The Priest's Virgin Concubine

Brittney hated to fish with worms. They were just so gross. On the other hand, chicken liver stank to the sky, especially when it was hot. With a sigh, she chose the lesser of two evils and went for the catfish. Her bobber hit the pond with a soft splash, maybe twenty yards away from Father Justin's.

She sat down in one of the folding chairs they had brought with them and smiled at his impressed expression. "Girls can fish, too."

He grinned at her. The expression transformed his face, making it appear much younger. "My older sister would rather have been hit over the head with a hammer than go fishing," he said. "She's kind of girly. But I haven't done it in years."

Brittany nodded, and a companionable silence fell over the group. The only sound was the faint rustle of the breeze in the trees on the ridge to the east, and the unending chirp and buzz of birds and insects in the high grass around them. The sound was almost hypnotizing, and she found herself falling into a calm reverie.

After about twenty minutes, with nary a nibble, Haley drew in her line, grimaced at the dead worm, and rebaited her hook, trying a different spot. "There are fish in this pond, right?" Father Justin asked. His voice was slightly plaintive. "Or are you guys playing a joke on the noob?"

Brittney laughed. "No, Father Justin. There's fish. At least, there are in this pond." She slanted a look at her brother. "Of course," she added as her brother snickered, "we could always go to the back pond and try our luck there."

"Don't do it, Father Justin," Haley said. "It's a trap."

"Huh?"

"Our grandfather wanted to restock the back pond about five years ago," Doug explained. "There wasn't anything in it but tiny little bluegill. It was too shallow and muddy."

"So he hired a company to come out and dredge out the bottom and to do some landscaping work around the banks," Brittany continued, taking up the thread of the story. "Some outfit from Mount Vernon, with a great big excavator. They were supposed to make it maybe five feet deeper and clean all the mud and silt off the bottom, and then plant grass around the edge so the run-off from the hills wouldn't make it all nasty and gross."

"What they didn't take into account is that we're on limestone down here," Doug said. "Though they should have. And the guy running the excavator managed to punch a hole right through the bottom of the pond and into a sinkhole. By the next day, there wasn't hardly any water in the pond anymore. Most of it had all drained away. There was just a great big muddy hole with dead fish in the middle.

"God, was Grandpa mad."

"'I can't believe it,'" Brittany said gruffly, imitating the old man's enraged refrain. "'I cannot goddamn believe it.'"

"It would have been almost funny if we all weren't so bummed out from losing the pond," Doug said. "And the people that he hired just kind of stood there scratching their heads and looking at each other. They patched the bottom, eventually, and paid for it, too, which was the least they could do. So if we ever get a really wet winter and spring, maybe it'll fill back up with water and we can restock it. But that's a long shot."

"Huh." Father Justin took off his floppy, broad-brimmed cap and scratched his head.

"I'm getting some nibbles," Haley said.

All eyes turned to her bobber, which was indeed bouncing on the surface of the water in a hopeful sort of way. After a minute or two, it plunged down, and the tip of Haley's rod bent. "I got one!" she squealed, and began reeling her line in.

It proved to be a bass, though not a very big one. Wrinkling her nose, Haley made Doug take the flopping fish off the hook. "Go tell your friends to come over," he told the fish, then dropped it into a wire-mesh fish cage, which he hung off the end of the dock. "And your big brothers and your dad."

While Haley and her would-be boyfriend chatted, Brittany decided to rebait her hook. The mess of chicken liver was even less appetizing than it had been before, and she wrinkled her nose as she put another chunk on her hook.

"Gross," Haley said as she wiped her hands off on an old towel. "That stuff smells."

"Catches the fish, though," she replied, mopping sweat off her forehead and arms. "God, I'm roasting. Can you hold my pole, Father Justin?"

"That's what he said," Doug joked, then turned red as the priest raised his eyebrows.

"You are such a dope, Douglas." She handed her rod off to Father Justin, then pulled her shirt off. Underneath, she was wearing a white bikini top. Her shorts soon followed, and she sank back in her chair with a happy sigh, resolutely ignoring Father Justin, who was looking back and forth between her and Haley (who had followed her example) with a slightly panicked expression on his face.

"Oh, that is so much better," she sighed. The bikini was modest. At least, as modest as a two-piece swimsuit could really be. At least she wasn't flashing a camel-toe. The top covered her decently, while at the same time making sure that the tops of her breasts were visible, while the bottom clung to her hips and rear. "Haley, can you oil me up?" She waved a tube of suntan lotion at her friend.

"As long as you do me," the taller girl replied, resplendent in a bikini of midnight blue which perfectly complemented her eyes and smooth skin, white as Irish cream. As she slathered lotion on her back, she avoided Father Justin's gaze, worried about what she might see there. Is he a tit-man, or a leg-man? I'm bigger up top, but Haley has better legs.

"Ugh." Haley backed away. "You smell like chicken liver. I've got to get away from you or I'm gonna barf." Picking up her chair and pole, she headed for the shore. "Doug, want to come with?"

Her brother didn't need to be asked twice. Like a lovesick puppy, he followed Haley, setting up under a small patch of locust trees maybe fifty yards down the bank.

"Well, that's nice," she said to Justin. "Doug's been crushing on Haley for years. Maybe she's finally starting to notice him."

"What does your brother do?"

"He works for Dresden County Farm Service, in the repair shop. He's really good with machinery. If you ever have car problems, let him know. If he can't fix it, at least he'll be able to tell you what's wrong."

"And Haley?"

"College in the fall. Southern Illinois." She gazed out over the pond. Was her bobber moving? Or was it just the action of the breeze pushing it around? "I'm going to miss her." She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "A lot. I thought we'd always be together. But someday in August I'm going to wake up and she won't be there."

"Well, at the risk of sounding trite, change is part of life."

"Yeah." She got up and fetched drinks out of the cooler they had brought with them. Diet soda for her, and bottled lemonade for Justin. "It's just going to be weird, that's all."

"You're not going away to school? I thought a smart young woman like you would be going to college."

"Thanks, Father." Yes. That was definitely an interested nibble. She sat up straighter inn her chair, half her attention on her bobber. "I could go, if I wanted. My grades were good enough. And so were my test scores."

The bobber was gliding out across the surface of the pond. As the slack lessened, the line rose from the surface. Barely breathing, she lifted the pole from its resting place in the metal holder hammered into the side of one of the dock-posts. "But I've seen what happens to some people, when they go away to school. They come back and they've changed. They look at Fertile Valley, at us, like we're a bunch of ignorant, in-bred, white-trash redneck hicks. Just because we don't have a...a...a Starbucks or a Whole Foods! Why do we need one? Who the heck needs to pay ten dollars for a cup of coffee and a muffin? Me and Haley and Becca Thompson once spent all night drinking coffee and talking at the diner and our entire bill wasn't ten bucks.

"What's wrong with living where you grew up, marrying a good man, having a few babies, and raising them up right? That's what my mom did. And my grandmothers. Both of them."

"I'd say that if that's what you want, that's what you should do," Father Justin said mildly. He looked out across the pond. In his shorts and his silly floppy hat, he looked much younger. Almost her own age. "And I think you should see what's on the end of your line. Because I think you've hooked something."

"Oh!" In her stream-of-consciousness outburst, she had almost forgotten. She began to reel in her line, and immediately felt the heavy drag of something on the other end. Something big. "Father? Can you get the net? It's in the trunk." Suddenly, the line grew taut, the surge of power almost jerking it out of her sweaty grasp. She tightened her grip, and her eyes widened as she saw a thrashing ripple break the surface of the pond. Whoa. Maybe we need a harpoon, instead.

Fingers shaking, she started to reel the line in. But the pull on the other end was heavy, the fish fighting her for every inch, and the end of her rod dipped toward the water.

"Don't fight it," a calm voice said in her ear. Justin stood beside her, holding the net on one hand. "You're stronger than he is. Let him tire himself out. Fight too hard, and you could break the line and lose him."

Brittany nodded, remembering a catfish she had lost the same way a few years ago, and how furious she had been. She let the fish pull against the line, only pulling it in when the line slackened for a moment. It seemed to take forever, but it probably was only a few minutes before Justin was leaning over the edge of the dock, dipping the edge of the net under the body of a fat catfish.

"Big one," he said admiringly as he hauled it out of the water. The fish thrashed angrily, its mouth opening and closing in comic dismay. "Five, maybe six pounds, I think."

"Doug caught a nine-pounder once, when I was a little girl," she said. She turned to the bank. "Hey, Doug! Look what I..." Her voice trailed off in surprise as she took in the two empty chairs.

"Huh." Justin frowned. "I wonder where they took off to?"

"Well, Doug has been crushing on Haley for years," she said absently, and reached into the net to free the hook from the mouth of the flopping catfish. "Today's the first time that she's ever given him a hint that she's interested," she added as Justin pulled up the fish cage from the depths of the pond and dropped the cranky catfish in to join his cousin. "They probably wanted to go make out for a bit. And if Haley's feeling real generous, she might give Doug a beej."

The silence that followed that statement might have been like the one right before God rained fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah.

"What?" Father Justin asked.

Brittany ran back the last few seconds in her mind, and nearly died of mortified embarrassment. You just told your priest that your best friend might be giving your older brother a blowjob. Idiot.

"But maybe not!" she declared desperately. "Maybe...um...maybe they had to go to the bathroom and went up to the house! The water's still on, and it has to be better than peeing behind a bush, right?"

Father Justin cocked an eyebrow at her, and one corner of his mouth curled up in the faintest hint of a smile. It made him look so cute that she almost kissed him, even though her hands bore a liberal coating of fish slime and she was shaking so bad that she might have stabbed him in the eye with the tip of her fishing pole.

And it's not that pole I'm interested in. God, will he please say something?

"I'm twenty-six, Brittany," Father Justin murmured at last. "And I wasn't raised on a desert island. I know what young men and women do together." His eyes twinkled teasingly. "And not-so-young men and women, too. Although my knowledge is always going to have to stay...academic."

"Right." Her voice shook just a little, and she poured water from the cooler over her hands and dried them on an old towel, cleaning them off. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "Why? No one forced me to be a priest."

"No, not that! The bit...the bit where I talked about sex."

The older man settled back on the dock, his back braced against one of the pillars as he reeled in his line. "Don't worry, Brittany. I'm not going to run to Haley's mother and threaten her with eternal damnation and hellfire." He frowned at his empty hook, picked clean by some unknown underwater culprit. "They're messing with me. I know it.

"Is fornication a sin?" the priest continued. "Yeah. Sure. Technically. Do I believe that God will send Haley or Doug to hell for innocently exploring their sexuality, hopeful that they might find that they are the ones God intended for each other?" He shook his head. "No. I think the Almighty has more important things on His mind."

Good God. Brittany stared at the priest as he stood and walked off the dock and into the underbrush. If he winked at me, I would let him take me right fucking now. And to hell with midsummer, the ritual and everything else.

"Ha." A satisfied exclamation, and Justin came walking back, a spring in his step. "This will catch me a fish. I know it."

Brittney squinted at his fingers, then blinked. "A grasshopper?"

"He wasn't paying attention, was he? And now he has to pay the price. Let this be a lesson to you, young Brittany." He waved the buzzing insect. "Just when we are deepest in our revels, when all the world seems full of joy and mirth, there could be a horrible person just waiting to sneak up on you, stick a hook in the back of your neck, and throw you into a pond."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Does anyone ever tell you that you're...a bit weird?"

He grinned. "They never really stop."

Brittany watched as the dark-haired priest baited the hook, thankful that the dampness in the crotch of her bikini could be blamed on the heat, the humidity, the fish she had just caught, or choice D -- all of the above. Years ago, she had committed to years of virginity because of the ritual which kept Fertile Valley happy, healthy, and prosperous. But now, she half-thought she was falling in love with the older man. Justin was everything she could want -- smart, kind, handsome, and even a bit funny, even if his sense of humor seemed a bit off-kilter.

But can you share him? You know you won't be his last lover. Only the first. Her heart was lanced by a pain that was almost physical as she watched Justin cast the madly whirring grasshopper into the shade on the west bank with a flick of his wrist.

But he will be mine. At least for a little while.

In the end, they made a pretty good haul. Helped by what he called, "His little insectoid friends," Father Justin pulled a pair of fat bass out of the pond, and Brittney caught another catfish, though nowhere close the size of the first one. By the time that Doug and Haley slunk out of the tall grass with a ratty old blanket from the trunk folded over her brother's arm, the shadows were growing long and the sun was nearing the western horizon.

"What did you do?" Brittany demanded, when they went up to the house to wash up and clean the fish.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Her best friend smirked as they stood together at the sink.

"Haley! Tell me!"

"Not all of it. Not even to you, FBFF." The expression on her face gentled, becoming almost tender. "Doug wanted to talk. Just the two of us.

"So we talked. And talking led to...other things. Nice things."

"How nice?"

"Very nice." The smile widened wickedly. "Now I know why your brother is so good with his...tools."

"Did you..."

"No. But oh, God, Britt. I wanted to, so bad. I know he's your brother, but..." Her eyes went soft and dreamy. "He's got great hands. And great...other things. I made him happy. And he made me very happy. But I still haven't let any visitors through my front door."

"Oh. Good."

Though, to be honest, Brittany felt just the tiniest bit disappointed that her best friend hadn't given in to temptation. If she and Doug got together, well, she would be happy for both of them. But if they were together together, then maybe one of her rivals for Father Justin's attention would be out of the running.

It really wasn't nice of her to think that way, and part of her squirmed guiltily. But another part of her remembered what it had been like a couple of weeks ago, when she had sat in the chair in Father Justin's office, her hands on her tits and her cunt absolutely on fire as she told the wide-eyed priest about her sexy, naughty dreams. Her fingers had pulled at her nipples, and she didn't think Justin had noticed the way she had rubbed her virginal thighs together until she exploded in one of the hottest climaxes of her entire life.

"Good?" Haley interrupted her reverie. "I'm making out with your brother, and that's all you have to say?" Her eyes fell to her chest. "God, you're thinking about Justin right now, aren't you? Look at your nips."

Unbidden, her glance strayed out the window above the sink, where Doug and Justin were cleaning the fish. Several of the half-wild barn cats had gathered around. The tips of their tails twitched at the prospect of a free meal.

"He'll pick you," she heard herself say. "You're prettier."

"Maybe." Haley rounded her eyes at her teasingly. "But you've got better titties."

"And you've got better legs."

"And you've got a better ass."

"You think?" Brittany craned her neck around, trying to get a good look. "I always thought it was a little too big."

"It's not fat. It's just...bouncy." Haley smacked her rear with the palm of her hand, making her jump. "I'll make you a bet. And it's the best kind. The kind where no matter who is right, we both win."

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

Her best friend smiled lazily and put her hands on her waist, drawing her close. "If I win, you know that he'll pick you at Samhain. And after that, I'll try to convince him to let us share him. At least once."

Her heart pounded. "And?"

"And if he picks you at the bonfire, you do the same thing for me." Haley drew a finger up and down her arm, making her skin rise up in gooseflesh, despite the heat of the room. "Can you imagine it? All three of us?"

Caught in the web of her voice, Brittney nodded.

"Deal."

Chapter 4: Bonfire Night

The next morning, Megan Murray trapped Justin after mass.

"Father, could I speak with you for a minute?"

Justin nodded, and extricated himself from a conversation with his parents, who had driven down to watch him say mass at his new church for the first time. Not wanting to be separated from her uncle, his little niece Priscilla clung to his leg, complicating the situation. He finally solved the problem by picking her up and carrying her as he turned to Megan. "What's going on?"

Meg had two of her friends in tow, women of about the same age as herself. Their faces were friendly, but serious. "We're having a meeting of the Ladies' Auxiliary next Saturday night. We'd like for you to be there so we can get you....better acquainted with some of the things we are responsible for."

"Saturday night? What time?"

Meg smiled mysteriously. "Unfortunately, it's going to have to be fairly late. Some of the group officers have other responsibilities. Family, jobs, you know how it is." Justin nodded. "So we aren't going to be able to start until around nine or so."

"All right." Justin silently said goodbye to his plans with a sigh. "Where at? Here at the church?"

"Oh, no," one of the other women said. "That wouldn't do at all. There's just not enough room."

Justin eyed the woman curiously. Why would the church not work? There was plenty of room in the basement, after all. Or even in the worship area itself.