Page 51 of Paid to the Pirate

Before my thoughts could escalate into me exploding and making a scene, I spied Charlotte in a corner, shoulders rolled as she hunched into herself, trying to be inconspicuous. Half-turned, she didn’t see me enter.

My chest tightened.

The neck of her dress draped low in a provocative manner, revealing the tops of her ample breasts; breasts she now tried to cover in an attempt to blend into the background, to not be selected for an evening’s pleasure.

Not smart, Charlotte,I thought, cocking my head.How did you find yourself in this predicament?

Oh, yes. Your impulsive nature.

Before Charlotte might spy me, I flagged the proprietor, Lady Wick -- though she was no more a lady than Wick was her real surname. Who knew what it once was? In these wild territories, who cared?

“Capt’n Pearce,” she gushed, eyes scanning my attire to assess any damage from recent battles and, with a keen eye, the possibility for having won a boon of treasure. At the same time, she smoothed her black hair, checking for any loose strands coming from the elaborate twists and pins before dusting her skirts.

Giving her a nod to the left, Lady Wick quickly understood my intention and sequestered us both in a more secluded alcove, tight enough to fit no more than a small table and two stools, and thoroughly out of Charlotte’s view. As we sat, a tavern maid approached, placing a bottle of rum on the wooden table. Lady Wick waved it off so sharply, she nearly swatted the girl.

“The real stuff for the capt’n,” she ordered, giving me a friendly wink.

The girl quickly disappeared to retrieve what I assumed to be a bottle of liquor thathadn’tbeen watered down.

“Whatcha be needin’?” Lady Wick asked, once we’d been appropriately served and afforded privacy.

“I noticed you have a new girl this evening. The tall one in the corner with honeyed hair and a blue dress.”

Lady Wick grinned so widely I caught the snaggletooth near the back of her mouth.

“Not just new to The Pink Pearl,” she declared with satisfaction. “A freshly discovered pearl for all men, if ya catch my drift.”

Oh, Charlotte. Whathaveyou gotten yourself into this time?

Playing dumb, I raised my eyebrows and asked, “A virgin, you say? But how can you be sure? Many girls will claim the same to increase their value. Few can prove it.”

Lady Wick snorted. “You think I’ve been in the trade this long without knowing when a whore’s lyin’? The pearl’s never been rubbed on that one.”

Oh, but it has,I thought.Though I’ve never demanded entrance to the world just beyond.Idly drumming my fingers on the tabletop, I vowed,that changes tonight.

“Are ye interested in the girl or no?” Lady Wick asked, and I realized I’d been adrift in my thoughts. “If she’s out there much longer, someone else is gunna want her. I can cut a special price. Only for the capt’n.”

Leaning back, I took a slow drink of rum. The price she named would be special forher,seeing as how she knew I could pay more than anyone else who might wander into the establishment that night. It was likely on the hope of a patron like me that no one had yet seized Charlotte.

I said nothing, choosing to take another drink instead.

How lucky Lady Wick must have thought herself, graced with both a new virgin for the evening and a man with enough coin to pay for her.

Working my jaw, I considered my options. I could tell the madam the truth, collect what was rightfully mine, and march Charlotte out of here without any drain on my bag o’ bits. Lady Wick would never stand in the way of me and my men.

But I’d miss the chance Charlotte herself had inadvertently arranged. Taking her like a whore beneath the brothel’s drafty roof. The temptation was too delicious, the ironic opportunity too irresistible.

“A hundred and twenty-five pieces of eight,” Lady Wick bargained.

I chuckled, not because of the price being high, but because paying any price at all for what I could freely have had in my cabin was a laughable absurdity making me a fool. I laughed because I knew that once I’d had her, I was going to have to offer Lady Wick a queen’s ransom to buy Charlotte outright and drag her back to the ship.

Oh, Charlotte. If you think I’ve been making you pay up ’till now, just wait. I’m going to make you earn back every bit of that ransom. With your hands, your mouth, that sweet little cunt and even your arse.

There was no scenario where Lady Wick wouldn’t wring every last coin from my pockets. I’d paid for Charlotte once the night I took her, instead of a fee for not attacking her settlement, and I was going to pay for her again now.

Devil’s bones, I’d been paying for her in some way or other ever since I’d had the misfortune of crossing her path.

“A hundred,” Lady Wick offered, surprising me. She was a better negotiator than this. Whatever she heard in my laugh and read in my elongated pause, she’d misread.

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