The Witch's Pirate! (Book 1)
Chapter 29: My Choice

Crystal

We entered a dark room, filled with candles and the afternoon sunlight beamed through a small round window on our left.

“Place him here.” The elder woman pointed at the floor. Max and I moved rapidly to place him gently on the ground. Max started to open his shirt.

“Come with me girl.” The elder moved away from us, and Belle nodded, following the elder.

With shaky hands, I looked down, to see his chest, tan, and tight. I looked down at his abdomen, which was very fit, with abs, but my eyes narrowed to see a large old bullet scar under his rib cage, then some other scars, sword scars. Then the new one, a large gash across his stomach. It looked deep.

He’s been through so much. Oh God. I moved to touch his hand, but hesitated at the thought.

“Will he be okay?” I asked Max. Max glanced up at me,

“I hope so,” he turned, and I looked to see Captain Bayou sweating heavily.

It’s going to be okay, is going to be okay. I chanted in my head. The elder and Belle came back.

Belle held a bucket of water while the elder came with some medical supplies.

“Little one, come here and wet these towels,” she told me. I nodded and went around, and did what she told me.

“Clean around his wound, and press it down to stop the blood, you dog ears come with me,” she pointed at Max. Max gave me a worried look, but then looked at the elder, in surprised over what she had called him.

“Go,” I waved, kneeling in front of Captain Bayou and starting to clean his wound.

Please God, let him get better. I prayed. Belle placed her hand on my shoulder. I turned to face her.

“He’ll be alright, he always does. This isn’t his first time getting wounded,” she tried to assure me. I bit my lower lip.

“Thank you,” I whispered to her. She nodded and turned to see Captain Bayou.

“How did you meet him?” I finally asked, trying to distract my mind. Belle suddenly giggled and turned to face me.

“Why are you asking me so suddenly?”

“Because I want to distract my mind,” I told her. She went quiet for a brief second and then sighed.

“That’s a story for another day,” she told me. I frowned at her but nodded.

“Is it long?”

“No, but is not the moment to tell. I’ll go and help Max and the elder,” she stood up and left. I pressed the towel on his wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

“Please don’t die, if so, I won’t forgive you.” I cried out, feeling my tears about to fall.

“Please, don’t die.”

“Now leave him to rest, come,” the elder said an hour later after she had finished patching up Captain Bayou. He didn’t even wince in pain when the elder placed some herbs on the wound and tied it with a sheet. He hadn’t awoken or made a single noise at all.

“Can I stay? I want to make sure he’s alright.” The elder’s dark eyes twinkled, and she nodded.

“Come out within an hour, we have lots to talk about little one.”

And with that she left the room. Belle followed her out, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Max.

“Thank you Max, for saving me,” I told him. He shook his head.

“Is no bother, if anything we’ll in the next room.” I nodded, watching him leave. I moved, and looked down at Captain Bayou. He was breathing softly. I covered my mouth and let my tears fall.

I didn’t want them to see me crying.

That was scary. My body shook, and a choked sob escaped my lips. I didn’t take notice that my tears were splashing onto Captain Bayou’s arm. He moaned, slightly opening his eyes. Lazily he blinked. He moved his big hand and cupped my cheek.

“Why is my love crying?” his voice cracked. My eyes widened looking down at him. His eyes were cloudy. He started to stand up, but I pressed my hand to his shoulder.

“You’re wounded don’t sit up. Go back to sleep.” I told him. He lifted his gaze,

“Why are you crying?” he repeated again, staring at me. I shook my head.

“I am sad. I miss my home.” I lied, so as not to worry him.

“Liar,” he took my hand, and pulled me down, causing me to land on his warm chest. My face got hot, as he wrapped his arm around me, givingme a soft embrace.

“Tell me, why is my wife crying?” He moved and I could hear him wince.

“Nothing, you’re out of it, just sleep.” He held me tighter.

“Just tell me what’s wrong? Hate repeating myself.” I moved my hand, only to feel his soft hot skin against mine. My heart started to race madly.

“This is not good. Please let me up.”

“Why is this not good? And tell me, if you do, I will let you go.” I gulped, covering my face with my hand, hearing his heart race.

“Because we are not married and I have never lain next to a man, so this is embarrassing, but if I do, will you let me go?” I asked him.

“Don’t be, I won’t do anything against your will and aye, I will let you go,” he whispered in my ear. I lowered my head.

“Thank you, but it’s still embarrassing. The shadow hurt you, and he tried to force himself on me. Thank God Max and Belle came just in time,” his whole body went rigid at my words. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to say something, curse, but he surprised me when he moved away from me, and pushed me down on the floor. He somehow managed to hover over me. My whole body went tense, as his silver eyes searched mine.

“He didn’t touch you right?” His voice was tight. I shook my head. Something in his silver eyes softened with relief. Without a word, he wrapped his hand around my waist. My heart was racing.

“Thank God,” he murmured.

“You’re hurt, don’t do this, it will reopen the wound,” I whispered. He leaned on his forearm and moved his hand to brush my hair away from my face. My body started to shake even more, but not from fear this time.

“I’m fine, the one that is hurt is you.” His voice turned dark. I stared with wide eyes.

“B... Bayou?” I gasped out, when his hand run down my arm, his eyes roamed around my body. The stare of him meant more than anything. It was sending some strange electricity down my spine.

“You finally said my name, it sounds nice coming out of your lips.”

He moved and pressed his forehead against mine, his breath became hard, and my chest started to rise unevenly. I felt my face boil.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry for making you live through this,” Bayou gasps out,

I gasped when his warm fingers softly touched my neck. His eyes tightened.

“He tried to choke you?” My eyes narrowed, and I nodded. He groaned pressing his forehead on the junction of my neck. I could feel his lips pressed against my skin, almost as though he was kissing my neck, but he wasn’t. My whole body burst oddly. I was now shaking even more.

“I...it’s okay.” I gulped out. He shook his head, and turned around to stand, leaning against the wall. He grasped his wound. I sat up and looked at him.

“No is not,” he groans. I shyly moved up to him, and he looked down at his hands. I did the same, to my surprise they were shaking.

“Bayou? What’s wrong?” I asked. He lifted his gaze to me.

“Everything is wrong. My life has always been hell, the only good thing about it has been Max, and that’s all,” he grunted, running his fingers through his hair. Then he stood up slowly and turned to hit the wall with his leg and fist at the same time.

“I want to kill him so badly, I never ached to kill anyone as much as I do with him,” he growled out. I moved rapidly, grasping his hand, making him look down at me.

“Bayou, don’t, everyone has hard times and hardships. He is evil, but death is not the answer,” I told him.

“Not everyone is cursed, and that man doesn’t deserve pity,” he bitterly spat at me. I lowered my head.

“But you still have hope, if you have hope and faith, God will always bring you a solution. I always believe that, so you do have a solution, we will bring him down, but death is not the answer.” I whispered to him. He didn’t comment, but he changed the subject.

“After we leave, I’ll return you back to your hometown. I’ll give you enough money to survive, you don’t need to be with me any longer.”

No, we are in this together. There was something in his change of tone that didn’t sound too promising.

“Is that so?” I asked.

“You don’t need to be with me any longer.” I lowered my head. Bayou sat right back, and pressed the back of his head against the wall.

“I would love that, but is too late.” I said, when I bent on my knees, and cupped his cheeks. He looked up at me, his eyes widening.

“My life is tied to yours now. It will make no sense to bring me back. I will stick with it until the very end.” His face glowed with the slight light of the sun, and his silver eyes somehow shone with the light. I hiccupped but ignored it.

“You don’t...” but I shook my head.

“I have no other choice, and I don’t want to return to my parents, saying, ‘Oh, I have one more year of life, and if you break the curse, I can live.’ No, I want to be curse-free when I return home.”

“Love, I..” but I shook my head.

“It’s my choice now. It’s scary Bayou, very scary. I thought I would be you know... But I remember your words, and I fought with all my strength. Now that I think about it, I owe you so much. You helped me, and freed me from that man’s grasp. That night I could have been dead or his woman. I would have rather had my head cut off, then let anyone touch me.” I was now crying harder.

“I want to be your witch, I don’t care anymore, we need to stop that king. After today, I discovered how vile that man is. I want to stop him.”

Bayou cupped my cheeks, running his thumb across them. I hiccupped, then he pulled me into a tight hug. I didn’t hesitate and wrapped my arm around his naked shoulders.

“I don’t deserve you.” he told me as he hugs me back. I felt his hand on the back of my head, holding me tight.

“Why? We are friends after all.” I choked out. He shook his head.

“You’re too good for me.”

“We are human Bayou. We all make mistakes. We are not perfect.” I told him, feeling him holding me tighter. I moved to look at his eyes. They were with sorrow and a deep heaviness.

“I’m a killer, my life is a constant hell, I can betray you one day, are you sure you want to be by side?” I nodded looking straight at him.

“I do, it’s not your fault, I want us to stop the king.” I didn’t know how profound his wound was, but what I learned about Bayou that night was that he had a great weight of sorrow and grief that was eating him alive. All I did was taste a small piece of it, not until later on would I learn about how much this man in front of me ached. He hid behind a mask.

He buried his face on my chest and held me tight while I wrapped my arm around his head, leaning my head against his.

“I really don’t deserve you.”