“No, Charlie,” he said grabbing her arm. “I’m not going to let you get in a fight.”
Charlie pulled free of his hand and darted towards the tavern. “You can’t stop me, Morty. You never could.”
Morty swore as he watched her enter and followed her. She was at the bar ordering more drinks for them, two ales and a brandy which she threw back immediately. She left one tankard at the bar for Morty, the other ale she would intentionally spill on some mean-looking tar. That was how she usually started fight.
Charlie grabbed the tankard and scoped the place for her victims. Two men by the wall seemed to be in a heated discussion.
“No, Charlie!”
But it was too late. Charlie pretended to trip as she slung the contents of the tankard at them.
Chairs scraped noisily as the men jumped to their feet.
“What the hell?”
“Don’t hit her,” Morty cried thrusting himself in front of Charlie. “She’s a girl. It was an accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident,” Charlie said shoving Morty aside. “And you are more of a girl than I am.”
Morty suddenly recognized the men. “She’s your captain’s fiancée.”
“Bullshit! Women tremble in fear at the sight of our captain.”
Charlie wasn’t going to let Morty stop her. She kicked one of the men in the chest sending him into the wall. The other lunged at her and she flipped him onto his back.
“Charlie, stop. They were on the corsair. They are—“
“My men!” Jaxon said pushing Morty aside. “You’re twice her size. Can’t you stop her?” he ground out to Morty.
27
Morty speared Jaxon with a hard stare folding his arms over his chest. This man didn’t know Charlie like he did. She fought fearlessly and had no qualms about inflicting pain when she was riled. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done,” he drawled, a smirk lifting one corner of his mouth.
Jaxon was behind her in an instant. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away from his crewmen as they found their footing again. “Don’t even think about hitting her,” he ordered to his men. Then he turned to Morty, “That’s how you do it.”
Unfortunately for Jaxon, he had only used one arm to grab her leaving his injured side open.
“You’re only stopping me because I’m letting you,” Charlie said sending her elbow into Jaxon’s wound.
Jaxon doubled over with the force of the blow, relaxing his grip on her enough for Charlie to break free.
“You were saying…?” Morty sneered.
Jaxon cast a caustic glare at Morty as he righted himself. Charlie had taken up an offensive position across from him, bouncing on the balls of her feet with her arms raised. Jaxon could feel the wake of air as she began throwing kicks and punches inches from his face. Had he moved any closer, he would have gotten walloped with the full force of her blows.
Jax tried several times to grab her wrists, but she easily batted his hands away.
“Bloodthirsty wench,” Jaxon muttered taking a step back and turning away. He reached in his pocket and threw a couple of coins on the table where his men had been sitting. “Have a couple more on me.”
He turned back to Charlie who had settled down on her heels. “I’m leaving. Are you coming with me?”
“Are you going to make me tremble?” she asked with a saucy glint, knowing he had heard what his sailors had said.
He held out his hand to her silently. Stoically.
Charlie’s eyes darted between Jaxon and Morty. She loved Jaxon with all of her being, but Morty was hurting and frankly, she missed him more than she imagined possible.
“Charlie, your hesitation speaks volumes,” Jaxon gritted then turned on his heels and departed without looking back.
Charlie watched as Jaxon left the tavern in stunned silence. She swore and ran after him, catching up with him quickly in the middle of the road.
“Jaxon—”
Jaxon turned and grabbed her by the arms. “I don’t share what’s mine. When you didn’t walk out that door with me, it told that you are having second thoughts.”
“I’m here now,” she cut in.
“You were happy to marry me when you had no other options, but now that you’ve got your ship and your old life back…” he trailed off with a shrug. “I-I think Grayson may have been right. Maybe I was just a way to improve your lot.”
“No, Jaxon—”
He gave her a little shake. “You need to decide what you want. I’m not going to play this game with you.”
“I’m not playing games!” she shouted. “I needed to make sure Morty was all right. Daniel should have warned him, but he was taken unawares.”