“Cap’n. CAP!”

Wait. He’s not the Captain? I swallow, and I feel Eric flinch beside me. I get a quick glance at the massive ship, but I don’t take a great deal of notice, my body is too terrified. The old man turns, walks over to us, and stops, sword out, ready for action. He leans down, letting his eyes scan over both of us, as if weighing up if we should live or die. Then his eyes harden and he growls, “Get on the fuckin’ floor.”

“Please,” Eric pleads.

He shoves the sword towards Eric’s throat, slicing a line just thin enough to cause a trickle of blood to fall. I drop to my knees, terrified. Eric drops beside me, hand clutching his throat, his eyes wide with shock.

“Head to the floor!” The pirate barks.

We both lower ourselves until our heads touch the dirty, smelly deck. Then we just lie there, waiting.

“Where you from?” The pirate asks, a moment later.

“A…A…America,” I rasp.

He chuckles, and I peer up enough to see him turning toward the door. I hear the sound of boots, and then I see the door creak open. I close my eyes, turning my face towards the ground. I can’t face this. God, what if they rape me? Or slowly torture us? Or sell us? There are so many ways this could go. I hear the deck creak as the Captain walks towards us. When that creaking stops, I hold my breath. Is this it? Will he just raise his gun and shoot us? Perhaps he’ll cut us, and throw us overboard to bleed out?

“Where the fuck did you get these two?”

His voice…it’s so…young. I want to look up, but my body is frozen with fear.

“They were on a boat, screamin’ and carryin’ on.”

“They alone?”

“Yeah, just the two of them.”

It’s silent a moment, and I hear Eric shuffle beside me before attempting to speak. “We were on a yacht and…”

“Did I give you permission to fuckin’ talk?” the Captain barks.

Eric flinches again, and promptly stops speaking. Silence fills the air, and all I can hear, is my own ragged terrified breathing.

“You, girl, look at me.”

Oh God, he’s talking to me. Hot tears fill my eyes and I slowly raise my head. What I expect to see, and what I actually see, are two very different things. It takes me a solid moment to realize that the man I am looking at is actually a pirate. In my head, I had an image of an old, smelly man…but him…oh…he’s breathtaking. Even in my fear, I can’t move my eyes from him. It’s impossible to look away. It’s impossible to believe that somebody that looks like him would be in a place like this.

He’s tall, that’s the first thing I notice. His large, six-foot frame would overpower most men. He’s a mass of solid muscle; and his large arms are covered in black, celtic tattoos. He’s wearing a pair of ragged, black jeans, a gun and sword belt, and a black singlet that stretches across his large, chiseled chest. I can see a mass of thick, long black hair peeking out from under the red bandana he wears on his head. When I settle on his eyes, I suck in a deep, raspy breath. They’re so dark they look black, yet they’re so utterly beautiful and captivating. His face is covered in stubble, and he’s got jewelry in both his ears. A thick, gold chain hangs around his neck. He’s dazzling, but like the rest of them, he looks incredibly deadly.

For the longest moment he holds my gaze, until finally he speaks. “What are you doin’ out on the ocean?”

I swallow and open my mouth to answer, but my voice doesn’t want to work.

“Answer me, girl,” he barks.

“We were on a yacht,” I croak. “It caught fire and we got on a lifeboat, but Eric…I mean…it drifted away and we ended up trapped.”

He reaches up, running his fingers over the dark stubble on his cheeks. The older pirate steps up beside him and leans down, whispering something in his ear. The captain’s eyes widen, and he turns his gaze to me, letting his eyes slide up and down my body. Nodding, as if impressed, he turns and says something to Old Man Pirate, and they both nod.

“You, come here,” he says, crooking his finger at me.

Eric lashes out, gripping my wrist as I move to get up. “She’s not going anywhere near you.”

The Captain turns his gaze to Eric, and then lifts his hand and clicks his fingers. Two pirates appear behind Eric, and one of them hits him so hard his face is smashed into the deck. I get to my knees, crying out and reaching out for him. A hard set of arms curl around mine, and pull me back. I watch as two pirates lift Eric, one on each arm, and begin dragging him toward the large door leading down to the lower deck.

“Let him go, please,” I beg.

I’m spun around until I’m facing the captain. His fingers dig into my shoulders and I cry out, squirming.

“Shut your fuckin’ mouth and walk.”

He shoves me forward, and I force my legs to move, even though they feel like they’re filled with lead.

“Where are we takin’ the boy, Hendrix?”

Hendrix. Hendrix. Hendrix. That’s his name?

“Take him to the holding cells, I’ll deal with him soon. I’m takin’ the girl first, need some info outta her.”

Info. What sort of info? Why would he want info out of me?

I feel his hand push my back again, and I don’t dare argue. When I reach the large door, I peer down. Old, wooden stairs are all I can see. I take a step, and then another, and another, until I’m at the bottom. I peer around the large ship, quite surprised at its size. The first level basically consists of a long hall with doorways branching off from each side. I am shoved again, so I take another step. As I move down the halls, I catch a glimpse of the small, bunker rooms on the side. I see a large room through one of the doors that seems to be a dining hall. I reach a shut door at the end of the hall, and Hendrix reaches around me, gripping the handle and flinging it open. He shoves me, and I stumble forward.