The Convenient Wife
by Kelly

chapter 36

The door opened and Jason burst in excitedly, passing Sonny without
taking in the man's ravaged expression, his disheveled appearance.

"I was able to get to Francis," he said. "Man, you're never going to
believe this. His brother's in deep with this guy out of Atlantic
City…the guy's gonna kill his brother if the debt's not paid. So the
Feds find out and they work a little blackmail. `You testify for us
or else we'll see that your brother is killed'. So anyway, instead of
comin' to us like he should have, Francis makes a deal with the Feds
to get his brother into protective custody and to pay off his debt in
exchange for giving you up."

Sonny stared at his friend blankly which Jason took for shock because
he rattled on with the story. "So I say to Francis, man, we'll take
care of your brother but you gotta blow your story. Tell the Feds
whatever--that you changed your mind or that you exaggerated so that
they'd take care of your situation. I told him that right after they
spring him we'll help him disappear."

Jason shrugged with a cold little smile. "Course he thought I meant
we'd pop him and hide his body. And that is what the little twerp
deserves. But, like Alexis said, anybody disappearing right now
wouldn't look good for us. So I think I convinced him to change his
story. He's ready to work this our way."

The room was bathed in such silence when Jason stopped talking that
the younger man finally looked at his friend. Really looked at him.
That's when he saw the raw agony in his dark eyes.

"Sonny, what the hell happened?"

For a long time, there was no answer. Then his boss motioned to the
door with his head. "You gotta go."

"Why? What's the matter with you?"

Sonny shook his head. "You just gotta go. I don't—I can't talk now."

"Wait, was it the hearing? Did they prove—"

"Just get the hell out of here, Jason! Now!"

Jason frowned, looking at Sonny as if he'd grown two heads. Then
reluctantly, he left him. Sonny slammed the door behind him and
locked it.

***

Carly answered the phone on the first ring, seeing by her caller id
that it was Jason on his cell phone.

"Jase? What's up?"

"What did you do?"

"Huh?"

"To Sonny. What the hell did you do?"

The question was growled in a voice that brooked no argument and no
prevarication. Jason knew. He wasn't asking if she did anything, but
what she had done.

"What happened? Is Sonny alright?"

"So you're not gonna deny it, huh? That's an improvement at least."

There was a coldness in his voice she could not miss. "Don't be like
that, Jase," she said. "You knew that I couldn't let him hurt me and
not do something about it. I don't let men run all over me. I'm not
built that way. You've known me for years…better than anyone else in
fact. So don't punish me for being who I am. You never have before."

"Oh, well pardon me for believing you when you promised to stay out
of it…when you promised on our friendship, Carly!" he countered.

"I-I know what I promised. And I'm sorry I couldn't keep it. Really."

"You never intended to, did you? From the moment you said the words,
they were lies."

Carly bit back a new lie that automatically sprang to her lips and
just told him the straight truth. "Yeah, you're right. I was never
gonna leave it alone. I just told you that to get you to back off of
me."

She heard and felt him sigh across the wireless connection. Her heart
was caught in her throat. Had she lost Jason, too? Because if she
had, she had lost everything.

"Are you gonna tell me what it is you did to him?" Jason demanded.

She licked her lips nervously. "He didn't tell you?"

"He can't even speak, Carly. His face is…I mean, he's devastated.
Shell-shocked. Like somebody took his whole world apart, brick by
brick today. And funny…the first person I thought of was you."

The coldness in his voice had morphed into outright disdain. This was
bad.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry to pile more on you when you've got so much to
deal with. But he hurt me, Jason, and this had to be done."

A silence took the line, so long she thought he'd disconnected. But
finally he spoke. "That's all you have to say?"

"He deserved some pain after what he did to me—"

"Ok, fine. You got your dig in. Now be afraid, Carly. Very afraid.
Because he's hurt and pissed and more alone than I've seen him since…
forever. And when he's like that we both know there's no predicting
what he'll do to the people who brought him to that place. Normally,
I'd stand between you two and play gatekeeper. But you know what? No
more. You chose to do this, you deal with the damn fallout!"

"Jason, you can't…you know how Sonny is! You can't just leave me to
deal with this on my own…"

"Is that all I am to you? The man who fixes your life? I know I
filled that place for you before but, damnit, at some point somebody
has to grow up, Carly! You made this mess; clean it up yourself!"

Then the line really was disconnected.

chapter 37