Chapter 2: Breaking the Dry Spell

Words : 1873 Updated : Jan 15th, 2026

Joseph Lyson was simple-minded, not incapable of being a man. In fact, he might have been the most virile man in all of Alton Village. Just when Della Sowden thought things would finally work out tonight, something went sideways. "Della, I'm bleeding!" "Where are you bleeding?" "My nose." "Oh my-why is your nose bleeding?" "Della, holding you felt too hot, so I started bleeding." He wasn't wrong. For a boy who had never been with a woman, it was too much stimulation. Though the booze still buzzed in her veins, Della was close to exploding. This fool couldn't even sleep with a woman. She hadn't bled-he had. She'd have to take him to get treated. Otherwise, how would he ever carry on the Lyson family line? With that off the table, Della scrambled up and pulled on her clothes. She poured herself a cup of tea and downed it. After a moment, her head cleared. Thinking of how she had just been holding Joseph, her cheeks flamed all the way down her neck. It was mortifying-she drank a little rotgut and got all hot and bothered. Good thing Joseph was a fool; otherwise, she would have wanted to crawl into a hole. "Della, why is your face so red? Did you drink more just now?" Joseph appeared beside her without a sound, making her jump hard enough to lose her breath. "Joseph, why do you creep around like that? You nearly scared me to death." "I saw you leave the room, so I came to check. Looked like you were drinking again." She had drunk tea to sober up, but the fool thought it was more alcohol. Sigh. His condition was getting worse. Ben Lyson had been right-if he couldn't even plow a woman's field, how was he going to learn to farm later? It was getting late. She decided to let it go and sleep. "Joseph, you'll sleep in my room tonight. Lay out a mat on the floor, okay?" "Okay, okay, I want to hold Della and sleep together on the mat." "No-you're sleeping on the mat alone. Della sleeps on the bed." He pouted. "Fine." He didn't dare argue, and agreed. Della lay down on the bed. Joseph stretched out on the mat on the floor. In less than a few minutes, he was out-Zzz, zzz, zzz. Della couldn't sleep. She kept replaying what had happened. Her pale cheeks flushed like a red apple. This time, she didn't feel ashamed. It was normal for a woman to want a man. She was a woman too-why couldn't she think about men? Besides, when she married Quentin Lyson, they hadn't truly become husband and wife. They had signed an agreement only the two of them knew. Too bad Quentin died in the mine, leaving her a "widow" people misunderstood. So what if she was a widow? A widow was still a woman. Women should pine for handsome men-that was only natural. It was something her high school classmate Zoey Malet used to say in their dorm after lights-out: "At eighteen, a woman is one flower; at twenty-eight, a basket of blossoms." "We women owe ourselves. When you see a man you like, make a move. If you miss it, you'll regret it your whole life." She was at the basket-of-flowers age, the prime for drawing bees and butterflies. Every time she walked through the village, men young and old stared like they wanted to eat her alive, mouths watering. Joseph was handsome and sturdy-just a little slow-but she liked him. And since her marriage to Quentin had been a sham, she was still a maiden. Even if she slept with Joseph, she wouldn't be taking advantage of him. After turning it over and over, she decided to try again-see if tonight could really happen, and taste what it meant to be a woman. Della eased off the bed and tiptoed toward Joseph on the mat. As she reached his side and was about to pounce, a rush of footsteps sounded outside the house. It sounded like there were quite a few of them. Thieves had come into Alton Village. Her heart tightened. She pressed herself down beside Joseph, not daring to make a sound. "Boss, this is Quentin Lyson's place. He's got a real beauty at home." "Mm. The dead man had it good. He never imagined we wouldn't even spare his woman." "Brothers, once we grab her, we all get a taste." "Bernard, kick the door. We go straight in and take the woman." Shouting from the yard, they charged into Della's house. Bernard reached the door and kicked it open in one go. They rushed inside and headed straight for the bedroom. By then, Della was shaking all over. One thug pulled a flashlight. The beam snapped on, and they spotted the beauty lying on the bamboo mat-with a young man stretched out beside her. They burst into laughter. "Ha! I thought Quentin's widow was some virtuous type. Turns out she's got a man at home," one of them sneered. Another thug stared at Della's body until drool slicked his chin. He eyed her lush hips, then glanced at his boss. "Alaric, this one's premium. Better than the city girls. How about we all take turns and get some action?" Their leader, Alaric Warth, had no interest in sharing a woman like this. He waved his hand. "She's a spicy one. You boys wait outside. I'll break her in." Della was terrified. She had never faced anything like it-thugs shoving into her home at midnight, intent on violating her. She forced herself to stay calm. Yelling for help would be useless; there were no neighbors close enough to hear. Right-Joseph lay beside her. She needed to wake him. She pinched his arm hard. "Ow, that hurts!" "Who… who are you? Why are you here?" Joseph woke with a start and saw the crowd, then cried out. "Bernard, take care of the kid," Alaric said, his face gone cold. "No problem, boss." Bernard stepped in and brought a hammer down on Joseph's head. Blood streamed from Joseph's scalp. His head swam, and he collapsed. "Joseph, don't die!" "Joseph, wake up, wake up!" Della broke down and cried, pushing at him again and again. "Brothers, guard the outside. I'll be the first to have some fun," Alaric said. The sight of blood excited him. After his men stepped out, he shut the bedroom door. He wanted to ravage the woman on a mat splashed with fresh blood, then go full throttle. That was the only way to feel alive. But Alaric didn't know this: the blood spurting from Joseph's head was being swallowed by the jade pendant on Joseph's chest. Joseph drifted into a dream, where fortune favored him with a sweet encounter.

Chapter 2: Breaking the Dry Spell

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