Forbidden Harmony (Harmony Falls #3) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,133

if they needed to be worried about a man like Preacher in their town.”

She rubbed at her forehead. “Has it affected his business?”

Gideon laughed bitterly. “No. If anything, it’s fucking increased business. I guess for some folks, the idea of being tattooed by an ex-convict gives them a fucking thrill.”

She could see his anger seeping back into him, and he tapped his fingers on the table with a hard rat-tat-tat. “I knew it was a bad idea for the two of you to get together. I knew you’d break his heart, but I thought it was because you weren’t over Harrison. I never imagined it would be because you judged him for his past.”

“What exactly did he tell you?” she said.

“He won’t tell me shit,” Gideon said. “He’s barely fucking talking at all. He just said that you found out he was an ex-convict and that it was over between the two of you. Did you even give him a chance to explain or -”

“Gideon, he broke up with me,” she said. “I told him I didn’t care about his past and that I loved him. He said it wouldn’t work and that it was over.”

The hard rhythm of his fingers slowed on the table. “I – what?”

“Simon ended it with me,” she said.

He scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Fuck! Jesus Christ, I’m sorry, Addie. I shouldn’t have assumed like that, but I…”

“You see your best friend hurting,” she said, “and you want to protect him.”

She squeezed Gideon’s forearm. “You’re a good friend, Gideon.”

He shook his head. “Not that good of a friend. I told him repeatedly not to get involved with you.”

That stung, but she knew why he’d done it and she tried not to take it personally. “You were just trying to protect him.”

“I was, but it was still a shit thing to do. I could see how much he liked you,” Gideon said. “Did he tell you anything about his past?”

“No,” she said. “Harrison said he went to prison for armed robbery but that’s all I know.”

“He was the driver,” Gideon said. “He never went into the bank and he never had a weapon on him. He fell in with the wrong people and they convinced him to do the job with them. They were arrested a few days later. Preacher was given ten years but released after four for good behaviour. He kept his nose clean and he finished his parole. He’s a good man who made a mistake, Addie.”

“I know,” she said. “Kira told me once that Preacher told her you saved his life. Will you tell me how?”

He hesitated, a look of discomfort crossing his face. “Did Simon ever tell you why he’s called Preacher?”

“I asked him, but he avoided the question.”

“He got the nickname in prison. His cellmate was an old man who went by Preacher. He used to be a pastor back in the day, I guess. He got into drugs, did some robberies to pay for the drugs, and in one of the robberies, a man was killed. He’d been clean for years by the time Simon met him, and he ran the church group in the prison which is how he got the nickname Preacher.”

Gideon leaned back in his chair. “One of the other prisoners started after the pastor. No particular reason why, just decided he could make his life miserable, so he did. Eventually, it turned to physical violence. He went after the old man and Preacher stopped him. Beat the shit out of the guy and threatened to kill him if he ever tried to hurt the pastor again.”

“Simon didn’t get in trouble with the guards?” Addison said.

“None of the other prisoners ratted Simon out. This guy was a real shit and Preacher said he’d had the beating coming to him for a while. Anyway, they started calling Simon the preacher’s son because of the way he looked out for the old man.”

“What happened to the pastor when Simon got out of prison?” Addison said.

“He’d died two years before, colon cancer. After he died, Simon went from the preacher’s son to just Preacher. One of his fellow inmates got out on parole around the same time as Simon. They actually worked at the same tattoo place together until the guy went back to prison for drug trafficking. But he called Simon by his nickname at the shop and it stuck. He’s been Preacher ever since.”

“How did you save his life?” She knew Gideon wanted to avoid the