Love At Sea: De La en Glässer

Stiff bones be it

She tried again. "I promise to work harder than your men." Macmillan gave her one glance, his gaze stilled on her small arms. "No." She sighed frustrated. "I bloody- hell what should I do to earn my place on this forsaken ship?" He thought to himself. "You can start by jumping into the water and not returning." He was joking she thought. She glared at him. "And if I call you a pirate again, what would you do?" Macmillan shrugged, he knew he had acted foolishly. The rumors were what they were and he preferred being called that than a good sailor under the king. He turned his back on her, she was nothing after all. "Answer me bloody Macmillan I want a place on this ship, and I need to know how to earn it."

He felt himself madden with rage and it was accompanied with the ill words his father had used on him once, he could not stop himself from uttering the vile words that had been thrown at him by the person he called his own. "You are nothing and can never earn your place here. You are just some unfortunate soul that had luck and ended up here. An unwanted creature. A disgrace!"

Bernadette took a step back as more words poured out of his mouth. "A thief." She could hear the voices in her head, and the heavy steps that had chased her. The ugly policeman in blue that had raided her dreams filled her vision. 'Good for nothing.' That she was and had been told so much more than a thousand times before. The words, 'vile creature' 'beggar' 'disgusting' had been uttered to her. Pure hatred had been shown to her. Maybe she had made a mistake on coming aboard but looking back at her life she had been a terrible mistake, and the man- the captain, who barely even knew her name called her one.

Hurt tore at her chest and she felt the tears pull at her eyes. She was ever grateful for the complete darkness of the ship, though the nights air still carried his insults. She took a step back and bit hard on her lip until she felt the metallic taste. The blood reminded her she was just human, a bustard born of a woman that had sold her to the streets. No one could have faulted her for being a thief, even she could not fault herself. She was who she was.

"Lassy?" Bernadette heard the scuffling of feet then realised she had moved completely far away from him. The small glint of a candle lit the wide deck. He was searching for her, but she knew it was only to rain more insults on her. So she did what she could, cry the pain away and hope the morrow was more favourable.

"Lassy?" Cockerell tapped the pale figure. Her neck was bent in an awkward position and he knew at once that she was to wake up hurting, though that was not the many of his concerns. She had single handily finished two bottles of rum, and if she did not wake up now, and the men roamed about. She was most likely to be a deep trouble. And God bear him witness even he could not control his urge, but he knew she was not meant to be touched. He tried calling her again. "Lassy?"

She murmured something along the lines of "have mercy." The bottle dropped from her hand and Cockerell could not help but stare at her shoulder blades. He was on the verge of shaking her awake and asking who the man that tried to hurt her was, as she was in a state of under dress. "She is not waking up."

Macmillan stared down at the woman. She had curled herself up in one of the many crates and slept through the night. Though the dry trail of tears was still evident on her cheeks. He watched Cockerell bend down to touch her forehead. "She seems warm, a bit too warm if I say, or prolly 'tis the heat." Macmillan had to look away as his erection grew in his pants. No, he told himself she had not been ravaged, but had simply underdressed due to the heat that filled the previous night, half of the crew were still shirtless. "Lassy?" Cockerell shook her.

Bernadette stirred. The roughness of a man's palm kept on shaking her senseless, then there was the breath that followed and the slight movement that got her jumping to her feet. The headache was evident as she swayed with the swaying of the boat. Hands tried to grab her as she barely whispered "I am fine" as a way of defending herself, though it felt horse in her throat.