Page 152 of Preacher Man

How did he know the right things to say? She gave him a watery smile, clutched fingers in his chest and just left her forehead resting against his. She was glad to be alive and here with him too.

But there was still more to tell.

“I know who the guy is, Asher.”

His head reared up. Eyes pin-sharp and deadly. So, lethal she sucked in her breath.

“Who? Tell me who, Ruby.”

“Have you ever looked into someone’s eyes and saw the madness swirling in the depths of the irises? That’s how it was. I looked at the insanity that night. The devil smiled at me and said sweet things that chilled me to the bone. The funny thing is, if it can be called funny, I think he thought I was someone else. He kept calling me sweet love and asking if I’d missed him. I swear the second he was passed out again I took off and didn’t stop driving until I was home. And then I tried to forget about it until recently.”

Something in Preacher’s gaze had changed. He’d turned from furious to downright sick, his face washed out. Her brow puckered as she went on. “Those wanted posters up all-around town. That’s the guy who...who raped me.” The tug of worry nibbling on her guts intensified when she felt him go unnaturally still, feeling as though he might need some space to process all this before he reconsidered his kind proposal she made to slip off his lap, only to have Preacher halt any movements, his big hands latched onto her thighs, eyes all over her face.

“Hades? Hades did this to you?” Voice dark. Unrecognizable.

“His name was Kyle Williams, on the posters, but yeah, I’ve heard people talking and they said that was his biker name.”

She wasn’t prepared for the burst of fury that came out of Preacher. And it didn’t stop there. Teeth mashed together she saw Preacher man livid for the first time in their history. Rather than the outburst of emotion scaring her, she sat stunned and a little fascinated and god, she was fucking touched by the show of anger on her behalf. Who could she say had ever reacted in such a dark honest way because something bad had happened to her? Who had ever been in her corner in such a way? Ruby could count on two hands and have ten fingers left over. Before she could reassure him that nutjob was probably long gone from town now she found her face grasped and drawn in towards him, his lips pressed to hers. “I’m so sorry, Ruby. So, fucking sorry. So sorry, baby. This should never have fucking happened to you.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Fucking sorry, baby.” He murmured against her lips then dragged her into a bone crushing hug where she sat for five minutes feeling his heart thump against her own chest.

“I don’t want you to think I’m lingering on it, the past is the past.”

“Beautiful.” That one word said everything and she smiled at him.

“I promise, it’s not keeping me up at night. That’s usually you.” He smiled back at her. A sad smile. “I just wanted you to know. I guess my catharsis. I’ve said it finally to someone now I can leave it where it belongs.” Unless one day she ran into that guy. Her veins chilled, pushing that thrilling thought to where it belonged, in the fucking recycle bin of her mind.

“Now it’s my turn to tell you something.”

“Oh?” Belly muscles grabbed at his serious tone. Was this sorry, I made a mistake, no marriage for you, Ruby Steele?

“I want you to know, I would kill anyone who hurt you. That’s not me bullshitting and acting macho as you call me, Ruby. I would literally with my two hands kill someone.----”

“----Asher, I don’t want you to do anything about this. That’s not why I told you. The cops are hunting that guy, for another reason, but still, as long as they find him.”

“They won’t.”

She blinked. Breath hitched. Did he mean he had plans to go and search and kill him? “They won’t?”

“He’s dead, Ruby. And I know this because he did the same to Rider’s old lady, for years he held her captive and he was taken care of last November.”

Everything inside Ruby screeched to a halt. She met his stare without shrinking back. She wasn’t afraid of him, everything in her stilled. Cold shivers.

“He’s dead? What do you mean? He hurt Zara?” She fired questions not sure which one she wanted answers to first.

Was he dead?That one. That fucking one. “Kyle Williams? We’re talking about that same guy, Asher? Just so I can understand. Is he dead? How is he dead? When?” And because it always seemed to calm Preacher when he did it, she stroked her fingers up and down his beard, following the pattern of its point.

“Being double fucked by the devil I hope, now I know what he did to you. That motherfucker.”

“I don’t think I want or need to know the details of why and how. But he’s gone?” She needed him to say it once more before she breathed again.

The details of knowing if Preacher or his club had killed Kyle Williams wouldn’t change how she thought about him. She’d had dreams where she killed that man herself in bloody violent ways. Knowing he was dead for real didn’t alter her feelings or had her thinking the worse of him.

“Yes, beautiful. He’s gone for good. He can’t ever do that shit to you or anyone else again.”

Her insides clenched and she nodded. “Good. That’s good. Thank you, Asher. Now I can leave it in the past.”