Free The Cursed Doubloon by B.T. Love Page A

me Melody back!”
    “Oh, that man!” I said with the slam of my door. “I’m sorry he calls you a merman.”
    “But that is technically what I am. It does not offend me.”
    “But it’s not what you are anymore. You are a man . And a handsome one at that.”
    “You still find me handsome?”
    “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
    He looked down at his chest. “My skin no longer shimmers in the light of the moon, and my tail is no longer here. I know how much you loved it so.”
    “Yes,” I agreed, “you were spectacular as a merman, but you are even more spectacular now. Because now you can actually be with me.”
    “In every way.”
    I opened the door once again and stepped out. “If you’re lucky,” I said, leaving him with a smile.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Six: A Pirate In The Making
     
     
    The clothing shop owner was a little baffled as to why I was waiting at her door for her business to open. When I went in she left me to my shopping, but I spotted her occasionally watching me as she swept up around the small room.
    I had an image in my mind of how I wanted Ladarius to look: different. Not different enough to come off as odd to Keelhaul, but I wanted him to look like a clean respectful pirate. “Clean respectful pirate,” I scoffed to myself. “There is no such thing.”
    “Do you need any help, dear?” the lady asked, obviously overhearing my private utterances to myself.
    “No thank you. I’m just talking out loud to myself about these wonderfully-made garments you carry.”
    She smiled with pride and went back to her sweeping.
    I continued my searching and found a white long-sleeved shirt made of cotton that was open at the neck. I paired it with a charcoal-colored vest, a pair of trousers, and a nice pair of brown boots. On my way to pay the shop owner I spotted a red bandana hanging on the wall. “I’ll take the bandana too,” I told her.
    I hurried back to the ship and found Ladarius in my cabin asleep on my bed with the blanket barely covering him. I put his clothes on the nightstand and left the room, letting him indulge himself in some much needed rest.
     
    * * *
     
    “Weigh anchor men!” John shouted. “We be settin’ off fer our voyage to find Keelhaul’s ship!”
    I stood next to him and stared out at the wall of heavy mist that was rolling in. “Father’s not going to like that fog when he sees it.”
    “Aye,” John agreed. “But he be havin’ no choice but to—”
    “Avast! The curse of the fog be surroundin’ me ship!”
    We turned to see my father wide eyed with his finger pointing in the cloud’s direction.
    I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a curse, Father. We are living on the sea; the fog lives here.”
    “We must be gettin’ away! We be sailin’ around it men!”
    “Captain,” John cut in, “with all do respect, if we go around it wouldn’t it be takin’ us too far off course?”
    “We need to haul wind,” Ladarius’s deep voice rang out. We all shifted our attention to him standing in the doorway of my cabin adorned in the clothing I had bought him. He looked amazing. The pants gripped at his legs nicely and the boots were proper. The white shirt was under the charcoal-colored vest and was open enough to display the ridges of his chest muscles.
    “Wow,” I spoke first, “you look stunning.”
    “Thank you,” he smiled. “I was hoping I put it on correctly. I almost fell over putting on the trousers.”
    I laughed and stared at him with both admiration and lust that was taking over my body the more and more we were together. In that moment no one else was on deck but the two of us.
    “My my!” John said. “Ye actually be lookin’ like a real pirate.”
    “He not be a real pirate!” my father added. “Not ‘til he be speakin’ like one and pullin’ his weight like one.”
    “I will pull my weight I can assure you that,” Ladarius told him. “And you need to haul wind. It will get us through the fog much