Road to Respect ~ Sopranos

Chapter 33

Joseph

My Lover's Prayer played on the old record player in the corner of Chris's hospital room. Joey had no idea why Amber was even here, unless Chris never broke it off with her while he was with Talia, which made Joey hate the bastard even more than he already did. Joey sat in the corner of the room as well, but closest to the door so he could easily slip out if Amber started to wail again.

Even through Otis Redding, Joey could hear the beeps of the heart monitor, moving slow and steady as it should but not as Joey wished. It's been two days since Chris's shooting, and in those two days nothing has been done about Matthew yet. The poor fuck has been in hiding, and since no one even cared about him enough to get to know him, they had no idea where he could have gone.

Amber reached over and fixed the pin that was clipped to Chris's hospital gown. Joey wasn't religious, so he had no idea who the pope on the pin was, but since it was a picture and not a painting, it had to be a recent one. Joey was also exhausted. These past two days Joey hasn't gotten much sleep. If Tony found Matthiew, the stupid kid could pin the blame on Joey, whether it be out of spite or just plain stupidity, the kid shot Chris over a fucking joke he misinterpret.

Even if Matthew did shoot Chris on Joey's order, the fuck would have died anyway, less strings tying Joey back to the crime, so the feds nor Tony would suspect him at all. But still, Matthew managed to fuck that up as well. His buddy Sean was killed by Chris, who already had a couple of holes in him, and he failed to kill Chris. Matthew would have died no matter what happened, but in this case, no one was to blame but himself.

The door to the private room opened to reveal Silvio and his wife Gabriella. Gabriella greeted Amber first with a loving hug before Silvio did the same with a, "Hiya, sweetie."

Amber cleared her throat and dabbed her face with a tissue. "They took the tube out of his throat. So now he's breathing on his own. But he took a lot of damage to his spleen. They might have to take it out."

"Oh my god." Gabriella cringed as did Silvio.

Joey sighed, which got Silvio's attention. The man walked over to Joey, who got up from his chair to greet his uncle with a hug. "If I pat you down, am I going to find any poison on you?" Silvio whispered in Joey's ear, almost half joking.

"A stick of dynamite, actually." Joey joked. "Might as well make this memorable."

Silvio let out a fake chuckle before pushing Joey against the wall quietly. "I know all about that beef between you and Chrissy. Tony told me all of it. But I'm telling you now, kid, you do anything to Chris--"

"What kind of animal do you think I am?" Joey asked, only for Silvio to give him a pointed look. "Don't worry, Tony's little prince won't come under any harm by my hand. It would be too easy anyway. Fucking look at him, unable to defend himself, where's the challenge in that."

"You really think you should be talking like that in front of me, kid?" Silvio glowered at Joey. "Me, of all people."

Joey smirked at his uncle. "Just tell Tony he has nothing to worry about from me." Joey pushed Silvio back a little bit and started to walk through the door when Chris's mother came rushing in. "Look!" She wailed. "Look what they did to my son!" Silvio rushed over and grabbed her in a tight hug to restrain her. "My son! Those sons of bitches!"

Joey grimaced at the smell of Vodka that was laced in her breath before walking out of the room and into the waiting area where the rest of the crew was. There were also two officers in suits, most likely FBI, interrogating Tony, Paulie and Pussy.

"Gismonte, with a G." The fed talking to Tony said.

Tony nodded slowly. "The kid who died, right?" Playing dumb, smart.