Page 21 of Pirate's Plunder

I had already flipped the bed, so I rushed behind it for cover, scrunched down in the furthest corner of the room, covered my ears, and waited.

The explosion was louder than I expected, and the mattress tilting back and falling on me was a shock. The heavy thing trapped me, causing difficulty breathing, and no matter how much I pushed, I can’t move it from my current position.

A fire alarm starts to ring, followed by shouting.

I coughed and wheezed, trying to breathe as I started to feel crushed under the heavy memory foam. I struggle harder asthe voices grow closer. I did all this so I could escape, not trap myself, but the more I move, the harder it gets to breathe.

“GENESIS!” I try to turn my head, but can’t manage it.

“Help,” I can barely hear my own plea, so I know whoever is calling out can’t.

“What the fuck happened in here?” A strange, deep, angry voice yells out, followed by a spraying noise.

“Grab that side, Knight.” That voice I do recognize, and it sounds worried.

The mattress is lifted off me, and I can finally get a lungful of air that I desperately need.

“What the fuck were you thinking!” Zek grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me.

“That death was better than being forced to marry you!” I choke the words out between coughs, and all the activity in the room seems to stop so that the men can all look at me.

“Pirate?” Knight checks in with his friend, who is staring at me like he’s going to have an aneurysm.

The vein above the eye patch is throbbing, and if he grinds his teeth any harder, they’ll all crack. His lip is curled like he wants to talk, but is biting back the words while his fingers dig into my skin painfully.

“PADRÉ!” The word flies out of his mouth so abruptly that everyone jumps.

“Yeah, Prez?” A young man walks up to us wearing a clerical collar, and I frown.

“You have a priest in your club?” Someone near me snorts while another hisses another his breath.

“He’s our Chaplain. Don’t we deserve to have our sins heard?” Knight slaps the poor boy so hard between his shoulders that he almost face plants.

“Did they kidnap you, too?” I reach out to help him stand up straight, but Zek pulls me back and into his arms with a growl.

“He volunteered.” I glance over my shoulder at his words.

I’m staring into his good eye, which is looking at his Chaplain harshly.

“The fuck I did!” Padré curses at Zek before turning to me with a boyish little grin that ain’t fooling anyone in this room.

“Yes, I was. Dragged out of my nice warm bed in the middle of the night before I could finish school and take my vows.” He crosses himself and kisses his fingers as the room erupts into various forms of laughter.

“That bed was in the nunnery, Padré.” Knight crosses his arms while he watches on from his lean on the wall.

“As I remember it, you were so drunk that you were trying to marry one of the poor sisters so the act you’d performed wouldn’t land you both in hell. Or so you were saying when I pulled you out of the window so the Archbishop wouldn’t see you, and I believe the term on your expulsion papers was 'excommunicated.’” Zek says, causing Pardé to shrug.

“I may have been drafted.” How did I end up in this mess?

“Marry us,” Zek says abruptly, causing another bout of silence.

“Um, Prez. That shit’s permanent.” Padré leans in to whisper.

“The Catholic church has recognized divorce for ages!” I protest as I try in vain to dislodge myself from Zek.

“Mujer, you almost blew yourself up trying to escape me. That shit stops now.” He turns me so I have nowhere to look but at his face.

We’re both breathing hard as Padré clears his voice.

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