Scars

Six months later, Jack and the Pearl were back in Tortuga. The crew had been suitably chastised and had behaved themselves for the entire six months. Well, behaved themselves inasmuch as pirates ever did. They had done well off three or four merchant ships, gone back to Port Royal in the dead of night (and Jack had scared Will Turner out of five years’ life by looming over him and waking him up at two in the morning just to ask where the rum was. That had been fun, and Jack still grinned about it), and generally been themselves. Jack had decided to take a chance on the crew and had let them all go ashore for a couple of days. He himself had something else in mind.

It only took him three or four tries to find the tavern again. At least this time it wasn’t closed. It was, in fact, so open it was spilling people out into the street. Anna was in there, singing. It took Jack half an hour and most of a bottle of rum to get close enough to the corner she was in to actually see her. He smiled. She was still singing with her eyes shut. When she got to the end of her song, she opened her eyes, and the amazing green shot straight at him.

“Jack?”

“Aye, luv.”

“You bastard! You left me standing on that corner and disappeared!”

“Well, you know. Pirate, and all.” He tried the grin on her again; it had worked last time. This time it didn’t work as well.

“Pirate, is it? I suppose I’m lucky you left me the money.”

“Not enough time, luv. I had a pressing engagement elsewhere.”

“I can imagine. And how long before you up and disappear again?”

“Well, luv, that depends. How much rum have you got here?” The first night ashore was, after all, for rum, and he wasn’t about to change that. It was tradition, and tradition wasn’t to be played with.

“Enough to drown you in. And don’t tempt me.”

“Ah, luv, how could I? Ye’re tempting enough as ye are.” That at least was true. She was wearing her hair in the one long braid and the look in her eyes was making him wonder if she was going to kick him or kiss him. He hoped it was the latter. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and shot him a last green glare before she finally smiled at him.

“You’re still a bastard, but you’re a charming bastard. I suppose you’re after the rum?”

“Aye. “ She produced a bottle from the counter behind her and held it away from him.

“What are you paying with?” Jack produced a silver coin and she relented and gave him the bottle. He tipped his head back and took a long swig.

“Ah, that’s the stuff. And I have a present for you, too.” He handed her a package wrapped in a scarf, and she unwound it toeal eal a silver-backed hairbrush. Her eyes widened. She knew it was pirate loot, and had been stolen, but it was the first hairbrush she had ever owned, and silver, yet…she looked up from it and saw Jack watching her. The look in his eyes was lover, not pirate, and her heart turned over.

“Somewhere more private, luv?”

“My own room, even. But not yet.” She turned away from him and back to the crowded tavern. “One more song, then.” Shouts of approval rang out from all corners, and died down as Anna shut her eyes, drew in her breath and sang. Jack and the rest of the tavern stood transfixed until she let the last note die away and opened her eyes again. “Shall we?”

“After you, luv.” She led him out through the back of the tavern, up an outside staircase and into the room on the second floor that was hers. It was small, but it had a bed in it, and that was mostly what he cared about. She laid her hairbrush down on a small table and lit the lamp beside it. In the lamplight her hair gleamed red and Jack suddenly wanted to bury himself in it. He walked up behind her and reached around her for the brush.

Anna would have turned to face him, but he held her where she was and let her hair out of its braid. She felt it fall loose, and then his hand came up and lifted the mass off the back of her neck to run the brush through it. She had never had anybody brush her hair for her before, and she had gotten used to combing her fingers through it when she washed it, for want of a hairbrush. The brushing was relaxing and exciting at the same time, and by the time Jack was done with it, she was trembling with want of him. He could see the shiver run through her and bent his head to the back of her neck. When he nipped her there, she jumped, and he soothed the bite with a kiss on the same spot.

“Turn around, luv. I want to see you.” When she did as he asked, it was his turn to shiver. Her eyes were dark with passion and wanting, and it was a look that made her almost unearthly. He was kissing her before he registered the decision to do it, and she was kissing him back, and he swept her off her feet and dropped her on the bed without breaking the kiss. The rest of the night passed in whispers and touches that lit fires under his skin and the night shattering into a thousand fragments behind his eyelids as he lost himself in her.

The next morning, Jack decided that from now on, the first night in Tortuga was for Anna, and the second would be for rum.