Claim Me Captain! I'm Addicted to You!
Chapter 34: Island (8)

Chapter 34: Island (8)

Just as they agreed, Nick made his way back to the ridge. He pulled out the satellite phone and powered it on, quickly typing out a summarized message to Veronica.

[The liferaft is gone due to high tide. Supplies lost. Rescue us in 5 days. We don’t have much food and water.]

The reply came almost instantly, but it wasn’t what he hoped for.

[Negative. Rescue may take longer, possibly two weeks. Dad joined the search and rescue with the Davises. They’ve even brought in a private party to speed things up. We’ll try to send a drone via Liam, but stealth is a problem.]

Nick exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his jaw.

[Understood. I’ll check for fresh water. Rain won’t be enough—and it’s not safe.]

[Good luck, bro. We’ll keep working from this end.]

He turned the phone off and stared out over the jungle. From this height, he had a full view of the coastline, and something unusual caught his eye. Just beyond the tree line, roughly halfway between the beach, the cave, and the ridge... was a patch of land with no trees at all.

A bald, open space.

Nick narrowed his eyes. ’That could be...’

"A pond or a lake," he muttered. And then he was moving fast.

He half-ran down the slope, dodging low-hanging branches and ducking beneath vines, tracking his way toward the clearing. Sweat rolled down his spine, his heartbeat thrummed, not just from the climb, but from the urgency.

Georgia was counting on him. Their lives depended on it.

And then, he found it.

"A stream!" he exclaimed, his voice echoing like an excited child.

Cool, clear water flowed over smooth stones, cutting through the jungle. He crouched beside it and tested the current. It wasn’t rainwater. It was running with fresh water.

Excitement surged through him. He followed the stream uphill, tracing its origin, checking for signs of contamination, watching the clarity of the water, even tasting it cautiously.

’This will do.’

On the way back to the cave, he scooped up every dry branch he could find, slinging them over his shoulder as he moved through the underbrush.

When he arrived, Georgia was still gone.

He glanced at the sun. Not quite noon yet.

Still... something twisted in his gut.

A flicker of worry. But then he saw the beach from the ridge earlier, and it was clear, no boats or ships nearby.

But instead of sitting still, he dropped the wood near the fire pit and headed back into the jungle. They needed more wood and food.

On the other side of their makeshift camp, Georgia moved swiftly along the wet shoreline. She had slung her dirty clothes and Nick’s uniform over her shoulder, choosing to wear his shirt while she washed her own.

The water from the previous day’s storm had finally receded, revealing glistening rocks and tide pools and an opportunity.

Stripping everything, she washed her underwear and clothes and hung them across a tree branch and got to work.

With Nick’s Swiss knife in hand, she expertly pried oysters and mussels from the rocks.

"This should be enough for lunch," she murmured. "I’ll leave the rest for tomorrow. No need to touch the canned food just yet."

She tucked the shells neatly into her backpack and looped it over a branch beside her drying clothes. Then she reached for another bag.

"There were bananas around here somewhere..."

As she wandered further inland, the thick scent of foliage filled her nose. Then she stopped, eyes gleaming.

"Coconuts!" she breathed, spotting a group of young trees. The fruits hung high, too high for her reach, but Nick could definitely climb them, she thought.

She marked the location in memory and moved on until she finally found the banana tree. She harvested a full bunch and carefully selected four wide leaves.

"These will make better plates than cans," she said, pleased with herself.

But her pride dulled the moment she returned to the beach.

She face-palmed. "Damn it. These are too bulky... and heavy!"

With a groan, she squatted down and tore the banana hands from the stalk, stuffing them into the other bag. She slung both over her shoulders. But rain began to pour. She quickly reached for her drying clothes.

"Shit!"

She scrambled, yanking the still-damp fabric from the branches, stuffing it into the bag with the bananas. Everything was soaked again—but she didn’t have time to care.

With her bags clutched to her back and shoulder and banana leaves in her other hand, she sprinted back to the cave.

By the time she arrived, she was drenched—hair plastered to her face, Nick’s white uniform clinging to every curve of her body like a second skin.

Nick stood under the mouth of the cave, dry, shirtless, and focused, securing a perimeter of branches and coconut leaves.

"Nick!" she called out breathlessly, soaked and smiling. She raised one hand, holding the banana leaves, and the other, lifting the bag of seafood. "Look what I got! Seafood and banana!"

But the smile on her lips quickly faded when she saw the look on his face.

He wasn’t smiling. He was frozen, jaw clenched, eyes dark—hungry—his expression caught somewhere between rage and restraint.

Her eyes followed his gaze... down to herself.

The shirt she wore—his shirt—was soaked through. Translucent.

Every line, every curve of her breasts, her nipples, and the faint outline of her coochie were completely visible—all visible for his eyes to see.

"Oh, shit," she whispered, putting the banana leaves across her chest in a panic.

Nick immediately turned away, his fists clenched at his waist, breathing hard.

"Oops..." Georgia mumbled, half-embarrassed, half-thrilled by the chaos she just caused.

She slipped into the cave and knelt near the fire, placing the food down—but before she could rise again, Nick’s hand wrapped around her wrist.

He yanked her to her feet with one swift motion, eyes blazing.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he growled, his voice low, harsh, and shaking—not with anger alone, but the kind that came from restraint about to snap.

His chest rose and fell heavily.

Georgia blinked, breath catching, heart racing—not from fear, but something else entirely. Confusion perhaps? Or maybe excitement?

’Damnit!’ Nick screamed in his mind. He was losing control.

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