They'd been working on their bottle of Jack Daniels for an hour and there was only a quarter left of the bottle. Any passerby would probably be able to tell that the two men were drunk due to the color in their cheeks and by how much they were laughing.
Deciding that it was now or never to make his peace with John, he went on ahead. Plus, he figured if John got pissed at him. He'd at least have a 50/50 chance on whether or not he'd be killed or just maimed.
"Been waitin' 'till we were both mostly sloshed to tell you this. When I showed up here... things were real bad John. There's no way to go back and fix it and I feel the need to apologize to you for not keepin' the boys safe." He would go into it in more detail if John wanted but for now he poured them each another glass.