Eve shrugs her slender shoulders. “No clue, honey. I think Jim wants to keep the playing field even. We’re competing for a grand prize this time.”
I let the girls continue talking as I stroll down the deck toward Bennett, Ezra, and Kindra. When I reach them, they’re all smiles and excitement.
“Did you hear what we’re competing for?” Kindra asks, and I shake my head.
“Half a million,” Bennett says with a laugh. “Can you fucking believe it?”
Yes, easily. Jim shits bigger piles of cash on a regular basis. We have no clue where he gets it, but the well seems never ending.
“If I win, I’ll use my cut to set Cat up at the best fucking college. She’ll be an Ivy League nurse.” Bennett looks around. “Shit, where did she go?”
“Probably to the nearest loo, if her green skin was any indication.” Ezra clears his throat and turns to me as Bennett shuffles off to find his ailing girlfriend. “They’re with Kindra and myself. One of Jim’s ‘random’ draws.”
“Yeah, I’m with Frankie, Eve, and Aven.” I peer around the deck, spotting Grim, Rosie, and two strangers talking near a cluster of barrels. “Hey, Ezra, have you seen Ice Pick? He’s been missing since last night.”
“That’s what Kindra said, but no, I haven’t seen him. Do you think we should be concerned?” Ezra’s expression sobers. “I trust you, Maverick. If you think something isn’t right, just say the word. We’ll cancel the pirate show and find him.”
“Yeah,” Kindra adds. “He’s part of the inner circle. He’s groped all the women at least once, then apologized to them and their men at least thrice for it. The man is our annoying older brother, and we have to look out for him. God knows he can’t look out for himself.”
My heart beats a little faster. “He was supposed to go out with a woman he met at the speed dating event. What if he gottoo handsy? I know he wouldn’t take it too far and do something to end up in a red suit, but...she doesn’t know that.”
Frankie and Eve join us, catching the tail end of what I said.
“Who doesn’t know what?” Eve asks. “Don’t leave us out of the tea. It’s hot out here, and bitches get thirsty.”
“Yes, bitches do,” Frankie says with a smirk, and I’m glad to see she’s making friends.
I catch the two of them up to speed, and by the end, we all agree that this is wholly unlike him.
“At the summer retreat on Devil Horn, he went MIA with food poisoning,” Kindra says. “Who here’s eaten what he’s eaten?”
We look around and compare notes. Between all of us, we’ve shared every meal with him, and there’s not one runny asshole to be had.
“What about Cat?” Frankie asks. “She’s been sick since last night. Maybe it isn’t seasickness. Maybe she has food poisoning.”
“She has a very good point.” Ezra rises onto his toes and looks through the people on deck. “Where’s Jim? We need to bring this to his attention immediately. It’s already been twelve hours since anyone last saw Ice. If he’s in trouble, we can’t afford to lose another blasted second.”
“Fan out and search for Jim,” I say. “If anyone knows where Ice Pick is, it’ll be him. We’ll find him faster if we split up. The ship may be a smaller version of the original, but she’s still a beast.”
Ezra nods, and we scatter in different directions. Only once I’ve taken a few paces forward do I remember that I’m not supposed to let Frankie out of my sight. I peer over my shoulder and spot her purple feather bobbing beside Eve’s brown captain’s hat. Gritting my teeth, I spare a tenth of a secondto debate with myself, then decide she’ll be safe. Eve won’t let anything happen to her. I’d trust that woman with my life.
I race toward the ship’s stern. Jim had the captain’s quarters built there, and while he isn’t the captain of this ship, he’s claimed the room as his. A navy-blue door leads down a few steps and into an antechamber, beyond which stands the wooden door to Jim’s quarters. I approach and knock, and I’m shocked when Jim’s voice bellows for me to enter; I neither expected his presence nor the bass in his voice.
Easing open the door, I step into the candlelit shadows and blink a few times, not sure I’m seeing what I’m seeing. But no matter how many times I flutter my lashes, the image remains. “Jim?”
He’s seated behind a large wooden desk that probably weighs as much as the central mast. Gold coins spill from a small chest atop the desk, clinking and rattling as the vessel creaks and sways. To my right, a kingly bed lies unmade. Which means he slept here. And when I take in the man himself, I can only assume he did so to get into character.
The man who sits before me is almost unrecognizable. His all-black captain’s attire is so at odds with the three-piece fashion statements he usually wears. That’s difficult to rationalize, yes, but my brain can’t even compute what is happening with hishead. Jim’s usual salt-and-pepper hairstyle and clean-shaven face are no more. Unruly black locks hang to either side of his head beneath a weathered tricorne, and whoever applied the facial prosthetic deserves a fucking award. Not only does the haggard beard look realistic, but he has an entirely different nose and chin.
I pinch my arm to make sure I’m awake. “Jim?”
“Come, my boy. Blackbeard won’t bite ye...tooharrrd!” He tosses his head back and laughs.
I wish I could find the humor, but I’m still processing.
When he’s finished, he wipes his eye. “Did you hear tell of the buried treasure? Half a million doubloons, boy. You could buy a whole lot of painted ladies with that sum, eh?” He laughs again, then waves me closer.
Despite his encouragement, I do not step closer. I don’t need to get anywhere within the vicinity of whatever is happening here. “Jim, Ice Pick is missing.”