Two days later, Katherine had fallen into the groove of sea life. Early mornings and late nights, everything in-between was filled with chore after chore. She had barely said a word since that first night and whenever possible had avoided going out on deck. Of course, she had seen Philip across the deck as she went back and forth between the galley and the cabin, but she never made eye contact with him. If Anne had noticed she had withdrawn from everything, she didn't let on, prattling endlessly about how the captain was falling in love with her by the moment. Katherine didn't have the heart to tell her that he was already married to a Spanish woman in Madrid, or was it that she just didn't care anymore.
Almost four days after her encounter with Philip, Katherine found herself in the galley, cooking dinner for Anne. Outside, the skies were darkening with a tint of red and orange streaking across the clouds, the sea gently rolling in the warm summer breezes that blew across the deck. Tucking back a stray strand of red hair behind her ear, Katherine listened to the conversations drifting through the slats in the deck over head, oddly comforted by the normality of it all. It was then that she realized it was very quiet here below the deck, Dirk and Thom nowhere to be seen. In a panic, Katherine looked up from her cooking and searched the tiny kitchen to make sure she was alone. Charlie had been lurking around lately, watching her every movement and it made her incredibly uncomfortable, even with Thom's protective eye on her.
In her panic, Katherine rushed to put the finishing touches on the meal, not hearing the door slowly creak close. She jumped and spun around as it clicked close, her exit blocked by Charlie's tall form.
"'ello, poppet." He said with a devilish grin on his face, his beady eyes taking in Katherine's slender form beneath the simple black dress she was wearing.
"Hello." She whispered, her voice wavering with fear as she tried to keep composure. "I was just leaving." She said, gathering up the tray that she had set up, making her way to the doorway, but Charlie didn't move.
"Ya don't 'ave to leave so soon, missy." He said with a grin, flashing all of his yellowing teeth to her as she cringed back.
"Please, sir, I have to give this to my mistress." She insisted, trying to push past him.
It shouldn't have taken her by surprise, but Katherine cried out as Charlie knocked the tray from her hands, giving her a shove against the rough wooden wall of the hull. The metal tray clattered to the ground with a bang, porcelain shattering into hundreds of pieces. Katherine prayed that someone had heard the commotion outside. Her eyes were wide with fright as Charlie slowly stalked toward her, the bulge in his pants unmistakable. "Yer not goin' anywhere. Ya been avoiding me, is that it?" He asked, his face no more than a few inches from hers as she pressed back against the rough wooden side of the ship.
"I haven't been avoiding anyone." She stated, whimpering in fear as he reached out with a grubby hand and pinched her cheeks, stifling her protests. He squeezed hard enough that she swore she would be carrying finger shaped marks on her cheeks for weeks.
"Complete tripe, that is. Now, wot we say ya give ole Charlie a nice kiss?" He said with a laugh, leaning in and locking his lips harshly on hers, brutally crushing them in his haste. Katherine fought as he grabbed her wrist, forcing her hand into his pants, wrapping her slender fingers around his hard cock. "Yessss." He hissed as he slowly moved her hand up and down the length of it, Katherine desperately trying to pull her hand away.
Images flowed through Katherine's mind, those awful men from the other ship, treating her the same way. She felt disgusting, wanting to bathe completely and get this man away from her. Without warning, she reached up, digging her thumbnail into Charlie's face, forcing him backwards, while kicking him hard in the shin. Charlie let out a cry, jerking backwards as he clutched at his face, a bloody line appearing just below his left eye. Katherine seized her chance and bolted for the door, her hands fumbling over the knob. A sharp pain in the back of her neck forced her backwards, stumbling into the counter as she realized Charlie had a hold of her hair.
"No one refuses me." He growled, raising his hand to strike her.
The blow caught Katherine off guard, sending her sprawling to the floor, too dazed to do anything but lay there. It felt like her head had become detached from her body, her vision swimming as she felt her skirts being raised over her legs, stopping once it reached her waist.
"Let go!" Katherine cried weakly, willing her legs to work as she kicked blindly, her efforts receiving another sharp slap that silenced her for a moment.
Charlie just chuckled to himself as he slid the black skirts and petticoats up her smooth, pale legs. Finally, he reached his goal; the thin patch of red hair was so inviting against her pale skin the way it hid her treasure. He watched as she blinked, shaking her head as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Reaching up to the counter, he grabbed a knife, making her freeze, Katherine's blue eyes wide in fear as he brought it down over her chest, slicing through the fabric of the bodice. "Bloody 'ell." He cursed as he saw the corset. 'This was taking too much time,' he thought to himself.
Philip walked through the hull of the ship, singing an old sea shanty to himself as he made his way to the galley. He had it in mind to surprise Katherine, forcing her to talk to him, since she had been avoiding him the past couple of days. To say that she had enchanted him was an understatement; he was completely under her spell, having dreams about the red headed beauty every night since he had first seen her. 'Strange', he thought to himself as he saw the door shut. It was normally too hot down here to shut the door, especially with the fire burning as it normally was.
His curiosity peaked as he pressed his ear to the door, hearing Katherine whimper and groan just on the other side, the sound of a man grunting following closely behind. Philip's heart sank; his beauty had rejected him for another man. With a sigh, he pushed away from the door, his pride and ego hurt as he started back across the hull.
"Ya fight me again and I'll slit yer throat, got it missy?"
The words made Philip freeze and slowly turn back to the door. Had he heard that right? If he had, then his beauty was in trouble. A sobbing cry came through the door, followed by a sharp crack. "Dammit." He growled, running and flinging the door open.
Katherine lay on the ground in tears, weakly trying to push the old man off her. Charlie was between her legs, one hand worming around beneath her skirts as the other mauled her breasts, trying to release them from the corset. His pants were around his knees, cock jutting out in the air as his hips practically humped her bare leg. Katherine's eyes shot to Philip standing in the doorway, but she squeezed them shut in shame, turning to face the wall. Her face grew red out of embarrassment, her eyes closing as tears slid silently over her cheeks as she convinced herself that he was going to rape her as well.
"Get off her." Philip growled, too stunned in anger to make a move.
