Pirate's Life For Me....

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  Looking out to the sky as it rained, I heard the music playing in the brothel downstairs. There was still no word from Vane, and Bonny believed that he was never coming back. Jack remained hopeful, and I had to side with the quartermaster. I felt oddly concerned for the well-being of the captain, and I wouldn't be lying if I said at some points feared something may have happened to him.

  No stories or rumors of his death had yet to reach Nassau, so the man either had vanished like a phantom at sea or died without anyone knowing. Sighing, I rested my chin in my palm and looked at the puddle-filled street. Things were going better in the brothel now that the whores weren't nicking coins from their work, and Max seemed to be taking up a partnership with Jack.

  But still....I wanted to be back on the open ocean rather than here and surrounded by drunks and prostitutes.

  "Where the fuck are you, Charles Vane?" I mumbled as the dark skies above rumbled.

~

  Someone had taken over the fort. One ship had already been sunk by her cannons, and Nassau was buzzing about who could possibly be in there. All crews were accounted for while Captain Flint's was off to get some prize still, so no one had yet to figure out what lunatic had seized the fort and sunk a ship in the bay.

  There was no word from within the fort that day, but people were rushing indoors as the sun was setting in the sky. Out of curiosity, I went out onto the whorehouse balcony to look and could hardly believe my eyes at who I saw marching up the street with several men.

  "Miss Guthrie." Vane called out to the woman outside her bar. "I think it's time we talked." I was tempted to shout 'Where the fuck you been?' but I refrained from doing so since I was still in shock from seeing the captain with what seemed to be a brand new crew. Watching him strut into Eleanor's bar, he walked with his head held high like before.

  It wasn't long before he was visiting the whorehouse, but Jack was tense as the intimidating man stepped inside with the other large males behind him.

  "Captain. Welcome back. I hear congratulations are in order." Jack nervously smiled. "Steward of the fort. Stroke of pure genius."

  "In some ways, Jack, it had to come to this. Don't you think?" Vane said lowly.

  "Come to what?"

  "Me deciding if you live or die." The blue-eyed man set his pistol down on the table in front of him.

  "Captain, I don't know what you have heard-"

  "Hamund pulls you out of bed...." Vane cut him off, and I now knew why Jack was so nervous and Vane was so cold to him. "marches you down to the wrecks to look for a stash of stolen pearls. And somehow, only you and your dog make it back alive." The quartermaster looked as if he was trying to find something to say, but nothing was coming from his mouth.

  "Quite a moment." Vane sat down. "Jack Rackham with nothing to say. Had I a shrewd quartermaster right now, he would tell me that I can't let what you did stand. He would say an offense like that demanded an example be made of both of you. The bloodier the be'er." Jack had to take a seat. "But today, I'm a little less worried about perception than I used to be." Vane shrugged. "As long as I hold that fort, doesn't really ma'er." He shrugged before leaning on the table. "So the street will know what you did. They will know you betrayed your brothers for a woman. That story will spread far and wide....and you'll never sail beneath the black again. You'll sit in this place and rot with the rest of the whores. Something tells me that'll sting worse than dying."

  Vane stood up as Bonny and Jack looked at him.

  "Loyalty, Jack. It's supposed to mean something. It does to me, anyway." He picked up his pistol from the table while raising his brows. "Now, where the Hell is my cook? I have hungry men to feed." Jack couldn't really look at Vane as guilt filled his eyes, but he pointed to the tree I was lazing in. Getting that as my cue that I was leaving with the captain, I slid out from under the boa while hopping to the ground as he and his crew watched me. "Oh. Love what you've done with the place." Vane commented to Jack while waving his gun as I glanced at the hard faces of the men standing in front of me.