Just read it, please. I promise it gets better next chapter. I'm not satisfied either, but I promised chapter, and liked nothing at all of what I came up with today. I guess an insight into Sailor's business is better than no chapter at all? Everything belongs to their respective owners

Everett felt ridiculous. Really, really ridiculous, as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she was dressed as a pirate, with a ton of makeup, the hat, boots and all. Fourteen of July -a national holiday in France- oblige, the whole family was enrolled for the busiest show of the year. Hell, the entire club overtime had been forced to trade their kuttes to don pirates outfits on this very day. It was one for the ages, said the flyers posted all around town and on the internet. The battles to end all pirate battles, nothing short of a war, but on water. The club always had fun, because it was just one day out of their year, then Sailor would make everyone a big barbecue at the clubhouse, and they would get drunk like pirates, but for the Lowmans, who were regularly forcibly enrolled into Mama Lowman's pirate business, the day was all but fun. It was their job to ensure the safety of everyone involved, while the rest of the crew, aka the club members and their wives all had the fun, along with the tourists on her mother's ship.

Sailor's regular boat, one of two used every day, was a replica of the Adventure Galley. The second boat, the one Sailor's boat usually defended against was a replica of the Queen Anne's Revenge. Few people knew that there was a third boat, the one kept for very special occasions. It was Everett that had ponied up a pretty penny with her mother to buy it and have it fixed, and Everett alone was captain of that ship. It was a replica of the Whydah, a former slave ship taken by pirates that had eventually capsized near the Bahamas. It was fully rigged for the adventure, and like every year, the whole club sat through eight hours of safety and technical classes, just for this six hour day. They worked with dull blades and safety harnesses, but the danger was there. At least, battles always happened on the deck and inside of the Adventure Galley. And there was the nightmare of insurances.

-You ready, or you're gonna spend all day hating the mirror?

-I hate mom.

-As you said every year for ten years.

She giggled lightly, before following her father out of their apartment, to head to the harbor. The show wasn't for three hours, but the Wydah left the harbor early, to get into their position, make sure everyone was ready, then wait for Sailor to call. Pump her crew of bikers to find their inner pirates. It was a beautiful day, the waters were fairly calm.

But while everyone sat and relaxed, she would run up and down the deck and double and triple check the harnesses and the rope lines, that everyone had proper attire, everyone could harness themselves on and off the ropes. She would be damned if someone died on her watch. They had never lost a single crew member, this year wasn't the year.

It was the same deal, every fourteenth of July. Sailor manning the Adventure Galley, and Happy and half of the regular crew manning the Queen Anne's, and Everett, the club and a few extras manning the Whydah, on which no tourist ever set foot. The battle always happened on the deck of the Adventure. The day would start as regular-boring on the Adventure, then suddenly they would get "attacked" by the Queen Anne's revenge, half of the hired crew on the Adventure would go fight half of the hired crew on the Queen's, and half of the Queen's crew would go and fend off the tourist-pirates on the Adventure's deck. That was the regular adventure. A carefully planned choreography for the most part, all "swords" were dull. A few of the hired crew had pistols that shot blanks for dramatic effect, like the captain and the first mate.

But on July fourteen, once the battle was well underway between the two ships, Everett and the Whydah would come crashing in, like it was a genuine band of pirates coming in for a real battle. She enjoyed the special day even less than she enjoyed a regular day working for her mother. She worried from the first hour to the last.

She was checking on the pneumatic system that inflated when she almost crashed into the Adventure to board when Rain came down, she smirked at his attire, he'd went for Jack Sparrow, as her second mate.

-Cute.

-Your mom called. It's time.

-I hate it more and more as I get older.

-I think Maddie is really enjoying herself, I could hear her scream pirate-lingo as you mom called it in.

-Born pirate. Ok. Tell everyone to get ready? I'll be up in a second.

He nodded but stayed there as she finished, only to catch her by the waist and kiss her gently, he whispered to calm the heck down, after so long, even if it was only once a year, the guys would be OK to do the act for about twenty-five minutes. They all knew the harness system, and how to very quickly release themselves once they got on the deck of the Adventure, and Rain had rigged the cannon system himself, along with Juicy and some professionals hired by Sailor, they both knew how to work it to shoot blanks like the back of their hands. If Rain was to get "shot" during the act, Juicy knew how to work them.

-I still hate today.

-Well, I love you, Ev.

Her heart beat faster, she wondered if she was blushing.

-I love you, too, Randy.

-Well, let's all love each other, because that's the best way to get caught by Lawrence, Stars. Come on.

Rain and Everett both startled, hearing Joker's voice booming, he was leaning in the doorway looking at them, a huge smile on his face, he slapped his hands twice to hurry them along. Rain chuckled, left ahead, as Everett checked her hair and her hat, Philippe smiled at her when she walked past him, promised to keep the secret, as she thought he would.

Up at the helm, she radioed that she was on her way, and headed to the coordinated Rain had noted down. It wasn't too long that she could see them, the wind was in her favor.

The boarding went without incident, even if her crew got absolutely massacred by the tourists and her father's crew, as the ultimate bad guys, they retreated with a few booms of the cannons and only seven crews, herself, Rain, Law, Emma, Tiges, Alessandro Montel and a crow eater that had miraculously escaped the mayhem. Juicy had "died" from a gunshot to the chest as planned, still tied to his rope, twenty-five feet in the air, she had seen him doing his best to stay still. Most of the crew would be "thrown at sea" from the Adventure's deck, the Adventure would leave right away, and the dead crew on the Queen Anne's would pick them up straight away.

As soon as they were far away, she heard Juicy scream for them.

-We lost Joker! And Jack! and Bobby! Holy fuck!

-Rain? Help Juicy down, please? And I'll have you know I saw my dead siblings.

-I thought Maddie always lived? Did I not see her alive just before we left?

-Nope, she's on mom's shit list for some reason. She got shot by dad. Good job, guys.

-Thanks, Everett. I lost my footing there, coming back on this ship, I was so worried I wasn't harnessed properly.

Everett stays quiet, it's pretty impressive to hear Emma Tellier-Moreau say these kind of words, that she was worried. Or thank you for that matter. Or admit she almost broke her face. All costumes were taken off and stored in the captain's cabin, it was in regular clothes that Everett brought the boat around the island of Corsica to head back to Marseilles, that usually gave the victorious crew of tourists on the Adventure enough time to celebrate their victory in true pirate fashion, at the fake tavern, and then enough time for Sailor to send them on their way elsewhere so all boats could come back to port. Lawrence and Emma took that time like every year to have their platter of wine and cheese, Juicy stored the cannons properly with Rain, and Tiges cleaned the deck before coming to sit near her to chain smoke together. They were always the ones or so to survive, Emma and Law for being head of the club, Rain and Juicy because of the cannons.

Once back in port, all kuttes were put back on, all the tourists were gone, and everyone had returned safely, in the crew. Sailor had kind words for everyone that helped, she was really glad to have pulled it off again this year, and she lead the way back to the clubhouse for the barbecue, everyone went, except Everett that wanted to double-check everything on her boat that would need maintenance, she had put just too much money into it to not care. She had noticed some harnesses would need to be replaced, she wanted to mark them down. Probably take care of it over the winter. It was dry docked and transported to a huge warehouse about three hours away.

She had halfheartedly expected Rain to sneak back to the port at some point. Maybe to take the boat out again, and check out the stars, make out the best of it being in the water now. Have something to drink, like the tequila she had bought the night before, and some sandwiches. It was however Herman Losique that came back, for what, she had no clue, she still hadn't cracked the code of his language, but it was clear he wanted a good fuck. He wasn't trying to be an asshole about it, but he had shown up with booze, and for what Everett had gathered, a similar plan to hers to chill on the sea. She tried to turn him down in all the languages she knew, as nicely as she could, he just kept on talking in that shit language he spoke in. So she retorted to "no", the only word coming out of her mouth. After ten minutes, Losique just started cracking up, he ended up bursting in laughter, before addressing her in an impeccable English.

-Can you stop being so adorable?

-What?

-You're trying so hard to be nice. Why not just tell me to fuck off?

-You're an asshole. A fucking asshole.

-Eh. Rain let me in on the little secrets, there. He's tied up in club business, but told me to go care for his lady that was probably waiting for him. And hands off.

-Club business?

-Law. Being Law. They're doing a run, and I wasn't invited for being the weird dude that speaks no language. Randy suggested I forcibly get you to ride bitch on my bike, and take you for a nice meal far enough that people don't know I'm not supposed to speak English, or French, for that matter.

-Do you know I just spent most of my time avoiding you because I had no clue how to talk to you?

-Worked, didn't it?

She laughed, turned her back to return to the task at hand, Losique said something she didn't understand because it was said in that weird tongue he always spoke in, and she was grabbed by the arm and tossed on his shoulder like a sack of potato, to be brought to a nice restaurant, whether she liked it or not.