Chapter 5

"Escort our guest to the cabins," Holystone orders.

The Sea Wolf nods taking the Captain's orders and leads me away. We are sailing off to avoid my father. I was well aware that my father would be hot on our tail though. There was no way my father wouldn't be coming after us. I can't believe I'm stuck on this boat. I can't believe that I was sold out by a fucking parrot.

The Sea Wolf is looking at me the entire time. I can feel his eyes on me as he leads me down into the heart of the ship.

"You should have run when you got the chance," he whispers to me.

"You're right," I tell him.

Truth is I don't know. Run to where? A father who didn't want to acknowledge me. I'd be the richest bastard alive but I'd still be a bastard. What kind of life was that? There was something else on this ship that I was looking forward to for some reason.

There was excitement. Adventure.

"The next full moon is coming," he tells me, "You won't be able to leave. You understand that don't you? You understand that you'll be cursed?"

"I understand."

"Why didn't you run? I don't understand you."

The adventure. The excitement. The voyage. All that was here on the Screaming Dagger. It wasn't back on dry land.

There was something about danger that excited me.

There was something that excited me on this ship.

There was the Sea Wolf.

"All my life I've been protected. My father kept me tucked away and I never understood why until recently. I don't want to be safe anymore. Even if that means the curse."

"You don't know what you're saying," he tells me.

I smile, "I'm sure I'll learn."

"You're a fool."

"Maybe," I state smiling, "But I made the decision to save you. I'll live with it."

We descend into the rooms but he stops me before we get too far, "I don't owe you anything. You know that don't you?"

"I never said you did."

"Just to be clear."

"Relax. I don't expect anything from saving your life."

He pushes me up against the wooden walls of the Screaming Dagger. He presses up against me. He does this often. His breath lingers up against my face. His threatening eyes dig into mine. There is so much intensity in this stare.

"You didn't save my life," he responds, "I don't fear death. I don't fear anything."

"Nothing?" I ask.

I bite my lip. I can't help it. He's beautiful and I know it makes him so uncomfortable to have someone not be afraid of him like the others. For some reason I don't fear him. I should. He's given me every reason to be afraid of him and even hate him. That is the expected thing. That is the safe thing. For some reason I don't and it seems to be freaking him out.

An example of his reaction is when he jumps back when I bite my lip. He clears halfway down the hallway in a matter of seconds to get away from me. He realizes he overreacts, stops and clears his throat.

"If I were you I wouldn't tell anyone you are the youngest Baptiste. You don't want to be known as the curse."

"You helping me?"

"Don't get in over your head."

He opens the door and I see most of the boys are sleeping. The sea is calm but the sails are up making the voyage through the night relatively fast and easy away from Nassau. The boys seem to be playing around about something when the Sea Wolf opens the door.

"Find a bunk," Bello instructs me, "I'll have someone bring you personal supplies. You're a crew member of the Screaming Dagger now."

With that he slams me in the room.

I am in this room and there is silence. People are looking at me like I'm some sort of ghosts. The handsome boys of the Screaming Dagger are all staring at me hard. I cross the room. My heart is aching. My mind is going nuts.

I walk across the room and just feel the stares. It must have been a long time that they officially had a new member. I feel like the eyes are piercing into me. It's so quiet the planks sound like cannons as I cross.

I don't get far before I see the the two shirtless twins at that moment.

"You can share one of our bunks," one of them says.

There is nothing really separating the bunk spaces. It's a large room with sleeping bunks for all the regular crew members of the Scream Dagger. Back at my grandmother's property I had my own room with more space than I could ever want. This was different. The small areas are customized to each person's personality but you can tell that the small area around their bunk is all that they have.

I can't tell the difference but I have to admit as shady as they look they are also some sexy looking twins. They are also the only ones who have actually taken it upon myself to say something to me.

"The Sea Wolf asked me to find my own bunk..." I state.

My voice cracks. I'm intimidated by the twins. They have this puff of beautiful blonde hair and these etched out young, hairless bodies. Their hair makes them look so pure almost like angels but their expressions seem to give away a darker emotion. Still they are handsome...just as handsome as the other boys on the Screaming Dagger but standing out only because they seem like young Greek Gods. I swear looking at them I imagine they are both sons of Apollo.

"There's one over here," a voice carries from across the room.

I turn and see Ashton. He's with the group of boys that I had met before. Black Jack, O'Malley and Skyrat are with him. Sure enough there is an empty bunk over there.

"Who asked you?" one of the twins states.

"Trip, I don't want any problems," Ashton responds, "But I had my eye on him first. He's mine."

Hearing Ashton say that is weird. Clearly Ashton hasn't been notified that I am the youngest Baptiste. Bello did say to keep it a secret. That fact that he wasn't aware is making this awkward and all of a sudden I just want to react.

"I don't belong to you," I tell Ashton.

I don't want to be rude. I almost forget where I am when I say it. I'm just freaked out because I'm realizing that as attractive as Ashton is to me, he's still my older brother. The way he is looking at me is unsettling to say the least.

I don't realize that I just said something that can be misconstrued by the aggressive twins.

"See...he chooses us," one of the twins states.

"I didn't say that," I respond quickly.

"There's only one way to settle this," one boy states walking out from the side, "Fight for ownership of the new boy."

I try to protest. I try to tell them I don't belong to anyone. My voice is completely drowned out by this ongoing chant however. A group of boys push past me in order to see the fight. Another group of boys pound on the floorboards. The silence has immediately turned into a raucous movement that I don't quite fucking understand.

I make my way to the other side of the busy room somehow where I see Ashton is getting ready. I notice O'Malley slathering Ashton with some sort of oil. It makes his body slippery and wet. Ashton looks really serious at that moment.

"Ashton what the hell are you doing?" I ask.

"I'm fighting for you," he states.

"I don't want to be fought for," I explain to him.

This goes in one ear and out the other. The stomping is getting louder and louder. One of the twins has been slathered up with oil and is standing in the middle of a circle calling out for Ashton. Before I can stop Ashton he heads out there.

I try to reach out and grab him but O'Malley holds me back.

"This is just how it is," O'Malley explains, "When I first came on board two boys fought for me too. One of them died because of it. I remember throwing his body overboard with an aching asshole. I was a virgin too..."

"You know that I'm a virgin?" I ask.

"Ashton told us."

I'd never really quite understand pirates. Right now Ashton was fighting some boys for my virginity which I wasn't willing to give to any one of them. The whole time O'Malley is beginning to grab me by my waist and sits his entire dick on my ass pretending as though he's trying to get a better view. I swear I feel his dick grow in the crack of my ass.

I push away just in time for the fight to start. I watch Ashton swinging his fist at the twin. The twin dodges it. The twin pummels forward, head first in an attempt to tackle Ashton. He fails to knock Ashton down but manages to get Ashton up against the wall. He repeatedly slams Ashton up against the wall over and over.

The crowd chants, "TRACK! TRACK! TRACK!"

That happens until Ashton manages to twist grapple Track's head and puts him in a headlock. Ashton drives the paler boy's body to the ground. They are wrestling on the floor and I have to admit there is something about this that is turning me on. Maybe it's the rawness of their physical forms. Both boys have equally impressive physiques. Ashton's darker, thinner and more defined body against the paler, broader shoulders of one of the Terrible Two-Toe Twins was enough to be a fantasy. They slide in and out of each others arms. The wet bodies grunt as they struggle to manhandle one another. The crowd chants on in this pure rowdy way. This pure masculinity was filling the ship. These may have been boys but they were pirates and they had a manly pride about them that I couldn't grasp.

I find myself chanting alongside Black Jack and O'Malley, "Ashton! ASHTON! ASHTON!"

I'm not thinking about what it would mean if Ashton was to win this fight. I soon come to find out that this is becoming a real reality when Ashton pins the twin down.

The entire room is shouting, "ASHTON! ASHTON! ASHTON!"

That's when Trip, the twin who isn't fighting seems to panic. The idea of his brother losing to Ashton seems more than he could bare. No one else sees him pacing but I see him. I know from the look in his eyes that he's going to do something desperate.

Track seems ready to tap out. Ashton is pinning him down pressing his head up against the floorboards. His body is sweating on top of the blonde and he's showing that he has pure strength. His muscles strain and look bigger as he pins down Track.

"ASHTON! ASHTON!"

He's winning over the crowd. Trip can't handle it. I watch him.

"Watch him..." I tell O'Malley, "Watch the twin..."

O'Malley hears me. He runs forward to intervene but it's much too late. Trip throws something at Track. I don't see what it is even though I'm running forward as well. Track catches whatever it is.

"ASHTON!" I'm screaming.

Too late.

I hear Ashton squirm in pain and then I realize what has happened. Track has a nail that he has dug into Ashton's right eye. Ashton is screaming in bloody pain at that moment. Blood is everywhere. Trip had thrown that nail to his brother.

"He cheated!" I state, "He fucking cheated."

The other boys don't seem to care about my protesting. It's Black Jack, the boy who seems to know a lot about things that catches my attention. He shakes his head.

"There is no cheating aboard the Screaming Dagger..."

~

"Is he going to make it?" I ask.

I'm sitting on Ashton's bunk. I feel like shit. O'Malley had taken him away to the ship's practitioner. Most of the boys had gone back to laughing about the fight. This wasn't a big deal for them. It was nothing more than this evening's entertainment.

"He lost his eye," O'Malley states, "But he'll survive. Ashton's tougher than he looks. He's come a long way. I'm proud of him."

Proud? Proud?

"God dam it," I respond.

I feel like shit. This was all my fault. All of it.

"He's a romantic. He did it for love," Black Jack tells me.

"He can't be in love with me," I state.

"Why not?"

I don't get to respond to Black Jack. Before I know it we are being interrupted by the Terrible Two-Toe twins. They've come to claim their prize. I swear I feel sick to my stomach when I see them. I feel the way about them that I should feel about Bello. I hate them for what they did to Ashton. I didn't care what you did to me but I cared about Ashton. He was a good person. He didn't deserve to be blinded for trying to defend my honor.

"We won. You have to sleep with us," one of the twins states.

It's Track. I can tell him apart from his brother because his brother smiles where as Track seems more of the serious one. I still remember how desperate he looked when he helped his brother win the fight. Trip is still slathered in oil. He's shirtless and he's smirking as though all of this was some sort of joke or something. For two boys to look so good I can't believe they are so ruthless.

"He doesn't have to go anywhere," O'Malley states.

"You want to fight next?" Track challenges O'Malley.

O'Malley steps forward and I think he might just. O'Malley is definitely the closest to Ashton on this boat. He wants revenge. I can see it in his eyes. I can also see that these two brother would do whatever to get what they want and I don't think Ashton would want O'Malley losing an eye over this...or worse.

I stop O'Malley.

"It's fine," I respond, "I can handle them."

Trip is the one who claims me. He throws his hand over my shoulder. A few of the boys look on as he leads me away. I watch his brother following close behind. He's the sneakier brother but I know they both don't have any real honor.

"You upset?" Track asks me.

The night lingers on and before I know it I'm sandwiched on a bed between the two boys. Usually I would be turned on but I keep hearing Ashton scream when Trip dug that rusty nail into his eye socket.

"I'm fine..." I lie.

Most of the other boys have gone to sleep. In the distance I hear moans however. Moans from sex. Other boys are being active not too far from us. It's one of the older boys. In the darkness he's grabbed one of the younger boys. I see movement up against the walls. His ass cheeks flex as he fucks the younger boy. The younger boy squirms.

Most of the other boys don't seem to react at all to hearing someone get fucked in the open like this. I believe it's normal on the Screaming Dagger. I notice Track however from the back of me. He looks over at his brother. The two of them look over at me. I'm facing Trip. He won't stop licking his lips.

Trip tries to rub my face. I push away.

"You're scared of us," Track interrupts.

Track has been rubbing my thigh and the smalls of my back slowly. He allows his brother to take charge but I think he is turned on by me just as much if not more than his brother.

"No."

"That wasn't a question," Track tells me from behind, "That's an observation. I get it. You think we are cruel. That's just how it is though. You have to be rough. That's the pirate way. You do whatever it takes to get what you want. We want you. We want you bad."

Trip uses his hands to gather the fabric around my dick. He squeezes it tightly in until he can feel the imprint of my dick. He holds it in his palms. I can't help to have my dick begin to harden in his hands. When my dick hardens he realizes I'm turned on and he leans forward to try to kiss me again on the lips. I move my lips just in time and he ends up kissing me hard on the cheek with his pink, pursed lips.

"He'll never see out that eye again," I state.

"Survival of the fittest," Track states.

Trip adds almost immediately, "Don't be mad OK?"

Trip attempts to kiss me again. Once again I try to move but this time Track catches my jaw from the back. He holds it there.

"Kiss him," Track states holding my jaw still.

"Get off me..."

"It'll be a shame if Ashton loses his other eye," Track suggests.

There is so much intention behind the way he says it. I find myself giving in and letting Trip lean forward and kiss me on the lips. I have to admit as much as I am turned off by their personalities, his kiss is good. His tongue enters my mouth. Track begins to kiss me from the back, massaging his waist into me. He rubs his dick up against my ass.

"He tastes so good," Trip tells my brother.

"He's ours..."

Before I notice it they turn me on my back. Both brothers begin to pull down my pants. I don't stop them. My dick springs loose from the pants. They stare at my dick for a few minutes. I watch as they both undress...getting turned on by me.

"You need someone to take care of you," Track tells me, "We can be your mentors. We can teach you how to be a pirate."

"Trust in us." Trip adds.

They both go down on me. They go down at the same time. Track licks the head of my dick while Trip begins sucking up the side shaft. Both of their hands begin to fondle my dick. I moan. I am giving in to the deepest of carnal pleasures. There is something about the cruelty that I am enjoying even though I can't stand them. There is something about a bad boy. Something about how dangerous they are that turns me on in ways that I can't imagine.

I want to fight them off, but I don't.

"Fuck..." I'm moaning.

I'm louder than I mean to be. I'm sure the other boys on the other bunks hear me moan it loudly. They probably expect it.

Track spits on my dick and then sucks it up. He tongues down the hole of my penis and jerks it off. His brother jealously looks on watching until Track holds my dick up so that his brother can suck it. His brother is more slow and precise at sucking my dick. He looks me up in my eyes as though wanting me to feel something. I'm not sure what.

Is this more than sex for Trip?

Does he want something more than just that?

"Does it feel good?" Trip asks me.

I don't answer. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he is pleasing me. It feels good though. It feels so good.

My lack of reaction causes Trip to try even harder. He goes deeper on my dick, swallowing the entire shaft all the way into his esophagus. He's choking on my dick. He's looking in my eyes wanting a reaction. His hands are crawling up and down my body.

"Is it good for you baby?" Trip is asking me, "Tell me I'm being good to you."

"Enough of this," Track states, "Put his legs up, I'm going to fuck him..."

"What?" I ask.

"I want the ass," Track states, "Put your legs up or I'll put them up for you."

"I've never done that," I argue.

Trip looks over at his brother, "Maybe we should wait. You think brother? Maybe we should wait for doing that. Sometime special..."

"I want his ass..."

That's when I do something that I don't think I can do. I grab Trip's hand. I squeeze it a little bit. I may be reaching to think that Trip wants something more than just sex from me but this may be the only card I have left to play. When I squeeze Trip's hand he looks at me. I look back at him. I try to force any sort of emotion out of my eyes.

Track spits on his dick. He attempts to pin me down and get his brother to help him. I push Track off and look at Trip.

That's when Track tries again rushing forward on the bed, but this time Trip is the one to push him off. I'm surprised when he does it.

"We wait..." Trip tells his brother.

I can tell Track is unsatisfied about this. I can see it in his eyes that he is unsatisfied.

"Until when?" Track asks him.

"Soon..." Trip states, "It'll be better when he's ready."

Track seems reluctant to agree but he agrees. It isn't much but he's satisfied with jerking his dick for the rest of the night and spraying loads of his semen all over my chest. He's very brunt and brutal about it. When he's done he takes globs of the stuff and shoves it in my mouth saying crude things like, "Eat my kids."

When he's done with his vulgarity, he goes to sleep.

I expect Trip to do the same thing but he doesn't. He just stares at me in the darkness and then he does it again. He leans forward and he kisses me softly...slowly on the lips...

~

"How's your ass? I can get you something for the pain," Black Jack offers.

The next day has arrived very quickly. The sun is high in the sky. It's hot. The sails are up and most of the boys have come up on the main deck. Everyone is doing chores. I'm not sure what to do so I'm standing around watching them clean the deck with water. When I approach Black Jack and O'Malley are both on their hands and knees scrubbing the deck. Skyrat is no where to be seen.

"They didn't do it," I state.

"The twins didn't fuck you?" O'Malley asks.

"No..."

"How'd you manage that?" he asks.

Both boys look up at me seeming confused. They seemed sure that I was going to lose my virginity and get fucked in the ass last night. Hell, I was sure as well. That just wasn't the case though.

"I'm not sure," I state, "I can't give it up to them..."

"The twins are going to want their prize," Black Jack tells me, "I know them. Trust me. I've seen them do horrible things for the things they want and they want you. That's for sure."

I did trust Black Jack. Looking at Black Jack he seemed wiser past his age. He's one of those boys that just seems as though he has so much knowledge. The fact that he is worried is something that I am definitely concerned about.

I look around for the twins. I had left them asleep in the bunk and snuck away. I was sure they'd come look for me shortly. I was sure they'd attempt to come find me. There was no where to hide on this ship. There was only so long that I would be able to use Trip's emotions against his brother. Sooner or later they'd want what I wasn't willing to give them.

"You want me to challenge them?" O'Malley asks.

"You'll lose," Black Jack states.

Black Jack says it as a fact. I didn't doubt O'Malley was strong. Ashton was strong and he was still outplayed by the twins. I was stuck in a corer and I had no way out of it.

"I'll take that risk. I'll risk my life," O'Malley states standing up, "I'll do it for you."

He's tall. He's attractive. There is something trusting in his eyes though. Something trusting that lets me know that he wouldn't stand a chance against the twins. They'd take out his eye just like they did to Ashton. They'd probably do worse. No. He wasn't my champion. Black Jack seems to notice that as well. I can see him standing behind O'Malley. He's shaking his head.

"You don't know me."

O'Malley smiles, "I want you..."

"The Sea Wolf is about to come check our chores," Black Jack tells O'Malley, "You should go cover Ashton's chores before he gets here."

Sure enough Bello has walked up on the main deck. He is shirtless. His silver hair is blowing in the wind. I watch as a couple of people scramble once he climbs up on the main deck. It's obvious he has some serious seniority on this ship by how the boys react. O'Malley seems to come to his senses and disappear at that moment.

The whole time I'm just staring at Bello. His lips. His hair. His eyes. His broad shoulders. His sculptured back. The way his eyes seem to grimace at the water as though trying to uncover some sort of mystery in the choppy waves.

Black Jack is staring at the back of my head, "If you don't want to get fucked by the twins, you should learn to fight them off yourself....or get someone else to do it for you."

"I was thinking the same thing," I state.

"Ignis is an excellent fighter and he's stated you are the most handsome boy he's ever seen. I'm sure he'd take you up on your offer. Or Petey for that matter. He's killed more men than anyone on this ship and he's a sucker for romance. Lafayette. Lafayette, are you listening?"

I wasn't. My eyes were on the Sea Wolf.

"I hear you. I'll figure it out. I'll get out of this predicament with the twins somehow..." I shake off Black Jack.

"You are completely mesmerized, aren't you?"

I shake my eyes away. I find myself helping Black Jack scrub the deck to take my mind off of it, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. I know things. I know human nature," Black Jack tells me, "You look at Bello the same way that Ashton looks at you. The same way the twins looks at you. The same way half the boys on this ship look at you. They are transfixed on you and you could care less..."

I hated how he was doing this at this moment. Black Jack was reading me like I was a book and he was a professor. I stop scrubbing. I stare at the soap suds on the plywood.

"Do the other boys really look at me the way I look at him?" I ask.

"They all want you. You're a mystery to most of the boys on this ship. The rare idea of a virgin whose never been touched. The ultimate treasure for a pirate."

"And yet the Sky wolf barely sees me. He barely knows I exist," I realize.

Why doesn't he want me like the other boys do? They stare at me while I stare at him. And what does Bello stare at?

The water. The waves.

"You have power. You can have half this ship kill the other half for you," Black Jack states, "Use that power to protect yourself. Now that you are a crew member survival should be your main concern...not the Sky Wolf."

"Why not him?" I ask.

"Captain Holystone has a collection of skulls in his room. The skulls are the reason you shouldn't go looking after Bello."

"Skulls?"

"Yes. Do you want to know what those skulls are for?" he asks me.

"I'm sure you'll tell me."

"Every man who has ever dared even flirt with Bello has been collected by Holystone. Their skulls are a reminder that Bello is off limits."

Holystone kept his competitors as trophies? Was that to scare off other boys from looking at Bello? It was no wonder that regardless of how attractive Bello was no one on this ship even gave him a second look. He was a ghost on this ship and the only reaction they showed him was fear.

Now that all made sense.

"You said I was a rarity. I was a treasure...you said I could have any man I wanted," I tell Black Jack, "Any champion I wanted."

Black Jack shakes his head.

"That is the only man on this ship you can't have."

Black Jack's words of wisdom hit me like a ton of bricks. I turn back to the Sky Wolf. It's almost as though he knew we were talking about him somehow. For a brief second he stares back at me. It's not that long lingering stare that the other boys give me. It's a short glimpse. A passing thought that fades into nothingness.

He turns and walks away. It's almost as though he doesn't see me. It's almost as though I don't exist.

And for some reason the more he plays hard to get the more I want him.

"You're wrong," I tell Black Jack, "The Sky Wolf is the only man on this ship worth having. I may not be a pirate yet...but that will be my treasure to claim..."

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