Lock (32 page)

“No, Cap’n Rino. I—”

Rino dragged the boy across the deck, picked him up over his head, and flung him overboard.

Lock noticed several crew members—probably new—staring with wide eyes at Rino. Sparrow, who had emerged from below carrying a bucket, watched with a frozen expression as the boy shrieked and splashed in the water below. She took a step toward Rino. “You can’t just throw someone overboard like that! You—”

Rino laughed at her and many men joined him.

“That’s what I get for letting a woman on board.” Rino placed his hands on his hips. “Little beauty, that’s what happens to
anyone
who doesn’t follow my rules. Any Captain worth his salt keeps control of his vessel, ain’t that right, Lock?”

“Sparrow, get over here,” Lock called, keeping his eyes focused on the knot he was tying.

“Keep that woman in line, Lock!” Rino bellowed. “Or else
I’ll
have to do it!”

“Lock, how can everybody just stand by while that man drowns?”

Lock’s fierce blue eyes met hers. “Keep your mouth shut, girl. That crewman stole cargo. I’d have done the same as Rino.”

Sparrow blinked. “I can’t believe—”

“Think I haven’t done it? Think any man in charge of a ship like this hasn’t done it? This ain’t a farmhouse in Begonia, Sparrow. Keep your mouth shut, do what I tell you, and we’ll get to the next port safe enough.”

Sparrow’s chest rose and fell with agitated breathing. She hissed through clenched teeth. “I
hate
this.”

“It’ll be over and done before you know it.”

“Your arm is bleeding. Let me check it for you.”

Lock glanced at his sleeve. The arm hurt much less than his ribs.

“Hey, woman!” A short, thickly built man with balding black hair and a mangy beard shouted to Sparrow. “Got squid for you here!”

“Dinner,” Sparrow muttered. “I’ll be back to take care of your arm.”

“Don’t bother. I’ve got plenty more work to do, and it’ll only tear open again. Fix it later.”

“But—”

“I said fix it later!” Lock snarled.

Sparrow turned on her heel, but not before her eyes flashed rage at him.

He knew he shouldn’t have been so short with her, but the idea that she’d been forced on the Lady Fire and was surrounded by scum like…
like me.

He had to make sure she knew how important it was not to incite Rino’s anger. If he was forced to defend Sparrow against the Captain, he’d have to kill him. There would be no other way. And if he took the Lady Fire—a ship as fine as his own had once been—he wasn’t sure he could let it go.

* * * * *

“I can’t believe this!” Sparrow muttered, slapping fat squid into an enormous pot. “Bunch of animals! Tossing people overboard! Cursing like…devils!”

For the brief moments she’d spent on deck, she’d heard more vile language than she had in her lifetime—except a few words from Lock when he was angry.

Sparrow had only been on the ship for two days, and already she hated it. She spent most of her time in the stuffy, smelly kitchen—
galley
—but at least there she could avoid the crew. Between their scuffles, bellowing, and bawdy songs, she was ready to leap overboard herself. Twice a day, she was forced to distribute the food she cooked, mostly fish and squid, but also beans, hard, flat bread, and some fruit. Though the men said little to her, she felt their eyes on her as soon as she stepped on deck. Their expressions of lust made her uncomfortable. She knew it wasn’t because she was an incredibly beautiful woman, but because she was the only woman on board. Still, no one approached her, and she knew it was because they feared Lock. They feared his reputation, his size and strength. They feared the harsh expression in his pale blue eyes.

Truthfully, for the first time in months, he frightened her as well. Almost as soon as they boarded, he’d become distant, cold. Hard. She knew he had to act rough as a matter of survival—both his and hers, but she missed the Lock she’d fallen in love with. She missed the farm, Shea-Ann, and Daphne. She missed sharing her bed with Lock. Two days they’d been on the ship and he hadn’t slept. He worked all day with the crew and Rino had given him a double watch at night.

She hated Rino.
Hated him
!

He was so envious of Lock his face was nearly as green as those fiendish eyes that undressed Sparrow every time she crossed his path. The other men looked at her with desire, but Rino was worse. Rino looked as if he wanted to tear her apart like a beast in heat then toss her bleeding carcass into the sea. Lock was right not to trust him, and though he’d promised to keep her safe, she wondered if he really could. Several hundred men made up Rino’s crew. How could Lock defend her against so many?

She stirred the pot and began mixing ingredients to make more flatbread. Once she distributed the meal and cleaned up, she could go to sleep for the night. Hopefully Lock would join her. Rino had to let him sleep sometime. Sparrow was more concerned for his injured ribs than his lack of sleep. She’d given up worrying about his shoulder. After two attempts at stitching and bandaging it, he’d had her cauterize the gash. She’d nearly been sick when she’d burned the oozing, inflamed skin, again thinking how she’d never want to be a healer. He’d told her how to treat the wound with an herbal paste from Shea-Ann, and she prayed it would be enough to ward off infection.

“Infection, broken ribs,” she muttered, using her shoulder to brush a loose tendril of hair from her face. “I’ll just be happy if he
lives
to see the next port.”

He was so stubborn! The last time she’d gone on deck, she’d discreetly asked how he was feeling, and he’d snapped, “Fine! I’m busy.”

She told herself he was as worried as she was and he must have been tired and sore, but still his tone had wounded her. She felt completely alone on a ship full of animals—her own lover being nearly as bad as the rest.

It was nearly dusk when she lugged food onto the deck. Men grabbed bowls and chunks of bread, nearly trampling her as they snatched, slurped, chewed, and belched. Sparrow curled her lip in disgust and approached Lock who stood by the main mast knotting a spiky length of rope.

“Here.” She extended a bowl to him.

He tossed the rope aside and took the bowl. His hand brushed hers, rough and dirty, yet it made her tingle inside. The setting sun cast reddish shadows on his face. She noted his jaw and chin were stubbled from the beard growing in. Beneath his dark skin, his face looked unusually haggard. Still, his pale eyes gleamed with fury whenever Rino passed.

“I won’t ask how you are.” Sparrow tried to sound aloof.

Lock cupped her face in his hand, his thumb gently stroking her cheek.

“If you’re gonna hump her, take her below!” Laughed a short, sturdily built man to Lock’s left, exposing a missing tooth in his skinny lips.

Lock’s elbow shot backwards into the man’s face. The crewman dropped the bread he was eating and clutched his mouth. He leaned over the deck and spat blood. “Bastard! You knocked out my other front tooth!”

“Be glad I didn’t knock off your head!”

“He’d do it, too,” said a gravel-voiced, gray-haired man seated by Sparrow’s feet. He chewed on a hard piece of bread. “Sailed with him on the Shana Whore once. Seen him knock off heads, chop off hands, and other things that would make you think twice ‘bout crossing him. Lock the White. Never thought we’d be working the same deck.”

“Just ‘till the next port, he says.” A third man -rather short-legged for one so tall, giving him the look of an ape—joined their group. “Ain’t that right, Lock? Then Rino be rid of you.”

The gray-haired man snickered. “Ain’t so sure Rino wants to be rid of him. I think he likes him where he is.” He glanced at Sparrow. “Heard you bought him out of slavery, girlie. That so?”

Sparrow placed a hand on her hip and lifted her chin. “I know a good hunk of manflesh when I see it.”

Lock raised an eyebrow and the men laughed.

“I like you,” said the ape-man. “You got spirit. You’ll need it on the Lady Fire.”

Sparrow glanced at Lock before she gathered the empty bowls to clean below deck. His gaze swept her once from head to foot before he turned back to his work.

Several hours later, Sparrow curled up on a blanket in the corner of the galley. Tired, she closed her eyes, though she found it difficult to relax in the midst of such a crew.

She’d begun drifting off when she felt the presence of another in the room.

“Who’s there?” she demanded, reaching for the rolling pin she kept close to her blanket.

“It’s all right. Just me,” Lock said, groaning softly as he settled beside her.

“You must be exhausted.”

“Wouldn’t be so bad if my ribs weren’t killing me.”

“You’re never going to heal like this.”

“I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that.” Sparrow offered him part of the blanket.

He tugged her against his chest.

“I smell like fish,” she said.

“Who doesn’t? Kiss me.”

“Won’t that destroy your illusion of frigidity with your mates up on deck?”

“I said before sarcasm doesn’t suit you. Just kiss me.”

Sparrow slid up his body and touched her mouth to his. His lips were soft as she remembered. She kissed his upper lip then his lower before placing her mouth over his, her tongue slipping into his moist heat. He buried a hand in her hair as his tongue met hers. When the kiss broke, he lay beneath her in silence, his breathing slow and even.

Thinking he was asleep, she lit a lantern and unbuttoned his shirt to examine his ribs.

“I’ll be fine,” he murmured.

Her eyes shot to his. She unraveled the bandage, exposing a bruise that discolored most of his side. “That’s awful. Lock, this is crazy. You can’t—”

“I’ve had worse. Remember? Don’t worry about it.”

She moistened a cloth with cold seawater and placed it on his side.

“Everything’s my fault anyway.” His eyes slipped shut. “If I’d have asked the Empress for my freedom like you wanted me to, you wouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t think so, Lock.” She smoothed a loose white curl from his forehead. “I think once she saw you, she’d have tried to take you for herself no matter what. You wanted to avenge Thea for me. No one’s ever done anything like that for me before.”

“I’d do just about anything for you.” He took her hand and entwined his fingers with hers as he fell asleep.

Sparrow kissed his cheek and rested her head against his shoulder. “I love you.”

* * * * *

Lock awoke with Sparrow still cuddled beside him. The ship was silent, and he guessed it was several hours before dawn. His body ached and he dreaded the coming weeks. Without the possibility of resting his injuries, work would be painful – and plentiful, no doubt. He and Rino had hated each other for years, and had their positions been reversed, Lock would have treated Rino no better. His own discomfort meant little to him, however. The thought of Sparrow trapped on the Lady Fire twisted his gut. She didn’t belong on a pirate ship with a bunch of stinking SothSea pigs. Sparrow was too good for that.

“Lock?” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I thought you’d sleep right through.” Her fingers stroked the hair at his temples then moved to his chest.

“Hard to sleep when I’m spending so much time thinking. I’m sorry you ended up here.”

“There’s no use worrying about it. Once we dock, everything will be all right.”

“You know what I’m thinking now?”

“Tell me.”

“That I wish we were back on your farm in your bed.” He tugged her close and whispered in her ear. “I wish my ribs were good so I could fuck you into oblivion.”

“Umm. That sounds so good.” She slipped down his body and tugged at his trousers.

“What the hell are you doing, girl?”

“It’s the least I can do after you risked your life to kill Miska.”

Lock’s cock popped free and Sparrow’s warm fist closed around it while her other hand grasped his balls and gently squeezed.

He drew a sharp breath, his eyes slipping shut against the pleasure of her touch. “Are you crazy? We can’t do this now, Sparrow.”

“Shh,” she breathed against his cock head.

Lock’s heart pounded when her soft, moist lips closed over the tip of his cock. Her tongue tickled the head then ran from top to base and back again. She lapped the length of him and swirled her tongue around the head. Resisting the urge to moan his pleasure, Lock’s hands sifted through her hair. He tried not to squeeze her head too hard, difficult when she began sucking him so deep into her mouth he thought she might swallow his cock.

Lock’s back arched and his head sank into the blankets as she lapped, sucked, and tickled his cock.

“Sparrow, you better stop,” he gasped, trying to keep his voice hushed. “I can’t take much more.”

Ignoring him, she continued her carnal work. The sensations flooding Lock’s body and concentrating around his engorged cock were enough to make his eyes cross, if they’d been open. He couldn’t have forced them open if he wanted to. Trying his best to keep his panting quiet, his hands gripped her head and his hips thrust in ecstasy. He exploded, his neck throbbing and heart hammering. Somewhere in the mix of pleasure, he realized his ribs ached, but not nearly enough to keep him from enjoying one of the best orgasms of his life. Perhaps it was the danger of being discovered, or the idea that she still loved him after all, but it was a climax he’d never forget.