Sebring

Green turned his attention back to me and the look in his eyes held pain but also intensity.

“Get out, Liv,” he urged, his tone intense too. “Get the fuck out, gorgeous. He will drag you down. Georgia’s blinded by bullshit, thinkin’ she can resurrect her legacy. She’ll go down with him and she don’t fuckin’ care, so loyal to a whackjob, she’s totally fuckin’ lost. But you know better. So get…the fuck…out.”

I held his gaze before I rolled back to my feet and straightened to standing.

I looked to Tommy. “Let’s get those towels tied tight and then get him up. I’ll find something to use as ties and call Gill to bring a car around.”

Tommy nodded.

I moved to my father’s desk.

“Man, you give even a minuscule shit about her, and I know you do, you get her out and far away from him.” I heard Green advise Tommy as I moved.

It didn’t come as a surprise that Tommy didn’t answer.

I found nothing at Dad’s desk that we could use for Green’s wound and was headed to the bathroom as Tommy called, “Bring another coupla towels, Liv. I’ll rip one, use the strips. But need another clean one. This one’s soaked.”

I nodded to him, got the towels and brought them to Tommy.

He took them and started ripping strips immediately, doing this with his bare hands.

I didn’t watch Tommy’s strong hands tear the towels to shreds. Strong hands I knew could be gentle and sweet.

Tommy was off-limits to me. We’d both learned that the hard way.

I looked to Green.

“Done, Liv. You won’t see me again,” he said when I caught his eyes.

That hurt. I liked Green.

No.

Loved him.

I loved all my boys.

I never told them this. That wouldn’t do. I was a Shade, but that wasn’t all there was to it.

I’d learned. I didn’t allow myself to show emotion.

Ever.

I still knew my boys knew it. I went to bat for them. I protected them. I did the best I could for them. And I didn’t hide it.

So they knew and the look in Green’s eyes, his concern, wasn’t the first time he didn’t hide he felt that back.

“But I gotta eat, babe,” he repeated as explanation.

“I understand, Eli,” I replied.

Green stared at me a moment before he shook his head.

“That…that right there states plain this is not the business you’re meant to be in,” he declared.

I drew in a breath to speak but Green kept talking.

“Your sister’s not as dumb as your old man. She knows, you lead their soldiers, we’d all march over a cliff for you. She’s got a pussy tastes like sugar and acid in her veins. Men’d do a lot for sugar but they eventually learn to steer clear of acid since that shit burns and leaves scars that never go away.”

Again, on Green’s comment, I avoided Tommy’s eyes.

This time, Green did too.

He also kept speaking.

“So she gave you to us. You give a shit. You let that show. You treat us like family. Keeps us motivated. Keeps us devoted. But not a single general in an outfit like this should let a soldier go with an, ‘I understand, Eli.’”

I knew that too.

“You want her to put a bullet in your brain?” Tommy asked and Eli looked to him.

“She couldn’t do it. But you’d do it for her, all she had to do was ask.”

“You’re right,” Tommy replied.

“And she’d never ask,” Green returned. “And that’s why we’re all totally fuckin’ devoted. Just like you,” Green said to Tommy and looked to me. “But we’re not dumb, Liv. All a’ us gotta eat.”

I said nothing.

“You should put a bullet in my brain,” Green whispered.

That was a warning.

I felt Tommy’s eyes come to me.

But I held Green’s.

“I’ll never do that,” I whispered back, hoping he’d take my meaning that he shouldn’t burn any bridges. Instead, he should disappear.

“That means you need to get far away, Liv. This life’s gonna eat you alive.”

I felt Tommy’s intensity.

But I had only one answer for Eli.

“It already has.”

I watched anger flare in Green’s eyes as his mouth went hard.

Tommy tied the bloody towel to Green’s thigh before he shifted, shoving a broad shoulder under Green’s arm to heft him up.

Green grunted.

I took them in, giving them both a nod before I moved quickly to Dad’s desk and grabbed the receiver from the phone.

I hit a button and turned to watch Tommy and Eli make their slow way to the door.

Gill answered on the second ring.

“Bring the car around, will you, Gill?” I requested. “Tommy and Green are on their way.”

“You got it, Liv,” Gill replied and disconnected.

I put the phone back in the cradle and saw the boys had disappeared out the door.

I took a moment to look around my father’s office, not knowing why because I’d memorized every inch of purple damask-papered wall, every etch in the heavy, dark wood, every swirl in the silk rugs that cost so much entire villages in developing countries could live on it for years.

I did this thinking Green was gone in more ways than one. If he was stupid, which I hoped he wasn’t, he’d go to Valenzuela or Sloan. He’d offer his services. He’d offer information.

If that happened, Dad would make the order.

Georgia would have it carried out.

Gill would do the deed.

If he was smart, he’d get out of Denver and find work elsewhere.