She knocked him right on his ass.

Only person I ever saw do that and she did it repeatedly.

And he loved every minute of it.

It started because Lyla told Preach during their night together, the first one, that her mom wanted her to go to college and be a teacher.

This being why she was then a student at Purdue, earning a teaching degree.

And of course, she was now with Preacher, so when the guys invited her to tag along on the tour, she did not want to take the train back to Indy, have her grandfather drive her up to West Lafayette, and miss out being with Preacher.

We were on our way to Cleveland.

She wanted to go to Cleveland.

The Chicago gig was a Saturday show, meaning it was Sunday when they started bickering about whether or not she was going to ditch a few classes and go to the Cleveland show before going to the Philly gig and maybe hanging on for Boston before she went back to school.

Preacher said she was going back to Indy, that day. He was renting a car and driving her down himself, then driving up to Cleveland after he met her folks.

Lyla said she’d square it with her grandparents, and her professors, and she was taking a week off to hang with the band.

He said her mother wanted her to get that degree and she was damned well gonna get that degree.

Lyla said she one hundred percent was going to get that degree, but she was also taking time off.

He said her grandfather already did not want her with him.

She said her grandfather was going to have to get with the program.

He said he was not going to screw up her life.

She said he was being arrogant, taking responsibility for screwing up her life when it was her who made the decisions about how she was going to spend her time, so if those decisions screwed up her life, that was on her.

And anyway, taking a week off wouldn’t screw up her life, so he wasn’t only being arrogant and bossy, but dramatic.

All this in that big suite over room service right in front of the band.

Guess what?

Lyla went to Cleveland.

And Philly.

And Boston.

[Smiles big]

That woman.

Always the shit.

Just sayin’.

You know, if she wasn’t Lyla, I have no idea what would have gone down when that shit hit with Bobby.

But, you know, I think, after the tour, we would have probably gone our separate ways and maybe they woulda bitched, but…whatever.

But that shit hit with Bobby.

And the last thing Preacher wanted when he finally had her was to lose her by scaring the shit out of her by murdering a rock star.

So, Tom took care of it.

Add five years to Tom’s tenure in the business, he would have destroyed Bobby Sheridan.