Tally gets closer, bringing me back to the present moment and making my pulse race and blood rush in my ears. Flashes of memories from last night race through me once again.So much for locking down my emotions.
For fuck sakes, this is why I don’t let anyone through my carefully constructed walls.
Henri gives me a sharp nudge to the ribs with his elbow, shaking me from my stupor. Breaking the spell that Tally somehow had put on me– one she continuously seems to put on me– my gaze flits over to see Henri giving me a quizzical look.
Right, I was in the middle of a sentence.
Clearing my throat, I continue. “As I was saying, I need to talk to Tally before we can lug any more bodies off the ship.”
“I’m guessing you’re wanting to talk to me about where to cart off the–” Tally stops in front of us, her nose scrunching up at the smell emanating from the cart now beside her. “Well, where to cart this lot.”
Normally this is where I say something but seeing her again in the light of day, so freaking close, with the sunlight treating her like a deity, it's making my head spin. Henri gives me another strange look before speaking himself.
“Spot on, Tally.”
Tally grins his way, before she clocks me with her stare once more.
Then she opens those sinister lips. “Well, sweetie, I’ve got pyre’s being built just down the beach.” She points to our left,following her finger I see a small group of people a little ways down the beach lugging about bits of wood.
Somehow I find my voice, looking at Henri I order, “Take the carts down to the pyres and bring them back on the quick. I want the bodies off this ship by nightfall.”
Then without looking back at Tally, I stomp back up the gangplank.
I need more time before I deal with her alone. The touch of her from last night is still too fresh in my memory.
I need space.
And time.
“Aye, Boss.” Henri speaks behind me. I ignore him continuing to move away. Lucky for me, walking away after giving an order and offering no other comments is more than common from me.
Letting my footfalls fill the air, I continue until I’m back on top deck, letting the grotesque smells of death bring me back to the task at hand. Cleaning away the deathly debris.
The sounds of a handful of my crew mates working fills the space and it's enough to get me to focus once more. Rolling my neck and cracking my knuckles, I finish my stomping across the deck and focus on grabbing the next corpse.
And the next. Then the next.
Hoisting the body over my shoulder, I grimace as something still lukewarm and wet rolls down my back. I fight back a gag as fluid soaks my shirt. I guess there are still things that make my stomach roll.
Wanting this over sooner rather than later I turn around, only to stop stock still.
Because there in front of me, a mischievous glint in her eye, is Tally.
Fuck.
Chapter Eleven
CYRUS
There’s a thud as my chest collapses in on itself.
That mischievous glint sparkling within the sun’s rays, captivating me with the way she seems to glow.
It takes me a second to realise that the thud wasn’t my internal organs folding in on themselves, it was from the dead weight on my shoulder flopping onto the floor. The slice in the body's stomach leaving innards down my arm.
The fluids sink into the cotton of my shirt snapping me back to reality, as Tally says, “You dropped that.”
That incriminating smirk still lights her features.
