Unforeseen Circumstances

I opened my cell phone that was in my pocket. No signal came up. I expected that. No cell towers were close enough to get a signal. I needed to get in touch with the coast guard. Although I wasn’t technically being held hostage, these were pirates after all! Wouldn’t they want to take them into custody? I thought of Seth. If he commandeered this vessel, he would go to jail. If he was a pirate, didn’t he deserve that? Didn’t they all? A piece of me almost felt like I was betraying them. I had grown so fond of Robert, Jake and Luke and had fallen in love with Seth, but they were criminals. I had to keep reminding myself of that! Either they had put on a good act the whole time they were around me or they were very cordial pirates. Maybe, they had all fallen for Jackie, Mandi and I when they had gotten to know us so they didn’t want to harm us. That was the thing! I had feelings for Seth. I had a hard time piecing him together with the pirates who showed no remorse. Yet, Luke said that the owner and crew didn’t meet a very good end. Could I love a killer, a thief of the worst kind? Could I? I was startled out of my thoughts by the question, “Contemplating your escape?” Seth walked up behind me. I was leaning on the back rail looking at the small boat. It hit so close to home! I wonder how he did that. How does he read my mind? “Actually, I was.” I figured there was no use lying and he might as well know that I wasn’t going to sit idly by while I was taken, well whatever I was at the moment. “Not a wise idea,” he said as he leaned against the rail with me. “There are more of them out there and I wouldn’t be there to protect you.” “Them? Seth! Aren’t you one of them?” I asked incredulously. “It’s complicated,” he said. “Try to un-complicate it for me!” I stared back at him, waiting. “I can’t get into it with you right now. I told you, you have to trust me!’ He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “Sometimes it is safer for you not to know some things. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever know, just not now,” he said seriously as he turned to face me. “You know, you’re driving Luke nuts by not listening to me and doing what I tell you to do. You make it difficult for us to protect you.” “Why?” I asked, mocking his earlier tone. “Aren’t I clearly your ‘trophy’ and its hands off?” He chuckled and shook his head saying, “Love, you could never by anyone’s ‘trophy' But, they don’t know that. I said that keep you safe.” “Well, then why do you feel you have to protect me,” I asked, still confused. He looked at me before answering. After a few moments he said, “Sometimes, there is no honor among thieves. I don’t know how far to trust these men.” Since he seemed to be in a talkative mood, I figured I would try to ask more questions. “So what did happen to the owner and the crew of this boat?” He smiled before answering, “So you think I am a killer? Isn’t that what you are really asking me?” Hearing him say it out loud made me shudder. I really didn’t want to know, yet I needed to know. I didn’t know if knowing the truth was going to change how I felt deep down inside about him. I knew that my head would overrule my heart in this case. I waited, holding my breath. He moved closer to me, making me shudder for a whole other reason.