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Anne was aroused from her slumber later that morning by Chris pressing his body against her back and fondling her front with his hands until she woke up squirming and ready for him. He then kissed her shoulders, slid his hands to her hips, and penetrated her from behind while her body remained still and she exhaled through her open mouth. The attention felt wonderful, and Anne soon gasped into almost effortless waves of delight while Chris proceeded to pound to his own satisfaction. After he withdrew, she rolled over and looked at him. “Mmm,” she murmured, snuggling closer until their faces were only inches apart. “Now, that’s the way to be awakened.” She pressed her lips onto his to kiss his still panting mouth, then lay on her back.
Anne could tell by the swaying of the ship that must be under sail, but had no sense of how long she had been sleeping. “What time is it, Chris?” She asked.
“It’s mid-morning.” Chris swung his feet off the bed and sat up on the edge. “And it’s high time for some breakfast.” He turned to look at her still prone beneath the blanket. “You’d better be getting up, too, lazybones. This looks to be a busy day.”
Anne stretched, slid out of the other side of the bed and reached for her clothing. “Where are we sailing to?”
“The plan is to work our way north along Harbour Island and try to recruit some men from the fishing villages to join us. We still don’t have enough crew to take on any decent sized merchant, so we need to bolster our ranks before we can do any serious pirating.”
“We did all right with the ship that we took, didn’t we?”
“We lucked out.” Chris shook his head; in his own cabin he could speak freely. “That was a foolhardy risk, but Jack has always has a tendency to be a bit reckless. That’s why I’m pushing so hard for more crew before we run into any actual action.”
The chance for gaining more crew came later that morning when the lookout sighted two small sails off the starboard bow. “Fishing boats,” Jack Rackham said as he lowered his spyglass. “Not much to offer in the way of booty, but definitely potential recruits, eh quartermaster?” He made a quick nod towards Chris Condent, and then walked to the rail overlooking the main deck to address the crew. “We have two small targets this morning, lads,” He said. “They shouldn’t offer any resistance, but let’s give them a good showing anyway. It will be a good drill for us. Mister Featherstone, bring us alongside the first fishing vessel. Mister Condent, make us ready for action.”
“Aye captain,” Chris Condent snapped to attention. “Gun crews,” He called out. “Load and roll out the starboard cannons. Master-at-arms,” He looked at Mary. “Issue standard arms to all hands and select a boarding party of four.”
Anne grabbed the rail as the ship suddenly lurched into the direction of their quarry and began beating through the swells, but Jack didn’t even flinch from his footing. He stood firm on the quarterdeck and trained his spyglass on the closest fishing boat. “Unfurl the skull and cutlasses,” He shouted, then quietly added, “And you had better go and get yourself equipped, Miss Bonny,” without lowering the spyglass.
“Don’t forget to wear your sash and hat, Anne,” Mary said, smiling while handing her a cutlass, pistol and bag of shot. “You probably won’t be needing these weapons, but you’ll be looking great wearing them.”
Anne returned to the cabin where she tied her sash on just tight enough to prevent the pistol from slipping, and then donned her tricorn and admired herself in the mirror. Suddenly realizing that the loud noises she was hearing were the gun ports opening and the heavy guns being pulled into position, she rushed up on deck so as not to miss anything.
Mary and three sailors were ready at the bow, George Featherstone and Chris were with Jack on the quarterdeck, Andy was at the helm, and the remaining crew were assembled in a row along the starboard rail. “Another five degrees to port, helm,” George Featherstone called out as Anne took her position with the men at the rail. Instead of heaving-to, both of the fishing boats were making a run towards the shore and the William was barely closing on them.
“We run a risk of running aground at this speed and course, captain,” George announced rather loudly with a slight quiver in his voice.
“Agreed, Mister Featherstone,” Jack responded calmly while staring at the fishing boats. “Slow us down and bring us to anchor opposite those vessels once they reach land.” He vigorously massaged his beard. “Quartermaster, keep the guns trained on them. Boarding party, stand by and prepare to lower a boat.”
The frantic fishermen ran their boats up onto the beach and left them there, disappearing into the forest beyond as the William came to rest offshore. The bosun coordinated the stop, first dropping the aft anchor and then the bow to lock their position with the guns facing the shoreline.
“Landing party away,” Jack shouted, and watched as Mary and her team disappeared over the side of the boat. He then turned to Chris. “Select two men and lower another boat, quartermaster. You and I are also going ashore.”
As Chris descended the stairs to the main deck he shook his head towards Anne. “No, you’re staying here,” He told her before she could even ask, and then quickly instructed two men to lower a boat. Jack joined them and they were over the side and away just minutes later.
Not pleased to have been shushed by Chris like that, Anne nevertheless watched with concern for him as he and the others rowed towards the shore. She then looked up to the boat that had left previously and saw that Mary and her party were about to arrive at the beach. The four of them leapt out into the surf and pulled their boat up onto the sand, stood there seemingly looking around for a while, and then walked towards one of the fishing boats lying on it’s side a short distance from where they landed. They were soon joined by Jack and Chris, and Anne watched them gather up into a group, most likely they were having a discussion about what to do. After a few minutes of conference on the beach the pirates clambered onto the fishing boats and started to carry items away from them, loading them onto their rowboats.
Half an hour later they pushed off and began to row back towards the William while Anne helped drag a net from storage and lower it over the side of the ship for them to climb up when they arrived.
The rowboats were then hauled aboard and lowered onto the main deck so they could be unloaded. “Take the fish and lobsters to Mister Dobbin,” Chris, as quartermaster in charge of all booty, told the sailors who were starting to remove the barrels and crates. “The fishing tackle goes into the hold.”
Anne picked up a cask of fish and Chris caught her scowl. “Are you upset because you didn’t go ashore?” He asked.
“What do you think?” She wrapped both arms around the small barrel and jutted her chin at him.
“Look here,” he protested. “I didn’t know what we were going to run into on the beach.”
Anne said nothing, turned her back and walked away with the fish.
“I was protecting you,” he called out after her.
She spun around and glared at him.
“But,” he forced a meek smile. “Perhaps I might have been a bit over cautious, eh? I’m sorry.”
Anne made an expressionless nod in his direction but still didn’t say anything to him. Chris’ apology was enough or her, she had made her point, but she’d let him stew in it for a while. She turned back around and delivered the fish to the galley.
“You seemed a bit hard on Chris earlier,” Mary said to Anne when they met in the armory as planned that afternoon. “He was really only looking out for you. He cares for you a great deal, you know.”
“I know that.” Anne seemed frustrated.
“Why is that a problem?” Mary’s head tilted to the left. “You do like him, don’t you?”
“Oh yes, he’s a wonderful man.” Anne’s mouth wrinkled as she tried to suppress the smile brought on by the memory of that morning.
“But?” Mary coaxed.
“Well, I really like that he treats me like he owns me when it comes to sex, but the rest of the time I’d like him to treat me as a person, the way Jack treats you.”
“But Jack knows I can handle myself in a fight. You have no experience.”
“It’s not just that, Mary. Jack treats you like an equal all of the time. When we’re not having sex, it’s like Chris treats me as if I were a child. I thought I’d got away from all that when I left Carolina. I know that I might not have been qualified to go ashore, but Chris could have explained it to me instead of just a dismissive ‘no’ like I was too young to understand. I want to be treated with a bit more respect than that.”
“Perhaps men have a hard time making a distinction between regular time and sex time?” Mary spoke as if she just had an epiphany. “Even Jack. I mean, he always treats me as an equal, even during lovemaking, but I’d made it clear right off with him that I don’t do lust, just love.” She played with her chin. “I wonder if I hadn’t made that stipulation if he would have ended up treating me the way Chris treats you. That’s interesting,” she nodded. “Because that’s how he used to talk about the delilahs he had before we were a couple.”
“You don’t like lust sex, Mary?” Anne changed the subject because she was deeply curious. How could she not like it?
“I like a man to treat me like the lady that I am.”
Her response didn’t answer the question; Mary was, clearly, holding something back. Anne ran the tip her right index finger across her lower row of teeth and widened her eyes while she looked at Mary. Words were unnecessary to prompt her for more.
“I saw men with women in so many ways when I was a soldier. It wasn’t any specific act that they did that bothered me, though, it was the soldier’s attitudes towards the women themselves. I understood the soldiers feeling and talking that way about prostitutes because those were women they had paid for, but those women and girls who they spent time with that weren’t prostitutes deserved better consideration.”
“That makes sense,” Anne agreed, but then looked quizzical. “You said that the activities the men were engaging in with the women didn’t bother you. Yet, you’ve also told me that you don’t do any of them with the men either?”
“That’s right. I don’t want to do those things because, to me, it seems a bit humiliating.” She smiled at Anne and quickly added, “I know that many women do like it, though. I’m just different, that’s all.”
“Don't you like anything other than missionary sex?” Anne grinned back at her. “I mean, I really enjoy giving in to lust a lot and I’d probably do just about anything once I get all excited. Don’t you have any lusty desires like that?”
“Oh, I do.” Mary’s upper body began to rock back and forth and her face suddenly flushed. “But I’m more, shall we say, when it comes to lust, I’m more like a man.”
“You mean....?” The wide smile developing on Anne’s face demonstrated that she understood exactly what Mary was talking about. “So, you’re saying that you do experience lust, but it’s that you’re going to be the one on top, not the one bent over or on her knees.”
Mary was making long, slow nodding motions while watching Anne’s big green eyes, trying to gauge her attitude. “Just as I said before,” she explained. “When it comes to being with a man I only want to make love.”
“But with a woman?”
“Yes. Then I like to act like a man.”
“So,” Anne needed to have this revelation articulated. “You like to have another woman do things for you?”
“Yes, Anne. That’s right.” Mary finally admitted it. “I used women just like my fellow soldiers did. At first I had to so as not to stick out and be discovered that I wasn’t a man, but then I found out that I liked it. That’s how I can be so understanding with Jack. I like to be with women in just the same way as he does.”
“Does Jack know?”
“Absolutely not. That’s my only secret from him. And since I’ve been with Jack, there have been no women for me.”
“Do you miss being with a woman?” Anne’s breathing was clearly elevated.
“I’d be lying if I said no.” Mary reached out with her right hand and stroked the left side of Anne’s face with her extended fingers. Anne turned her head to the left so Mary’s fingers slid across and between her lips. “But what I think I miss the most about being with a woman,” she continued, sliding her fingertips down the side of Anne’s neck, “Is kissing.” She moved her hand behind Anne’s back and took a step forward, moving their bodies together.
Anne took the initiative and practically lunged at Mary with an open mouthed kiss and simultaneously wrapped her arms tightly around her. Their lips and tongues were completely absorbed with each other for several minutes before Mary eased Anne’s back against the wall and slowly pulled away from the kiss. “It is different with a woman, isn’t it, Anne?” She whispered.
Anne, open mouthed, managed to gasp out a feeble, “Yes,” before she pulled Mary back towards her to resume. Kissing Mary was different to kissing a man because it was about the sensual pleasure of the kiss itself, whereas when a man kissed her it was merely a prelude to his real motive, which was to prepare her for sex. Both types of kisses were very nice, but right now she was infatuated with Mary.
The two women may have continued kissing indefinitely but for the sound of someone coming towards the hold which caused them to break it off. “Well, Anne,” Mary said in a businesslike manner while smirking at her. “These flintlocks aren’t going to check themselves, are they?
“Indeed, not.” Anne answered, mimicking her tone, but her response was really more of a means to check to see if her voice still worked while she turned to see who had entered the hold and was now walking towards them. It was Thomas, one of the new gunners.
“Pardon me for disturbing you ladies,” Thomas said. “The capt’n sent me to ask the master at arms to attend ‘im on deck. Sails ‘ave been sighted on yon horizon.”
