Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Nine (Part 3 of 3)

Aiden slept like a dead bird, just really peaceful, not a movement from him. He dreamt of the strangest things—turtles, rotten oatmeal, and Tanner wearing one of those big floppy sunhats. He awoke flushed, in the most feverish of states, sweat beading up at the base of his neck and making his socks feel uncomfortably wet. It was a strange hour. Well past midnight, but the morning was still young and pitch black.

Haworth and Hale were still asleep. The cabin shook with the rattles and rumbles of Haw's deep snores. Aiden left the cabin quietly so that he wouldn't wake anyone.

All that night sweat was stirring up the thought of a bath. That, and Aiden had sand under his fingernails, and under his armpits. Some mornings after sleeping on his side, he awoke to a sandy pillow. He hadn't taken a decent bath in a few days. It was so late too; that would give him some privacy.

He slipped onto the main deck and breathed in the salty air. It was cool; the desert was always cooling at nighttime. He knew of a deep desert cove, past a sandy outcropping that he could go to. That was where he usually went.

The twenty-minute walk stirred up the sand and made him even dirtier. The night mist was collecting low to the ground. It cooled his ankles as he waded through it and down to the water's edge.

He unbuttoned his shirt. He heard a noise. Maybe a scratching, maybe a sliding. Maybe nothing. These outcroppings were old. The rocks were always loosening in the night winds and rolling down. And those little critters that hid out in them weren't all the most graceful lot either. Tanner's gun and all, he kicked off his boots and trousers and threw them on the beach. He took off his pants—they'd gotten shorter as he'd gotten older. Looked sort of funny if he wasn't wearing his boots. Took everything else off too.

Now don't get worked up. Aiden wasn't much to look at. He was sort of a straight line up and down. But at least he had a body. Got the job done was all. There was something to be said about a body that was substance over style.

Aiden washed his hair out. He washed his chest, his butt. He got tired and sat there for a while as the waves crashed up on him.

He heard laughing. Something deep, happy maybe. Aiden scrambled out of the water and pulled his undergarments on, hopping on one leg. Clumps of wet sand flew all over him. He couldn't get away from that stuff. He tugged on his pants, slipped his boots on and started buttoning his shirt as he hurried across the beach.

He heard some more unintelligible chatter. Before he ran home, he stopped and moved closer to the source. It sounded too familiar. He peeked around the very outcropping that had once sheltered him from the public eye and looked out into the next stretch of beach.

He would have thought Amelia Rose to look particularly beautiful that night if not for ending his bath early. She was with Tanner. Aiden didn't even know he was awake. But how could he? Tanner had that nice big cabin all to himself. Tanner sat on a piece of driftwood and twirled  a knife.

"Now what's this nonsense?" Tanner pointed the knife towards Amelia Rose. Aiden tensed up, before Tanner lifted his other hand, which held a  piece of wood. He went back to whittling.

"How many times must I say it, Mr. Tanner? Oh you're so dreadfully dim. It makes me suffer," she shook her head and put a hand on her forehead. "I don't think we should marry, Mr. Tanner. It's that simple. We'll make each other miserable."

"I ain't stupid, I just hadn't heard ya right." He shook his dagger, "I know it. Me and you are like water and vinegar."

"Water and vinegar, sir?"

"We don't mix. I thought you was a smart one, too!"

"Oh, dear Mr. Tanner. You're so horribly, inexplicably troubled. Your company simply rots my brain." She shook her head. Aiden didn't understand half the words she ever said, but that sympathetic look she gave Mr. Tanner made Aiden's heart move more than it ever had. Maybe all he wanted was for someone to worry about him in that sort of way. Just the thought sent shivers racing all up and down his back.