Hook, Line & Sinking (Completed)

3: A Dash of Water

Hey everyone!

I hope the holidays were good for each of you this year, despite Corona possibly making plans harder than usual. I for one spend Christmas with my parents this year but due to restrictions not the rest of the family. What did you guys do?

Here's the new chapter, I hope you enjoy it! If you do, please vote, comment or follow. If you leave a message I will most definitely reply as soon as I can. :-)

Love, Robin

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A Dash of Water

When the light traveled up to illuminate the face of the newcomer for my benefit I had another shock. "You!" the word fell rather accusingly from my mouth and Matt quirked his lips rather annoyed, "Yes me. This way or do you want to catch your death in those wet clothes?"

He didn't wait for me but started back inland at a brisk pace and I had to jog to catch up with him. Incidentally that also got my blood pumping so I felt a little warm again. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?" I asked him once I'd caught up.

He send me another grumpy look over his shoulder and kept on walking. I had a moment to admire his jean clad behind and the way his shirt clung snugly to his shoulders. "I came looking for you when Mark came into my bar looking all pale and worried." He shrugged those nice muscled shoulders and continued, "I was on the alert because I saw Jamie and her gang return without you. What the hell was that girl covered with by the way? She was blue all over..."

"She was? I couldn't tell from shore how much had hit her. She'll be blue for days," I grinned, no longer feeling cold just from thinking about that prospect. Matt paused so I could catch up more fully with him and I thought for a moment that I saw an answering grin on his face but it was gone so fast I could have imagined it.

"Yeah well anyway, when you weren't with them I kept an eye on the boat charters and I saw Mark head out with one of his boats to sea. Didn't fit his normal pattern so I figured he'd gone to Sharkfell to fetch you." I nodded and ducked a branch so I could stay abreast with him. "Good guess. Glad to hear he at least came here, I'll have to remember to pay him tomorrow."

He harrumphed and kept walking but I thought we were nearly across the island now, with a much more direct and easy route than I'd probably have managed on my own. "He was in my bar as I said, looking pale so I asked him what was up. He said he was supposed to pick someone up but she was a no show. Didn't mention name or location but I'd seen his heading, knew he was talking about you. So I came to look for you. Was planning to head out anyway, to check for damages and all that."

"Hey, I know better than to damage things and if I hadn't gotten distracted by all those pretty pebbles down by that little lake I probably wouldn't have fallen into that cave...." I said defensively.

Matt abruptly stopped walking so I overshot by a few steps before I realized. When I turned around to look at him he directed the flashlight right at me and let it glide over my body. I thought that maybe it was only now that he took in the scrapes and bruises on my arms and knees. "You fell into a cave? What cave?"

I frowned, not liking the intensity of his voice, he was almost vibrating with it. "It had a pool of water in it and no exit, just a long winding tunnel. I had to swim out." I pointed vaguely back in the direction we'd come from and watched as I saw him frown and swallow, now he looked really worried. Was that cave and the pool what his family was hiding on Sharkfell Island?

"That explains why you felt the urge for an evening swim..." I heard him mutter though and then suddenly he spun toward me and pressed a warm hand against the small of my back. "Keep walking, you can't cool down until we get you dried off..." A little push from him and we were walking again, this time with him much, much closer to me.