With that, he threw  her back into the puddle and waited. Jade glared up at him and little by little began to suck the rum from the floor where the tiles held small drinks. The rum was sweet, but oh so strong. Jade had never had rum straight from the flask but her father had always mixed it with liberal doses of fruit juice, mango, pineapple, lemon, lime and melon. This burned her eyes and seared her throat until it hit her empty stomach with a pleasant warm glow.<br/><br/>Jade’s thick black hair was matted with the sticky drink and stray strands clung to her cheeks. Tears rimmed her thick lashes but still she continued. The lack of air and the heady drink were making her giddy. She was faint and queasy by turns and yet he didn’t relent. As a matter of fact, the pirate went back to his chair to drink at leisure while his cronies were anteing up their wagers.<br/><br/>A white hot hatred burned in her heart for the man who had killed her father and stolen her from her beautiful, genteel way of life. She who had never spent one hour laboring in the sun was now licking rum from the floor of a man who wasn’t fit to wipe her father’s ass. She would find a way to cut his heart out, if it was the last thing she ever did, she vowed to herself.<br/><br/>Just when she thought she might pass out from a wave of dizzying nausea, a booted foot was stuck in her face and she dimly remembered that she had been ordered to lick his boots. She complied but with seething rage. The laughter around her made cold chills run up her spine as she added faces to her list of dead men.