Page 17 of His Virgin Vessel

Chapter Seven

Corinne

I thought I landed a pretty telling final blow there. There was nothing Asa could say that would convince me that this had been nothing but lust-fueled sex.

Actually, that was a lie. I was terrified that it had been nothing but lust-fueled sex, for him at least. For me it had been special. It had been life-changing. It had been ... well there was another word beginning with 'L' that was making its presence felt in my mind. Was I feeling all this just because I was the silly little virgin (now ex-virgin), ready to fall in love with the first man to penetrate her? I didn't want to believe it, and I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt.

Asa said nothing in reply, but shouldered his way past me to the door. The storeroom was in the back of the bar, hopefully insulated against any who might be listening in. As Asa stepped back out into the main bar, I heard someone shout.

"That's him! Don't let him get away."

Asa tensed to run, but, with me behind him, he had no real options. A pair of men I recognized grabbed Asa by the arms.

"Asa Covert, I am arresting you on charges of ... Corinne ...?"

As I looked into my dad's blanched face, all the bad girl drained out of me. He took in my disheveled clothes and mussed hair, glanced back at the closet we had come out of, and jumped to a conclusion that was, of course, one hundred percent right. I looked away. I was used to disappointing my father, but this time I had hurt him.

"Crucero." My dad spoke to his deputy in a voice that suggested he was only just holding himself together. "Charge Mr. Covert, read him his rights, and then lock him up before I tear that piece of worthless shit limb-from-limb."

Asa said nothing. I think he actually felt guilty this time. He hadn't exactly wanted to do what we had done tonight. I had tricked him a little. He understood why Dad was angry and wasn't going to say anything about it.

Dad clenched his fists, only the most incredible restraint stopping him from using them. "I've got you this time. And the courts will make you pay if I can't."

"Dad ..." I tried to speak up in Asa's defense, but Dad just rounded on me.

"Shut up." He didn't shout, but it was said with such hardness that I obeyed automatically. "Come here." He didn't wait for me to comply, but grabbed my arm and tugged me along behind him as he headed out of the bar.

"Dad, I can walk by myself!"

He said nothing, but his fingers seemed to tighten on my arm, enough to cut off circulation.

"Dad, you're hurting me."

I couldn't be certain, but it sounded like he muttered under his breath, "Now you know what it's like."

He swung open the door of his truck and practically threw me in before getting in himself. Neither of us said anything the whole way home. I couldn't help wondering how much worse this might be if he knew the whole truth. He probably imagined that his rebellious little girl had lost her virginity years ago, probably when she was about twelve. If he had known that it had happened earlier tonight and that it had been lost to Asa Covert, I genuinely thought that he would have asked Deputy Crucero to step outside so he could kill Asa where he stood.

A little, soft part of me spoke up and said, he cares. He might not always know how best to express it, but he does care.

But the bulk of me was consumed with worry for Asa. He was in trouble because of me. Of course, he would have been in trouble with the law even if he hadn't been caught doing the sheriff's daughter, but he wouldn't have been caught if not for me, and my dad's malice was all the worse because of me. There had to be something I could do to help.

# # #

Back home, Dad's silent treatment continued, but it was a silence that spoke volumes. It said: Go to your room. If you leave this house, then you will regret it. He strode to his office and slammed the door. I knew I had hurt him but, again, there wasn't time to think about that.

"Cor?" Risa came downstairs on hearing the door slam. "What's going on?"

I burst into tears. I hadn't meant to. This wasn't me. This wasn't what rebels were supposed to do. What would Asa think of me if he saw me now? I was proving that I was the silly little girl he had called me, not fit to be a gang leader's woman. Maybe he was right, but I couldn't help it. The whole of the night had rushed in upon me. I had lost my virginity and fallen in love with the man to whom I had so wonderfully lost it, then he had rejected me in the most hurtful terms and had been arrested by my father, whom I had let down and hurt and who had now had his worst suspicions confirmed.

I think he had always imagined I was a whore, but now he had seen evidence of it, and even if that evidence was lying to him, I doubted I could convince him of that. He would never look at me in the same way ever again. And then, there was Risa, understanding and loving as ever. Just when I needed to see a friendly face, my sister was there. And it was more than I could stand.

Up in Risa's room, in between sobs, I managed to pour the whole story out, all except for one detail, of course. For whatever stupid reason, I still needed my sister to see me as a bad girl. I couldn't tell her that the bad girl had still been a virgin at twenty-three.

Risa listened to it all, nodded, and stroked my hair. When it was all told she spoke. "Was this your first time?"

I sat up sharply and stared at my sister in shock. "What?! What? My first ... Why would you think that? I mean you’ve met my boyfriends, and ... What? First time? That's a laugh."

Risa listened to this ridiculous speech with a look of deep sympathy on her face. "Cor, do you really think I didn't know?"

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