Ely had hers clenched shut and it was an erotic sight to behold, seeing her in the dark. Gunner pressed his chest into hers, ready to christen the wall at her back when she opened her eyes and tried to peer down at him. His fingers tugged at the edges of her pants.
She sees me. Even in the dark, she knows where I am.
I’m going to eat her alive.
He pulled back, unsettled. Her arms quickly came around his neck to hold onto him. He lifted her away from the wall, not wanting to let her go.
“Gunner,” she gasped, tightening her body around his, and burrowing her face against his throat. He didn’t want to let her go either but the pounding echo of approaching boots was right beyond the closed door of the brig. His eyes flashed in the dark as he tore his gaze from hers to look at it, a low growl rumbling in his throat.
He could practically see the pirates coming upon the broken body of the guard he had just killed. Killed and left out in the open for anyone to find.
Releasing Ely was the hardest fucking thing he had done in his life. Feeling her legs and arms unwind from his body transformed his lust back into fury—impatience.
The ringing in his ears was a backdrop to the screams he wanted to fill the space.Fuck.He combed his fingers through his hair and turned back toward his girl. She stood trembling before him in the inky blackness.
Gunner scooped her up and sat her in her safe place, leaning in to crowd her ear, “We’re not finished.”
He knew it sounded more like a threat than a promise, but he didn’t care. Quickly, he tightened his jacket back over her shoulders and zipped up the threads. It didn’t matter how she appeared to anyone anymore; he just didn’t want anyone to see her more than they had to.
Gunner was back in his cell within seconds, loosening and cracking his fury-fueled joints right as the brig door careened open.
Chapter Eleven
***
ASHIP CYCLE WENT BYand she still couldn’t wrap her head around what happened with Gunner. Her lips were raw and although he hadn’t stripped her bare and taken her, she felt claimed.
After he left her cell—left her cell—the guards came in and flashed their brights over all the prisoners, spotlighting them one by one in the dark. It hadn’t frightened her like the previous times, because somewhere deep in the darkest pits of her soul, she knew she was safe.
Not one of the prisoners outed Gunner. Not one. They looked at him like how she knew she was looking at him—as a personified ember of hope. His secret was safe. He could leave his cell at will, and now that that knowledge was known, no one was willing to risk the consequences of talking about it.
Then the overhead lights came on, blinding everyone anew.
The men from down the row were taken away, and even seeing the beaten, sickly one still alive hadn’t diminished her mood.
Elodie knew Gunner was after his ship but it didn’t make sense to her why he remained, now knowing the power he had, the absolute power that could save them all.
