Love Bites

Jack: One

"Excuse me. Excuse me? Are you Jack Keller?", a voice said behind him.

Jack arched a brow and passed the crate he was holding to Santos before turning around.

Looking at the odd couple on the dock, a middle-aged man with an Armani shirt and fancy shorts and a young but obviously spoiled brat who looked like she came out of some reality show.

"Depends.", he answered. "Do I owe you money?".

The man frowned and shook his head. "What? No, no... I came to hire you. My daughter wants to dive with sharks and well, that's what you do, right?"

Santos snickered behind Jack and Jack fought the urge to glare at him.

"That's just a side business. I'm a researcher and my crew and I are about to head out and do our job. In case you didn't notice, you passed a shit load of boats offering that kind of service on your way here.", he told the man before picking up another crate.

The man glanced at the girl next to him and that girl wasn't restraining on the glaring like Jack did.

"We...came here for you. See, my daughter saw a video of you on the internet and she wants to dive with you. I'll...pay whatever you want. It's her Summer present.", the man smiled. Clearly, money wasn't a problem for him and 'Summer present' probably means the expensive wish of the week.

Santos cleared his throat and took the crate from Jack.

"A video, huh?", he snorted before looking up at Jack. Without turning around to face the two strangers, he continued. "Let me guess. Was it the one where you can see a tourist in a cage dropping his camera when a shark went a bit too aggressive and that big savage named Jack just...swam after it like it was just another day in Friendly Sharks Bay? That very same video where he almost gets his ass eaten by said shark? That one?".

Jack didn't even blink and smiled at Santos instead when the girl answered.

"Yeah! That was cool. The other guides go in the cage with the tourists. You stay out of it to lure them closer. That's what I want.". She was clearly as excited as a rich and bored teenager could be. Which wasn't much, but still.

"It was a very expensive camera.", Jack grinned as he looked back at Santos.

Santos growled and rolled his eyes.

"I thought you'd remove that damn video from the internet, you asshole. We don't need that kind of shit.". He purposely hit Jack in the ribs as he moved around him with the crate.

Jack laughed lightly and shook his head.

"Sorry, people. We occasionally take tourists out on a tour but we have things...", he began.

"1000 dollars. That's...five times the price the others ask for a simple dive. Consider it as a ...donation for your research.", the man offered.

Jack stared at him for a moment and the man seemed to know what he wanted. Pulling out a wallet out of his fancy shorts, he pulled the money out of it. Jack heard Santos behind him making a comment about rich morons carrying that much money on them and when he looked at him from above his shoulder, he saw him shake his head..

"A thousand dollars, huh? Well, welcome on board.", Jack smiled.

"You're a whore, Keller.", Santos sighed.

"What? We can use the money, compadre. Now stop pouting and help our paying customers to settle in. Send Jolene to get us some equipment. I'll check the cage.", he chuckled after the man and his daughter climbed on board.