by A. E. Murphy
I shift, forgetting where I am and who I’m with as he moulds his lips to my own, plundering my mouth with his tongue. A fire lights inside of me, burning through my veins. Especially when his hand finally connects with my core. I try not to gasp, try not to moan, because then he’ll have to stop. I don’t ever want to stop.
The thought of tugging down his trousers, just enough to free him for me to sink on top of him is indescribable. I’m so needy for him, so desperate for us to connect like we once did.
The heel of his palm presses against my swollen clit. Just this touch, over my clothing, is doing more to me than I’ve been able to do to myself since I left that ship.
“No,” River snaps, turning so suddenly we both separate. He points his finger at us, his eyes narrowed and flickering between us. He repeats a firm, “No.”
Then slowly turns back to face the front.
Calder and I burst into a fit of quiet laughter, kiss once more, and then relax the best we can with our uncomfortable arousal for each other so prominent.
“Where are we?” I question quietly as I climb from the car with the help of my brother.
Calder looks around, his eyes alert as River takes my bags from Larry. “Shhh. We’ll talk when we’re free.”
My heart races as we walk along a rickety-looking dock. There’s a single boat at the end, it’s some kind of small yacht.
“I’ll do the car,” Larry announces, spinning the keys around his finger. “You do the Nostalgia.”
“Nostalgia?” I ask as we near the glittering surface of the sea.
There are nothing but hills and trees around from where we’re standing. It’s too dark to see beyond the boat.
“That’s her name,” Calder replies, taking my hand and leading me straight to her. “She’s small but she’s powerful. She’ll take us to where we’ve got to go.”
Suddenly I’m terrified. I don’t know how long I’m going to be on this thing and turning back feels like a better option. Calder squeezes my hand as though sensing my fears, and helps me step off the dock and onto the wooden deck of the yacht. She sways a little and I’m suddenly reminded that I get extremely seasick.
This is going to be the worst.
“Come,” Calder tells me, helping me through what can only be described as a square hole with a step at the bottom. I have to sit in it first and then put my feet down. Calder reaches in and switches on a light. “It’s no palace but it has everything.” We both look at the cushioned bench on our right and then the one on our left. They’re a yellow plaid design, not the most attractive but I don’t care about that. It’s an observation more than anything.
The one on the left extends below and to the right of the hole I just carefully climbed through.
“We’ll make do,” I reply softly and watch as Calder extends the other bench to make a small double, leaving about two feet of space or less for people to walk through to get to what looks like the kitchen facilities and a door which I can only assume is the toilet.
There are cubby spaces above our head with sliding doors. Everything is nailed down and covered.
“I need to prepare, you settle in. There are blankets in the spaces below the benches.” He looks nervous, as though I’ll bolt any minute so I do what I can to placate him. I kiss his jaw and smile genuinely. He returns it and deepens it before my brother chucks one of my bags at his back through the hole, making him grunt.
“How are your injuries anyway?” I ask. I asked earlier and River said they were fine but I don’t believe them. Enough time hasn’t passed for them to be fine.
“Nothing unmanageable,” Calder replies which is not an okay answer.
I reach for his top to take a look for myself but he stops my hands and brings them to his mouth to kiss them. When he turns, I watch him until he sits on the hole and pulls himself backwards and out, leaving me in the small cabin alone.
“It’s fine,” I whisper to myself, pulling the benches up to find the blankets.
When I find them I’m relieved to smell how clean they are. Their blue sheets clash with the cushions but I’m just happy to have clean bedding.
I cover the cushions and lay out the blankets, commandeering the double for Captain and me. That’s assuming we’re sleeping together. I place the other two on the long bench, long enough for two, and then head to the tiny bathroom to see how everything works. It’s a tiny toilet crushed between a tiny sink and a narrow shower. I won’t be able to turn in it being the size I am but I’ll figure it out.
I relieve myself, wash my hands, and then head to the kitchen which is thankfully fully stocked with mostly tinned foods and snacks, such as crisps and chocolate bars. All hail chocolate.
I find a narrow cupboard with a vacuum, cleaning products, and two fishing poles.
I wonder if we’ll catch and eat fish like they did sometimes on the ship. Though they cheated and used nets, some used fishing rods from the lower level of the deck but I never saw if they caught anything.
I’ll never forget the smell of the fish they dropped from the nets. It makes me cringe. I remember Calder laughing when I got really upset because I thought they’d caught a dolphin. It was a type of shark and they threw it straight back in unharmed.
He always laughed when I got upset.
Until he got me extremely upset and I left him. He didn’t laugh then. I’ll never forget his face when he realised how badly he’d hurt me.
That’s going to be something we discuss when we are settled. Now is not the time or place.
I grab my Kindle out of my bag. I want to go up top to see what they’re doing but with all of the noise and banging I figure I’d mostly just get in the way.
Twenty minutes or so later, River knocks on the top of the roof, drawing my eyes to the hole that he’s crouched down to peer through at me. “We’re leaving in a few. You okay?”
I nod and place my Kindle beside me after he throws a life jacket through.
It’s different to the last one I wore, a bit rattier, but I know it’ll do the job. Calder wouldn’t give me one that wouldn’t. I dread to think of what would have happened if I didn’t don the last one I wore. I’d have drowned. There’s not a doubt in my mind that I would have drowned.
I decide to stuff my bags into a compartment after River throws a rucksack into the hole. I’m guessing it’s theirs.
“Have they noticed you all missing yet?” I ask him when he climbs in and moves to the kitchen.
“They noticed a couple of hours ago,” he replies, smiling, but his smile fades when he sees the bucket by my hip. “What’s that for? Are you okay?”
“I get seasick.”
“Huh.” He wets his lips. “Well here’s hoping that’s not a genetic thing.”
I try to smile but my anxiety is raging. “They noticed hours ago?”
“Don’t worry, they just put the call out for our descriptions, nothing major.”
“Fucking hell, River.” I consider how lucky we are that we made it this far without detection.
The boat gives a jolt and River falls sideways and onto the bench. I laugh and watch his face pale.
“TIME TO SAIL!” Captain shouts and Larry cheers.
The boat jolts again and then I feel it, that strange fluttering flying feeling as we turn and breech the calm waters.
River snatches the bucket from me, and before he can say a word, he vomits.
Calder peeks into the cabin with a smile but that soon vanishes when he sees my brother. “Ah shit.” He looks at me again as my brother heaves into the bucket. “How about you? Are you okay?”
“So far so good,” I reply, wondering if my extended time on the ship has healed me of my seasickness. One can dream. “A bit nauseous but otherwise okay.”
“Good.”
“How long will we be travelling for?”
“Twelve hours, maybe more. The winds aren’t too strong but we have plenty of fuel for now.”
I cringe when my brother heaves again, then I
stand and move to the man crouching at the entrance. “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”
He grins and helps me turn and climb out of the space. “Permission granted.”
“Watch your step, lass, it’s a bit rocky and there’s a rope on the deck.” Larry rushes to move it, dipping his head at me. Then he turns to the captain as I look at the dark vast sea, and then back to the land where I can see the orange glow of the car now burned. It’s away from where we cast off. It’s hauntingly beautiful, the colours of the aggressive flames such a contrast to the peaceful darkness.
“Who’s taking first steer?” Larry asks politely as Captain sets me on a low seat to the right. My back is against white plastic and the metal railing is just behind my shoulders. It’s so dark out here but now we are further out I can see the lights of a town in the distance.
“I will,” Captain replies. “Just until we’re out of the danger zone.”
“Danger zone?” I ask quietly looking around once more. I suddenly feel a lot more nauseous than before.
“We could still be pulled up by coastguards or the navy,” Larry replies and I see Calder shoot him a look.
His eyes are catching the moonlight just enough that I can see them. They aren’t turning on any lights on the outside of the boat and now I know why. We’re trying to sneak out of British waters undetected.
“We’ll be fine,” Calder assures me and presses something by the large wheel he’s sitting behind. The engine roars to life, a cacophony of spluttering gears and grinding metal. It lets out a few pathetic sounding clunks before dimming to a settled hum. I release the breath I was holding and grip the rail behind my shoulders to steady myself as the boat starts cutting through the calm waters. “We just need to reach the English Channel.”
I look to Larry for explanation. He delivers. “International waters. They can’t touch us there.”
I nod, kind of understanding. “How long will that take?”
“At this speed, and distance…” Calder suddenly smiles at me. “Do you remember how to test the knots?”
I frown at him. “Don’t you have a speedometer or something?”
“I do, but where’s the fun in that?”
I stand and waddle to him when he opens his arms to me. My back rests against his chest and both of our hands go to the wheel as we hold it steady and guide it across this vast body of water. “How long until we reach the channel?”
“Nine hours. Less if the winds pick up but going any faster than twelve knots on choppy waters will make us quite unsteady. Not recommended for your condition.”
I nod, that’s not as bad as I thought but it’s going to be a torturous journey. “Just get us there, Captain. In one piece. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
We both tense when my brother hurls loudly from within the cabin.
“Do you have anything for that?”
“Larry does, but it’ll give your brother a boner.”
I glare at Captain over my shoulder. “You mean the same stuff you drugged me with?” He opens his mouth to argue but I quickly add, “No, don’t defend yourself. Now isn’t the time anyway.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. If I’d known you were pregnant…”
“Don’t.” I remove my hands from the wheel and turn in his arms. “Not now. One day. Not today.”
“Okay.” He holds me with one arm as the other grips the wheel. “Thank you for coming back to me.”
I kiss his stubbled chin and duck back under his arm. “Are you hungry? Maybe I can make myself useful and provide food.”
“URRRP!” my brother groans and heaves again.
“Larry, can you give him something to fix that?” I ask, squeezing Calder’s bicep as I make my way back to the hole. “I’ll make some tea or something.”
“Tinned peaches,” Calder calls after me. “If you can find some, I’ll have those.”
I won’t stop until I’ve checked every tin in storage.
“How are you feeling?” I ask my brother as he holds his head in his hands. The stench in the cabin is brutal so I grab him under the arm and heave him out. “Go wash that in the sea and stay out there until you’re feeling better.”
He grumbles but does as he’s told and I set about opening the flaps which serve as windows. I spray some vanilla body spray into the air, one of the few indulgences I allowed myself to bring, and then I head to the kitchen to serve whatever I can.
Two hours later, after sharing a tin of peaches with Calder and drinking tea from a flask, I head to my designated sleeping space for some much-needed rest.
It’s as I’m balancing on the thread of light sleep that I feel Calder sit beside me and place his hand on my stomach. He holds me like this for a while and I let him have his moment. When he moves away, I turn and reach out to him in the dark.
He kisses my wrist, pulls down his jeans, and climbs under the covers with me. His face immediately goes to my neck and his lips touch my skin once before his body relaxes, curled around mine.
“I’ve been lost without you, Rain,” he whispers so quietly I know only I heard.
“Me too,” I reply and grip his arm so he doesn’t roll away.
Despite where we are, despite the dangers we face, I’ve never felt more at home than I do now.
I wake when the sun has risen, but I’m alone in the cabin. The sound of my brother laughing alongside Calder can be heard. So can the smell of eggs cooking.
I climb out of bed and follow my nose to the small kitchen where Larry is scraping a fried egg from a small pan onto a plate.
“Morning, love,” he says, smiling kindly at me. “Hungry?”
My stomach growls and we both grin. “I’m always hungry.”
“Well breakfast will be served in a few.”
“I’ll just go do my thing.” I point my thumb at the bathroom and hastily do my business, wash my hands, and comb my hair using the small mirror above the sink as a guide.
When I exit again Larry is nowhere to be found. I make a drink using the same flask as yesterday once thoroughly washed, then I make my way to the small deck that hardly looks big enough for all of us.
My brother helps me out, bidding me a good morning. Calder immediately wraps me in a fleece blanket and sets me to the side. Larry hands me a plate that holds two sausages and one egg, and I smile at all of them, feeling like a queen. Albeit a queen of a very small boat.
“Thanks, guys.”
“No problem,” Larry responds, his mouth full of sausage.
Calder retakes the wheel and I notice that the sail is up and catching the wind. The air smells saltier now and land looks so very far away. In fact I can hardly see it at all.
“Are we going to your ship?” I ask Calder and he nods once. “How do you know where they are?”
“We have their coordinates.” He winks at me. “Don’t worry, we’ll be seeing them soon.”
I look at my brother. “And how are you feeling today?”
“A lot better than I was,” he replies, stretching so tall his shirt comes up showing a bandage beneath.
“And your wound?”
“It’s little more than a scab,” he assures me, his electric-blue eyes dancing with humour.
I look at Calder. “And yours?”
“Same.”
I really hope they’re not lying to me. Surely they wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave before their bodies are ready.
I almost snort. Of course, they are that stupid. I don’t push the subject though, not yet. Instead I eat my breakfast, drink my drink, and remain curled up on the bench with my Kindle in hand.
Calder locks the wheel and comes to sit beside me. He pulls my leg over his and trails a lazy pattern along my thigh. I smile at him, seeing him properly in the sunshine which is warmer than I thought it would be, despite the wind.
He takes a bottle of sun lotion from an alcove under the bench and squirts a small amount onto the tips of his fingers, then taps a small cool blob onto my nose
tip. I go cross-eyed looking at it while he spreads the rest along my cheekbones and forehead.
“It might be cooler but that sun is strong,” he informs me and then places a gentle kiss on my lips.
Larry, who had climbed around the cabin top and had taken perch on the point of the hull to tie the jib in place after part of it had come loose, suddenly shouts, “Rig on the horizon, Captain.”
Calder jumps up, leaving me alone on the bench. He unlocks the wheel, and in true pirate fashion, pulls a telescope from under it and puts it to one eye. This would be comical if it weren’t so terrifying.
“Strap in,” he barks at me. “River, get your sister her life jacket!”
River, sensing the panic, joined us moments ago but quickly ducks back into the cabin for my life jacket which he helps me click into place. He dons his own too because he’s not the best swimmer either. Though he has more experience than I do.
“What is it?” I ask as Captain moves from the wheel and does something to the mast. It catches the wind again, sending us in a slightly different direction.
He turns on the engine and I fall to the side slightly when our speed doubles in the beat of a second.
“Friendly or not?” I ask, now seeing the three white boats on the horizon. They look to be heading this way. They’re bigger than we are by far. Perhaps even double in size.
“Not,” Calder replies through gritted teeth.
I see something else in the far distance too, in the direction we’re now aiming for. It’s a tiny spec, hardly anything. Could it be the Sea Whore?
“Is that them?”
“Slightly off coordinates, Captain, but I’d say it is our ship.” Larry is grinning now, no longer looking worried.
“Problem is, can we make it there before they make it here?” River mutters, standing to the side looking as useless as I feel.
“We just have to cross into international waters,” Calder calls over the roar of the engine and the waves. The water is choppier now, but the wind is on our side.
Being on the water can be disorientating when it comes to distance too. Something that looks a mile away can be a lot further, and something that looks five miles away can be a lot closer. It depends on how choppy the waters are, how windy it is, how warm it is. There are so many elements of kinetic science that come into sailing too.
