And Preacher had settled into it.

He still had the pressure; he still had that weight.

But now, he also had me.

It had felt good, realizing that I was to Preacher what he was to me.

That he could lean on me in his way, like I leaned on him in all the ways he supported me.

But something had changed very recently, it was abrupt, Preacher wasn’t talking to me about it and this was so out of character that…

No.

It wasn’t.

He’d gone cold on me before, though it came with the heat of his anger, he’d told me precisely what was on his mind and it didn’t last long.

It was that time, in our first place in LA, and after it had happened, DuShawn warned me to keep him smoothed out.

Finding a way to tell Preacher McCade, who was already in a bad mood, that he hadn’t taken care of me when he lived to care of me in every way possible, including that way, was impossible.

But I had to find a way.

And do it keeping him calm.

“Lyla, you gonna stand there and stare at me for a year? ’Cause I don’t got that time, babe. We gotta hit band breakfast and then we gotta get our asses on a plane.”

I opened my mouth to say something when a knock came at the door.

Then Preacher did something…

Something…

God.

Something I didn’t know he had it in him to do.

He peeled himself out of my arms in a perfunctory way, like he was discarding a T-shirt, and walked out of the bedroom of the suite, through the living room to the door.

I stood there, feeling a chill invade my blood, and only moved when I heard Preacher say, “We’re gonna be down in a minute.”

And then I heard Tommy say, “Need your ear before we’re with the rest of the guys, Preach.”

And that chill got chillier because that was not Tommy or Preacher, to have a word outside the rest of the boys.

The band was the band. They talked. They argued. They hashed things out. And they did this together.

They did not talk behind each other’s backs.

Preacher, specifically, had an issue with this.

Even if you had a beef with him.

You were up front with Preacher, always.

“I’m not feelin’ good about this,” Preacher unsurprisingly replied, and at his voice, I moved to the doorway to the living room.

I stopped in it and leaned against the jamb, seeing it wasn’t only Tommy there, but also DuShawn.

“Hey, China,” Tommy greeted, and I noted how he noted that I did not come into the room and go to Preacher.

“Hey there,” I replied quietly then looked to Shawn. “Hey, darlin’.”

“Hey there, baby girl,” he muttered, also eyeing me where I was standing removed.