Page 46 of Stranded

“Thank you,” I say, glancing up at him with a small smile before I glance at the other two. “All of you. You have no idea how good that felt.”

“Glad we could help,” Kingsley says, looking at me with the same intensity.

“We better get back and pack up that jerky,” I say, taking a step back from all their heated gazes.

They all nod, and after I change, we head back to camp.

It takes a while to eat and properly store the jerky, and we end up sitting around the extinguished fire pit for a while, as they tell me stories about their pasts.

I notice the sun starts to dip in the sky and decide it’s time for me to go to sleep. I spent the entire day with them so far, and as much as I enjoyed it, my mind needs time to process everything that’s happened today. The way my body reacts to them, the lingering glances.

I also didn’t get a nap in today and am genuinely exhausted.

“It will be dark soon, I’m going to bed now,” I tell them as I stand and head to the ladder.

“Wait, don’t go out there alone!” Bower says, jumping to his feet, a slight panic in his voice.

I frown at him. “Why not? I literally do it every day.”

“Yeah, but you have us now. You don’t need to be alone.”

“Besides, is it notyourhut we’ve been sleeping in while you’re… god knows where?” Weston asks, crossing his large arms over his even larger chest.

I shake my head, trying to not get distracted by his drool-worthy body. “It’s fine,” I say, turning back to start climbing the ladder.

“It’s not fine, Zee,” Kingsley says as I start to climb. “Please, stay with us? Or we’ll stay down here and you can have the hut to yourself.” I climb onto the skywalk, and my eyebrows pinch together in confusion as I look down at their concerned faces.

“Why do you suddenly want me to stay down here so badly?”

“It’s not sudden, it’s been bothering us since we met you.” Kingsley says in frustration. “That’syourhome, and you’re off sleeping where? On a tree branch somewhere up there where we can’t help you if something were to happen?”

“Nothing’s going to happen, I’ll be fine,” I say in frustration, turning away so I don’t have to look at them anymore.

“Tink! Please!” I quickly move to my tree trunk and start climbing. I’d love to stay down here with them, I really would. But they’ll hear my nightmares, and I’m not prepared for that. These men are already getting through my carefully constructed walls and I’m not sure what will happen when they break them down completely. It might take me down, too.

Chapter twenty

Reece

Istare at the glass full of rum as I remind myself for the hundredth time that drinking isn’t the answer. Then I lift it and down the whole thing, slamming the cup on the bar and waving the bartender over for another one.

“I think you’ve had enough for one night, mate.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I growl, pushing my glass towards him.

He sighs, before grabbing it and filling it only a quarter of the way full this time. “This is your last one, and I’m only doing it because I can tell you’re going through something right now and you’re not bothering anyone but yourself.”

“I’m not paying you for small talk,” I grumble, grabbing the glass and pulling it between my hands as I stare down at the amber liquid.

I count down from ten, then take a deep breath, trying to calm my frazzled nerves.What the fuck am I doing?Bower and King are lost out there somewhere, and I’m sitting in a bar, drinking. I’m such a fucking screw up.

But I couldn’t stay in our house a moment longer. The quietness of the space without Bower’s booming voice or King’s sharp wit was more than I could bear. They’ve been missing for an entire week.A week.They left Perth and hours later, they just vanished off the radar. No distress call, nothing.

I’ve paid the top search and rescue team in the world to look for them, but they are coming up empty-handed. Now they are just flying all over the Indian Ocean, looking for any sign of them or their plane.

The thought of losing them brings up too many memories. Ones that still haunt me to this day. Combine them with what’s happened now, and I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.

The thought has me grabbing the glass and tipping it up and swallowing the entire thing. I pull a hundred from my wallet and push it towards the bartender as he passes by.

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