Chapter 8
Rosetta felt a buzz creeping over the front of her skull as she watched the men at her table playing a game of dice.
She knew at some point they would gamble their wages away. It was giving her much entertainment hearing them squabble, whine, and cheer.
Six of them were rolling five dice in a cup before placing them upside down. They sneakily looked under the cup to see what they rolled without showing anyone else.
After they rolled, they had to successfully guess the number combination of the dice on the table for a single number.
The first person generally picked the number that was going to be bet on.
If it was four, they had to guess how many other fours or under were on the table.
If they picked three, they had to be correct with the total amount on the table or under.
The next person would then raise their bid on that number. If someone thought there were seven fives, that was because they had more than one under their own cup.
Someone would call back to the person who gave the most recent bid by exclaiming they were a ‘liar,’ saying that they had guessed too high a number on the table. Then a bet was placed between the challenger and the accused liar.
If the challenger was right that they’d overestimated, they got a coin. If the accused was under the amount of the collective dice on the table, they got a coin.
It was a game of counting, guessing, and luck.
Her nose was fuzzy, her cheeks warm, and she knew she was swaying slightly with how unsteady she felt.
Rosetta was getting drunk, thanks to Alister constantly making sure she had a bottle in her hand.
She was having too much fun to care.
She’d always enjoyed spending time with her own crew when they were in port, and watching others was interesting.
There was a difference in this dynamic; these boys were rougher and rowdier than her own. Eventually she began to share her thoughts about them with Alister in the same way she did with Naeem.
However, she was able to be a lot naughtier with him.
She teased him a lot, making him scowl, grin, and at times point at her in either anger or laughter. Rosetta was sure she was sending him on wave after wave of emotion.
She gave a tipsy hiccup after she took another sip of her bottle, no longer sure how many she’d drunk. Her eyes never left the table.
“You look like you want to play,” Alister commented, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear that must have fallen from her bun.
Whenever he touched her lightly, which just so happened to be rarely, a tiny trail of goosebumps would rise where he’d stroked his fingertip.
“I’ve never played it before,” she answered quietly. “You know I can’t.”
She didn’t understand the game completely, nor was she confident enough at counting quickly to play. Still, she watched with enthusiasm.
A tiny squeak left her when she was pushed from his thigh to be seated between them, her arse precariously pressed against his groin. He reached a hand forward, since the round had ended, and grabbed one of the dice-rolling cups.
“She’s in,” he told the table, sliding the cup in front of her.
She turned her head back, giving him an uncertain face. Her brows were twisted in worry.
“I told you I can’t play.”
He leaned forward to the point his chest was resting against her back, arms on either side of her against the table. His head was over her shoulder, almost pressing his cheek against hers. His thick stubble scraped against her skin, and she almost considered rubbing against it in appreciation.
“It’ll be fine,” he whispered. “I’ll help you.”
He explained the game so she could better understand it, which did little to help with her apprehension. Then he shook the dice in the cup, turned it upside down, and allowed them both to peek under it.
She struggled to quickly count the dots on the dice and then the number of matching dice.
“Four fours,” he told her.
But we only have two. Despite this, she voiced his estimate.
Bets began around the table. She felt lost the moment it changed from bets of fours to fives.
“Eleven fives,” he said, and she echoed his guess.
“Liar,” the person next to them threatened, ending the bets.
They all revealed their dice from under the cups, showing that she and Alister had overestimated by a single die. He threw one of his own coins on the table.
We lost. She shied her hands away from the table to withdraw from the game.
Alister grabbed the cup, shook it for the new round, and then turned it upside down. He waited for her to peek under the cup for them.
The person who got Alister’s lost coin started the new round. While bets were being played, one of his hands slipped from the table to hold her around the waist. It didn’t escape her notice that his fingertips grazed over her breast.
It was their turn to bet, and he tilted the cup with his other hand to check it. He turned his head towards her, pressing his lips against the side of her neck as he said, “Seven threes.”
She echoed him.
They weren’t challenged and the round continued.
His hand started roaming down her side and Rosetta felt her dress slowly creeping up her legs as he used his fingers to bunch it in his fist. Once it was at her knees, and she felt his palm pressing directly against her skin, she turned her head slightly.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, just as his tongue dipped out to lick her.
“Nine sixes,” was all he said, and she quickly echoed him.
As men called more bets, eventually someone announced “liar,” and his hand started lightly moving along her inner thigh. The muscles in her leg twitched all the way up until her abdomen gave a small spasm.
“Wait,” she said, just as she felt him sneaking further under her dress until he was almost touching the sensitive apex between her thighs.
“Roll the cup, Rosetta.”
Her gaze fell over his crew, realising none of them knew he’d sneaked his hand up her skirt. They were too preoccupied with their own women or the game.
She grabbed the cup, shook it, and then turned it upside down.
Just as she was peeking under it, she felt one of his calloused fingers slip through the lips of her pussy and she tensed in his arms. She felt slicker than usual, sticky even, having forgotten about his release still inside her.
She was gripping the cup with both hands and her fingers tightened around it when he started to lazily stroke the nub of her clit.
Then he slid a finger on either side and gently tugged on it, sending a jolt to her core and making her inner walls throb.
“Five ones.”
Once she echoed him, she grabbed her drink and chugged it for courage.
As much as she felt awkward about being discreetly fondled while they were playing, in the middle of a tavern, surrounded by his crew and other patrons, she also found it oddly titillating.
It wasn’t the first time she’d felt a hand under her skirt in a bar, but she’d never had it done to her while there was a crew she knew in front of her – one she sailed with!
More so, it was Alister’s men, and he usually didn’t like being intimate in front of them. She didn’t think he’d ever kissed her in front of them, so for him to have shoved his hand up her skirt was a whole new experience.
The game continued. Bets were called, coins lost and won. So far, she’d won two games.
All the while, Alister continued to move his finger in mind-scattering circles, and it took every ounce of concentration to keep her focus on the table. It didn’t help that her eyes were unfocussed already from the alcohol swimming in her system.
Just as they won their third hand, he slipped his exploring touch lower and pushed a finger inside. She felt her body clench around it, a flush of heat spreading from her chest to rush over her upper arms.
His lips were playful against the side and nape of her neck, his tongue flicking out in subtle strokes. It made her skin prickle each time. Then a sharp nip made her jump.
“You’re wet,” he rasped quietly, a certain kind of grit in his throat. “Are you enjoying me touching you here, in front of my men?”
Her hand shot from the table so she could grab his when he pushed a second finger inside, stretching her, filling her all the way until she felt his rings stopping him from going further.
His fingers were thick and long, their callouses a wonderful texture against her insides.
S-stop, she mentally pleaded, hoping it could somehow reach him. It didn’t, and she was both relieved – she wanted to chase her orgasm – and anxious about someone noticing.
He started moving them back and forth, spearing her channel slowly. His mouth became rougher, and she had long ago felt his shaft harden against her backside.
“A-Alister,” she whispered, trying to not let it come out as a moan. It was their turn, and he hadn’t given her a bet.
“Hmm?” As if he had only just remembered the game, she felt his head turn as he reached around her to the table.
He grabbed the cup and tilted it back further so he could see while moving his fingers.
“Nine twos.”
That wasn’t the bet number. They had been betting on sixes. She echoed it with a frown.
“Liar,” a person down the table said, and she cringed.
She tensed when she felt his fingertips pressing right against that sensitive spot inside her and rubbing it directly. A warm rush swept through her.
No... not there. She felt her body dipping into his hand like it was begging him to press deeper, despite her thoughts.
Everyone moved their cups.
“Well, I’ll be damned, they were right. Nine twos.”
They were given a coin, and she offered them a broken grin, trying to hide the fact that her thighs were starting to twitch and spasm. “Lucky guess.”
The game continued, but with every passing second, her breath came out in heavier pants.
“Aye, you’re about to come, aren’t you, Rosetta?” Alister whispered so quietly, no one else would be able to hear. Humour trickled through his tone while a rumble of deep laughter vibrated in his chest.