Page 10 of His Virgin Vessel

Chapter Four

Asa

Fiona Dixon raised her eyebrows to me disbelievingly. "Nothing?"

I nodded. "That's what I'm telling you; nothing happened."

Fiona raised her eyebrows again. "Asa, I've seen you take a lot of women—some younger than the Dugas girl—back to that motorhome and never has nothing happened."

"Well, this time nothing did."

"What happened? You losing your charm?"

We were chatting over dinner at her bar the day after my failed attempt to break into Brian Dugas's. I'd spent the day asleep after a long and somewhat frustrating night.

"I guess that must be it." I wanted to tell her that I could have had Corinne there and then, and that she had been all over me. But if I told her that then I would have to explain to Fiona why I had turned her down, and I couldn't explain that to myself yet.

Fiona shook her head. "I saw the look in the little girl's eyes. I've seen that look in a lot of girls’ eyes. Hell, Asa, I've been that girl—and thank you for the memory. No way was she turning you down."

"The little bitch did nothing but get in the way since I met her," I said, trying to get the conversation away from an uncomfortable subject and back to where it belonged.

"So, your Black Book is still in Dugas's house."

"I guess. We checked out the sheriff station, and I'm as sure as I can be that it's not there."

Fiona nodded. "If the sheriff's got any sense, he'll carry it around with him."

"We'll have to hope he hasn't got any sense."

Fiona shrugged. "Well, he let his youngest daughter ride off with the president of War Cry last night, so I'd say there was hope."

Fiona was making light of the situation, but I knew that she was worried. I'd known Fiona since I joined War Cry in my late teens, over ten years ago . We had a bit of a thing back in the day, off and on, heating up, then cooling down. It was mostly just good fun between old friends. Every now and then, we hooked up again for old time sake. She was still the sexiest 'older woman' I'd ever met, but these days it was mostly business. Fiona was my best client for selling hooch, and that made her a target for local gangs and big city hustlers, so she also became my best client for protection.

Not that Fiona couldn't take care of herself. There was a pool cue behind the bar that was well-used despite never having been anywhere near a pool table. But that wouldn't be of much use if Sheriff Brian Dugas got his way. The Black Book contained my client list and enough evidence to put me and the rest of War Cry away for a long time. Fiona herself would probably do some time too for receiving stolen goods. More importantly, with War Cry gone, she'd be without protection.

"He saw you there last night. He'll be on the look-out now," said Fiona.

"Yeah.”

"Any of your boys up to it?"

I pulled a face. There were too many youngsters in War Cry these days. I supposed there always had been, but it never seemed like it when I was one of them.

"What about the girl?"

I frowned. "What girl?"

"The Dugas girl."

"Corinne?"

"Unless you're banging the other one as well."

"I'm not banging ..."

Fiona rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. It's all perfectly innocent. You rode up with a twenty-one year old tight ass ..."

"Twenty-three."

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