Seizing Rain (Seas of Seduction Book 1)

by A. E. Murphy

  “What?” His words sober me by just enough for my rage to dissipate.

  “He loves you, yet he’s not brave enough to meet me on his own to trade you for the information.”

  “What?”

  “You’re still here because he’s a fucking coward.”

  “Let go of me.” He does so and I fall forward, nearly collapsing onto my knees as I rub my shoulder to get the blood circulating again.

  “He’s a coward, Rain.”

  “And you’re a fucking psychopath. I’ll take the coward any day.”

  I leave the bridge and make my way back to my old room. I don’t want to be near him anymore. Not at all.

  I wake in the morning to an escort outside of my cell which has remained unlocked all night. It’s another man who doesn’t speak much English but smiles kindly at me as I leave and nods for me to lead the way.

  “Where’s the bathroom?” I ask, hoping he understands.

  He does and leads me beyond the berthing quarters and to the shared toilets. I relieve myself and then ask him for a toothbrush which he produces seemingly out of thin air. I can’t go without brushing my teeth.

  After this I follow him to the canteen and help myself to breakfast where I come across the scowling woman who I saw the first day I was taken to Captain. She was angry to see me then and she’s angry to see me now.

  She’s one of the cooks, serving food onto the men’s trays as they line up.

  She serves me my grey-looking porridge and nods for me to continue. I try for a smile but receive none in return. I don’t know why I expected differently.

  I eat my porridge at a table with the unnamed silent guard and then make my way to Geoffrey to kill a few hours. I warn him though that I’ll not be handling any more chemicals and he just laughs, and laughs, and laughs.

  I however find nothing funny.

  And then my mood dramatically sours when at around three in the afternoon, Clunk comes for me. He demands my presence and, at first, I think he’s going to take me to Captain, but instead he takes me to the exercise quarters and straight to a gym mat.

  “Drop and give me twenty.”

  “Mate, really? I couldn’t even give you ten with these chicken arms.” I flap my non-existent biceps at him.

  “Exactly.” He stands at the edge of the mat, smirking at me as though I’m hilarious. “We’ll get you warmed up and teach you some self-defence moves.”

  “It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

  “You’re so grateful.”

  “Yes, because I should be grateful to a man who aided in my kidnapping and allowed another man to grope me in his presence.”

  Clunk shrugs. “Don’t care, don’t like you, just following orders.”

  An hour later I crawl back to my cell and die on the rubber mattress.

  The days are dragging and my body is dying. I’m tired of this food, this life, this everything. Geoffrey can’t even keep me entertained anymore and he’s trying his best. We grew crystals in Clunk’s boots overnight in a little prank and listened to him cry out the next morning when he put them on.

  He spiked Roger’s food with a powerful laxative that blocked one of the toilets in the berthing quarters on the other side of the ship.

  He even swiped a pair of binoculars for me so we could go whale spotting.

  We’ve seen no whales since then.

  I fucked up, majorly. I should never have hit him or spoken to him like that. Any chance of surviving this just got slimmer.

  I was just so angry and upset. I don’t know what came over me.

  Though he did send Clunk to teach me self-defence every day since. If he’s planning on killing me, why teach me things to use in the future?

  Maybe he’s not, maybe he simply just wants the information?

  With that in mind, I leave Geoffrey in his lab and go after the captain. I don’t even care if he has forgiven my outburst because I’ll never forgive him for what he has done even if he lets me go.

  “Let me talk to him,” I declare the second I step into the darkened room. I knew he was in here before I entered because one of his pairs of boots are outside the door, waiting to be polished. His usual pair.

  I’m surprised to find him sitting at the table, poring over paperwork, looking more professor than pirate with his hair hanging around his face and his turtleneck jumper up to his jaw, a soft beige colour that looks so warm and inviting in the dim light.

  He looks up and raises a brow at me. “Talk to whom?”

  He even sounds like a professor right now. “Niall. You want the info, right?” When he nods, I continue, “If you give me your word that you’ll return me home, or close to it with the means to get home, I’ll convince him to give you the info.”

  His gaze bores into me as he leans back and clicks his neck by moving it side to side.

  “All I need is your word.”

  Green eyes glitter. “My word means nothing.”

  “It’ll mean something to me.” I use what he said to me days ago against him.

  His lips twitch as he stands and rests against the table, crossing his feet at the ankles. “What do I get in return?” My confusion must show because his smile stretches and I know exactly what he’s referring to.

  “The information you need and no more having to deal with me.”

  He nods thoughtfully. “That is fair, I will admit. But…” Licking his lips, he hooks his thumbs over the edge of his black trousers and looks at me suggestively. “I can’t trust your boyfriend.”

  “What?”

  “He’ll lie to get you back.”

  I part my lips. “He wouldn’t.”

  “He already did, twice in fact. I called his bluff.”

  “What is this information that’s worth my life?” I murmur but decide to leave that topic for now. I need to focus on the sunrise looming on a metaphorical horizon that is my freedom. “Never mind, just… give me your word you’ll help me get home safely and I’ll do what I can.”

  “Kiss me and I will.”

  I throw up my hands, all good feelings gone. “You’re a piece of work.”

  “I know.”

  “Forget it.”

  “You know you want to.”

  “Captain, if I wanted to, I would have,” I retort, flipping him the bird over my shoulder.

  I’m almost out of the door when he calls after me, “Come here, Rain.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and a tingle crawls along my spine. “I’m done here.”

  “I’m not.” His tone holds so many promises. “Aren’t you going to apologise?”

  I gasp. Is he serious? “For what?”

  “For hitting me?”

  “Aren’t you going to apologise for kidnapping me?”

  He smirks and steps towards me, forcing me to take a step back. “I guess that makes us even?”

  “Not by a long shot.”

  His smirk twists into a grin of mischief, it makes him look so young and seductive. “Don’t you like it here?”

  “Is that a serious question?”

  “You could be in worse places.”

  “Just because it could be worse doesn’t make it any less so.” I’m ready to go back to my cell when he steps around me, blocking my escape.

  “Have you been practising your self-defence?”

  Nodding, I sharply retort, “You know I have.”

  “So, if I was an attacker and I grabbed you like this…” His hands grip my wrists, holding them between us. The sudden movement startles me. I wasn’t ready for it or expecting it which is silly considering I’m on high alert around him. The sweet smell of whiskey and honey on his breath has me wanting to lick my lips. “How would you escape?”

  I try to do the manoeuvre, bringing my knee up and pulling my hands down but he’s impossibly strong and quick.

  I huff and he releases me. “Stop it.”

  “But you like it when I touch you.” He spins me so quickly my eyes almost
leave my head. My back slams against his chest as his hand trails along the edge of my shorts, his shorts. Even while I was in the cell, fresh clothing was brought to me daily after every shower. “Don’t you?”

  I try to break out of this hold too, swinging my elbow back and dropping like a dead weight but he just lifts me into a cradle, laughing when I kick my legs to get free.

  “You need to practise more,” he says, sobering and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I trust the majority of my men to leave you alone, but Roger seems to have some sick fascination with you.”

  My heart stops. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you’re to go nowhere alone.”

  “Why do you care what happens to me?”

  His gaze lingers on my face before trailing down my body. “You’re staying with me again at night.”

  I don’t push the fact he didn’t answer my question because quite frankly I’m terrified of what the answer could be. I do however push his new command. “I don’t want to.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “It’s like I say one thing and you hear another.” I glare at him, shooting bullets and daggers and acid from my eyes. “I. Do. Not. Want. To.”

  “Yes. You. Do.” His smile is cocky and crooked and now I don’t feel bad at all for slapping him before.

  “Then can I at least put a mattress in the corner or something?”

  “You’re not sleeping in the corner.”

  I throw up my hands and stomp towards the bathroom. Is there any point arguing with him? He’s so infuriatingly stubborn and cavalier.

  As I’m brushing my teeth angrily, a very naked Captain strolls in, his cock hard and swollen, his body smooth but scarred and tattooed. My eyes follow his path in the mirror to the shower where he twists the taps, tests the heat, and climbs in. Meanwhile my toothbrush hangs limply from my mouth.

  He lathers soap between his hands and drags them down his body, rolling just one over his solid cock. My womb clenches. He’s doing this on purpose. He knows I’m watching.

  I don’t even rinse out my mouth, I get out of there so fast I stumble over my own feet making him laugh hysterically. He is not funny. Not at all.

  I take my place in the corner of the room and then I wake up in his bed with his head resting on my middle and my hand in his hair.

  Fuck. He’s sneaky.

  “If Roger really poses a threat, why doesn’t he deal with him now?” I ask Geoffrey as the captain’s caution weighs heavily on my mind.

  Geoffrey stops what he’s doing. “Because the men would riot if a crew member was punished before a crime committed. He has been warned. If he acts on it, the captain will strike.”

  Thank God. I just have to stay around people who can keep me safe so he never gets the opportunity.

  “What will he do?”

  “It depends on what Roger does first. I’m hoping he stays away from you but he’s sick enough to not give a fuck about what the captain says.”

  I shudder at the thought. “What kind of criminal is he?”

  “The worst kind.” He lowers his voice and leans into my ear. “He raped and killed his wife and her sister.”

  “What? Why?”

  Shrugging, he places his hand on my thigh. “Why does anybody do anything? Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

  “Until I’m not.” I blow out a breath and rest my head on his shoulder. “I just want to go home, Geoffrey.”

  “I know. Maybe soon.”

  “Even you don’t sound like you believe that.”

  He pushes back his black hair. “I don’t know what to say, pet.”

  “Pet?” I smirk and look around me. “You’re a genius, Geoffrey.”

  “Why thank you.” His eyes sparkle with humour.

  “Why are you here? What did you do?”

  Raising a brow he says, “I’d have thought that was obvious. I used my talents at chemistry to create bad things.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why did you choose that?”

  He shrugs. “Doing things legally got me no results. I wanted to make an impact but for that I needed money.” Sighing heavily, he places his hand back on my thigh. “I had this thought that if I couldn’t see the people my drugs were harming, then it didn’t count.”

  I look around again. “But you’re still doing it?”

  “Yes, I’m still doing it, but we are trying to get out of that industry. Captain says the drugs are a desperate means to an end. Hence the Viagra.”

  I glare at him. “Oh yes, that.”

  “Good stuff, right?”

  “No, Geoffrey. No.”

  We stay like this for another moment before I stand to leave with Chatterbox hot on my heels. “I’ll fetch us coffee.”

  “That would be great.”

  I don’t just bring him coffee, I bring Captain coffee too. I need to keep busy, I’m getting bored. There’s only so much time one can spend as a captive on a ship before they start longing for a good shopping trip.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?” Captain asks, taking his drink and humming when he sips it. “That is perfect.”

  “I need something to do. I’m losing my mind.” Then I rub my belly. “Also… I need feminine products. Tampons, pads, a moon cup, whatever. I’m due in around a week.”

  To be fair to him he doesn’t cringe, he only nods as he places his drink on the console between some rather important-looking buttons. “I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?”

  “Chocolate?”

  “Kiss?” He taps his lips, tilting his head back.

  “I’d rather starve and bleed everywhere. Thanks anyway…”

  As I try to walk away he snags me by the hips and pulls me back into his lap. I land on him with a thud and a yelp.

  Before I can say anything, the sound of radio static echoes through the room. The captain stiffens beneath me and not in the good way as a crackly voice sound. Something about a typhoon? I can hardly make it out.

  “Typhoon,” Clunk says firmly and moves to the console to the left. He taps away on it as the captain looks at the console around me. “It’s three hundred miles north, we could miss it.”

  “Not necessarily. The wind is blowing south, it will carry. Is it definite?”

  “Looks like it.”

  “Shit.” Captain presses his forehead to my jaw and cups my cheek with his hand. As he smooths his thumb over my cheekbone he barks at Clunk, “How long until it hits?”

  Clunk scribbles on a piece of paper, a blur of sums I don’t understand as he takes numbers from the various screens. “Two days, at most.”

  “Can’t we go around it?” I ask softly, looking out of the window at the grey sky.

  “Unfortunately, not,” Captain replies. “We can’t go any further south.”

  “And the fucker is around eight hundred miles long.”

  “Eight hundred miles?” I squeak. “So not like the one we saw the other day?”

  “That was a kitten compared to this giant snarling pride of panthers,” Clunk replies as my heart races and my blood pressure rises. I want to correct him and say panthers don’t run in prides but I have a feeling it’ll fall on deaf ears.

  Captain squeezes my side gently. “You’ll be okay so long as you stay in my room.”

  Before he can move me from his lap I grip his shoulders, gulp and admit quietly, “Captain… I can’t swim.”

  “You won’t have to swim,” he promises. “But there are life jackets if you’ll feel safer and the room is watertight, for the most part.” When he smiles softly, I feel a tad better about it. I mean really, how bad could this get?

  “Well, you know what that means?” Captain grins, looking normal considering how worried he was a moment ago.

  “What?” I ask and the bridge cheers loudly, a chorus of cries from all of the men.

  “Party time,” Captain whispers in my ear, kisses it and stands with me still in his lap. “Drop the anchor!”r />
  There’s an anchor?

  “Get the whiskey!”

  There’s whiskey?

  “Turn on the music and the lights!”

  There’s music?

  “What are you doing?” I ask, following him out of the bridge and down the stairs. “Party time? Shouldn’t we be preparing for a storm?”

  He stops, grins at me, wags his eyebrows and shouts, “Tomorrow we prepare, tonight we dance.”

  “Dance?”

  “Dance.”

  The sirens blare and everybody stops. Clunk’s voice then replaces them, instructing everybody about the typhoon tomorrow. We’re to nail down everything that can move.

  Captain helps people tie things, I watch him weave intricate rope and watch his arm muscles bulge as he tugs to ensure they’re tight enough. And then, after an hour, everybody starts cheering again when loud music plays through the speaker and thick, metal barrels are filled with coal and lit along the deck.

  I’m taken back to Captain’s room and handed a pile of clothing that I recognise as the clothes I wore here.

  “I had them fixed, cleaned and ironed.”

  I touch the pile gently and smile at him. “Thank you.”

  “I know they aren’t new…”

  “They’re perfect.” I take my fixed bra from the front of the pile and sigh gratefully. “I have missed this.”

  “I’ll leave you to get dressed.” He bows his head and turns, only stopping when I place my hand on his arm. His gaze flickers from my fingers to my eyes and he raises a questioning brow.

  “Thank you.”

  He bows again and, this time, I let him go.

  The second night falls the music gets louder, the men rowdier and the alcohol more frequent, secret stashes are brought out and I’m offered many a drink. Some I can’t even pronounce.

  I settle on a blackcurrant-flavoured gin that a man called Larry offers me and mingle with Geoffrey for the most part. Captain drinks from a bottle of spiced rum like your stereotypical pirate, on a chair that rests on a platform just higher than everyone else. He’s surrounded by his most trusted men, laughing and chatting loudly amongst them. He looks at peace, at ease, despite the looming storm.