Page 82 of A Flash of Golden Fire

“For fuck’s sake!” Captain Martin said.

He marched over as I draped my jacket over my bare shoulders.

He leaned toward the door. “Yes?” he asked.

“It’s me, Captain. Hillier.”

“What do you want?”

“May I come in?”

Captain Martin glanced at me. I shrugged.

“If you promise not to be upset at what you see.”

“Oh. I…yes, I promise,” Hillier said, but he didn’t sound all that sure of himself.

Perhaps the captain was only trying to get rid of him because I still had most of my clothes on.

Captain Martin opened the door and ushered Hillier inside. Hillier looked at me, saw that I had my jacket over my bare torso like a shawl, noticed my bare feet, looked at Captain Martin, and smiled with relief.

“You had me going there for a moment.”

Captain Martin smirked. “What did you think you were going to see?”

“I…don’t think I can say that out loud.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I cursed, throwing my jacket on the chair and starting to undo my pants.

“White. You can wait until I’m done with Hillier to finish your disrobing.”

“But why should I? He seems to have expected to see me trussed naked from the roof. Surely standing here with no clothes on won’t bother him.”

“Rooster, keep your fucking breeches on.”

I stilled my fingers and straightened, crossing my arms over my chest. I did feel a little self-conscious in front of Hillier, to be honest.

“What’s the matter?” the captain asked.

“I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, Dinesh. You see…the men want their ten per cent now,” Hillier muttered.

Captain Martin stared at Hillier as if he couldn’t fathom the rush. “Rightnow? I’m a little busy…”

“Yes, well, I told them you were,” Hillier said, clearing his throat. “And Torrington said, ‘If the captain’s too busy—” Hillier glanced at me with an apology. “—dipping his dick in that pretty witch—” I preened as the captain scowled. “—then we’ll distribute the loot ourselves’.” Hillier shrugged.

Captain Martin blinked. “We haven’t even assessed the size of the haul.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Captain Martin thought about what Hillier had said. “Do you think they’d wait if I spoke to them?”

“Mayhap.” Hillier let his gaze shift to me for a moment.

“Hmm,” Captain Martin hummed. “What if you select some items of moderate value to give to each of the crew with promises of more to come once we take a cataloguing of what we found?”

Hillier stood a bit straighter. “Of course, Captain. If you’d trust me to do so.”

Captain Martin put a hand on Hillier’s shoulder. “Of course I do. I wouldn’t have put you in Donatello’s place if I didn’t.”