Right there, in front of the crowd of bystanders, Mason Bentley cut off the tip of Peter’s tongue.
Through Peter’s screams, I felt the pain in my own mouth, and the sight of blood coating his face made me want to vomit. Yet, while resisting the urge to do so, it was still rather satisfying watching Mason lift the piece of shit off the table and pitch him out the front door. And I mean throw. In the air, high enough that he landed hard on the ground outside.
Watching Peter scamper to his feet, I noticed that his side was bleeding, as well. Shannyn had stabbed the shit out of him with the dagger she was now wiping blood off of. As I watched her slide the blade back in her bodice, my jaw dropped in awe. Shannyn Barlow was not a helpless damsel, and the father I never knew was just as heroic as Mother had explained him to be. Only a bit more cutthroat than I ever would have imagined.
Chapter 3
Her Own Twisted Way
Half of the customers left the bar after the horrendous act of brutality. The brave few continued to drink and soon enough, the music resumed, the singer got back to her song, and everyone carried on as if a man’s tongue was not just sliced out of his mouth. As for me, well, I was mortified.
Standing next to Shannyn, trying not to show how shaken up I was, I felt a shiver run up my spine when Mason stepped towards us. He had already wiped the blood off his blade, and after sliding the sword back into its scabbard, he put his hand on the side of Shannyn’s face. “Damn, that bastard got you better than I thought. I reckon I’ll cut off more than his tongue if I ever see him again.”
She laughed. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anywhere near here for a while.”
“Any of his friends, either,” I surprised myself by commenting.
“Who the hell are you?” Mason asked me, looking annoyed by my presence.
Remembering that I was in disguise, and that he didn’t know me anyhow, I removed my hat. “I am, well, my name is…” Gazing into his eyes—which reflected the green in mine—I couldn’t seem to form the title I didn’t feel worthy to bear.
“Remington Rain,” he said my name.
The next thing I knew, his arms were wrapped around me. He was bigger than any man I’d ever been near, and the love in his massive embrace made me feel like I had been an orphan who had finally found her home. I had never met this man—and I had feared him up until this point—but at this very moment, I felt as if I’d known him all of my life. I never wanted him to let me go.
“My daughter,” he sighed and kissed me atop my head.
“Daughter?” Shannyn squeaked in delight. “Sink me! No wonder I liked you so much! It’s because we’re going to be sisters one day.”
With Mason still squeezing me tight, I was in no position to respond to her silly comments.
Taking note of the importance of our reunion, Shannyn left us alone and busied herself by cleaning blood off of the table.
Finally letting go of me, Mason touched my face. “By God, you look just like my sister, Lace. Spitting image.” His eyes looked watery, which made me uncomfortable. The man who’d just sliced a man’s tongue in two was about to shed a tear over me. What a strange, strange day this was.
“You have a sister?” I asked, stepping away from his hold on me.
“I did once. She was my twin, but she passed on when we were about the age you are now.”
“I’m sorry. That’s very sad. Did you have any brothers?”
“No. It was just me and Lace, and me alone ever since I lost her. Well, till I met your damned mother.” He shook his head.
“Where is she?” I just remembered that I had not seen her disembark Phantom.
As my mind started running wild with terrible possibilities, he said, “Ah, she’s all right, but I’ll tell you why she isn’t with me while we sit for a drink.”
After shooing a man out of the one booth in the place, Mason welcomed me to sit down, then waved a server over. Without asking what he wanted, the unhealthily thin, little redhead brought over two ales.
“Here you go, handsome.” Her green eyes lit up.
“Thank you, Holly.” He winked at her. She tried to sit on his lap, but he fanned her away. “I’ll talk to you later, sweetheart.”
“I’ll be waiting,” she purred as she walked off.
Shaking his head in irritation, he mumbled under his breath, “That wench is nothing but trouble.” Straightening up, he looked into my eyes. “Tell me, how the hell did you end up in here, in the midst of all that?”
“Oh, well, I saw your ship come in and I wanted to see what you were doing here.”
He laughed. “So, you dressed up like a man and followed me to a filthy tavern where you ended up punching a bloke in a bar fight? Shit, I reckon you’re going to trouble me as much as your brother and mother do.”
My brother and my mother. Oh, good heavens, there was so much I wanted to know. “Mother. Where is she?”
“Oh, that woman.” He took a deep breath then proceeded to tell me what happened between my mother and him back in Port Royal. Surprised by the ease in which he shared the events—and his emotions—I listened closely as he told me about how and why she ran away from him.
Though I understood why he had acted as he had toward her, her reasons for escaping the man she loved so desperately were beyond me. “You’re telling me that after all the years she wept over your memory, she just upped and ran away from you?”
“Strange, isn’t it?” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Absurdly strange. Where in the world did she go?” All my dreams of them sailing the seas together crumbled like a pillar of salt.
“I looked for her like a madman for a few days, and just when I began thinking she’d escaped me, again, I found her hiding out at Lloyd Wilshire’s place.”
“She’s living with Uncle Lloyd?” I winced.
So did he. “Uncle? My lowliest crewman’s fat arse. That man is no relative of yours. And let’s just say, if I ever see Lloyd Wilshire again, his final thoughts will be wishing he could kill me right before I pierce his cowardly guts with my cutlass blade.”
His threat caused me to gasp. “Why in the world do you two hate each other so?”
“I wasn’t happy about him keeping Hannah from me, and well, I’m sure he isn’t thrilled with what I did in an attempt to get her back. But he’s got her, now.” A dangerously hateful expression coated his face. “I don’t lose often, Remington Rain, but when I do, it’s usually because your mother is on the other end of the battlefield.”
I slapped my forehead. “She can’t do this. Not to you, not to me, and certainly not to my…to Thomas. Since he didn’t want to admit the shameful truth of his wife leaving him, he’s been telling everyone she fell ill, and not being in good enough health to sail, she stayed behind where Unc…Lloyd could watch over her. He has entrusted his brother to find her and bring her home before anyone thinks otherwise. Begad, if anyone finds out she left him this way, it will ruin everything he has worked for.”
With a defiant smirk, Mason said, “I’m sure his reputation is the least of her worries.”
“Her worries,” I grumbled. “What in God’s name does that woman care about? Certainly not either of her husbands or her children.”
“Ah, she cares in her own twisted way.” He took a drink of his ale.
Annoyed by the way he excused her behavior, I chugged down half of my glass, then belched. “If she cares so much, why hasn’t she come after me like you have?”
He shook his head. “She’s mad at you for betraying her for Thomas. Honestly, I can’t say I’m happy about it either.”
Throwing up a wall of defense, I barked, “Betrayed her? Ha! You obviously have no clue as to the way that woman has turned out. Her insanity has haunted my soul since I was a child and Thomas—though not my birth father—he has loved me, and taught me, and is the only reason I am not a complete loon like I would have been if I had been left alone with my mother. If you ask me, she did Sterling a favor by leav
ing him, and honestly, leaving her is the best decision I have ever made!”
Jaw agape and face flush with confusion, he stared at me blankly.
“That’s right,” I snipped. “Be as mad as you want, but I have no regrets.”
With a long, slow exhale, he rubbed his face. “Don’t be so hard on her, Remington. She went through many bad things while she was still very young, and she simply lost her mind. I can hardly fault her for the crazy things she has done, and still does, for that matter. I know she’s good in her heart, but she’s just too troubled to act right. And I don’t think that’s her fault.”
Comparing his compassionate perspective of her insanity with my father’s irritated view of it, my anger began to simmer. “You truly love her, don’t you?”
“Crazy as it makes me to confess it, I do. I love that woman like an idiot and I’m sure I’ll continue to for all my pitiful days.” He patted the quill in his pocket. “And look, I know I wasn’t there when you were growing up, but I would’ve been if I would’ve known. I would’ve raised you just like I did Sterling. And I’ll tell you, it breaks my damned heart to see you now—looking just like me—but I don’t know you no better than that bloke over there.” He fanned his hand at a man walking by.
Moved by his heartbreaking confession, I held my hand over my heart. “It makes me sad, too. But Mother has been telling me stories about Mason and Midnight since I was very young, so I feel like I already know you. Even though I didn’t know you truly existed, you have always been my hero.” I could hardly believe I was looking at him. “She told me how brave you were and how well you treated your crew. She told me they would follow you to Hell if you said that was the best route to take. I especially loved hearing about the storms and how you would fight the fearsome weather alongside your men, shouting over the gale, reminding them to be courageous. Through these stories, I learned that cowardice is equivalent to death itself, and… well, I reckon that’s why I was brave enough to chase you down like I just did, because Mason and Midnight raised me to be this way.”
Once again, tears filled the eyes of the man whom all men feared. “See, that’s exactly what I meant by her own twisted way of caring. I know she isn’t right in that pretty little head of hers, but the woman she is beneath the secrets she keeps is no mystery to me. Hannah is a beautiful girl with a broken heart, and Midnight is somewhat like a shield for her. And Midnight is a force to reckon with. That witchy little vixen stared into the eyes of death a few times, and walked away from the flaming wreckage with a wicked grin on her saucy lips every time.” He stared into space like he’d forgotten he was talking to me.
Wiping the love-stricken expression off of his face, he looked back at me and chuckled. “I didn’t let her fight the storms or the battles though. Being my lady and my navigator, she was too valuable to be put in harm’s way. And let me tell you, I’ve never seen a map finer than those done by the Midnight Feather. Hell, half the reason Sterling is so good with the maps he makes is because, when he was a boy, he studied the ones I kept of hers.”
“Sterling is a navigator?” I yelped with glee.
“Aye. One of the best. He’s been eyeing the tides and the skies since he was but a wee one, and being born with your mother’s artistic talents, his maps are ones people will kill to get their hands on. At least she left him with that when she ran off.” He shook his head. “Did your mother tell you anything about Sterling?”
“No. She never spoke of him at all, but she would lose her mind and hum ominous lullabies every time the thunder roared. And she would lock herself in her room on November third every year, so I’ve assumed these things to be related to her memories of him.”
“Aye. He used to lose his sense every time the thunder rumbled, and her singing to him was the only thing that would calm him.” He closed his eyes for a moment. After taking a deep breath, he said, “And November third is the day he was born into these calloused ol’ hands of mine.” He held out his hands like he was catching his first born again.
“Oh! Well, it is almost his birthday then.” I clapped.
“Aye. Another year’s gone by, and watching him turn into the man he’s becoming, makes me feel like a tired old goat. You, too. Shit, you’re old enough to wed already. Are there any blokes knocking on your door yet? I can cut their heads off if you’d like me to.”
Remembering I was indeed engaged to a wealthy nobleman, I showed Mason the ring I wore and told him about my future plans.
Glaring at the lovely ring with disgust, he asked, “Are you happy about that?”
Realizing he was the first one to ask me how I felt about it, I stuttered, “I, uh, I suppose I am happy. He is a nice fellow and his mansion is beautiful.”
He raised a brow like he expected to hear more.
I twiddled my fingers nervously. “Yes. Everything is going to be wonderful.”
“All right, well, I have a job to do in Panama—one I agreed to afore I found out about you, and too many men are counting on me, for me to turn my back on it now—but I’ll be back in about a year’s time, and if he turns out to be some kind of arse, I’ll come steal you in the night and we’ll burn that bastard’s house down.”
I laughed. “That is so drastic. Like that little chop, chop scene earlier.”
“Sorry you had to see that.” He playfully hid behind his hand as if he were embarrassed by his behavior. “But as far as I’m concerned, if you do nothing to stop a wrong doing, you’re just as bad as the man doing wrong, and men who beat on women are some of the shittiest wrongdoers out there.”
“Well said. But did you need to cut his tongue out? That was a bit harsh.”
“Ah, I just spat that threat in my fit of rage, and I had no intention of doing it, but you can’t just be throwing out hollow threats. If you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, no one will ever take you seriously.”
“True. Note to self: don’t make threats you don’t intend to follow through with.”
He laughed, “I like you already, Remington Rain.”
“Honestly, you kind of scare me.”
“I’m not that bad if I’m on your side.” He winked.
We talked and talked without a dull moment between us until our drinks bottomed out. When Holly came back with another pitcher, I realized I had acquired quite a buzz. Knowing I had to be home soon, I passed my mug to Mason. “I can’t drink any more of this. If I get home wobbling like an old drunkard, my fath…Thomas will ring my neck.”
“That’s the trouble with them aristocrats. Nobody’s allowed to have any fun.” He claimed my mug as his own.
“Speaking of no fun, I have to get going. Can we do this again tomorrow?”
“I’ll only be here for two short weeks, but we can do this every day that I’m in town.” He smiled.
Already looking forward to our next visit, I scooted over next to him and gave him a big hug. Feeling the love in his embrace, and inhaling the scent of the sandalwood oil he wore, I cursed my mother for robbing me from him. We had only spent an hour together and I already loved him deeply.
X
Spending each evening wandering the beautiful gardens at Addison Arbors with Joel, and every day at Barlow’s throwing knifes in the alley with Mason and Shannyn, the last two weeks had passed like a flash. I was unsure of which of my opposing lives I liked better, but loving my friends at the tavern like I did, it saddened me to think my time with them was almost over.
Tossing a dagger straight into the bull’s-eye of the target we had set up in the alley, I hooted, “Another hit!”
Mason belched. “Aye, if I glugged a drink for every one of your dead eye hits, I’d be one drunk son of a bitch.”
“I have been drinking every time and I am very, very drunk,” I responded.
Picking up my Black Hawke blade and eyeing it with interest, Mason asked, “Where’d you acquire this surprising skill?”
“Oh, uh,” I stuttered, unsure if it was safe to tell him I knew Jackson, but
his sincere look of interest assured me my secret was safe with him. “I spent some time with Jackson Hawke at Black Hawke Forge, and he taught me how to use the weapons he makes.”
He chuckled. “Well, blow me down. Before I left Port Royal, Jackson was weeping about some wench who broke his heart, but she was not his wife. Guess he left the wife for some knife wielding pixie, but the pixie sailed away. The way you’re tossing them blades is making me wonder if you aren’t her.”
“He was weeping?” I felt my cheeks redden as I gasped.
Mason laughed. “No, no, no. He didn’t shed a tear, but I could tell he was all torn up about the loss. Had I known he was talking about my daughter, I might’ve had different words for him.”
Though curious about what Mason had said to him, I knew there was no use in wandering down the road of memories leading me back to Black Hawke Forge. Acting aloof, I added, “I don’t know how he felt about me, but I’m sure glad he taught me what he did.”
“He taught you well. Jackson Hawke is a good man who makes a damned good weapon. In fact, next time I see him, I’ll let him know this sword he made me scares off a crowd and cuts through a tongue mighty nicely.” He patted the hilt of his beautiful sword.
Feeling like I was betraying Joel by revisiting my feelings for Jackson, I shook my head, grabbed my knife, and chucked it right into the bull’s-eye. “Is this a dangerous job you are taking in Panama?”
“Higher the risk, bigger the prize.” He smiled slyly.
“Is Sterling going with you?”
“If he ever comes out of that cave he’s hiding in. Hell, I haven’t seen him since he got drunk as shit on his birthday and asked Holly the Whore from Hell to marry him.”
Never Surrender (Uncharted Secrets, Book 4): Endless Horizon Pirate Stories Page 3
