Chapter 7 #2
The woman spoke as if this wasn’t the first time she’d stumbled onto Alister’s lap. Looks like I’m not the only one who’s known.
A spike of anger prickled the back of her neck. Rosetta wasn’t used to people not doing what she said.
She brought the dagger more forward and pointed the tip at the stubborn whore. It glinted in the flame of the candlestick on the table. “You’ve got five seconds to leave.”
“No.” She giggled again, then leaned forward to press her lips to the side of his neck. She eyed Rosetta while she did it, her eyes crinkled in humour.
Just like that, something tore through Rosetta. Screw this! I don’t take anyone’s shit.
Not his, not this stranger’s, not anyone’s.
With such a quick motion that not even Alister could hold onto her, Rosetta launched forward and tackled the woman.
They both went flying over his leg and landed on the ground, Rosetta above her. She straddled her waist, and with the fist holding the dagger, she punched the woman across the face.
She gave a squeal of pain before Rosetta drew her fist back and punched her across the cheek again.
“S-stop!” No one came to assist her as Rosetta unleashed one last strike.
“You may not know me, but I am not a prostitute, sweetheart.”
Rosetta then slammed the blade of the dagger into the timber floor so close to the woman’s head, she almost took her ear off. She leaned down until their noses nearly touched.
“Aren’t you going to help me?” The woman turned her face towards Alister.
Rosetta glared down at her. If he tried to get in the middle of this... well, she’d wreak havoc.
“Nay,” she heard him say with a dull tone of nonchalance. “The lass will turn that dagger on me if I do.”
“If I ever see you again, I will cut up that pretty face of yours so badly, not even a squealing pig will want to fuck you.” She tilted her head at the woman with an evil sneer. “Got it?”
Blood had welled in the corner of her lip, and she gave a nod with wide eyes. She must have realised Alister didn’t care, and that Rosetta was much more dangerous than she first appeared.
She grabbed a fistful of the woman’s beautiful, long hair and used the dagger to cut a chunk from it, throwing it at her trembling form.
“Get the hell out of my face.”
The woman crawled to her feet and bolted from the tavern without glancing back, her short heels tapping loudly against the floor.
Once she was on her feet, Rosetta eyed the patrons now watching her. Most turned their gaze away, especially the women trying to earn their money for the evening. That should get everyone to leave me alone. At least for a little while.
Rosetta had made a big statement. If Alister growled at her for it, she’d sink this knife into his thigh so he wouldn’t want anyone sitting on it.
A hand grabbed her by the back of her dress and yanked her so hard, she’d have fallen over his thigh if he hadn’t caught her like before. She turned to him with a shout ready in her throat, only for it to catch.
Alister was grinning, a light, breezy chuckle falling from his lips. “I think I like you fighting over me, lass.”
With a huff, Rosetta slammed the dagger into the chair between his thighs, right near his groin. He flinched back to avoid it, then turned his head up with a raised brow.
She folded her arms and turned her face away from him, disliking that she enjoyed his reaction to her fighting over him. Arrogant bastard.
Deciding she wasn’t happy with her arms folded, she grabbed a nearly empty bottle and drank the last of it.
“You don’t notice them there, do you?”
“Not at all,” he answered, leaning back in his chair.
He pointed to his eye patch. “It’s worse when I can’t see them.
Unless they somehow grab my attention, they get ignored.
” He sighed, taking a swig of his drink, then swirled the remaining liquid in the bottle as he watched it with a thoughtful expression.
“I may buy them a drink, but they eventually leave when they realise it’ll be a long time before they make any coin from me. ”
He hefted her higher on his thigh, bringing her closer. “Which is why I need your help with this. I’m so used to women sitting on me in port, Rosetta, I barely register it.”
If I want it, I have to protect it. Ugh, that didn’t sound enticing, but at least she understood.
I can’t change him. Not that she was trying to.
She had to work around him, but considering she had nothing better to do, and it might lead to her having fun later, she was at least tempted.
She grabbed the handle of the dagger and yanked it from the chair. Pointing the tip of it in his face, she gave him a scowl.
He seemed to read her expression for what it was, because he answered it with a grin. “Atta girl.”
She just hoped she wouldn’t have to do it again.
It seemed her violent display had scared everyone else off because no one came to claim his free thigh, and she was finally able to relax.
His mood also lifted. He reclined back in his chair, as if he wanted to sprawl out, with no intention of leaving it again.
Eventually, most of the men had a woman on their lap and a great discussion started about one of the raids they had done. She wondered if it was done to impress women, or because they just liked to reminisce about the loot they’d stolen.
She’d never tell them that the women didn’t care about great heroics. They just wanted their coin and were only listening to gratify them.
“And Greyson here” – one of the men pointed to who she assumed was Greyson – “almost fell off the side of the enemy’s ship when one of the sails turned and knocked him over.”
“I ducked!” the man roared, slamming his bottle down with a loud thud, causing some of the liquid to slosh out. “It missed me. I just stumbled because of how low I had to crouch!”
Wait, Rosetta thought to herself, blinking in surprise. This is a raid with the Laughing Siren.
“I thought I was going to die that day!” Pierre exclaimed. “One minute, I’m killing a man, the next Rosetta is flying at me like some monkey, screaming ‘Catch!’”
She let out a giggle. “I underestimated how much rope I needed and swung too high.”
She’d been too high on the rope, flying through the air with her legs kicking when she realised she was going to swing back towards her own ship. Hers had been taller, and she hadn’t allowed for extra rope to compensate for the height difference.
“But did you have to land on top of me? I thought you were going to kill me with that arse of yours!”
They’d both gone crashing to the deck, her sitting on his chest with her thighs around his head.
“What else was I supposed to do?” She leaned forward and pointed at him. “It was either land on someone or go into the water. Everyone else was busy!”
“You almost got my head cut off.”
“Liar! I stopped that sword.”
A large smile filled her features at the conversation. This was the first time she’d heard them talk about one of the raids they’d done with her. It was one she’d instigated because it had been a fleet ship she’d wanted to destroy.
She’d always wanted to join in their banter.
“We overtook that ship and sunk it within an hour,” Alister added in. “Worst raid we’ve ever had. There was nothing on that boat worth taking.”
“Still one of the funniest,” a man said further down the table. “Philip broke his finger because he tripped over his own feet and landed on the hatch grate. With the way he wailed, you’d think he’d broken his entire arm.”
He cradled his arm under his elbow, flopping his hand around with a false, exaggerated, blubbering boohoo.
“The most successful raid we’ve had lately was that trading boat with all the carpet,” Pierre said, starting a new conversation about a different raid.
Rosetta turned her attention to Alister, ignoring the new conversation to talk to him about the old one. She fingered the seam of his black doublet coat.
“You smeared so much blood on me that day. I barely had a drop on me before that.”
He gave a small chuckle, turning his eye to her. “I told you, lass. If you step off your ship to help, I’ll take you, no matter what I’m covered in.”
She brought her hand up to touch the stubble on the side of his jaw. “It doesn’t count as punishment if I like it.”
His chuckle deepened, his mood seeming to lift by the second.
“Haven’t figured out anything you don’t like yet.” He turned his head back and took a swig of his drink before he muttered around the rim. “Guess I’ll have to keep trying.”
Halfway into her third bottle of whatever drink was ordered, she tried to pay a barmaid to bring her food. Alister noticed and swiftly handed the woman coin before Rosetta could finish reaching into the tear of her dress.
“I’ll be paying for all your drinks and food tonight.”
She looked down the table and realised others were buying food since she’d started a trend. They paid for it themselves.
“I have my own money, Alister.”
“Don’t give two shits what you’ve got.” He finally turned his head to give her a disgruntled look. “Don’t say my name. My face is one thing, but people remember a name on a bounty page a lot better than the drawing.”
Someone walked behind him, and she eyed them cautiously. Thankfully, the person didn’t pay them any notice.
“You’ve said it enough tonight.” His words were curt, but she could see the corners of his lips turning up, as though he was trying to stifle a smile.
She tried to think of the other times she’d said his name, since she didn’t think she had – until she realised what he was talking about. Her eyes widened, and she thought she felt a flush of heat spread over her cheeks.
Oops. She’d moaned it a bunch.
It was a nasty habit of hers she only ever had with him. She’d never chanted another man’s name so enthusiastically as she did with him during sex.
Admittedly, she didn’t always know the names of her bed partners.
Food was placed in front of her, and all earlier thoughts faded.
Her stomach grumbled at the sight of fresh meat and vegetables, one of the best-looking meals she’d eaten in weeks, if not months.
She speared a piece of meat and began to nibble on it.
It melted in her mouth, sparking her abused tastebuds to joyous life.
The first things to go on her plate were the vegetables: potatoes, carrots, and broccoli.
Being on a ship with men, they preferred to satisfy their hunger with as much meat as they could.
They even choose dried, smoked meat over any vegetable from a ship they’d raided.
She knew plenty of good food had been lost to the ocean simply because of that.
When she’d eaten as much as her stomach would allow, she noticed Alister’s gaze fall back to her half-finished meat.
“Have you eaten since you entered this tavern?” she asked with curiosity.
“Don’t eat much when I drink.”
She gave him a pout, eyeing the three bottles in front of him, and wondered how many others he’d drunk.
“Do you want some?” She gestured to her plate.
He shook his head. “My hands are full.”
Of her arse and booze. His hand had eventually slipped from her side to knead her cheek firmly.
“Here.” She leaned forward and speared a good cut of meat. Cupping underneath it in case it fell, she brought it closer to him. “Have some.”
“Nay.” He ducked his head back to evade it. “I bought it for you.”
“I can’t eat any more and it’ll go to waste.”
She brought it closer, and he eyed her carefully before slowly leaning forward to take the bite. He washed it down like he didn’t care how it tasted.
She speared another piece and brought it to his mouth. She smiled when he took it, which seemed to make him frown in bewilderment.
Her eyes took in his face; the light brown of his eyes, the black convex shape of his eye patch, the scar running underneath it. It was the partial shadows cast by the bright candles hanging from a chandelier above that caught her attention.
“This reminds me of the last time I fed you myself,” she said, a devilish smile curling her lips.
Just as she had thought then, she found him handsome. He was strong and mean looking, rough around the edges, with black hair framing his square jaw.
“You don’t know how close you were to losing your fingers.”
Rosetta let out a loud laugh, shaking her head as humour filled her face.
“You were so angry!” She kicked her legs in excitement at the memory. “You looked like you wanted to kill me, but you couldn’t.”
“Oh aye.” He laughed, throwing his head back a little. “Would have put my hands around your throat and wrung the life out of you if you’d unshackled me. You were smart to drop me off in Dunecaster.”
“Do you still think about killing me?” Her tone was light, already knowing the answer.
“Almost every day.”
“Then why haven’t you?” She lowered her voice until she knew only he would be able to hear as she added, “Mr Paine.”
He gave a snort of laughter, bringing his bottle to his lips. “Because I can always kill you dead, but I can’t bring you back to life.”
Her smile grew as she leaned forward once more and speared another piece of meat. She brought it to his mouth, knowing he’d take it.
While he was chewing, she said, “I thought you looked rather handsome all tied up and defenceless.”
His humour died instantly. He gave her a dark look, his eye squinting to the point it almost shut. “I still haven’t gotten you back for that.”
“Sure you did. You marooned poor helpless me on an island...” She tried to stifle her giggle as she added, “For half a day. How long was it supposed to be again?”
“Bringing up a man’s failures isn’t wise, Rosetta.” She noted the hint of anger in his tone.
She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to the side of his throat, her lips curling into a smile. “You could always tie me to my bed in revenge. We have yet to do that.”
His head turned sharply to her, forcing her to lean back. His anger faded into surprise, and his mouth was slightly ajar.
“You’re giving me ideas you shouldn’t.” A light chuckle fell from his lips, his sourness lifting swiftly. “Don’t be upset with me if I use them against you.”
“Have I ever been?”
He placed his bottle between his legs, allowing him the freedom to grab her jaw with his entire hand. Her cheeks squished in a little as he shook her from side to side gently.
“You’re a cheeky woman,” he said with a grin. “You better not be up to one of your tricks.
“I’m always up to one of my tricks.”
He grabbed her bottle from the table and handed it to her. “For that, I’m going to make you swallow the rest of this in one go.”
“It’s almost full!” And she’d just filled her belly!