by L. A. Fiore
Again he didn’t answer right away, just stared at me like I had lost my mind. And I may have because I was actually entertaining the idea of being bait to lure a sick sadist. Yep, I definitely should have my head examined.
“Pie sounds good.”
A thought had me going cold. “Is he the one who killed Warren?”
“Possibly.”
“Why?”
“He was your friend, right?”
I felt sick thinking of Warren. Sweet, kind, poor unsuspecting Warren at the hands of an animal.
“What’s your plan?”
“You just need to make it easy for him. No big groups and avoid your friend. We’ll be watching you. When he grabs you, he’ll take you back to whatever boat he’s using and we’ll take him out.”
I stopped scooping the ice cream. “By take him out you mean kill him?”
“Yes.”
I gave myself an extra scoop since I was pretty sure ice cream wasn’t so easily accessible in prison.
“What did he do to you that makes all of this justified?”
Like Noah, Snake took his time eating his pie and ice cream. My heart kind of broke a little. At my question, he pulled his shirt up and revealed a nasty scar on his shoulder.
“In Cancun, I witnessed a man roughing up a dancer. I broke it up, punched the fucker in the face. Turned out he was the nephew of a wannabe gangster. As payment for my disrespect he was going to have his henchman, Isaac, torture me to set an example.”
“What?” I couldn’t have heard him correctly because that was...I was horrified. “Wait, the same time I was there?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“The only one of them to walk out of that room was Isaac, well the punk bitch nephew ran, and he had that scar as a souvenir. And this is nothing compared to what he did to Kace.”
“What did he do to Kace?”
“That’s his story to tell.”
I pushed my plate away. I wasn’t hungry anymore. “You killed them. I don’t know what it says about me, but I hope it was painful.”
His head jerked up from his pie, but his expression was unreadable. “I think he was going to make a change. Kace. Before all that went down, I think he was entertaining the idea of you. We were catching a ride back to the States on your cruise ship.”
“How were you going to...?”
I got a look. Right, the same way they kept breaking into my house.
“He was going to choose you but then he killed a man and he let you go.”
The punch of emotion was uncontrollable at his choice of words. Noah was going to choose me. My heart moved into my throat, my eyes stung with tears. He studied me and the emotion I wasn’t able to hide.
“I’ll help you.”
“Someone will be on you at all times. He might rough you up a bit, but he won’t have you long enough to cause any real damage.”
My hands were shaking so I twisted them together. I wasn’t stupid, I was terrified, but once upon a time Noah was going to choose me, so I would help them remove a sadistic thorn from their sides because that bastard had probably killed my friend.
Over the next few days, someone in Noah’s crew followed me. Some were good at tracking and some were really bad. The best was Snake. I only knew it was him because he let me see him a few times. But Isaac didn’t make a move on me. I didn’t know what I felt more, disappointment that I couldn’t help them, or sad because this Isaac had picked up on what I had; Noah was over me.
I had spent the last few hours with the kids at the lagoon. I was on my way home thinking about what to make for dinner. Since the tailing started, I made enough for whoever was tailing me to have some too. I sensed someone behind me seconds before a gun was pressed to my back.
“The boss wants to see you.”
He moved in so close, his front was plastered to my back. And I felt him; he was hard. I wanted to scream and gag, but I knew one of the twins was following me. His hand moved down my body and I tried to jerk from his hold. “I’m going to enjoy you.”
My heart was racing because until that moment I hadn’t truly appreciated what I was agreeing to. I was in way over my head. My body shook when he said, “Oh and your tail won’t be much help.”
Before I could scream, a pain exploded in my head and everything went black. I came to and knew I was on the water. My captor’s words came back as mind-numbing fear filled me. My tail, was he dead? No one knew where I was. No one had followed us. I started to shake even though the reality of my situation, how truly fucked I was, had yet to penetrate my terrified mind. I used the wall for balance and walked to the door. It was locked. I thought to pound on it, but drawing attention that I was awake seemed stupid. There were no windows, so I couldn’t even see how far we were from land.
Heavy footsteps came from down the hall. The sound of the key fitting into the lock had my body bracing. In the next second, the door slammed open and hard enough to leave an impression in the wall from the doorknob. It was the man who had abducted me. He moved into the room, reaching me in two long strides and grabbed me by the hair. He slammed me into the wall and closed his hand over my breast, squeezing so hard I saw stars. Bile rushed up my throat.
“Boss wants you. But after…” He raked his eyes down my body and left the rest of that threat unsaid. He dragged me from the room and took me to the bridge. The boss was the man with the scar. Isaac. He turned to me and sneered. “Willow.”
When Noah called me that, it was like foreplay with words. This man made my name sound like a disease.
He walked around me and I felt his eyes moving over my body like he was inspecting me before purchasing, like one would a horse. I was surprised he didn’t check my teeth.
I didn’t know where the courage came from when I spat, “What do you want with me?”
The punch came out of nowhere, my head jerked back so hard I thought it might come off my shoulders. Pain exploded behind my eyes. Terror nearly had me crumpling to the floor.
“I expected more of Kace’s bitch.” He yanked my hair and drew me close, his rancid breath turning my stomach. “Maybe it’s your pussy that makes you so interesting. When Kace gets here, I’ll fuck you in front of him.”
He dismissed me and turned to the goon. “Do what you want with her, but don’t kill her. Not yet. I want Mayes to watch when I kill his play thing.”
The giant grabbed my arm and started dragging me from the room.
“No!” I frantically tried to get away, but he hit me then threw me over his shoulder. We reached the room I had been held in. He dropped me to my feet so hard my bones rattled.
“Play time,” he said before he closed and locked the door behind him.
I did the only thing left for me to do. I screamed.
NOAH
I should have put a fucking bullet in Isaac’s brain in Cancun. Bad enough the fucker shot me, now he was here and had approached Willow. He would die for that.
We were at the wharf; Snake was securing a boat so we could hunt for him. He was out there on the water somewhere. Our ride was too flashy and big to be effective.
Snake came running down the pier. “They have her.”
I physically felt those words. “What?”
He was still moving farther down the pier before he jumped into a boat. I followed him. “What the fuck is going on, Snake?”
“She offered to be bait. Fucker caught Tex unaware. Good thing Tex is spry or the bullet would have gone into his back and not his shoulder. Tiggs was on Willow too.”
“What the fuck do you mean? Do you have eyes on her now?”
“Yeah, Tiggs and Flynn. We’ve got to go. I told her she wouldn’t be with them for long.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“You wouldn’t have liked it, but it was the best play.”
A glance at the crew and they agreed with Snake. I did too, it was the best play, but it was Willow.
“She agreed to this?”
She was definitely going over my fucking knee. “Isaac is mine.”
Ten minutes after Willow was taken, we spotted the Viking sport fisherman Flynn had radioed that she was being held on. We picked up Tiggs and Flynn from the little prop boat they had stolen to follow her.
“I want him alive. Do what you want with the others, but Isaac is mine.”
We pulled up on the starboard side. His crew was asleep on the job, which made boarding easy. A guard moved on the upper deck. I caught Snake’s attention as he moved soundlessly. Seconds later, Snake gave the all clear.
Her scream had me running. I kicked the door in to find Willow backed into a corner. Her shirt was ripped; she had bruises forming on her face and her hair was a mess, but it was the wild terror in her eyes that unleashed the bloodlust. Garrett, Isaac’s right hand man, turned to me and grinned. Fucker was enjoying himself. He charged and I used his own momentum and aimed the hit to his gut. His fist swung up. The pain that spread through my skull when his fist connected to my jaw caused stars. The man was strong. He charged me again; I nailed him in the face and he countered with a blow to my gut. I grabbed his balls and squeezed bringing the giant to his knees. I pulled out my gun and shot him between the eyes. His limp body dropped to the floor. My focus was on Willow, her face paled as she stared at her attacker.
She turned her eyes on me. I thought she was going to break down in tears; instead she looked annoyed with me. “Took you long enough.”
The woman continued to surprise me. “About this plan. Fucking stupid of you to agree.”
“It worked.”
“Have you seen your face?”
“Haven’t seen it. I feel it though and it hurts like hell.” She walked over to Garrett and spit on him. “Fucker.”
The urge to pull her close and kiss her was fucking strong. I took her hand, it was cold, so despite the bravado she was scared. It was smart to be scared. I pulled her to the deck and the waiting boat. Once she was onboard, I took the blanket from Flynn and wrapped it around her shoulders. “I’ll be right back.”
She reached for my hand. “He wanted to kill me in front of you.”
“I know.”
“He hates you.”
“I know.”
“You can’t let him walk away this time.”
“I know.” I fucking loved that she knew that too.
“I’ll be right back.”
She released my hand and curled into herself. Isaac was on his knees on the bridge. Zeke and Snake flanking him. I pulled out my gun and shot him in the leg. His howl of pain made me smile.
“Now who is holding the grudge?” he hissed.
Fucker didn’t know when to shut up. I shot his other leg. “You should have left her alone.”
“Seems like a lot of effort you put in for such an average woman. You’re lucky I didn’t come for her when you weren’t around to protect her.”
“That’s not really your style though, is it? You want the audience. Hurting her without me witnessing it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. You and I both know that.”
I turned from him. “Killing him is too easy. Zeke.”
He cracked his knuckles as a smile curved his lips.
“We’ll swing by for you when we leave port in two days.”
“Two days...plenty of time.”
“Do you need anything?”
“No, I’ll make do with what’s here.”
“His crew?” I directed toward Snake.
“Fish food.”
“Any chance of them floating to the surface?”
Snake gave me the look. Yeah, I knew better than to ask.
“Two days, Zeke.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Something about Isaac’s story bothered me so until I was comfortable there would be no blowback, I had to convince Willow to come with me. Even though it was because of me she had several ugly bruises blooming on her face and I was sure they weren’t the only ones Garrett had inflicted. I should have taken my time killing him. Instead of keeping her safe from my world, I was pulling her into it. And I had to convince her that was a good idea. Yeah, no problem.
“Fucking hell.”
WILLOW
They’re dead?” We were in the boat heading back to shore. I had been party to murder. Justifiable murder in my opinion, but still murder.
“Yes.”
“My fingerprints are on that boat. My DNA is all over the animal who used me for a punching bag.”
Noah’s eyes went dark and his jaw clenched.
“Won’t the cops figure it out? One look at my face and they’ll know I was there. Maybe I should go into hiding.”
I swear Noah looked surprised. I had never seen that expression on his face before. He looked happy, well, as happy as a man like him could look. What the hell was wrong with him? Maybe those hits to his head knocked something loose upstairs.
“Coming with us is an option.”
Yes almost came out of my mouth because it was Noah, but what exactly would I be getting myself into.
“Think about it.”
We reached the shore. Noah helped me from the boat before he called to someone named Chas. The big dude, like pushing seven feet, walked over to join us. “See Miss Blakeley home.”
Noah turned to me, his eyes moving over my face. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I nodded my head then Chas touched my back and led me away.
I wanted a shower and then sleep. I hadn’t fully appreciated the people and the world I was walking into when I agreed to help Snake. I could honestly say I had never in my life been so scared. I was glad they were dead, all of them, but I would definitely be having some nightmares about the ordeal.
My babysitter was huge. He had beautiful mahogany skin and a head that was shaved to a shine. Seeing him next to my sofa there was no way he would sleep there comfortably.
“You can have the bed. I’ll take the sofa,” I offered.
The look he gave me was almost comical to my emotionally drained brain.
“I’ll sleep outside, but first let’s put something on those cuts.”
Cuts? I went to the bathroom then gasped at my face. My face hurt but I wasn’t prepared for the purple bruises near my temple and jaw, the cuts from where my skin split at the force of the blows.
Chas came up behind me. “Fucker will die for this. Do you have peroxide?”
I pulled it from the cabinet, the cotton balls too, and then I sat on the edge of the tub as a gentle giant dabbed at my wounds. When I had called Kace a pirate all those years ago, I had romanticized it. I was wrong to do that.
I looked into whiskey-colored eyes. “I think your world is a scary place.”
“Get some sleep. I’ll be right outside. Keep your door locked.”
“Outside, that’s not necessary.”
He grinned. “I’m a pirate, sweetheart. I like sleeping outside.”
After locking up, I headed straight to the shower, stripping on my way, turned the water as hot as I could stand and climbed under the spray. Sliding down the wall, I wrapped my arms around my legs. That’s when the shaking started. I had tried to hide it from Noah and the others, but I had never been so scared. I could still feel his hands on me, which had me jumping up for the soap. I scrubbed so hard my skin hurt. After, I grabbed my robe then curled up in the middle of my bed and dropped into a deep sleep.
In the morning, my stomach woke me. My face hurt, my body ached, but Noah had one less enemy to worry about and Warren had been avenged. The glimpse into Noah’s world though was a terrifying one.
I climbed from bed and dressed. As soon as I opened the door, I smelled coffee. I had locked the front door, but my babysitter had gotten in too. That lock really was shit. As soon as he saw me, Chas smiled, showing surprisingly white teeth.
“Morning. Hope you don’t mind I made myself at home.”
They all seemed to. “Not at all.”
“Hungry?”
&nb
sp; My stomach growled in answer.
“What would you like?”
“Coffee.”
“You need sustenance. Pancakes, eggs, cereal? Pick one, or I’ll make all of them.” I had the fixings for all of that in my house. Who knew?
“Pancakes, please.”
“Good choice. I make a killer bananas foster pancake.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“Pull up a stool.”
He walked to the other counter and poured a cup of coffee before placing it in front of me. “Cream, sugar or both?”
“Both.”
A carton of cream and a dish of sugar appeared along with a spoon. He knew his way around my kitchen. My guess, he was the cook for the crew.
“Thank you.”
“You doing okay?” He seemed like such a jovial man, but looking at my jaw and temple, he looked menacing.
“Sore, achy, but I’m good.”
“Isaac is an animal, his whole crew were.”
“Can I ask how you became a pirate?”
“The captain saved me from a culinary disaster. We’ve been together ever since.”
A culinary disaster. There was a story there. I would save asking for another time.
“So do you sail the open seas, raid ships and kidnap damsels like your ancestors?”
He flashed me a smile. “Not answering the first question, but damsels come willingly. That’s part of our code.”
“You have a pirate code?”
“Captain insists on it.”
“And Noah is the captain.”
“Yeah.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Eight.”
“How did Noah become captain?”
“He is just a natural leader.”
“Isaac. He doesn’t have a code.”
“Isaac is an animal. He should have been put down a long time ago.”
He had been slicing and whipping and grilling while we chatted so when he placed the steaming plate of pancakes before me, my mouth watered.
“This looks amazing, smells even better.”
“Eat.”
