The Red Rose

Chapter 12

Hi guys!

This one is short and to the point - quite like me xD Hope you love it!

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Hunter

How many days had passed? I could not remember correctly; I did remember I had pretty much drunk myself to exhaustion, unconsciousness and nearly death during that time. Dorsey and Sylas had been good to me, stating a stomach illness that had me incapacitated for days. Did the men still respect me, I wondered from time to time, during my short lucid moments. I could not care less for that, either. Was there any more rum? Or whisky, perhaps? Those were the critical questions. Anything would do, anything that would keep my mind in a fog would be preferable than the pain I did not know how to deal with.

Being alone had always been safe, loneliness did not have to be a negative thing, it meant you were dependent on yourself alone, you owed nothing to anybody, and you had to keep yourself safe, no one else. Why people traded that for an entire life of worry, pain and ultimate death, I could never understand.

Until her.

She had come barging in with furious hazel eyes, a beautiful green colour with sprinkles of gold, red hair wild and a tough armour to bring down. She had given me no choice, none at all, she had not eased herself into my heart, she had slammed head first into my chest, she had taken over my mind – as well as my quarters. Now... everything smelled like her, every flame in my fireplace reminded me of her hair, her fiery nature. Every time I looked up into the starry sky I remembered how she had looked like under the silvery light. Food meant nothing, drink was merely to keep me under, and even so I could still feel her, hear her, and smell her.

"You need to snap out of it." Simon tossed, one day when he saw me consummated by alcohol "She wouldn't want you to live like this."

"She never knew what was best for her, anyway" I grunted, taking another sip of whisky.

"She would kill you if she heard you." Simon had chuckled, as he sat on one of the armchairs in my quarters "Hunter, what we need to do now is come up with one of your plans to get her out of there. You know they will get her married swiftly, don't you?"

"Get her out?" I frowned, confused.

"Yes, save her from that horrible future," My love's brother said.

"And how? And for what?" I snorted with no humour at all "What do I have to offer her? An old and targeted ship filled with criminals? Now, that is a great future!"

"You love her, that is all she needs" Simon assured me.

The idiot had no idea what love looked like next to an entire life of luxury, safety, food in your belly and a warm bed to lay your head at night.

"And she loves you more than anything... Look..." Simon sighed, patting my shoulder "You can drink yourself to death, it's your life, but you are also the man my sister loves... and I have an inherited duty to protect you as well. She loves you, she wants you. Are you abandoning her, after all she's done to save the both of us?"

"I'm not fucking abandoning her!" I yelled, getting up quickly and feeling dizzy "You can fuck off with your guilt speech! She deserves better, she deserves the world!"

"You are her world, you fucking ass!" Simon yelled back, getting up himself "And she put all her faith in you. She won't say it, of course she won't, and she loves you too much to put you in any danger. But... what she wants is a life with you; she cares not for dresses or jewellery. Do you know her so badly?"