Page 10 of Preacher

Crowbar was sitting in a black pickup exactly where Preacher said he would be. The truck was parked across the street under the sagging awning of the closed-down dry cleaner, engine idling, exhaust curling up into the late afternoon air like a thin gray ribbon.

I stood on the sidewalk outside Lamar’s and tried to gather the courage to walk over there. The bruise on my jaw throbbed in time with the bass thumping faintly through the truck’s closed windows. Some slow and growling rock song.

Behind me, the bell over Lamar’s door jingled, and I didn’t have to turn around to know he’d come out onto the stoop to watch me go. I could feel his eyes on the back of my neck like a hand pressed flat between my shoulder blades. His offer rattled around in my skull, and for one stupid, weightless second, I considered turning around and taking him up on it. Letting Lamar’s living room swallow me whole. Letting somebody else’s furniture be the thing that kept me alive for a night.

Then I thought about Hammer’s fingers digging into the meat of my arm, about Mike and Royce, and I knew Lamar’s couch wasn’t a fortress. It was a coffin with throw pillows. Whoever came for me wouldn’t care that a fifty-something diner owner was in the way. They’d just go through him.

I couldn’t do that to Lamar.

So I stepped off the curb.

The hundred-dollar bill was pressing into my thigh with every step. Down payment, Lamar had called it. I didn’t know what I was being paid for. I didn’t know what Preacher was buying. All I knew was my feet were carrying me across the road toward a pickup that contained a man with a toothpick and a Sergeant at Arms patch and that, somewhere on the other side of this afternoon, a man with frozen-whiskey eyes was waiting for me to arrive.

The passenger door cracked open before I reached it. Crowbar leaned across the bench seat, pushed it the rest of the way wide, and jerked his chin at me without removing the toothpick from his mouth.

“Up, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.” I got into the truck, careful not to slam the door the way I wanted to.

“Touchy.”

The cab smelled like leather and, faintly, like the cigarettes Preacher had been tapping against my table hours ago.

Crowbar shifted into drive without looking at me, that damn toothpick rolling over his lips.

“Seat belt,” he said.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. You ever see a body that’s gone through a windshield?” He glanced at me, sadness shimmering behind his blue eyes. There and gone. “Besides, Prez would kill me if I didn’t deliver you intact.”

I clicked the seat belt across my chest, and the truck eased away from the curb so smoothly I barely felt it move. In the side mirror, Lamar was still standing on the stoop, one hand shading his eyes against the sun. He didn’t wave. He just watched until we turned the corner and the diner slid out of frame. Then there was only the road and the silver rings on Crowbar’s left hand where it rested on the wheel.

I cleared my throat. “Where’re we going?”

“Where do you think?” He winked at me. I scowled. Crowbar laughed.

“Your garage.” I refused to say clubhouse. That would only remind me of Hammer, who I still wasn’t sure was actually alive. Preacher could’ve been lying to me. The only truth I was certain of was that Hammer hadn’t been playing around. The threat was real. Everything else was debatable.

“Smart guy.”

“It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.”

“Then why’d you ask?” Crowbar turned those baby blues on me. I had a feeling he used them as a weapon. Admittedly, they were gorgeous. Not that I’d tell him. Guy looked like he could either seduce you or kill you. I didn’t want either.

“Why did you answer?” I was terrified of the Howlers but refused to look weak in front of them.

Like they didn’t see Hammer punch you sideways.

Shut up, brain.

Crowbar grinned, his toothpick resting to one side of his mouth. “You got fire in you.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a challenge. “More like insanity. I did get into a stranger’s truck after all.”

My heart climbed into my throat when an evil smile appeared. “Now you’re wondering if I’m gonna offer you some candy?”

“You got any?” I relaxed slightly when I noticed the twinkle of mischief in his eyes. My guard hadn’t lowered completely, but my muscles were no longer tense. It could’ve been that twinkle or the buttery-soft seat that was more comfortable than my own bed.