Billy inhales. Exhales. He tells himself to be the bigger man here.

.. by dumping salt into Hickey's next cup of tea later, of course. And by smugly telling him 'why the hell would I do that' next time the other is in the mood for sex.

It truly is the thought of those things that gets him through this moment of Hickey being exceptionally annoying - even by his standards - in the aftermath of a town meeting that was already bad enough by itself. Besides, there's something to address that sounds a little more pressing than Hickey being annoying.

"What do you mean, a few strings?"

What have you been up to with Little, Hickey... Does Billy want to know this?