Chapter 6

“You’re joking…” Carmen looked at Shane with a strange look across her face. Something between fear and disgust.

“It’s the last one left.” Shane said trying not to laugh as she laid back into the hammock. Carmen glanced around the forecastle again hoping for a hammock to have cleared up… The same way a man would go to the cupboard again and again hoping to find a new bottle of corked rum. She leaned back against a support beam in defeat when she noticed there were no empty hammocks. She looked at Shane who relaxed back and stretched her arms above her head with a yawn. “Promise I wont bite.” Shane’s words came out long as she let out the last of her yawn and grinned at Carmen.

Carmen didn’t so much as crack a smile. She simply looked at Shane with a blank face. The mere idea that she would share a hammock with Shane was ridiculous to her. She’d never lied with a man and she wasn’t about to start now.

Shane’s smile faltered a little bit when Carmen made no move to join her. “You just goin’ to stand there all night?”

“It’s a considerable option.” Carmen stated more to herself than to Shane. Shane sat up on the hammock and gave Carmen a serious look.

“You could always sleep on the deck. People do it all the time.” Shane stated, not quite ready to give up her spot. Carmen only gave her a cocked brow in response and from a nearby hammock, someone snickered.

Shane sighed in slight frustration. She really didn’t want to give up her spot. She knew she’d have to grab a hammock early. Aboard a pirate ship there were almost always more men than hammocks.

“You can drink on the open deck.” Shane stated trying to give her the upsides so she wouldn’t be forced from her spot. “Or the gun deck, no one sleeps down there. You could have privacy.”

Carmen rolled her eyes just a little bit, “It stinks of sulfur and men down there…” Shane cocked a brow, “No offence…” Carmen stated as an afterthought.

Shane took just a second to realize what she had said and tried not to laugh. “It smells like men in here too.”