Chapter 14 Wholeheartedly and Undeniably #2
Captain Rodrigo crosses his arms. “No, we can’t just go now.
We have a lot to prepare for. You two can be excused to go and have a few drinks, but, Vincent, you need to be careful.
Regardless of the way I expect things to go with Captain Slicer, you and Sivan are the biggest targets right now.
You’re big guys, but if you’re both too drunk at the pub to notice someone sneaking up on you, that could be a problem.
Don’t worry about texting Matteo, I’ll try and get in touch with him. ”
“He’ll probably ignore you, too,” Vincent says. “I mean he is in love with Harlow. Since she was in danger, I don’t expect him to be sitting around texting on his phone.”
“I knew he was in love with her!” Captain Rodrigo says. “So much makes sense now. Why didn’t you say that earlier? Of course, he’s been acting like an asshole. Kid is in love with a girl that doesn’t love him back. Well, since the engagement between you two is off, maybe he’ll have a chance.”
“Maybe,” Vincent says. “I’d be a little worried about him if his mood swings had all been about Harlow. I think there’s a bit more to it.”
I give my dad a look, and he rubs the tip of his nose, a silent way of telling me that he knows what I’m thinking.
I don’t like keeping my thoughts from Vincent, and I’m not really sure in a relationship if what I’m doing is even right.
It’s not that I’m withholding information from him, I just have a few theories.
I’m going to talk to him about them when we leave.
Captain Rodrigo pulls his sword from its sheath and places it on his desk, lightly running his finger along the blade.
When I used to see him talking to his sword, I used to think it was kind of strange, but now I think it’s actually kind of beautiful.
He loved Vincent’s mom so much that he wants her to be a part of everything he does.
“Well, love makes you do stupid things—the four of us loved you two so much that we staged a mutiny for the future of all pirates. It was the best decision we ever made, but we couldn’t have done it for anything but love.
We’d talked about it before we married your mothers, but the motives were selfish.
Love may be affecting his judgement right now.
One thing I do know is that if he’s in love with her, he’s probably already gotten her back by now.
He’s nothing if not determined when he sets his mind on something. ”
“Rodri, we need to make contact with the chief to let him know that we’ll get the boys to sign off tomorrow,” my father says. “Unless you want to try and get it done tonight? But Vincent doesn’t seem confident in having Matteo as his first mate—so, maybe we wait?”
The signing of the captaincy papers is really important; it’s the only thing that gives us immunity from the inner police.
Since the port is on the outside of the city, they are only concerned with what happens on the inside, provided we respect their rules and stay outside of their jurisdiction.
If pirates start causing problems that spill across the border, the treaty will be void.
The chief in our town has only spoken to me once or twice in my whole life, and he’s always been friendly, but I’ve never met the chief here.
“Ah, fuck. This is the problem when other pirates come around. The chief leaves us alone because we agree to follow rules, now these assholes just came here and screwed everything up. It’s better if we do it tonight, but Vincent is gonna have to make a decision.
If we postpone it another day, he’s gonna want answers.
I don’t need to give them a reason to start poking around in our business.
” He sighs loudly. “We’ve never had a problem with the inner police before, I don’t want to start now, they’ll see the boys as a source of trouble.
It won’t look good that on the same day we’re signing their papers, there was an abduction, a shooting, and possibly a rogue monkey running around. ”
“I can’t make a decision yet,” Vincent says. “I need to talk to him one more time. What time were they meeting us to sign off?”
“Supposed to meet us on the dock by the shipyard at six,” Captain Rodrigo, says.
“If you see the chief, remember to stick to the story that the inspection was delayed because the ships were late, everything that happened with Captain Slicer’s cronies had nothing to do with the delay, so remember that.
The chief usually shows up right on time for official business, so he may not suspect anything is amiss. ”
“I have a question,” I say. “Is it better for him to sign off on Matteo now, then possibly have to revoke the agreement, or is it better for him not to sign off on him at all? He’s taking responsibility for him the second he signs off on him as his first mate.”
Our fathers look at one another; they appear just as unsure as me. “Well, I don’t know, you make a good point,” Captain Rodrigo says. “If it were anyone other than Matteo, I’d say he should be worried, but Matteo wouldn’t do anything to ruin the treaty, which is all that matters.”
Vincent grabs the door handle and opens the door. “Right, because he didn’t just tell me to blow the messenger’s head off,” he says facetiously. “We’ll meet you there at six, Captains.”
As I follow Vincent out of the room, I hear my father say to Captain Rodrigo, “He is so much like Gwendolyn that it’s scary. Little smartass.”
“Hey,” I say tugging on his coat. “Where do you want to go? You want a drink? Or you want to go back to your room, or my dad’s ship?” His eyes are watery, this is why I don’t think telling him what I suspect about Matteo is the right thing to do. He’s upset, and it’s definitely because of him.
“I—I don’t know, Sivan. I want to go somewhere where we can be alone, and you can just hold me so I can think properly. My head is such a mess.”
I take his hand in mine as we walk down the hallway.
I’m holding his hand now, and I don’t care who sees us.
If he doesn’t want to do it, he can let go.
He pushes me against the wall, quickly crushing my lips with his.
My eyes are wide as he kisses me. He’s holding my face in his hands, and his kiss is quickly losing momentum.
He presses his forehead to mine, breaking from the kiss.
His body is shaking a little as I lift his chin. “Why are you crying? Look up at me.”
He shakes his head softly, and a few tears fall. “I—what is happening? Why does he hate us together? Why is he acting this way?”
I hold the back of his head, tucking him against my neck. “Shhh… He’s just going through something.” I rub his hair softly. “Don’t cry.”
We’re in the middle of the hallway, and anyone could walk by and see us, including our fathers who are literally ten feet away in the office.
But I don’t care. He’s hurting, and I need to comfort him.
I hate that Matteo is making him feel this way.
I squeeze him tight and kiss the side of his head.
“Let’s get out of here. We can go for a walk and get a drink, or we can just go take a break in your room. You want to do either of those?”
“I don’t feel like walking anywhere, but I don’t want to stay here.”
“You don’t feel like walking? Well, that’s an easy fix.” I turn to the side and squat down. “Hop on. I’ll carry you.”
He chuckles and wipes his eyes. “You are not going to give me a piggyback ride off the ship.”
“Yes, I am. I’m gonna carry you straight to the pub, or we can grab a beer from one of the stands. Your choice, now hop on.”
“Sivan… You can’t be serious. Someone could see us!”
“So what? Someone could have seen us kissing at least five times already, and I think you’re forgetting about what happened on the dock. By the way, I’m not going to be able to concentrate when we get over there for inspection. I’m just gonna be picturing you on your knees. Now come on, hop on me.”
He giggles a bit, which is really quite cute. His laughter does something to me, it’s soothing, and the crushing weight I felt from his tears is quickly replaced with a much lighter weight—the weight of his body pressed against mine. I hook under his legs and stand. “You’re not heavy at all.”
“Sivan, really you should put me down. People are gonna stare and say stuff, they’ll definitely tell our fathers.”
“So? What are they gonna say? Sivan was giving Vincent a piggyback ride? Sivan was carrying Vincent? Better than saying Vincent was on the dock giving Sivan the best head of his li—”
He covers my mouth with his hand. “Shhh, shhh, okay. Let’s go get a drink.”
Stepping off the ship, the port is bustling with people. “Where to, boss? You want to go to Muffy’s or grab a beer from one of these?” I lift my chin toward the row of vendors.
“Hmm…” he says, leaning down near my ear. “Everyone is staring at us.”
“Kiss me, that’ll really give them something to stare at.” I look up at him. He seems like he’s considering it.
“You want me to?”
“I always want you to kiss me.”
He looks at the crowds walking past us, then leans down and kisses my cheek.
I had no idea that a kiss on the cheek could make me feel so happy, but it does. Something that probably seems so small to other couples, means so much to me. “Thank you for that,” I say.
There are two men that were looking over when Vincent just kissed me. I’ve never seen them before, but I don’t know everyone here. I noticed that the taller man placed his hand on the small of the other man’s back when they just walked into the pub. Hmm. Maybe they’re a couple, too.
“You want me to put you down before we walk into the pub? Or you really want to make a scene?”
“I think I’ll get down. I want to relax without everyone staring over.”
I release his legs, and he hops down. “That was fun. I like carrying you around.”