Page 45 of Hard Corps (Selected Sinners MC 7)

I admire you even more.

“That’s admirable,” I said.

“It was,” she said.

No, don’t tell me…

“I have no idea why I’m telling you this, but…” she paused and shifted her eyes up from her plate and gazed beyond me.

I was afraid I didn’t want to hear what she had to say.

“We were seeing each other, and he knew…he knew that I was…you know, that I was a virgin. I told him no, but…he uhhm…he forced himself on me…”

She paused and shifted her eyes to meet mine. I raised my hand and shook my head, she didn’t need to continue.

But she did.

“He uhhm…he raped me,” she said.

I filled with rage. The thought of anyone raping a woman infuriated me. I felt like digging up his grave and beating his corpse to an absolute pulp. It was a good thing Ripp had broken his neck, because if he hadn’t, no jury would have found me not guilty of anything. I fought against my inner self and tried to be calm.

I whispered a raw apology. “I’m sorry.”

She pursed her lips and gazed past me as she nodded her head. “Me too. It happened almost a year ago. I’ve gone to a ton of therapy, and it helped me accept some things. I didn’t tell anyone about it at first, and really never planned to. It really bothered me. So, I told Manda, and she told me to go to therapy. It helped a lot, but it still bothered me. Then one day at dinner, long after it happened, I just lost it.”

I sat and stared at her blankly, not really knowing what to say, if anything.

“So I’m not a virgin anymore and it sucks. You know, having it taken from me like that,” she said.

I didn’t dispute that she was raped, but I didn’t necessarily agree with her thoughts on the matter of her losing her virginity. I had previously considered the exact same scenario, when a friend’s cousin was raped.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re still a virgin,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes and stared. “How?”

“Well, it’s just a theory, but hear me out,” I said.

She nodded her head. “Okay.”

“A person is with a guy who commits murder, but doesn’t know going into it that he’s going to do that, and has no knowledge it was going to happen. Does that make the bystander a murderer?” I asked.

“No,” she said with a slight grin.

“Had he murdered?” I asked.

“The second guy?” she asked.

I nodded my head.

“No, I guess not,” she said.

“If you go golfing with a friend, say just to watch him play a round, and he golfs, but you don’t participate, you’re just there riding in the cart, when the round is over, have you ever golfed?” I asked.

She smiled even more. “No.”

“He may have raped you. But you haven’t had sex. Does that make sense?” I asked.

She stood from her seat.

I wiped my hands and stood. With her blue eyes fixed on mine, and mine clearly glued to hers, she walked around the edge of the table. Without speaking, she opened her arms. As odd as it seemed to be hugging her, for whatever reason, it felt more right than anything I had done in a long, long time. As she wrapped her arms around me and held me against her, she rested her chin against my shoulder.

Once again, I inhaled a hint of her soft perfume. I closed my eyes, pleased I could help her see things slightly differently.

“Thank you,” was all she said.

And it was all I needed to hear.