Green was done and I didn’t blame him and not simply because my father had shot him in the leg.

“He calls me here to kneel before him and explain why I’m not moving product?” he cut me off to ask incredulously. “Then he loses his mind when I remind him I got no product to move because all his shit has dried up because he’s a fuckin’ lunatic and no one wants to do business with him? And Liv, you gotta be a serious fuckin’ lunatic for the lunatics in this business not to want to do business with you.”

“He’s under a lot of pressure,” I stated as Tommy approached, squatted close and pressed a clean towel to Green’s leg.

“Yeah, Liv, he is. That is not lost on me. That isn’t lost on any of the fuckin’ minions he treats like minions even though nearly two fuckin’ decades ago, Leon Jackson cut off his balls and served them up. Vincent Shade ate his own balls and he did not grow those balls back. Leon bit it, his wife ruled his roost and dug your dad’s hole deeper. She got outta the game, Valenzuela stepped in. He never got his shit together to win his patch back.”

He shook his head impatiently but gave me no chance to reply. He kept talking.

“I am not tellin’ you shit you don’t know. Shit like the fact that Denver’s only got two real players left. Marcus Sloan, who acts like your dad doesn’t even exist, and Benito Valenzuela, who doesn’t bother fuckin’ with your dad because he knows he’s a fuckin’ joke. Hell, Seth Townsend’s still in prison and he’s got more pull on the street than your dad.”

“You are, of course, telling me something I know,” I confirmed, about to go on, but Green continued explaining a situation I knew all too well considering the fact I lived and breathed it.

“Sloan’s got the guns because he wants to control who’s usin’ ’em on the streets. Other than that, he’s gone legit. Valenzuela has the rest, Liv, and there’s no gettin’ it back from him. Only outfit who might have the power to see that through is that crazy MC and only because the brothers of the Chaos Motorcycle Club are fuckin’ crazy and they got bigger balls than practically anybody.”

“Green—” I tried but got no further.