Neverland Evermore (Never Ever Series Book 1) Read online

  Neverland Evermore

  Never Ever Series Book One

  Copyright © 2016 Sarah J. Pepper Editor: Stephanie Rose

  Published by Neximus Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  All rights reserved.

  DEDICATION

  For my readers, Never doubt the impact you have on others. Sometimes the smallest of words are the most meaningful. I never thought anyone would reach out to me and thank me for giving them an escape. I write fiction, but sometimes you are the ones who face the real demons. I am so grateful that the words I’ve put to paper have given you peace.

  All of your support is immeasurable. Never doubt it. Never ever.

  Yours truly,

  CONTENTS

  1 Captain James Pg #6

  2 Miss Bell Pg # 22

  3 Captain James Pg # 39

  4 Miss Bell Pg # 51

  5 Captain James Pg # 58

  6 Miss Bell Pg # 78

  7 Captain James Pg # 90

  8 Miss Bell Pg # 106

  9 Captain James Pg # 115

  10 Miss Bell Pg # 129

  11 Captain James Pg # 136

  12 Miss Bell Pg # 145

  13 Captain James Pg # 154 14 Miss Bell Pg # 168

  1 CAPTAIN JAMES

  Present Day

  Nothing was as important as memorizing her face. Nothing. Not the sword under my chin; not the mutinous traitors who forced me to my knees; not even the fiery sails falling onto the brig drew my attention off of her. She was the single most ferocious beauty I’d seen in all my nineteen years, and they were threatening to take her away from me forever.

  The fierceness in her jade eyes was enhanced by the angry tears slipping down her cheeks, shimmering like ice. Her soft pink lips trembled before she began screaming my name over and over again. The haunting sound of her cries would be my eulogy.

  What I wouldn’t give to cup her angelic face in my hands and whisper a beautiful lie that everything would be okay. My deepest regret was that she’d be forced to watch the life flee my eyes. Then she’d kneel before my first mate and swallow a sword soon after my death. We’d traveled to hell and back together. I supposed it was fitting that our deaths would mirror each other.

  Her wild blonde hair whipped across her face as she struggled to break free of the two men holding her still. Every move she made was one of defiance. Christ, she was unrelenting. She would go down fighting until the very end. She had a knack for leaving me in awe. Tonight was no different.

  My first mate, Michael, yelled back at Cadmus and Smee, who were in charge of calming her. “Contain her!”

  I let out a chuckle. “I pity the man who tries,” I said, watching her sink her teeth into Smee’s forearm.

  Smee swatted at her head like she was some kind of pest. “S-s-stop it, mi-mi-miss.” When she released her bite, Smee rubbed the teeth marks on his arm. The old man let Cadmus do the containing thereafter while he stood back in the shadows, nervously adjusting his monocle like he hoped no one could see him. His distance did not go unnoticed, though. I doubted he would have mutinied if the rest of the crew hadn’t.

  Contrarily, Cadmus held nothing back. He jabbed his elbow in her eye when she tried to use her teeth against him. The sight of her cupping her face set me off. I bolted for her but was halted by the butt of a gun striking me on the back of my head.

  A sharp pain shot through my skull. I cursed. My vision doubled. Falling forward, I braced myself with my hands. I caught my breath and stared at my hands until I could focus on my scraped knuckles. Blood from the back of my head trickled down the side of my face, and the taste of copper filled my mouth. Spitting on Michael’s boots, I attempted to push myself upright only to get a foot on my back, keeping me on my hands and knees.

  “I swear you’ll eat a bullet for that, Robben,” I muttered to the man who’d butted me with his gun. He knew I did not take kindly to this sort of disrespect. Ever.

  Robben leaned over my shoulder, and the hoop in his nose dangled in front of my face. His bald, tattooed head shimmered even in the darkness. My fingers twitched like they usually did whenever I was itching for a sword to take out an insubordinate. I stared at his busted lip and wished that I had gotten in another punch before I was taken down. Since our position now presented a new opportunity, I improvised.

  Head-butting him made my ears ring, but it was completely worth it. Stumbling backwards, he cursed and then spit out a tooth. I chuckled as he rolled his tongue over his remaining teeth.

  “Next time you dangle that nose ring in my face, I’ll bite it off,” I snarled. Robben cocked his gun and shoved the barrel up against my jaw. “The stories about the infamous Captain James Jones will end with you chewing on lead, not me.”

  “It’s not honorable to shoot a man on his knees,” I pointed out. “Give me a gun and let’s end this pissing contest between us once and for all.”

  “ I am in charge now,” Michael ordered, stepping in front of that sorry excuse for a man, Robben. Michael pressed my sword back to my throat. “And when I give an order for you to calm your woman, you will follow it. So, do it. Calm her down.”

  “Or what?” I asked, baiting him as I leaned into the sharp edge of the steel. “You’ll slit my throat? As you well know, I escaped the last lad who tried.”

  Michael could slit my throat for all I cared. As long as it kept the blades pointed at me instead of her, I would gladly have my blood spilt all night.

  Michael’s bloodshot eyes narrowed. When he drew back the sword, I looked over at my love. I refused to tear my gaze from her as I waited for the blade to come down. It didn’t, though. Instead, he sheathed my sword in a scabbard at his waist. Then he took out a much smaller knife and flipped it in the air as he paced in front of me.

  “Or I’ll slit her throat,” Michael threatened and threw the blade at her feet, piercing the ground in front of them.

  My blood turned cold. The man I called my mate barely resembled himself. His brown hair poked out from under my hat and fell over his matching dark eyes. He handled the sword I’d commandeered from a lieutenant in the London army like it was his own. I saw myself in him, not that we bore a similar resemblance in appearance. Michael’s hair was always combed straight, but my ebony mane did whatever it damn well pleased. Furthermore, his face was smooth, whereas I rarely bothered to shave since the stubble hid the scar across my neck. Wherein laid Michael and my similarities was our confident pose, our merciless nature, and our neurotic logic.

  “I should just kill her so you know what it feels like to lose a loved one,” Michael sneered, glancing at the remains of his brother, John, who lay on the deck.

  Never in my wildest dreams did I think Michael would ever be on the opposite side of a sword as me, but that’s exactly what happened. John’s blood was on my hands. I’d felt sick afterwards, but what he demanded was a fate worse than death. I’d rather him die by my sword than live a cursed life.

  “John was possessed,” I stated coldly. “You should have ended his misery, not me.”

  “He was not some animal to be put down!” Michael yelled. “I know, mate. I know,” I sighed, lowering my head. “Don’t you think it pained me to end his suffering?”

  “End his suffering?” A slender young lad with dirty b
lond hair scoffed. Peter was no older than fifteen, but his pale blue eyes held a manic stare that outmatched every other greedy soul aboard my vessel. “He didn’t want to die! He wanted to live forever in Neverland.”

  “No one should live forever,” I stated. “It’s unnatural.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Peter snickered. Peter jerked out the knife that Michael had thrown. When he straightened up, he stared long and hard at my girl like he owned her and then he moaned. Shivering, he took in a deep breath of her hair. He mumbled something about her enticing scent. Only then did he back away from her and approach Michael. He handed him the knife and then walked behind him, muttering something as they passed by me.

  I caught part of what Peter had whispered. Kill him if you must, but convince him that it is in her best interest…

  Michael held himself with a sense of confidence I once admired, but he wasn’t the one in charge. I knew that now. It was the boy who whispered secrets.

  Peter opened his mouth again, but it was Michael who spoke. I didn’t know how Peter was doing it, but he dictated what Michael was saying.

  “Convince Bell to give us what we want,” Michael ordered. “It’s in her best interest. We will spare her life if she simply grants us our wish.”

  “Ask her yourself,” I replied stiffly. Once again, Peter spoke through Michael. “She refuses whenever we ask her, but she will listen to you. I will spare both your lives if you convince her to grant us our immortality,” Michael retorted and then clenched his teeth like he was fighting for control of himself. Or perhaps that was what I wanted to see because I wanted to believe that he was not saying these things because he was possessed. “You will also take us back to Neverland, where the seas are filled with beautiful women and the beaches are covered with gold.”

  “Forgot your way back to that hellhole, Peter?” Bell chirped playfully even though her glare was as malevolent as his.

  “Temporarily lost is all, darling,” Peter corrected with a tight-lipped smile. With his eyes scanning her body, he snaked over to her like he was performing some demented art of seduction. Did he not see her disgust as she recoiled from him?

  Peter stabbed his finger into her shoulder. The way her lip pulled back away from her teeth, I thought she was going to bite him, too.

  Taunting her, he continued to poke her. Jab after jab after jab, he sought to antagonize her. “But you haven’t forgotten the way, have you? After all these years, it is still in your bones,” Peter smirked, now running his finger over her delicate collar bone.

  Her tiny frame shook as she kept her anger at bay, and she never opened her mouth once as he baited her.

  “You see? She will never guide you back to Neverland, mate,” I quipped, uttering my nickname for Michael like it was something to be sworn. “Besides, you have no intention of letting me live.”

  “Right you are,” Peter hissed, but it was Michael who slammed the knife down into my wrist. Bone cracked. My hand shook as I fought the urge to curse. I refused to let the misery flee from my throat, though. I couldn’t bear making her hear my agony.

  “And the only reason she lives is because Peter wants her alive,” Michael noted without any remorse in his tone. “But that does not mean I can’t torture you both until Peter…until we get what we want.”

  I’d rather shove a knife in their knees or feed them to the crows than speak the stale words demanded of me. Grimacing, I forced the words out because I had no choice, not when they spoke of torturing her. “Miss Bell—?”

  “I won’t do it,” she interjected with conviction. “Please don’t make this more painful, Miss Bell,” I pleaded.

  She balled her hands into tiny fists. “Painful for you or for them?” Bruises littered her arms where Cadmus had gripped them to force her still. Even though her glare was ferocious as ever, it was her swollen black eye that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I couldn’t see the gashes on her back, but I knew the damage done there was likely the real culprit for the tears slipping down her cheeks.

  “For you, my love,” I replied. “Grant them immortality and a means to Neverland so they will spare your life.”

  She pressed her lips together like she didn’t dare speak the thoughts raging in her mind. It felt like an eternity before she finally responded.

  “You’re giving up?” she snapped. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that,” I deadpanned. If the knife in my wrist had been the first wound I had suffered from tonight, things might have been different. Few men had ever brought me to my knees, much less a boy. As it were, Peter had manipulated everyone on my crew to turn against me. Even so, I would gladly fight to the death, but not her death. Her life was priceless.

  I knew it was over the second Peter had captured her at the top of the mast that she was setting aflame. He’d brought a knife down across her back, crippling her. I recalled how her intricate tattoo seemingly floated off of her skin after he’d pried the edges off with that blade of his. The ink had hung in the air until Peter waved his arms through it. When it had clung onto his skin, I heard her sobs. Bell clung to the mast. Her knuckles were white as she buried her head against the wood. I imagined her counting her breaths, trying not to lose control. Then Peter grabbed her by the collar and hung her in the air.

  I’ll never forget the sound that escaped her throat. When he dangled her in front of me, threatening to let go, I knew it was time to lay down my sword.

  Suddenly, Bell’s eyes went wide and she screamed, “Captain! Watch out!” The center mast cracked. I watched in horror as it came down at me. Everyone else scattered. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. I jerked the knife out of my wrist and dodged the debris as it collided onto the deck next to me. Flames fluttered into the air. Fire crept along the boards. The ship would go down if someone didn’t—

  “Put out the blasted fire!” I yelled at the men who had scrambled out of the way. I swore that if death wasn’t coming for me, I’d be infuriated with Bell for setting flame to my ship. While the fire did an outstanding job keeping too many crewmen from attacking me at once, it was uncontrollable, like her. She had a nasty habit of unleashing her magic without considering all of the consequences.

  Bell’s scream jarred me back into the here and now. Cursing under my breath, I managed to pull myself upright and took off to the last place I had seen her. But the swaying of the ship from side to side caused me to lose balance. My legs gave out just as I saw that Peter had his hands around her throat and was holding her over the side of the warship. His feet floated above the wooden floorboards as he and Bell slowly rose upward. She kicked at him but only caught air. The struggle was too much. Her lips had already begun to turn blue.

  Fury erupted within my heart. The darkness that had long ago corrupted my soul surfaced.

  I charged him. Grabbing him by the legs, I jerked him to the ground. Bell fell with us. I rose to my feet and started to go to her, but Peter followed and shoved a dagger into my shoulder. Cursing, I turned to swing at him. The pain that radiated in my wounded wrist and shoulder was unbearable, but I refused to stop. I kept swinging until I caught him in the face. His nose snapped. He began to chuckle when blood poured down his face. I wrapped my hands around his throat to stifle the sound, but a deranged laughter soon filled the air. No matter how hard I squeezed, I couldn’t cut off his passageway. I was losing strength, but giving up was not an option when there was still a chance. The fire Bell had created had given us an opportunity to escape this fate after all. However, time was running out.

  “Run, Bell!” I yelled. She could escape. She could survive. My heart leapt. “The hell I will!” Frantically, she spun around looking for something or someone. What exactly? Heaven only knew, but she must have found it because she dashed off toward the blazing mast.

  The momentary distraction gave Peter the upper hand. He shoved me up against the rail and pushed me over. By chance, I caught his leather jacket. He braced himself on the side of the ship, keeping me from pulling him ove
r.

  He taunted, “Pull me over. My feet will never hit the water, thanks to this.” He revealed his tattooed arm. Shimmering ink floated over his skin just like it had on Bell’s back before he had stolen it. “You, however, will not fend so well in this crocodileinfested water.”

  “You will suffer for scraping the ink from Miss Bell’s back,” I swore through clenched teeth. My strength wavered. The injury to my wrist cut off the feeling in my hand. The other would give out soon. Pulling myself up onto the ship wasn’t possible. I was preparing for my demise into the treacherous waves below when the sound of gunfire echoed in the night.

  Peter stumbled backwards, allowing me the opportunity to grab the rail. Then more shots fired, one after another. When the bullets stopped clanging on the deck, Bell’s beautiful face came into view. She truly was the loveliest sight I’d ever seen.

  “Peter won’t stay down forever, but the wounds will buy us some time,” she warned, holstering the silver gun with the abbreviations “SS” engraved on the side.

  I eyed the weapon. “Is that Smee’s?” She grabbed my arm to pull me aboard. “He practically gave it to me after I threatened to bite him again.” I never thought I’d see that twinkle in her eyes again, but there it was, along with that dangerous smile. “I may have given him the impression my bite is deathly poisonous.”

  Just then, another wave collided with the ship. Bell tripped. Acting quickly, she braced herself against the railing and used it as leverage.

  “I will never forgive myself if I have to fetch you from the grips of the sea, my love,” I promised. She grabbed my shirt and jerked me upward. When I was finally able to steady my feet on the edge of the railing, her gaze softened and she cooed, “I won’t forgive you, either.”

  She laced her arms under mine in an attempt to pull me over the side. When she saw the rather ghastly gash in my shoulder, she winced. But my attention shifted to the wetness on my hand as I wrapped my arm around her back. I couldn’t imagine her pain.