Will it hurt when it slices through my skin?

Will he kill Jack next?

“Umph.” Hot, foul breath slapped my face in a puff. The sound of a blade scraping bone as it was yanked from a body filled the dank silence of the cargo hold. The weight of the skinny pirate fell atop me.

The lantern illuminated again, revealing the stoic face of a woman.

“Hazel!” I pushed the pirate’s lifeless body off me as she sheathed her blade with her free hand. I struggled to my feet. “You saved us.”

“Us? You mean Jack ain’t dead?” She shone the light in his direction.

Jack waved with a finger.

Hazel wrinkled her pug nose. “He sure looks it.”

She sashayed over and squatted next to him. “Hear you’re married up with now. Guess I’m not your favorite girl after all.”

Jack groaned and tried to speak.

Hazel pressed a finger to his lips. “Hush up, Russian Jack.” A pained smile contorted her freckled face, made almost innocent in the soft lantern light. “I never much liked servicing married men, anyway.”

She stood and looked at me. The her lantern-lit face and revealed emotions I was sure she didn’t want me to see. “Bon wants you up on deck. Him too, I reckon.”

Bon’s voice echoed from the stairs. “No need, I’ll come to you guys.” A smile, a touch too wide to be real, spread her lips. “Can’t find China Joe. Could be that he jumped ship when he realized he was without a crew.”

A hand tightened around my throat. I let out a squeak and from across the hold, Bon’s eyes widened.

“China Joe no run from boat of whores.” I recognized the malicious voice as it slid over his teeth and out his mouth. From the corner of my eye, my fear was confirmed. China Joe, and he was wearing Jack’s hat. “No more play.”

Bon started toward us. “Let her go, Joe.”

“Stop!” he shrieked. Something sharp pressed into my back.

I tried to pull the air into my lungs, but China Joe’s hand was like iron. I yanked on his fingers, but they didn’t budge. The world grew fuzzy, but I kept my focus on Bon’s face. For the first time since I’d come to know her, she looked scared.

“Ahhhh!” China Joe cried.

That’s it. The death cry.

I waited for the plunging steel to do its job, but it didn’t.

Slowly, China Joe’s grip on my neck loosened, and he sunk to the floor. I sucked in a shuddering breath and fell to my knees. The world began to come back into focus as I turned to see what happened.

Jack, my dagger in his bruised and bound hands, nodded at me.

“Jack!” I crawled to him and we melted into each other’s arms. My tears came without warning. “You saved me.”

“I love you,” he whispered. “You and no other.”

The strong sensation of being watched forced me to pull myself together. I wiped my face across the back of my hand and turned around, still wrapped in Jack’s arms.

Bon and Hazel stood near the stairs. “You ladies—” I began. “I don’t know how to repay you.”

Bon shook off the awkwardness and strode over, a swagger in her step. “I say you owe me a ship, eh, ole Jacky?” She clapped him on the back. Hard.

He grunted but managed a smile.

“Get me that dagger, Red,” Bon instructed. “Let’s cut Jack free, shall we?”

Once he was cut free, Bon looped her arm through Jack’s. “Come on. Red, get the other side if you would. And we’ll get you to bed. Commodore.” She chortled as though everything that had transpired was nothing more than a jolly good joke.

“I detest that word,” Jack managed.

Bon laughed. “I know.”

I sniffled and did as I was told.

“Hazel,” Bon instructed. “Draw some water and meet us in the captain’s quarters. Stinks of Chinaman in there, but I’m sure the smell will fade with time. Grab that God-forsaken hat on your way up, too.”

Jack got to his feet. He leaned heavily against me as Bon and I helped him shuffle to the stairs. “Think every bone I got in there is broke, battered, or bruised,” he whispered.

I smiled into his puffy face and pretended not to see the tears on Hazel’s cheeks as we passed her by.

•

“Looks like you have your ship back.” Bon’s voice came from somewhere behind me. “Why aren’t you down there taking care of lovey?”

I leaned against the railing of The Black Otter and ignored what I knew wasn’t really a question. “Getting a bit of fresh air before I go back down to the cargo hold.” I glanced at Bon as she slid up next to me. “Before Jack fell asleep, he asked me to find his cutlass. Told me to get some food and bid you thanks and farewell.”

Bon laughed as her hand brushed mine. “The only thing that’s worse than that ugly hat. That damned sword.” I joined her laugh and our voices melded musically to the tune of the crashing waves. When the moment passed, a strange smile tilted my lips upward. “Is the crew accounted for? Both yours and mine?”

Bon nodded and spit into the sea. “All accounted for. Glad to be untied and out of their quarters where China Joe had ‘em locked up. Glad to get some fresh water. And fresh women.”

“You mean your girls are working right now?”

“No rest for the weary, I’m afraid.” Bon winked at me. “And like I said, we’ve always been partial to this ship.”

I pushed back from the railing and ignored the odd emotion that surfaced. “I’ve got to go find that sword.”

“We’ll be leaving once business is done.”

I stopped. Something inside me pained at the thought of Bon leaving. She offered me a smile. “You’re welcome to come with me, Red.”

“I don’t think I’d make a good whore.”

Bon reached out and took my hand in hers. “I didn’t mean to work for me, Red.”

I froze, our fingers intertwined. She wasn’t asking me to come be one of her whores. She was asking me to come with her. “I can’t do that, Bon, tempting as it may be.”