Page 33 of Preacher

“This time.”

She looked back over her shoulder as she heard his footsteps retreating down the hallway. Turning, she followed behind him to see if he was sticking around or not. She let out a breath as his car rolled out of the parking lot.

“Riley.” Turning around at the sound of her name, she faced the doctor. “He’s good, right?” She smiled.

“Actually, he’s in a little discomfort,” Bishop told her with a stern look.

“Shit. It’s probably how rough my car rides.” Rubbing a hand over her other arm, she felt like crap for not thinking about how rough her car rode.

“Probably.” Bishop waved her back toward the room where Preacher was resting. “You know, he’s got a great car, and it goes fast.”

Riley laughed at the comment. “I don’t know if he’ll let me drive it.”

Bishop chuckled as he responded. “You’d be surprised what he’d let you do.”

“I’ll make sure to ask him for our next outing,” Riley told Bishop before he stepped away.

Bishop left her to go in with Preacher. He’d let them hang out for a few minutes before letting them leave. Damn, Preacher was lucky Bishop had been working to help get Riley out of a traffic ticket. It would’ve been easier to call Doc to get her out of jail. Shaking his head, Bishop headed to his office.

* * *

The first thing Preacher noticed was the size of Riley’s house. He hadn’t realized she lived in a one-bedroom cottage. He also saw it had a detached garage. He wondered if she worked on her car there or if she was dropping him off and leaving him to his own devices. When she turned off the car and pulled the hood latch, he got his answer. “You can sit outside while I do an oil change on this beast, or you can hang out inside.”

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to rest inside.”

She should have known her car would be too rough to drive him around in. The monster didn’t have the suspension newer cars had, which made for a rougher ride. “Are you still hurting? I’d hate to think my driving caused you pain.”

“The only thing your driving caused me was fear. Fear for my damn life.” And his damn side was killing him from reaching forward to grab the dash on that one turn.

“I’m not a bad driver. You just haven’t ridden with anyone who can handle a car like I can.”

“Oh, I’ve driven with some insane people in my life.”

“Whatever, pretty boy.” Laughing, Riley slid out of the car and headed for the front door. Preacher had been bitching for days that she was babying him. With that in mind, she decided to let him help himself today.

Riley left the front door open so Preacher could walk inside. She headed for the kitchen area to check what she had for him to eat in case he got hungry. Sometimes, working on her car took an hour. Sometimes, it took three. Once she was under the chassis or hood, she wouldn’t stop until she was done.

Stepping inside, Preacher closed the door behind him and looked around the large living room. He’d always liked the layout of the cottages on the back end of Lampsing. He’d told Gypsy once that the club should look into purchasing them with King Realty, but by the time Gypsy had looked into buying the row of little houses, they’d been sold in a sheriff’s auction. “Do you own this one or all of them?”

“All of them,” he heard her answer from the little kitchen.

Now, he knew for sure who had purchased them. “Have you remodeled all of them?”

“No, just this one and two others. The last two will take more work, which means more money.”

“Are you looking to sell them or rent them out?”

“Rent them out. The area seems to be picking up. More tourists are coming back to the northern coast. Lampsing is so close to Fort Bragg and Mendocino, even the national forest, that tourists are looking for rentals up here. I’ve managed to keep both of mine booked all summer.”

Preacher would file that information away to share with Gypsy later. They should start looking at renting out some of the houses they were remodeling. “I didn’t realize there was such a demand for vacation rentals in this area.”

Riley turned around so she could look at Preacher. Did the man think she was naïve? “You might want to tell Gypsy that information. I’d hate for him not to know.”

She saw the shocked look on his face and gave him a cocky grin. “King Realty. Gypsy Kings. I did my homework on you guys. I even did it on the women in your lives.”Who did he think they were dealing with?

Preacher rubbed at the small scar in his eyebrow. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“I get it. The club comes first for you and the rest of the guys.” Riley shrugged at her own comment.

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