7Chapter 8- clandestine love and unknown forces
Now that they knew everything they needed to know; a quest queued up next but before they got to that, Jack decided to go to a pub; to loosen up.
The trio walked in that direction.
Strange thing was that the couple which was at each other's throats earlier was beautifully embraced in one another's arms; but that wasn't something to worry about when it came to Jack and Angelica. But how did they get there? Well, it was the so doing of Cuba's nippy weather; Angelica was cold, so Jack got the duty to keep her warm; as expected.
They actually enjoyed every moment of it, especially Angelica who enjoyed the warmth that radiated from Jack but mostly his tender and loving embrace. They even wondered why they argued so much. There was so much passion and chemistry between them and they knew that.
Mr Gibbs on the other hand just looked at them with smirk lined on his face. The two were well-matched just like a pirate and rum. He just hoped Jack would not go nuts and let her go again.
Then the quietness was attacked by a noise; music playing to be exact. The trio had finally reached their destination.
Jack looked at the pub like he had seen heaven. Well yes, it was heaven to him because it was the home of his favorite beverage: rum. He had not had some in hours; his entire being was craving for that sweet burning drink. It was heaven in a bottle.
Without delay, he advanced to the door; almost hitting the hanging wooden plank with the words, "welcome to the mad man's quarters," printed on it.
Gibbs and Angelica just followed behind him.
Angelica actually didn't like those places that much but she decided not to protest because she didn't want to start any arguments or fights.
Loud fast-paced violin music injured their ears accompanied by the stench of sweat. That pub was no different to a pub that would be found in Tortuga. There was chaos all around; people doing all sorts of daft things. Some were dancing to the music, others were fighting for no particular reason at all that every now and then a bullet missed somebody and also those types of people who sat in the darkest corners drowning their sorrows on massive amounts of booze.
The name of the pub corresponded.
"Mister Gibbs," Jack called.
"Aye cap'n," he answered.
"We have a need to recruit more crewmen."
"Oh? How many be that?"
"A devil's dozen."
Gibbs nodded 'yes' and went on to do his assigned duty but not before ordering a bottle of rum.
Then Jack's eyes rested on a group of men and a fair amount of women circled around a table with a lit candle in the center. Jack could tell they were telling stories; his specialty.
"Gentlemen….and ladies," he called, "sharing stories without me, eh?"
The men looked to where the voice came from. Gasps surrounded the room, Awe written on their faces; well, for the ladies it was astonishment, he looked more handsome than he looked on the wanted posters.
"It's captain Jack Sparrow," a man said in amazement.
"You are more handsome in person than you look on the posters," a woman said.
Jack smirked," why thankee love. There is lot of people out there who shouldn't be painters."
The women giggled. He had a very good and charming sense of humor, they thought.
"Uh...captain sparrow…sir, would you mind…sharing a tale of one of your adventures?" a man asked nervously.
"Of course," he gladly said, "move," he told one man.
The man wanted to protest but chose not to. He didn't want to anger one of the most infamous pirate captains, so he just moved out of the seat.
Jack sat on it and as one man got his perfectly full bottle of rum to open but that didn't come to pass for Jack had grabbed it, him opening it and taking a swig. Oh that taste, he missed it, he felt like a part of him was coming alive again.
"So gentlemen and ladies, of course, lend me your ears, this is the only chance you have to hear the story from me; meself."
-X-O-X-
Gasps and chuckles occupied the room. All the music had stopped playing for everyone had joined the group; including the pub owner.
Every man idolized him and some envied him. How could a man go through all that and death seemed to be clearly uninterested in him? He even escaped Davy Jones' locker!
Jack enjoyed every second of it. He had some very bad years back and his reputation was in its worst condition. Some of the things he said were just fabrications to bolster his reputation.
After thirty minutes, the mind-blowing and spine-chilling tale came to its conclusion.
"And that is how my dear friend, Hector Barbossa and that half-sliced brain ghostie; Salazar, met their demise," Jack said.
Silence.
"Poor hector, he died because of his daughter," a man spoke up.
"Women are sure bad luck," another man added with a hint of anger in his voice.
The men roared in support.
The women did the opposite.
Jack just kept quiet, him deep in thoughts of his own. Where the men right? Was a woman really bad luck? Was Angelica bad luck? Maybe getting her back was a mistake and it would only do no good to his reputation; maybe he should let her go? Oh what was he thinking? Those rum-soaked idiots couldn't possibly change his mind. He was Captain Jack sparrow.
He came back to reality and the silly discussion was still being chewed over.
"My sister was the one who caused death to my dog. I will never forget that," a man said sadly.
Jack quirked his eyebrow, those men where surely idiots.
"And that is why I decided to not get me a wife," a man said.
Silence.
The men looked at him and as if their eyes were telling him to look behind. He did so only to be welcomed by a hard slap from a woman who had a furious look; his wife.
"That is why you decided to not get a wife, eh?" she asked.
"Uh…I…I meant that…metaphorically," the man answered, with groans escaping him once or twice per second.
"Sure you did." She said angrily and sarcastically. She turned around; her destination being outside.
"Darling? Honey?" he shouted standing up to go outside as well, "it was a metaphor, I learned it at church three Sundays ago when you missed the service."
Jack chuckled. Now that you cannot find elsewhere other than pubs.
He got up to go and order a bottle of rum but he stopped for he had seen Angelica sitting alone in a corner. He ignored his need for rum and walked to her.
"Oi love, what be the problem? Is anything wrong, mi princesa?" he asked worriedly and sat across to her.
"Nothing is wrong, don't worry," she reassured.
"No, I can tell there is something wrong, love."
"Am okay, Jack," she forced a smile to convince him and hid the talisman inside her dress.
"If you are then say that favorite Spanish word of mine."
Angelica was alarmed, "definite no."
By Angelica's reaction you could tell that it was inapt. But it reminded her of the good times they had; gyrating and incessant writhing.
"C'mon love, I promise nobody will hear us or understand what you'll say."
"People speak Spanish here. Stop being an idiota."
"I don't care just say it. Instead of a word make it a sente…."
"Jack?" somebody interrupted.
They looked to where the voice came from. In front of them stood a woman. She had shoulder length auburn hair and by the clothes she wore you could tell that she was a pirate.
"Uh…who you be?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.
The woman rolled her eyes. Had she changed that much?
"It's Arabella, Jack," she said.
"Bell?" Jack asked.
She nodded 'yes' with a smile.
Jack looked at her with surprise written across his face, "I never thought you could thrive with the pirate's life."
"Well, I just had to. The world is not as friendly as it was. I'd rather just remain a pirate."
Angelica just stared between Jack and Arabella.
"Uh…Jack, introduce us…." Arabella said looking at Angelica.
"Oh…uh…Angelica meet Arabella…Smith and Arabella meet Angelica Teach," he was very bad at introductions unless introducing himself; he was very good at that.
"Nice to meet you Angelica…" Arabella said.
"Pleasure to meet you too," Angelica replied.
"Teach?" Arabella asked looking at Jack with a raised eyebrow.
"Aye, she be the late Blackbeard's daughter," Jack answered.
"I've heard of you," Arabella said and smiled.
Angelica looked intently at her; she noticed something odd; Arabella's smile was completely fake. Why was that?
"So Jack, you know I am very curious to know about what you've been up to all these years," Arabella said moving closer to Jack and suddenly crashed her lips against his.
Jack's eyes widened. What was happening? He wanted to pull back but he couldn't. He tried with main and might but he couldn't.
Angelica watched. Not knowing what to do or say. She felt a very uncomfortable coldness surge through her body.
Jack looked at Angelica with his lips glued to Arabella's. He saw the hurt, pain and hate in her eyes. He tried to nod 'no', to tell her that none of what was happening was his wanting but he couldn't, it looked like there was a force that was not letting him.
Angelica without a word, slowly stood from her seat; her body trembling; shivering. She couldn't even walk properly; she did it in aid of the wall.
Gibbs saw her go out. Where was Jack? He wondered because he wouldn't certainly let Angelica go out by herself. So he traced the path she came from, to a disturbing sight; Jack was making out with a woman.
He paused.
He even stopped listening to the men who wanted to sign up for crew membership. He just stood up furiously and walked quickly to them and pulled Jack away from Arabella.
"What in god's name are you doing, Jack?" he exclaimed.
"I… don't know," he answered, "I need….i need to…I need to follow her…I need to find her."
He looked desperately at Gibbs. . His eyes shiny from the tears that formed in his eyes. Looking as if he had just seen his worst fear
He was not going to lose her; not again. He ran quickly out of the pub.
"Jack? Jack," Arabella called, "where are you going?"
She advanced to the door but Gibbs caught her by the arm.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Just stay out of my business," she said through gritted teeth and escaped his grip.
She followed Jack.
Angelica ran and ran, not caring if she bumped into someone. She ran not knowing where to go. She didn't have any place to call home. Tears stained her face; she had to and needed to cry, she had been tough for too long. She wanted to scream, break something or even kill someone thinking doing that could at least relieve her of the pain she felt.
On the other hand, Jack ran through town like a mad man, calling Angelica's name out and not caring about what people thought. He just needed to find her.
Angelica's running led her to the docks but she didn't want anything to do with the black pearl anymore. She ran to the other side of the docks where there were no ships anchored. She slumped down; crying her lungs out.
"Please somebody help me. I just can't….i can't do this anymore. " she mumbled between her tears.
She was completely tired of this. It was the same thing all the time but she couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to jump and let the sea take care of her. As she was about to do it, she felt a hand pull her; it was Jack.
She knew that no matter how hard she could try, she wouldn't escape his grip. Drastic times calls for drastic measures; she got her dagger and slashed his arm, he instinctively let go of her. The last thing she heard where Jack's groans before she went running again.
Where could she go? Even if she ran she knew Jack would catch up to her. She came across the pearl and decided to go onboard and actually if she was planning on leaving, her things where there.
Jack also in no time went onboard the pearl by one of his crew member's direction who was caught fishing when he had to guard the ship.
He ran to his cabin, he tried to open the door but it was locked; she was in there, "Angelica please open the…." He just stopped and sighed.
He knew she wouldn't do it. He lost her; unfairly at that.
"Jack," he heard someone call.
Arabella came into view.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Why the bloody hell did you do that?" he shouted with all the anger in the world. That was a captain Jack Sparrow anyone had never seen before.
"Do what?" Arabella asked.
"Why did you kiss me?"
"Oh Jack, let's not prolong this. I know you love me," she said cruelly.
Little did Jack know, she had fallen in love with him during their childhood adventures together.
"What? Have been in Davy Jones' locker where you had clearly lost your mind? I do not love you."
"Yes you do love me, Jack. You love me," Arabella shouted insanely.
"I love Angelica."
"Her?" she asked disgusted.
"Aye her. She's the greatest woman I have met and the only one I've ever come to love."
"You're going to regret this, Jack," she said in a threatening tone.
"I don't care. You've destroyed the thing that mattered most in my life. Just leave," he said sadly and walked away.
Angelica sighed. She was leaning against the door. She had eavesdropped on the conversation between Jack and Arabella. She didn't know what to do now, she was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
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