Page 25 of Preacher

I grabbed Holly and drove her behind the concrete base of a support column as gunfire ripped across the yard. White turned toward the SUV and fired twice while the vehicle swerved. Glass shattered somewhere behind us, and White jerked backward before hitting the dirt beside his cruiser.

Smoke moved before I did, firing toward the SUV while Gage dragged Holly farther behind cover. I crossed to White, staying low as another shot punched into the warehouse wall. Blood spread fast across the sheriff’s shirt.

His eyes were still open when I reached for him. “Don’t,” he ground out.

I dragged him behind the cruiser by the shoulders as Smoke kept the SUV moving. Gage fired once from the warehouse entrance and the rear window blew out, but the driver accelerated through the gate and disappeared into the dark. For several seconds the yard was silent. The Sheriff tried to sit up, and I shoved him back down.

“Stay put.”

“Fuck you.”

“Good. Means you’re not dead yet.”

His hand pressed against his side while the ambulance siren grew louder, joined by another in the distance.

Smoke came over breathing hard, his weapon still in his hand. “They’re gone.”

“Let them go.” I told him.

I didn’t need to explain. Holly was safe, Luis was alive and Sheriff White was down. Chasing an SUV blind into the desert would turn one bad scene into three. We’d find the men later.

The first ambulance came through the gate, and paramedics took one look at White and moved straight to him while another crew arrived moments later for Luis. I stepped away, and Holly reached me before I reached her.

Her hands went to my face. “You’re bleeding.”

I touched my cheek and found a shallow cut from flying glass. I pulled her against me and held on. Around us, the yard had become lights, radios and shouted information. Gage had the surviving attacker restrained, Smoke was with the paramedics treating Luis, and White disappeared behind ambulance doors without anybody saying what came next.

Holly leaned back enough to look at me. “This isn’t over. Vega, the buyer, whoever was in that SUV. They’re still out there.”

“Yeah, and I’m not pretending otherwise.”

Her eyes searched mine as though the answer was already obvious. “And you’re going after them.”

“They came into my town, used your employee as bait, put their hands on you and shot the Sheriff.”

“That sounded almost like you care about the sheriff.”

“I care that they think they can do whatever the fuck they want in my town.”

That was the difference between us. The Sheriff was law and I wasn’t, but I didn’t need to like him to take exception to outsiders deciding they could shoot him on ground I considered mine. Holly understood; I saw it in her face.

“This town really is on its own, isn’t it?”

“Mostly, but this club was always here. That’s the part these assholes didn’t understand.”

She looked toward the road, where the ambulance carrying White had already disappeared, then back at me. “I’m staying by the way.”

The words hit harder than the gunfire had. “You’re staying in Salvation, or you’re staying with me?”

A smile touched her mouth. “That was arrogant, but both. I’m keeping Curtis Freight for the ninety days, maybe longer if I can make it work, and yes, I’m staying with you.”

Something in my chest went tight enough to hurt. “You sure?”

“Don’t ruin this by asking me five times.”

I cupped the back of her neck. “I’m not standing here because of a promise to your father. I’m standing here because I love you, and some bastard touched what’s mine and I nearly burned this whole fucking town down getting back to you.”

Her breath caught, and for once Holly Curtis didn’t have a smart answer ready. “I love you too, and I do know exactly what staying with you means.”