The Pirate's Stowaway

Chapter 14

*'Characters' has been updated with a picture of Bentley who first appears in this chapter.* Feel free to follow me, I always follow you back!

Chapter 14:

That night Emma fell asleep quickly and stayed asleep, most likely because she had been walking around the entire day the day before. When she first woke up, she just relaxed in the bed for a bit, enjoying the soft, plush sheets around her.

From what she had heard her whole life she thought that pirates were supposed to be very dirty and live in constant filth, but that wasn't so for this lot. She figured it had something to do with the captain, who likely made sure every one of the men knew to keep proper hygiene.

That night she didn't scoot closer to Donovan in her sleep and she found herself almost sad about it, because she knew he was growing on her.

Rolling over slowly she once again took advantage of the situation and looked over his features, knowing that the mornings was the only time she could look at them in a relaxed way instead of the usual scowl.

She looked over his forehead and his eyelashes, the perfect shape of his nose and as luck would have it, when her eyes got to his lips, his eyes opened.

"Good morning lass." He said to her, a little smirk appearing when he noticed what she had been looking at.

Unable to keep eye contact since her face felt like it was on fire she turned on her back and looked up at the ceiling. "Morning, Captain." She told him, but her voice was not bitter, just slow and deliberate.

Not wasting any time Donovan sat up and got out of bed, going over to a small dresser that was close to the basin in the corner. She heard him moving things around as he looked for something and once he found it, he shut the drawer, moving back to the bed.

"You probably didn't pay attention to how much sun you got yesterday, but with how pale you are naturally you were quite red last night. Most of that has gone away, but you still need to apply this so that it heals properly and you don't get any more." He handed the jar of ointment and when their fingers touched she felt chill bumps run down her arm, almost like they were trying to get to him.

"For now though, I need to leave and go talk with Cristoff about the ship's course in the map room. It is not on the top of the ship so you won't see me much. I will leave the door unlocked as I leave so that you may leave when you choose to go about your business. I will see you later miss Emma." He told her and then left, without looking back.

She knew that he had given her the freedom of the ship, but she didn't know what to do with it other than what she had told him she would be doing.

When she had been searching the day before for a place to wash everything she had run across an old, large tin bucket and as luck would have it a small metal piece with ridges that she could easily use for scrubbing the grime out.

She crawled out of bed herself and walked over to the basin, washing her face with the water that was in it and using the cloth to clean the bits of dried skin off before rubbing in a thick bit of the ointment, noticing now how pink her skin was.

Knowing that she wanted to get outside again and see the ocean she didn't put off going outside any longer.

She walked to the door, opened it and walked outside, smiling when she smelt the salt in the air and the coolness of the sea breeze. It was something that she knew she would never get tired of and that pretending to be a maid to be close to Donovan, and this close to the sea was definitely worth it.

Moving away from the railing of the ship she opened the hatch and went down into the hold of the ship where she saw a pile of clothes, ready for her. It kind of made her smile because it meant that the pirates had gathered what they wanted her to clean, bringing it to where she had spent time yesterday. It made them seem like they genuinely wanted to be clean and that made her even more accepting of her maid role.

Gathering the first bit of clothing from the top she sat it in the tub and grabbed a bottle that looked like it had some kind of cleaning solution in and poured a cap-full in so that the water was soapy and bubbly. She washed the clothing piece by piece on the metal board and when she felt they were clean she laid them flat, telling herself that after so many she would find some kind of rope to make a line to hang them on.

She heard a sound behind her, but she just figured that it was some kind of creak from the ship being lightly rocked from the waves. She chose to ignore it, staying turned around, focusing on her task, but when a gritty "Hello" came from behind her it made her jump up and immediately turn.

It was someone she had never seen before, which she thought was odd as she was sure she had seen everyone the previous morning. "W-Who are you?" She asked, trying to keep his mind off of what his wondering eyes were thinking.

"My name is Bentley, who are you?" He asked it nicely but the way he moved slowly closer to her made her stomach distort.

She tried to stay calm when she answered him, "Emma, I'm the maid." Even though she still had on the dress, she felt like she was on display.

Her eyes quickly darted around her and she guessed it would take about ten seconds for her to get to the steps to go to the top deck but she would never be to climb up them before he caught her, but, it was her only plan.

He was about three feet away when she knew that she had to do something and her feet started before her mind had time to. She tried to run to the steps, but Bentley grabbed her hair and jerked her backwards and around to him.

He moved down and started to kiss the side of her neck and her shoulders, his hands holding her waist like iron locks. She could feel the disgust as she started to get sick to her stomach and knew she had to do something. She let out a scream as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear her.

He didn't release her when she screamed so she did the only other thing that she thought would work, she kneed him as hard as she could between his legs. The impact caused him to bite down hard on her shoulder and as she felt the skin break another scream came from her.

She was starting to panic, but as she turned her head she saw Donovan and Cristoff running towards her. She felt so scared, but when Donovan ripped him off her and punched him so hard he fell to the ground, she felt her heart flutter, he had come to rescue her.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, worry easily seen in his eyes when he saw her hand covering her shoulder, blood slowly trickling out from under it. All she could do was nod yes, speechless from the situation.

"He has to be made an example of. I told everyone not to bother you and even if there were some absent, they should still act like a gentleman to the only woman on board. Cristoff will stay with you if you choose not to come to the top deck, but know that if you do, what is to be done to him will not be pretty."

Donovan grabbed Bentley by the back his shirt and forced him up to the top deck, pushing him whenever he fell.

Emma wanted to see whatever it was, no one had ever defended her the way he did and she felt her heart slowly begin to want his.