by T L Blake
Leaving the two men to continue their personal fight, Robyn flung her kart back to the right, scooted through the gap before they closed it and chased Andrew but there was not enough time left to catch him and they finished in that order.
When they got out of the karts, Andrew turned to face Robyn, pulling his helmet off and giving her a smug grin. Fine, she thought, the race was on.
For the rest of the afternoon Robyn drove with focus and determination. Her slight weight helped her get a comparatively good start in each race and by taking every opportunity to overtake, she slowly moved up the rankings. By the last race it was clear that there were only three names in it: Andrew, who stood in first, Robyn and Daniel Bray. Jane had held her ground to be fifth overall, but hadn’t enough points to play for the lead and was starting this round on pole, not allowing for further advancement.
Robyn sat in the car fifth on the grid, saw Andrew in second and knew that all she had to do to win was get past him.
When the flag dropped, she slammed her foot down and slid between the car in front of her and the wall. The others were already flying but that was one down and two to go.
She took Jonathan on the sixth lap. Knowing that she was close, he braked late into a bend but then lost it. That just left Andrew, who was concentrating on catching Jane. She had got an amazing start off the pole and remained in first place, for the moment.
Andrew didn’t see Robyn coming, too busy concentrating on his victory and she was on him quickly, intent on taking advantage of any mistake he made.
Jane over cooked a turn and Andrew didn’t hesitate to utilise his chance, he took the lead with two laps to go. Robyn went to follow him through the gap but was hit from behind. Daniel Bray sent her kart skidding wide and slipped through in front of her, closely followed by Jane, leaving Robyn fourth.
There was a hairpin at the bottom of a long straight where the karts got to their full speed. It required a great line and serious braking to get round cleanly and Robyn knew that she only had one shot to get past Daniel and Jane and leave herself one lap to catch Andrew. She flew down the straight on the right side of the track. Daniel took the correct line on the left, closely followed by Jane, but Robyn had no intention of merely following. Daniel braked: Robyn accelerated. Daniel turned in: Robyn hit the brakes, hard. Daniel came across to Robyn but she flicked the steering wheel and sent the rear end of the kart out before slamming her foot down and power sliding around the corner. The back end missed Daniel by inches but it had the desired effect. Daniel panicked, braked, was hit by Jane and Robyn got past. Now, she just had to reach Andrew.
Robyn followed Andrew, the whole lap. He flew around making his kart as wide as possible and she knew her only chance was to do exactly as she had to Daniel and hope that Andrew hadn’t seen it. When they came to the final hairpin they spilt, Andrew left: Robyn right, but Andrew was fearless. He braked almost as late as Robyn and leaned into the turn even as the kart threatened to lose all grip. Robyn put her kart into a skid, drifting it around the bend but Andrew would not give. She had a tight line, but Andrew had the power. They came out of the bend together but Andrew had kept the momentum better than Robyn and he edged over the line half a car in front.
Andrew took the trophy and the wagers.
“What the hell was that?” Andrew spat as he took off his helmet.
“Don’t be a sore winner.” Jane spoke brightly as Daniel handed over his cash.
“I promised I would fight.” Robyn kept her gaze level and her voice steady, but the sudden vehemence in Andrew’s tone had her quivering.
“Well aren’t you full of surprises.” The words were cold but the look that went with them wasn’t.
Robyn felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Peter Grigg behind her. “Bloody good driving, Robyn. Looks like we might finally have a challenger for Andrew.”
A round of back slaps and hard hugs later, Robyn was ten pounds poorer and happier than she had been in days. Devoid of overall and helmet, she walked to her car.
“Do you always drive with so little regard for yourself or just save that for the track?” Andrew’s displeasure was clear. Robyn didn’t turn.
“I like to win,” she answered as she got in her car, not knowing what to make of his concern. In one way it was nice to know that he cared, but in another she felt chastised and that just wouldn’t wash.
“At what cost?”
She couldn’t look at him. “I didn’t see you throttling down. Don’t lecture me, Andrew.”
Slamming the door, anger washing though her. Robyn started the engine and gunned out of the karting centre. Andrew had her so mad that she kept her foot down through the narrow lanes and up over the hills towards the larger roads. Driving was her one and only vice. Whipping along, taking the car around the bends and over the hills gave her a thrill that she couldn’t find elsewhere and it calmed her. She wouldn’t be chastised for wanting, or having the ability and drive, to win, not today.
The car hammered through the sunken lanes. The high banks hemmed her in but that only added to the thrill. Slowly, she felt the annoyance subside as she gave herself to the drive. Slowly that was, until the black Audi came up close behind, its horn beeping and its engine and driver both running on angry.
Did he want her to stop? Did he think that he could encroach on this, her only pleasure?
Robyn put her foot down further and careened to the dual carriageway that cut through the centre of the county. Once on the smooth blacktop, she thrust her foot down and felt the power convert to the rear as the tail dropped before the car flung itself forwards.
The gauge picked up, sixty, seventy, eighty. Robyn didn’t care. The ground was dry, the road straight and the traffic light. She needed the speed, craved it.
Andrew didn’t give up. The Audi caught up. Robyn’s acceleration advantage was outweighed by his higher top speed and she could do nothing as he overtook and got ahead before their turn off.
Furious, she followed him, determined to regain her position but they didn’t get far. Andrew slammed his brakes on, making her do the same, and slewed his car to a stop.
The Audi came to a halt at an angle across the road, impassable.
Robyn jumped out of her car as Andrew’s door opened.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Temper threatened to take control as she slammed her door and stormed over to him, her blood boiling.
Andrew’s movements were fast, a blur to her angered vision. As she approached his car, he got out, slammed the door, and pushed her into the vehicle’s side. Caged by strong arms and a furious temper, Robyn froze.
Andrew’s face was inches from hers, his fury hot between them. “What am I doing? I’ll tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not driving like a lunatic, hell bent on wrapping myself around a tree. I’m not throwing my car around blind bends and hurtling past unseen junctions as if luck is my airbag. I’ve a good mind to take those bloody keys off you and throw them so far that you’ll never see them again.” He glanced down at her hand where the keys were held tightly in her fist before returning his enraged stare to her face. Anger had coloured his cheeks and paled his lips.
Robyn met fury with fury. “Don’t you dare comment. You were the one who came up behind like a madman. You were the one who overtook me!”
She could feel her chin sticking out with indignity but no manner of will was going to pull it in.
She could swear his eyes flared. “Have you got a death wish?”
“I could ask you the same question.” She was breathing fast, her heart hammering as she struggled against her anger and Andrew’s proximity. Was it getting hotter?
He leant into her, their bodies so close. “I must have, to want to be mixed up with you.”
Andrew’s mouth slanted over Robyn’s in an instant. His body pinned her to the side of his car and in a frantic dance of desire she was taken, dominated. Heat poured through her; a heady cocktail of pleasure, desire and seduction. It diffus
ed into her skin, boiled her tissues and made her body gelatinous. She lifted her arms, circled and pulled with greed even as Andrew’s firm fingers slid seductively up her sides and over her ribcage. She was a slave to the overriding sensation that swept into her, a slave that was trapped between two immovable objects and for once she felt at home, safe.
There was no reason to hold back any longer. Kat was gone and her own feelings exploded to the surface with volcanic force. Robyn wanted Andrew as much as he wanted her. He could have taken her there, in the road, in the daylight. She had no care for anything but Andrew, but the impatient blare of a horn drew him back.
“Go home, Robyn, before I take this farther than either of us is ready for.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Following the directions Andrew had given her, Robyn drove through town. Turning where indicated, she noticed the houses becoming older, smaller and more like traditional Cornish cottages. The road levelled off and continued through flat, narrow, winding streets, until ending in a small parking area. She’d not been to this section of the town before, hadn’t known that Porthmollek had much more to offer than the High Street.
The day was glorious, with crisp skies and a hint of warmth in the air, a promise of oncoming summer. The wind was not strong, but she was glad for the jacket she had slung on over her shirt and jeans as she got out of the car and began the rest of the journey on foot.
Robyn felt buoyant. She’d done it. She’d survived another week. She’d forced herself to walk through that school door every day and she’d made it. In fact, it was becoming easier. Jane Symonds had sat with her at lunch on Wednesday in one of the very rare times that she had dared ventured into the staff room and Daniel, Pete and Jonathan spoke, when she saw them, with a charming banter. Robyn missed Kat, how could she not, but at the same time, she was finally starting to fit in.
On foot, Robyn was directed out of the car park and past the little cottages to a small harbour. Square and holding several small vessels, it looked a little out of place in the town. She had always known that Porthmollek had been a fishing village before farming had taken over as the main industry, but somehow she hadn’t thought about where that fishing had taken place.
Checking her directions, Robyn circled the murky water of the harbour. She felt like she was stepping back in time. Boats gently rocked in the calm waters of the imprisoned sea and she took the chance to admire the array of vessels docked in the small space. Tired little cabin cruisers, hard worn dinghies, and a beautiful sail boat gently rode the waves. Larger boats, those that would not fit into the harbour must be in the outer dock which Robyn couldn’t see but assumed was beyond the behemoth of a wall that she now walked beside.
Following the path as instructed, she looked around confused when she came to the end. In front of her was the harbour entrance, with its gate open it was a gaping hole twenty feet wide filled with water. There was nowhere else to go.
Checking the directions again, Robyn stepped forwards to look down into the murky water. There was no way across the harbour entrance. She turned the sheet of paper over to see if there was more on the back, but found it blank. She had followed everything correctly and looked around bewildered.
Then she heard a throat clear, above her.
Stood upon the white sailing boat, moored against the harbour wall, Andrew gave Robyn a half smile. Her mouth dropped open.
She had been expecting fishing poles and riverbanks, or waders in the sea. Wasn’t that how people went fishing? A sailboat had never even entered her mind.
Andrew held out his hand to help Robyn aboard, his smile guarded. Grabbing the offered hand, she stepped up and wobbled a little as he pulled her onto the deck.
“Welcome aboard.” He studied her carefully, gauging her reaction.
“I thought we were going fishing?”
“We are.” He replied innocently and stepped back to allow her to move further onto the craft.
“I wasn’t expecting a boat.” Robyn looked around. The boat was beautiful. Polished wooden decks, white trim, chrome railings, someone had spent a lot of time on her.
Andrew grinned. “You don’t mind do you?”
She shook her head and smiled at him. “No, I just had different expectations. This is much better.”
It was a date, a real one. Andrew had asked and she had accepted. There was no denying the attraction between them and neither could ignore the heat any longer. She could hide from this attraction, deny it, but it felt inevitable somehow and there was no reason to hold back any more. Kat was gone.
Andrew led Robyn to a sunken part of the deck. She had no idea what to call it, but noted that the wheel was just across from her.
“You need to wear this.” Andrew pulled a life jacket from a hidden compartment underneath part of a bench seat and Robyn looked up at him bewildered.
“I can swim.”
She found the curve of Andrew’s lips delicious as command filled his eyes. “I don’t doubt it, but that water is cold. Put this on.”
Begrudgingly, but without choice, Robyn pulled the jacket over her coat and held herself steady when Andrew stepped close to her to fasten it. His long fingers made light work of the clips and straps but his firm grip, proximity and assuredness had her holding her breath until he was finished.
“Sit here.” Andrew gestured to a seat and she moved without speaking.
Robyn watched Andrew as he gracefully walked around and untied the boat from the harbour wall. Having never been on any kind of boat in her life, Robyn didn’t know what to expect and the thrill of anticipation sparked and fizzed in her blood. She watched Andrew’s assured movements with fascination.
Scuttling noises came from her right and Robyn glanced over to see a long nose poking out of the cabin. Max tore up the steps and ran over to her, tail wagging, giddy with excitement, just as Andrew jumped down and took the wheel. He looked back to check that she was alright and seemed happy to find her distracted by the crazy pooch, who was now wriggling on his back at her feet, demanding a stomach rub. Petting the dog with one hand, gripping the boat with the other, Robyn watched Andrew start the engine and begin to steer them out of the harbour.
Andrew stood, dressed entirely in black, in contrast to the clean white of the boat. He was striking in black jeans, black shoes and a black turtle neck sweater. It made her stomach tighten into an uncomfortable knot just to look at him.
Andrew swept through the harbour entrance with ease and headed out to sea. Robyn watched him steer the boat deftly as the wind rustled his hair and she noticed that he didn’t wear his own lifejacket. She should have felt the imbalance of it, but instead she felt only a heady excitement.
Under the power of the machinery they made steady progress away from the harbour. When they were far enough out, Andrew switched off the engine and moved around the boat pulling ropes, turning cranks and raising sails. Max ran around after him, overjoyed.
Robyn could only watch, having no idea how all the ropes and pulleys worked, as Andrew ducked the boom, when it swung across the boat, as the sail was caught by the wind before tightening the ropes and snapping the sail into place.
Eventually, Andrew took the wheel again and under the power of wind alone, steered along the coast. Max sat beside Robyn, as if he was holding her hand.
The wind blew them forwards at a faster pace than the engine and the boat leaned as pressure poured into its canvas sails and they sailed past the beaches and cliffs of the coast and headed further out to sea.
“You have a boat,” Robyn stated, shaking her head when she found her voice again. They were getting so far away from land that it was difficult to make out its outline in the distance.
“It’s not mine. I borrowed it for the day.”
“You borrowed a boat?” she couldn’t help but sound incredulous.
“It belongs to a friend.” Andrew shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as if everybody was doing it.
“And you can sail?” she asked. Not to que
stion about the fact that he could sail because clearly he could, but more to question why he hadn’t mentioned this before.
“Well yes, of course. I was brought up by the sea you know.” He pulled a wicked smile that had things clenching inside her.
When the land seemed incredibly far away, Andrew pulled in the sails. The boat sat upright once more.
“Come on, let’s go fishing.” He held out his hand.
Robyn let him lead her to the stern. The narrow walkway consisted of light coloured, lacquered wood and she carefully walked each step before sitting at the chrome railing towards the back of the boat, her feet dangling over the edge. Andrew disappeared below as Max ran to a blanket on the deck, not far from Robyn’s position. She watched him walk to it, sniff, circle around and finally settle down, his face towards the breeze. The boat lilted on the waves.
When Andrew reappeared, he was carrying two fishing rods and a basket. This was more like what Robyn had been expecting; a fishing rod with line and a reel. She’d never used one but thought she could figure it out easily enough.
Andrew walked to her, standing without holding the rail with his feet planted firmly apart to balance, and attached something to the line about 15cm from the end. He then placed a hook at the end of the line. He put bait on the hook and handed it to Robyn.
Robyn took the rod and looked it over, playing with the reel. It was lighter than it looked, but the length was cumbersome and she gripped it in both hands tightly, worried that she would drop it into the sea. When she looked up, Andrew was staring at her with pursed lips.
“Have you ever been fishing before?”
“Does catching crabs in rock pools count?” she jested.
“No.”
“Then, no. I haven’t.”
Andrew put his rod down and moved to stand behind Robyn before slipping down to sit behind her. His long legs stretched out on the deck on either side of hers and she held her breath as he shuffled forwards. She could feel the lifejacket press into her back as he closed the gap between them. Andrew slid one arm around her waist, clutching her to him as he reached around her with his other hand and held the fishing rod.
