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I’ve never heard someone sound so miserable

He looks up “You knohat the worst part about being tough is? About being strong?”

“What is it?”

“People stop asking if you’re okay They assuet that you’re human”

CHAPTER TWELVE: HUGH MADDOX

Well, here I alad this moment is finally here, even if itplace, and her I feel like I’m in a confessional booth, which makes me think that maybe I should have taken church more seriously Or therapy

You’re only as sick as your secrets Who said that? I always liked it and believed it, even though it never got me to share any of them until now

Saenuine I can tell that she wants to say more than she is and I love her for it But I have too o

“Andrew kept showing up at the gy and I couldn’tI kne I offered to go with him to watch his back He was so happy He knew that if I just saw hi about him I’d see that he was ready”

I can still see the kid in h, and see the aay he

“His first fight--the first one I saw him in--was in a warehouse on the outskirts of Brooklyn Shabby, shitty business The kind of place where people wind up brawling for YouTube hits I tried to get hiot there, but he was deter him out of there in front of everyone; it would have wrecked his self-iuys”

“So he fought?” says Sam

I nod “Right before it started I saw the other guy tuck a roll of quarters into one of his fists There was a lot of betting action going on I tried to tell Andrehat I had seen but it was too late I could have broken it up I should have I trusted that he’d be able to dodge, or grab the guy, get his hands open if they went to the ground, and then everyone would see that he was trying to cheat You can really fuck someone up with e

ven a little extra weight in your hand”

“I’m sure”