Max's POV

"We need to make a stop," Chloe told me as I finished getting dressed. We were fairly close to England now, even though Victoria was the only one going back. I knew why she would feel like she had to go back, but I wasn't sure if she really wanted to. I know that I wouldn't have wanted to go back if I was in her shoes. She had obviously cut her hair as some form of rebellion, showing that she wasn't going to let her status and the expectations of others control her completely. I had seen something in her eyes the other day when she had challenged me. It had made me feel things that I had never experienced before. It was like the passion in her had sparked out from her dark green eyes and ignited something in me, bringing to life a part of me that had lain dormant for as long as I could remember.

She was a very beautiful woman, there was no denying that. She always looked focused, putting everything she had into what she was doing in one moment or another. The way her whole body reacted to her emotions like they were uncontrollable was both terrifying and fascinating. I just wished that I could see all of her sides, all the things that made up the fiery Victoria Chase.

"Max." Chloe's voice pulled me from my thoughts, making me blush a little when I realized what I had been thinking about. "What the hell, Max? You've been way spacier than usual lately. Is everything alright?" Her voice had its usual firmness to it, but the edges were softened by what seemed to be the concern. I gave her a smile and shrugged, trying to push the thought of the blond noblewoman aside for now. This was much easier said than done.

"I'm fine, really," I replied, grabbing my boots and pulling them on before reaching for my belt. Chloe had it before I could get to it, though, holding it away from me with the hint of a smirk on her face.

"Come on now, Max," she said slyly, pulling the belt just out of reach as I grabbed for it. "You're always off in your own little world, but it's never this bad. What has you so far off, anyway?" I sighed, making another leap for my belt, only to have Chloe sidestep just in time. I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair.

"It's nothing," I insisted, trying to sound convincing. "Can I please have my belt back so that my trousers don't fall off as soon as I walk onto the deck?"

"Why? I bet your precious Lady Victoria would be very much entertained by seeing you with your pants around your ankles," she joked, making my face grow hot with embarrassment. I was used to Chloe's teasing, but for some reason, I was much more affected by it this time.

"That's ridiculous," I muttered, my voice feeling strained as I tried to get rid of the more explicit thoughts that had popped into my head from Chloe's comment. "Victoria Chase doesn't like women, especially pirate women." Chloe laughed, leaning over for a moment before sighing and shaking her head.

"My poor, naive little Maxine," Chloe said, giving me a slight grin. "You can't tell me that you didn't see the way she was looking at you. Or the fact that she asked you to fight her right after chopping off all of her hair." My hands balled into fists as the memory of that moment flashed before me again.

"Just because she was feeling bold doesn't mean that she fancies me," I replied, crossing my arms under my chest. "That's just stupid." Or at least that's how it felt. Why would Victoria fancy me anyway? She was a noblewoman, destined to be famous and lead a cozy life up in her big expensive house. I was just some pirate girl who had captured her and taken her as a hostage.

"You are so blind," Chloe exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. I barely had enough time to react as she tossed me my belt. "I'll show you. You'll see. The great and noble Victoria Chase has feelings for you, Maxine Caulfield and I'm going to prove it to you."

Eventually Chloe explained that we needed to make a quick stop in France before we went back to England. Apparently, she had received word from a contact there that we could pull off a heist that could get us way too much money for how easy it was. However, I knew that nothing about it would be easy with Chloe Price leading the way. Not to mention that fact that we would either have to leave Victoria and Kate alone on our ship or bring them along for the heist, which neither they nor I would prefer.

"Please, Max," Chloe pleaded, giving me the big puppy dog eyes. I sighed and shook my head.

"Chloe, we can't. We're so close to being done with this whole hostage situation and you and I both know for a fact that we're most wanted in that area of Europe," I explained, looking over the route that I had picked for us to get back to London. Since we had left through going southwest, I had decided to basically make a big circle, causing us to pass by Ireland and the northern coast of England, bringing us down past the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and finally France. All I could really do is hope that we could get out the same way we had before, passing between the southern coast of England and northern bits of Spain, but I wasn't truly sure how that would work out.

"But this could be the big break for us," Chloe insisted, standing across from me and leaning over the table that I had the map setup on. We were standing in the shade of one of the sails, the wind lazily pulling the Arcadia towards her destination.

"I thought the map that got us into this mess was our big break," I replied, not looking up from the maps that were laid out before me. The map that Victoria had given us was small and intricate, showing islands that I could only guess were near the Caribbean or the southern coast of Africa or maybe even Australia. Either way, we'd be sailing for quite some time.

"You're sassy for someone who's speaking to their captain," Chloe grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, a slight pout tugging at her lips. I shook my head, laughing a little when I looked up at her.

"Just because you're the captain of this ship doesn't mean you're in charge," I retorted, laughing when Chloe's face contorted into indignation. I was pulled from my current situation when I saw Kate and Victoria walking along the deck, Victoria smiling a little as Kate talked excitedly about something I couldn't hear. Victoria had taken to wearing the light, linen under part of her dresses along with a leather vest that she had found below deck, as well as a pair of worn boots. It was far from her usual attire, but I wasn't one to complain. She looked amazing in anything she wore. Kate had started wearing trousers and a tunic like Chloe and I as well as letting her hair down when it was cooler out, letting her dark blond locks flow down her shoulders like a waterfall of honey.

"Fine, I'll just go ask Lady Victoria what she thinks," Chloe replied, pulling me from my thoughts. My gaze flicked to her and she gave me a smirk that I was all too familiar with.

"Chloe, don -" but before I could really protest, Chloe was running toward the two girls, waving at them and stopping in front of them with a giant grin on her face. I walked over the three women, my heart racing a little when Victoria looked up and met my gaze, her eyes shimmering in the sunlight. I couldn't quite tell what she was feeling, but I knew that it wasn't exactly positive.

"Alright, so I was thinking that we could make a stop in France," Chloe said, having waited to speak until I had made my way over to them. "Max and I have some business that we need to attend to there. Would you ladies be alright with that?" Victoria's eyes seemed to light up at Chloe's words, but the light was gone before I could tell if it had actually happened. She straightened, standing to her fullest height while trying to look uninterested in Chloe's idea. Chloe was the tallest out of the four of us, but Victoria seemed to be the most intimidating. Well, in my opinion at least. I had just known Chloe too long to be scared of her anymore.

"Oh, Victoria's always wanted to go to France," Kate said excitedly, giving her friend a big smile. Victoria just cleared her throat and avoided everyone's eyes. "That would be so much fun, wouldn't it? We should definitely go. Especially if you and Max have business you need to take care of." Chloe turned to me, giving me a grin. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. Chloe turned back to Kate, kissing her on the cheek, causing Kate to blush and rub her hands together nervously.

"You're simply precious, my dear," Chloe said softly, turning to me. "So it's settled then. To France!"

So we changed our course, heading toward France. I was up late that night, practicing my knife throwing since I hadn't had a chance to use that skill in some time. Recently, Chloe and I had taken to a no-kill approach when we were fighting certain groups. We didn't fight only bad people all the time. Sometimes the people we stole from didn't deserve it, sometimes they did, but either way, that wasn't for us to decide all the time. If we were stealing from someone who we thought were decent people, we stuck to our no-kill policy, only taking a life when it was essential to our own survival. But that doesn't mean that I hadn't taken my fair share of lives before. Sometimes I meant to, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I knew that people would die and had planned for them to pass by my hand, other times it had just sort of happened and I had moved on.

My parents had often told me that death came for us all whether we deserved it or not. They had told me never to be afraid of death and to never expect that the people I loved would outlive me. However, they had also told me to save what lives I could, letting those that could make it slip by my blade as long as it didn't endanger my own life. So, that's how I lived, sparing those I could and hoping that I could save the people I loved if they needed me to. Right now, the only person that really applied to was Chloe. She was my only family, the only person that I truly cared about. Perhaps that was why I was so hesitant to acknowledge my feelings for Victoria. Maybe I was scared that I wouldn't be able to save more than one person if something bad happened to them. I suppose that watching your parents die tended to result in a small, slightly pathetic hero complex when it came to saving the people you cared for most.

"You have a good aim," a voice broke through my thoughts, making me jump. I whirled around to see Victoria standing a few feet away from me, her tunic being tugged against her body by the night breeze. She normally didn't wear trousers and a tunic, but she was in that moment for a reason that I couldn't understand yet. I was suddenly very aware of how sweaty I was from the training I had done that night, feeling surprisingly self-conscious. I moved my bangs out of my face with my left hand, the throwing knife I had been about to throw still clutched in my right hand.

"Thank you," I managed, looking down at the small blade. I heard Victoria take a few steps toward me, taking the knife from me and examining it with an expert eye. She twirled it between her fingers before tossing it toward my target, the blade stabbing into the straw with ease. I felt as though I should've been more surprised, but how could I have been? I had seen Victoria fight before and had now fought against her twice. Sure I had won both times, but that didn't change the fact that she was an amazing fighter.

"So, you're ok with us going to France for a week?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the way her bright hair shimmered in the moonlight that reflected off of the ocean's surface or the way her tunic hugged her curves. Victoria shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest, meeting my eyes for a moment.

"I've always wanted to go," she replied simply, walking toward the target and looking over what I had done so far. It wasn't my best target practice of all time, but it wasn't really bad, either. Not to mention that I'd already done quite a few other exercises before moving on to target practice.

"You haven't been?" I asked, staying where I was. I watched the way her body moved beneath her clothes, wondering how long she had trained and how many scars she had. Perhaps she had none, maybe she had never been part of a real battle before that day we had first met. She just shook her head, pulling a throwing knife out of the target with ease.

"My father said that he would take me one day, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's never going to happen," she said as she turned back to me. She was surprisingly calm, her face lax with a mixture of exhaustion and what looked an awful lot like relaxation. But why was she so relaxed? Just the other day she had been at my throat, practically begging me to fight her. As though she had read my mind, she continued, meeting my gaze. Her eyes were almost haunting in the moonlight. "You still owe me another fight, Maxine." I chuckled to avoid acknowledging the slight tingling I felt in my chest when she said my name. I usually hated when people called me by my full name. So why did it make me want to giggle when Victoria said it? Maybe it was the way it rolled off her tongue like it was some sort of title. She was one of the only people I had ever known to call me by my full name for so long. Usually, people caught onto the fact that I hated it. Maybe she knew that and just did it to get under my skin.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. Was she serious?

"I want another chance to beat you," she said as she made her way toward me, a look in her eyes that made my insides turn to jelly and my knees feel weak. Before I could react, she was standing in front of me, her body just inches away from mine. I looked up into her eyes and my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. Whether it was from fear or something else I still didn't understand, I didn't know. But I did know that I felt the sudden urge to lean forward but also to run away.

"I - I don't think that's such a good idea," I stammered, unable to tear my gaze away from hers. She leaned forward until her lips brushed against my ear, her breath gently colliding with my skin and sending a wave of heat through my entire body. I felt my knees start to shake underneath me. Was this real? Why was she so close to me? Why did I like it? Why did I want her closer?

"Why? Are you afraid of me, Maxine Caulfield?" She whispered, her voice low and kind of frightening. I swallowed hard, feeling my cheeks get hot. My name escaped her lips and hit me right in the chest, filling my body with a warmth that I didn't understand but wanted more of.

"Of course not," I replied weakly, hating the fact that my voice shook as I spoke. She pulled away, smirking at me in a way that made me feel like a deer that had been cornered by a hungry lion. I felt like I was staring death in the face in a totally different way than I had in almost every other battle I had ever fought. This was different because this time my life wasn't really at stake. This time it was something that could hurt me far worse than death ever could. Something that scared me more than anything else.

"Good," she replied, putting her hand on my shoulder as she walked past me, making my skin tingle even though there was a layer of fabric between her fingertips and my skin. She paused, moving to whisper in my ear again. "I'll let you know when I'm ready for round three." Then she was gone, her hand no longer on my shoulder, but my whole body was still tense. I stood out there on the deck for a little while, wondering what the hell had just happened. Was Chloe right? Did Victoria have feelings for me? Or was I just losing my mind?