met a few times. We met your cousins too, work with Bruno from time to time."

"Yeah, I know." Joey looked to Alex who was glaring at the two men. It seemed like there were still hard feeling from when they fucked up their little hostage situation with Jimmy a few months ago.

"Right." Sean cleared his throat. "I thought we'd come down here and--"

"It was my idea." Matthew interrupted.

"So what?" Sean asked quietly.

"'So what?' You can't just--"

"Why are you here?" Antonio asked, his voice harsh and firm which scared the shit out of the two fuckers. Joey hid his smile and took a sip of wine from his glass.

"Um." Matthew cleared his throat. "We thought it was time to make formal introductions to everyone."

"Everyone?" Joey asked.