I still when I hear Hook’s voice boom across the courtyard. Then I see him striding from the back porch below me and stripping his shirt off as he goes. I swallow hard, my tongue suddenly stuck to the roof of my mouth as he tosses his shirt aside and steps up to Bill Jukes.
Starkey backs up, one hand at his side. “I, ah, I have him at my mercy, Captain, but if you’d like to step in—”
“Take a breather.” Hook shakes out his arms.
“Are you certain, Captain?” Bill is already smiling.
“Why? Are you scared?” Hook taunts and circles him.
When I get a look at his face, at the way he’s got the focus of a fighter—not to mention the absolutely rippling muscles all over him—I grip the window frame a little tighter.
“Scared that Skylights won’t be able to heal you up in time for our voyage north?” Bill grins even bigger.
“Don’t you worry about me, Bill. Take my head off, if you can.” Hook feints forward, then leans backwards like a reed to avoid Bill’s long grasp. When he shoots forward again, he strikes Bill in the side and dances away.
Bill makes anoofsound, the grin falling off his face. Dappled moonlight paints the fighters as they work. Hook is clever, waiting and striking whenever he sees an advantage. Bill is more openly combative, taking more shots and seemingly using an ‘any hit is a good hit’ tactic. I can’t fault him, not when he rings Hook’s bell on one lucky hit.
“You done?” Bill asks.
“Not until you’re on the ground.” Hook circles the larger man, the moonlight painting him in strokes of silver and gray. His black hair falls on his forehead, and he wears a pair of leather pants better than any man should.
I’m glued to the match, to the clear artistry in the lithe way Hook moves and strikes. The spell he weaves with his body grips parts of me that have never even been glimpsed by anyone else. Maybe it’s a death wish or maybe it’s me finally feeling alive after going so long without it. I don’t know. But Idoknow I can’t take my eyes off him. Not for a second.
Still, if he simply pressed his lips to mine, what would I do?No. I can’t let my thoughts go there. Not when I know he’s a liar and a killer. But they stray there anyway, giving me brief fantasies that can never come true.
Someone clears their throat behind me, and I whirl as my door clicks shut and the man blocking it gives me a withering glare.
ChapterTwelve
Smee had pleasant names for everything, and his cutlass was Johnny Corkscrew, because he wriggled it in the wound.
“Idon’t know what your purpose is or what you could hope to accomplish by spying for Pan, but I assure you it won’t work.” Smee’s words are clipped. He seems even more like an accountant now, his tone implying that I screwed up all the numbers and I’ll have to stay behind to balance the books. “I’m onto you. You won’t be leaving here with any information. Maybe the captain can’t see you for what you are, but I certainly can.” He steps forward, menace in his gait.
I back up, but there’s nowhere to go. When I blink, I see Calico Jack, not Smee.
“Don’t.” I put a hand out in front of me as Sally flaps away from the windowsill. “Don’t come any closer.”
Smee’s eyebrows draw together in disdain. “Excuse me?” He puts his hands on his hips and moves to the middle of the room.
“Stay back!” I scream.
He actually jumps, his mouth dropping open. “Ibegyour pardon?”
It’s not Calico Jack. Calico Jack is dead. He’s dead.I can’t blink, because if I do, I seehim.
“You’re not him,” I tell Smee. “You don’t look like him or sound like him.”
“Who?” Smee’s initial haughty tone has fallen away somewhat. Now he’s more perplexed than anything. “Who are you talking about?”
“Calico J-Jack.”
That gets his nose in the air quick. “As if I would ever be in the same room with that reprobate.”
“I was in a room with him.” I try to get air, but even though I’m breathing faster, I can’t seem to hold it in. It’s like there’s a leak where my courage should be. “He … He …” I get a flash of him leering at me, his hands on me. It makes me want to retch all over the lovely wood floor.
Smee’s face softens for only a moment. “Oh.” He steps backwards and keeps going until his back is to the wall beside the door. “Oh, I see. I didn’t realize you—”
The door bursts open, flying straight into Smee’s face.
