Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
It was only then she realized how intimate this violence appeared to the crowd. How he hovered over her, inside her still… smiling even as they gathered to watch. “You’re a virgin.”
The label was a bit sticky, though she had been waiting until marriage to enjoy penetration. “Was. You just tore my hymen, which I will never forgive you for.”
“No cock was in you. You’re still a virgin.”
Heart racing, unwilling to back down, she spat, “Don’t debate physiology with me, slaver. Finish what you started. Show me why you polish those boots every day. Show them all just what you really are. A monster who exploits women and sexually assaults strangers.”
His hand left her neck, stroking a stray curl off her sweaty forehead. “Oh, they know exactly what I am. Just as we all know why I won’t damage a valuable, beautiful, red-haired virgin. The men wouldn’t stand for it.”
“This joke of civility you stage here each night? Utter bullshit.” Rolling her body under his weight as if she stood a chance to displace him, Eugenia added, “I. Will. Not. Whore. For. Fucking. Tickets.”
Fingers still burrowed, her blood making its slow way down her crack, he put his lips to her hair. Breathed her in. “Give head for tickets if you don’t want to be fucked. You can save your pussy for your nonexistent Prince Charming.”
“What an elegant solution!” Though he was still in her and it still hurt, she made sure the whole deck heard her crystal-clear. “Try putting a dick near my mouth and I’ll bite it off. Let me off this boat now and save yourself a pile of trouble. I’ll upset your system. I’ll twist your rules. I’ll take the beatings. Hear me when I say this. I’ve faced down far worse than any of you.”
“Well then, siren.” Finally, the captain pulled his fingers out of her body, pinioning weight against his prize while he inspected the blood on those digits for himself. Red, fresh, and more copious than she’d expected, his three fingers shined crimson in the setting sun.
And she stung where the membrane had been torn, hating to think of what dirt might have been under his nails when he thought to subdue her with something so…
When he took something so…
She wouldn’t call it precious. Because it wasn’t anymore.
Because this world’s elders fucked it up for everyone. Long gone were wedding nights and tender men. They had Johns, who she’d saved and who’d tried to trade her person for fucking water.
“The shock will wear off. Look at me.”
“What?” That’s right. She was on a ship, dressed like a tramp so she might earn tickets to freedom for sexual favors.
And the man who had just jammed his fingers with true violence inside her was adjusting the gusset of her lacy panties, smearing her thigh with virgin blood.
“Get off of me.” Her voice shook, and she hated herself for it.
“I think you need a drink. Also, just so we’re clear, you’ve added one-hundred thousand tickets to your price.”
Oh, she was going to kill him. Which didn’t need to be said. It was right there in her glare. “I will find a way to take something from you of equal value. Then I will burn your goddamn ship to the bottom of this rancid lake.”
Why was he smiling? “I believe you.”
“You’re smarter than you look.”
After snapping his fingers, Joan appeared out of thin air to his call. How she already had a cup of beer, Eugenia couldn’t say. But it was there, and he took it, pressing it to her hands.
“I’m not drinking that shit.” A clear head was needed at all times these days.
“Drink it or I’ll put my fingers back in and keep them there all night.” And he’d enjoy it—his smirk said that plain as day.
But she was no simple opponent. “Do yourself a favor and escort me off the boat.”
“Try again, siren.” He pushed the earthenware cup closer to her lips, fingers coated in her drying blood.
She would not take a drop into her mouth, considering what might lurk in homebrew garbage… until her eyes cut to Table #2 and the terror on Brooke’s face registered.
All of it sunk in at that moment. It was more than this fucked society, air conditioning, whoring, and fingers ripping membranes. It was more than her at stake, which is what made the captain’s system so indescribably wrong. Every soul on this ship was tied to a well-oiled machine of expectation and consequence. Eugenia’s hostility would cost another far more than it would cost her.
The captain was indeed smarter than the lazy cowboy persona he projected.
And he knew it. And he knew the precise moment she knew it too.
“I will drink. I will go back to my table and verbally entertain your men… on one condition.”
Voice husky, he said, “I do enjoy negotiation.”