“You know where Sebring is?”
At this surprise question, I made a sharp noise in the back of my throat.
“What?” I asked.
Suddenly, her eyes on me were frightening and her tone was a whisper.
And with that look and tone, as she spoke, I wondered with not a small amount of alarm if I ever really knew her.
“Babe, you do, you spill. Okay?”
I stared at her. Right in the eyes, I stared at my sister.
I suspected she had acid in her veins but I’d also hoped she had a soul.
She had no soul.
Looking right at her I saw it. For the first time I saw it.
Like our father, Georgia Shade had no soul.
“I don’t,” I told her.
“You do, he contacts you, you spill.”
“I understand where things are at with Gill, his ring is on your finger, but—”
It was her turn to interrupt me.
“This, we do not discuss. This is not up for discussion. We have a liability. We,” she bit off the last word while lifting a hand and waving it between us. “There are no words exchanged when we have a liability. When we have a liability, the crew unites while Momma takes care of the threat. You’re either a member of that crew or you’re not, Liv. And I think you get where you are if you’re not. You can bitch and complain and act superior all you want. It’s annoying but it’s you and I’ve swallowed it enough my whole life, I’m used to the taste, so I don’t give a fuck. But we got a threat, you close ranks. That’s it. No words. It happens. Now, I asked, you got that?”
She asked if I got it that, if I protected Nick, she’d mow me down to get to him.
Obviously, that was not okay.
But I got it.
“I got it,” I stated.
“So he’s not contacted you.”
“No,” I confirmed.
She stared at me, clearly assessed I was telling the truth, and nodded.
She relaxed.
I did not.
Her manner might have changed, but the look in her eyes was no less frightening.
“I want you to rethink Culver,” she stated.
I sat still and silent, my eyes anchored to hers, not of my choice.
“I’ve been paying attention to the moves he’s making, and one thing in his whole, fucked-up life Dad was right about is that Dustin Culver could be an asset,” she continued. “He could be useful. Give it time. A few days. Think on it. We’ll talk. When we do, if you don’t want to go there, I’ll want good reasons, Liv. Really good reasons. So when we talk, if you’re not up for giving that another shot, you need to have those reasons. Yes?”
I got that too.