by L. A. Fiore
My eyes closed on a moan after the first mouthful. “Definite silver lining to this crazy situation, your cooking.”
The words were no sooner out of my mouth when my front door opened and Noah and a man I hadn’t met yet came strolling in. “Boundaries. I swear none of you understand the concept.” Of course, they were pirates so as far as they were concerned there was no such thing as boundaries.
Before he could speak I said, “Let me eat then I’ll pack, but Zoe and me are a package deal. I’ve been thinking. If Isaac tracked you here, any other enemy you may have made might find their way here too. I’m not leaving Zoe a sitting duck. And I need to call Decker. He’s not here, but he needs to know we won’t be either. I won’t go into details.”
“Zoe will come?”
“A chance to hang with real-life pirates? Absolutely. I’ll call her.”
He looked surprised again. “Paddy, wait for Miss Blakeley to collect her things. Chas, you’ll need to plan for two additional mouths to feed.”
Chas smiled. “See you, damsel.”
He walked out; the man Paddy followed him while mumbling, “I’ll be outside.”
Noah started for the door, but I stopped him when I said, “You and I need to talk. Not now, but soon. I don’t know what is going on with you, but I know you came to St. Croix for me. An answer to a wish I’ve made repeatedly over the last eight years. One day, Noah, we shared one day eight years ago and both of us are still holding onto the memory of it. And the days we shared in St. Croix, that last morning notwithstanding, lived up to the memory. I don’t want to wait eight more years.”
He didn’t answer me, but I knew he heard me. He closed the door quietly behind him.
“Where are you going?” Decker sounded tired.
I didn’t like lying to him, but it was bad enough I was pulling Zoe into this; Decker didn’t need to be too.
“We’re going to spin a globe and point.”
“And you’re going now why?”
“We both just want to get away. Live a little.”
“And you can’t live a little on the island?”
“Mom and Dad made a discovery. Things get weird when that happens, fame junkies looking for their moment. And since I was referred to by name in some of the coverage on their find, I think taking off for a while is smart.” A total lie, but a believable one.
“No one has approached you, have they?”
I swallowed the guilt before I lied, “No.” I hadn’t spoken to him since Warren. “Did you hear about Warren?”
An understandable pause since I was jumping topics. “Warren, the homeless man?”’
“Yeah, he was murdered.”
“What?”
“It was brutal.” I helped to avenge Warren. I didn’t share that part.
“What the fuck? We’ve never had problems like that on the island before.”
And hopefully we wouldn’t again.
“I’m sorry to hear about Warren. I know he was a friend. Are you sure you are okay?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. Have fun on your adventure. You’ll be with Zoe so that is a given. You need anything, I’m only a phone call away.”
“I miss you.”
“I would say I will see you soon, but that apparently isn’t the case. Call me occasionally so I know you are okay.”
“I will.”
“Take care of yourself, Willow.”
“You too.”
I disconnected, feeling badly for lying, but it was safer for him to stay out of it. I dialed Granddad. I didn’t want to get into details with him either, but if he didn’t hear from me he would get worried. I didn’t know what cell service was like in the middle of the ocean.
“Willow, what a treat. How are you?”
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t sound okay. What’s going on?”
“There was an incident.”
“What kind of incident?”
“I got caught up in some trouble. It wasn’t about me, I was a means to an end.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Just some bad blood.”
“Between who?”
“Do you remember asking me about the man I met in Cancun? Well he’s here in St. Croix.”
“That’s quite a coincidence.”
“It isn’t. He came to see me.”
“Why now?” I heard the suspicion in Granddad’s tone. He was right to feel it.
“I’m not sure, but I’m going away for a little while. I’m not sure how good cell service will be where we’re going and I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Where are you going?”
“With him.”
“Is that wise? I’m assuming he is the reason for the trouble you are in.”
“It wasn’t his fault.”
“You know I looked into him back then. I found very little on him and what I did discover...he hasn’t had it easy.”
“No.”
“There are a hundred questions I want to ask. And it is taking everything I have to not get on a plane. But I know you know what is best for you so I’m going to force myself to stay put and trust your judgment, but if at any time you need me...”
“I know.”
“And Harry is there. In the Bahamas, Nassau. You can reach out to him.”
“Harry is in the Bahamas? Since when?”
“He opened up a dive shop.”
I didn’t know that, but I was happy for him.
“Are you sure you are okay?” Granddad asked.
“Yes. Taking off for a while is a good idea and the people I’m with, I’m in good hands.”
“You’re sure?”
I was. Despite Noah’s recent behavior, I knew I was safe with him. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Keep in touch or I’ll send out a search party.”
“I will.”
“Love you, Willow.”
“Love you back.”
I stood in my little cottage after packing. I had the strangest sensation that I wasn’t going to see it again. I ached and I was scared, but I was definitely safer with Noah and his crew. I called Zoe; I didn’t go into details just told her to pack. She was concerned, more like worried, but I heard excitement too. I would explain everything when I saw her. My escort was waiting for me when I stepped outside. Unlike Chas, this man was not at all friendly. He was older, maybe in his forties, his brown hair was thinning on the top and he had the red nose of a drinker.
“Thank you for waiting.”
No response, just a glare. He walked away from me so I assumed that meant I was supposed to follow him.
We reached the pier and were heading to a huge luxury yacht. I can admit I had a clipper ship in mind, with the sails and the black flag, so the sleek white cruiser was a bit of a letdown. “We’re going on that?”
That earned me my less than charming escort’s attention. “You were expecting something different?”
“You’re pirates, right?”
He answered with a grunt that I took as a yes.
“No sails. Seems like cheating to not have sails.”
He shook his head, like maybe I was nuts. Whatever.
We passed the stern. The yacht didn’t have a name. In the place where there would have been one was an image of a skull and crossbones. “No flying a black flag either.”
He yanked me close. “Be grateful we’re not as uncivilized as Isaac’s crew.”
A knot of fear settled in my gut. My escort wasn’t just unfriendly he didn’t like me.
I followed after him because he had left me standing there after his last threat. We were greeted by the twins, the blond hair, blue-eyed twins. I rushed forward. “Which one of you was following me that day?” I had met them, had even shared a meal with them, but I couldn’t tell them apart.
“Me,” one of them said then smiled the most devilishly charming smile I think I had ever been on the receiving end of.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you
apart. Are you Tex or Tiggs?”
“Tex.”
He looked okay but still I asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, he got me in the shoulder. Fucker tried to shoot me in the back.”
“He shot you? Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”
“It was just a flesh wound.”
“A bullet is considered a flesh wound?”
“This one was.”
I didn’t think I wanted to know what he would consider a serious wound. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.”
Tiggs moved in. “Paddy, take her bag to her room.” He pulled my hand through his arm. These two were charmers.
Paddy grumbled, but obliged.
“So this will be home for a while. We’ll give you a tour. Do you want anything, coffee, beer, a chest of gold?” Tex stared at me like he was waiting for something, then he laughed. “A chest of gold. Pirates, get it?”
“He’s an idiot.” Tiggs said then added, “He was deprived of oxygen in the womb. Come, let me show you around.”
There were three decks. One that was conducive for water sports and diving, very close to the water. The second level had a huge area for lounging, including a pool and waterfall. The color theme was natural tones and the deck was teak.
“Swimming is encouraged.” Tiggs stated with a wink.
Noah was on the bridge and with him was Snake.
“You know our illustrious leader and Snake.”
“Good morning.”
“Sorry.” Snake was referring to my face.
“You warned me he would rough me up.”
There was a commotion seconds before Zoe came running onto the bridge. She pushed past Tiggs and Tex and threw her arms around me. “You’re okay.”
When she stepped back her eyes went wide then narrowed. “Your face.” She moved so fast, turning, pulling her arm back but Snake stopped her punch. For a moment they glared at each other. Then she jerked her hand from Snake and turned her rage on Noah.
“In the six years I’ve known her she’s waited for you, mourned you, never took off that fucking necklace. You return and in less than a week, you break her heart and get her beaten...” Zoe’s face paled, her wide, fearful eyes turned to me. “You weren’t...”
“No.”
Tears rolled down her face but she wasn’t done. “Six fucking years.” She raked her eyes down Noah’s body and up again. “If you ask me she wasted those fucking years.”
She turned to Tiggs and Tex. “Twins, fabulous. The man you sent for me, Flynn was it? He wouldn’t allow me to have my morning coffee. So I’ll want some and a pastry because every morning I eat a fucking pastry.”
Tex and Tiggs looked behind her to Noah who nodded his head. Both turned charming smiles on her.
“Save the charm for someone who’ll fall for it.”
It was like she slapped them. I kind of felt bad seeing the dejected looks on their faces. “Do you have any pastry in mind?” Tex asked.
“Surprise me.” She took my hand and pulled me from the bridge. “We’ll be by the pool.”
Zoe was shaking when we left the bridge. I squeezed her hand because that had been pretty spectacular.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I should be asking that of you.”
“I am and even more so now. That was amazing. You were totally badass in there.”
She grinned even with the fear still burning in her eyes. “I was pretty great, wasn’t I?”
We reached the pool, settled on the edge. “What happened?”
I explained it and watched her expression change throughout. “That Isaac sounds like a real animal.”
“He won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”
“So we’re going on the lam.”
“I guess you could say that.”
“And we’re doing it with pirates. I’m not sure what to think about that.”
“I’m sorry you got pulled into this, but leaving you here alone wasn’t an option.”
“I’m not.”
“But your job, your life.”
“I hated that job anyway. Do you think we would have really been in danger if we had stayed?”
“I don’t know, but better safe than sorry.”
“What about Decker?”
“I was vague when I spoke to him, but I explained that we were going on vacation, wanted to get away from the media circus that was sure to follow my parents’ discovery.”
“Good thinking, but he’ll get suspicious when we stay gone.”
“We’ll cross that bridge then.”
Tex and Tiggs arrived with coffee and donuts. “May we join you?” Tiggs asked. He was a flirt, more so than his brother, but Tex held his own.
“As long as there is coffee and lots of it.” Zoe replied.
They set the tray down on the coffee table in the living room on the deck of the yacht next to the pool because why wouldn’t there be a huge living room on the deck of a pirate’s ship. I think I needed to pinch myself that this was my reality for the time being. Instead, I enjoyed a cup of coffee with my best friend and twin pirates who were too charming for their own good.
NOAH
Seeing Willow’s face, I wanted Zeke to kill Isaac then revive him so he could kill him again.
Snake was going on about Willow’s friend. “I don’t know if I like her or want to toss her overboard, but you’ve got to give her points on bravery. Walking onto our yacht outnumbered, confused, afraid and yet she tosses out attitude.” Snake’s smile faded when he turned his focus on me. “Why are they here? Outside of the obvious.”
“Something about Isaac’s story bothers me. In Cancun he was just the muscle and yet now he has his own crew. How did that happen?”
“We took away his livelihood and he adapted.”
“Does he strike you as a man capable of running a crew? Outside of taking shots at me, he doesn’t have what it takes to organize a raid, to coordinate or plan.”
“You think someone is holding his leash.”
“There was the nephew.”
“He was a moron. No more able to run a crew than Isaac.”
I tended to agree with Snake, but it was stupid to underestimate people. There was nothing worse than having a target on your back. “I think we need to look into the nephew.”
“I’ll get the twins on it.”
I tracked Willow down that night. She had been with Zoe in the kitchen. I took her to my office. Her color had returned. I hadn’t liked seeing her look so pale, but those fucking bruises had me clenching my jaw.
Once she settled on the sofa I asked, “Do you want a drink?”
“No, thanks.”
Even with what she had been through, she was holding it together, was doing more than holding it together. I suspected under the soft and sweet there was a spine of steel.
“Are we going to talk about the other morning?” she asked.
“You’re right. I did come here for you. I came to get you out of my system.”
She jerked like I had slapped her.
“I’m not trying to be cruel, but the truth of it is I’m not the man you knew in Cancun. I’ve seen and done things that have changed me. I make no excuses for it, but my life isn’t a life for someone like you.”
“And still you came to St. Croix.”
“Eight years is a long time to hold onto the memory of someone. I was curious if it was still there.”
“And?”
“What do you think, sweetheart?”
Her cheeks turned rosy, her lip curved up. “But you would have still left.”
“Yes. Isaac, that’s the depravity we live in. And you, you tear up when holding a broken china cup. You wear the necklace of a scoundrel, one you know so little about. You were beaten by a sadistic bastard who would have raped you and still you boarded a ship of pirates because you think we’re the better alternative. You see the world for all of its possibilities and you have hope that there is good. I’m
too jaded. That hope died in me a long time ago, if I ever had it.”
“Where is Isaac now?”
“Zeke is talking to him.”
She studied me a minute. “Why do I get the sense there is little talking going on?”
I leaned forward in my chair and didn’t bother to hide my rage. “He dared to touch you. I know you agreed to it and that is a whole other matter, but he shattered the beauty of your world when he grabbed you right from the street near your home. He beat you, he terrified you, he was going to let his crew rape you and then he would have killed you. I would kill the motherfucker, but my rage would have me killing him far too soon. Zeke is a master at torture. He will pull every ounce of pain from him. He will make him beg for mercy, beg for death, but he will deny him that. Only when there is nothing left to cut, break, burn will he kill him. And that is the death he deserves for daring to touch someone so far out of his realm.”
She was afraid and she needed to be. She was looking for something in me that didn’t exist anymore. I could be charming, it made me a better thief, but I was too fucking jaded for her.
“Coming with us was a good call. We’ll wait to see if there is any blowback from yesterday before we take you home.” And I’ll make sure there aren’t any other ghosts from our past looking to settle a score.
“In the meantime, will you be looting and pillaging?”
I flashed her a smile. “It is what we do.”
“What would you think about hunting for a treasure?”
“Pirates hunting treasure...kind of a cliché.”
“The journal you bought me. Do you remember it?”
“Of course.” Her face softened in response and I would have sold my soul to know what she was thinking.
“At first I thought it was just a romantic story, but I’ve been researching it for years and I authenticated most of it. I’ve even been to see the last direct descendant of Isabella.”
It didn’t surprise me that she had researched it. Her expression that day in the bookstore had been one of want.
“There is a reference to a treasure.”
Now that was interesting. “What kind of treasure?”
“A necklace of platinum and diamonds.”
“And you think this necklace is on the ship?”
“It took a long time to find the jeweler because platinum was so rare back then. But we’ve confirmed not only the existence of the necklace, but that Alejandro was in possession of it.”
