“Excellent,” Elaina said with a smile that made her plain features seem both vicious and beautiful at the same time. “Now, I had to run all the way here to beat you after seeing ya ship sail right on past north port, an’ I’m feeling a little bit sticky, so what say me an’ you continue this after a bath, eh?”
Keelin made a show of considering the offer.
“Don’t keep me waiting, Stillwater.”
“Fine,” he said. “But you’re undressing first this time. I want to make sure you ain’t hiding any weapons – anywhere.”
“Ya really think I’d use that trick twice?” Elaina grinned, already opening the door.
More water sloshed over the side of the brass bath as Elaina rhythmically moved her hips back and forth and Keelin struggled against the rising tide of pleasure. He gripped hard at her buttocks, hard enough to bruise, but Elaina didn’t cry out and she didn’t stop, just stared down into his face as she ground her groin against his. Unable to hold back any longer, Keelin grunted, gasped, and released with a contented moan, all to the braying laughter of Elaina Black from atop him. More water sloshed over the side of the bath.
“Looks like I win again,” Elaina said with a wiggle and a devilish grin.
Keelin nodded his assent. “You always win the first round, bitch.”
“Rematch already?”
Keelin laughed. “I might need a quick rest first. Besides, we should talk business.”
Elaina cocked an eyebrow at him. “We have business?”
“Aye, of a sort. First things first. Where’s your father?”
Elaina grinned and squeezed Keelin with her thighs; it wasn’t comfortable, and she was easily strong enough to hurt him. Elaina was tall and plain-faced, toned from years of hard life and hard toil aboard ships. She had more experience on board pirate ships than any sailor Keelin could name, despite her youth, and could be as cruel as her father or as kind as her mother in equal measure.
“Are you really asking where Tanner is while you’re still inside his daughter?” Elaina said. “What happens if he’s here? What happens if he walks through that door right now?” She pointed at the door just to make her point.
“I reckon he’d slit my throat on principal and beat you half to death for not doing it first.”
Elaina grinned and opened her mouth to reply just as a hurried banging on the door startled them both into rigid inaction.
“Is he here?” Keelin whispered. He could feel his heart racing.
“I fuckin’ hope not,” Elaina whispered back. He could feel her heart racing.
“Cap’n,” Yanic’s shout came through the door. “Got news, seems urgent.”
Elaina relaxed a little atop Keelin; he couldn’t help but notice she had yet to dismount. “Come in, Yanic,” she shouted back.
The door opened. Yanic froze mid-step, his mouth hanging open. Elaina took the cue to arch her back and stretch her arms, giving Yanic full view of her breasts. The poor man seemed lost and unable to look away. Keelin couldn’t exactly blame his first mate; it was taking all of his own willpower not to follow the man’s lead, and he could feel that willpower slipping away even now.
Keelin attempted to move Elaina, but she only tightened her grip with her thighs. “You ain’t going nowhere, Stillwater. I’m not done with you yet.”
“What is it, Yanic?” Keelin said.
“I, uh, there’s… um… damnit! Elaina, could ya put some clothes on or something?” Yanic still seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the naked pirate.
“Why? Am I distracting you?” Elaina said, and her own eyes flicked down for a moment. “Ya definitely look distracted.”
Keelin attempted to move again, but Elaina’s thighs squeezed him tighter still and she shot him a dangerous look that threatened real physical harm should he attempt to force the issue. Content that he was much safer off in the woman’s good books, Keelin relaxed back with a sigh. “Just… What is it, Yanic?”
“Aye. Um… news, Cap’n.” Yanic's eyes seemed locked on Elaina's chest.“Boat in from Black Sands. Town’s gone.”
“Gone?” Keelin and Elaina said in unison.
“Burned,” Yanic clarified. “Couple of lads… um… from the Nipples… um… no, not that.”
Elaina laughed. “I think ya need to order ya first mate to the brothel, Stillwater. I’m starting to think he’s never seen a pair before.”
“The Narrow Escape,” Yanic continued quickly. “A, uh, couple of lads went ashore. Said the place was burned to the ground and… um… folk had wounds and such from swords, I guess.”
“And this couldn’t have waited?” Keelin said. “We’re busy, Yanic.”
Yanic’s face somehow managed to find an even brighter shade of red. “Seemed… um… important, I think. Oh – Drake!”
Keelin frowned. “Morrass?”
Elaina let out a noise worryingly close to a growl, and her grip on Keelin’s midsection tightened even more. He was beginning to find it hard to breathe. “Elaina,” he wheezed, “this hurts.”
The woman sneered at him but released some of the pressure. “Don’t go soft on me, Stillwater. What about Morrass?”
Yanic startled back into life. “They said… um… that is, the boys from the Narrow Escape said they saw the Fortune sailing away – from Black Sands.”
“He did it?” Keelin shifted his weight slightly in the cooling tub of water, and quickly held up placating hands to Elaina as she sent a glare his way.
“They reckon so.”
“That it, Yanic?” Elaina asked coldly.
“Aye.”
“Good. Fuck off.”
“Aye,” Yanic said, backing towards the door, bumping into the door frame, and then backing out into the waiting hallway. His eyes never left Elaina’s body even as he was shutting the door.
Keelin decided it was his turn to stare at the naked pirate. He found Elaina watching him curiously. She leaned in towards him, far enough down that her breasts dipped into the tepid water and her face was just inches from his own.
“Do you know him?” she whispered.
“Drake?”
“Aye.”
Keelin stared into Elaina’s bright blue eyes. “I’ve met him once or twice. Why? Do you know him?”
She smiled then, and it made her pretty, if not beautiful. Keelin felt the urge to kiss her, but he resisted; Elaina wasn’t the type for such affection. “Everybody knows Drake.”
Keelin felt blood rush to his face. There was something in the way Elaina said it that made him unreasonably jealous, and he didn’t like it. “What’s that mean?”
Elaina leaned backwards until she was upright and shrugged. Keelin felt the urge to grab hold of her, and this time it wouldn’t be gentle. He surged out of the water, picking Elaina up and turning her around before bending her over the side of the tub.
Elaina laughed as Keelin manhandled her, but she spread her legs and braced against the tub. “It’s about fucking time, Stillwater. You promised me round two.”
Chapter 6 - Fortune
The waves lapped up the stretch of sandy shore, the wind breezed through the nearby jungle, the gulls cawed high up above in the blue sky, and the Fortune sat still and silent, keeled over to her port side.
Drake hated seeing his ship like this. On the water the Fortune was sleek and fast and indomitable: a truly unique design. Drake had made certain of that by murdering the genius who had built her. She was the fastest ship he’d ever had the fortune of knowing, and her reputation was as dark as his own. The Fortune had haunted the seas from Sarth to the Five Kingdoms to the Dragon Empire to the Wilds; all knew her name, and all knew to fear her. There was no sense in running from a ship that could outrun the wind itself. But that was out on the water. Here, on land, she was nothing but silent, dead wood. Drake hated seeing his ship like this, and he also knew she hated being seen like this.