Page 60 of Stranded

Crab sucker, did they just do that to ease my panic? None of them offered any sort of declaration of commitment or intentions.

I squeeze my eyes tightly shut as I roll to face the wall.I’m such an idiot.They were being nice, helping me calm down from my irrational state. Ofcourseit didn’t mean the same to them as it meant to me. If it did, someone would be cuddling with me now.

My fingers roam the wall until I find a small unmarked piece of wood and start to carve marks into to count all the nights I’ve slept in the tree.

And as a few stray tears roll down my cheeks, I wonder how I always end up like this at night. Alone, upset, and scared.

It takes about thirty-two hours for the rain to stop, according to Kingsley’s watch. Thirty-two long hours of being stuck in the hut with three annoyingly tempting men and getting zero sleep. The only relief I have is when I leave to relieve myself. I’m tempted to make a run for it, but Weston makes it clear I’m not to go off on my own or they will not stop searching for me.

I decide it’s not worth the hassle of getting them worried and drenched. However, it does give me the rather large problem of being completely sleep deprived. I don’t think I’ve slept in about forty hours now. Although with the fogginess of my mind, I’m not really sure if I’m doing the math right.

After my realization the first night that they wanted to help me and be my friend, but nothing more, I made sure to keep my distance from them. It was for the best anyway.

One day, they would leave this island.

I would not.

It didn’t mean that my heart wasn’t already wishing it could keep them, though. And it only hurt more when they hugged me or kissedmy head, blurring that line between friendship and something deeper, making me think there could be something more there.

I had wondered if they perhaps weren’t sure which one of them I wanted to be with, so they were waiting for me to make it clear. Well, they’d be waiting a long time for that to happen. I’d sooner chew my arm off than have to choose. And I’d rather have all three of them as friends, than hurt two of their feelings.

The fact that they hadn’t mentioned any sort of future just reassured my assumptions. I mean, we were stuck on a deserted island and I was the only woman here. Offering their commitment would be easy. But I appreciate that they didn’t give me false words of hope or affection. It’s part of the reason I care for them. Because even if they didn’t want me that way, at least they were honest about it.

Maybe they knew there was no way we could make this work off the island, and they were still pretty convinced they were going to be rescued any day. I wasn’t sure how likely that was, but all three of them seemed to have unfathomable confidence in their friend Reece. A man I was both terrified of and intrigued by.

“Zee?”

“Hmm?” I lift my head from where it rests in my hands as I sit in the chair, waiting for the all clear from Weston.

“I said, the rain’s stopped now.”

“It has?!” I jump to my feet excitedly, throwing the strap of my bag over my head and moving to the door, eager to get out of this tiny hut.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like being around them, it was that their presence pulled at me so intensely that I found it hard to focus. It wasn’t just their looks, either. It was the way they acted and the things they said.Each of them was so different, and yet, I was completely smitten. And that thought angered me, knowing it was one-sided.

“Whoa, hold on there,” Weston says, as I try to move around him to push open the door. I’d tried to stay away from their touches for the past day and a half, but that was hard in such close quarters. And when someone did reach out to hug me or sit beside me, I couldn’t always convince myself to pull away. Nor did I want them to think I was upset with them.

Combine my exhaustion with my struggle to stay away from them, and you could say these past few days have been utterly draining. All I want to do now is take a nice, long nap.

I take a step back from Weston and wait for him to push the door open, and it takes everything I have not to push him out of the way and do it myself. I tightly grip the strap of my bag, feeling more on edge than I ever have before.

“You okay, Tink?” Bower asks from beside me, making me jump at his closeness.

“What? Oh, yeah, fine.” He frowns at me, but I turn back just as Weston finishes opening the door and steps outside. I quickly follow and take a second to inhale the fresh air.

“We should go check the beach, our SOS sign and woodpile probably needs to be fixed,” Kingsley says as he steps out beside me.

I use that as my excuse to get away for a nap. “Okay, well, I’ll leave you guys to it, I’m gonna go take a bath at the waterfall.”

“I’ll come with you,” Bower says instantly.Crap shells.

“Oh, that’s okay, I’d rather go alone so I can do afull clean.”

“I don’t mind.” He smirks at, then gives me a wink, but it immediately drops as Weston gives him a small whack on the back of his head. “Ouch!”

“Don’t push her.” They lock gazes for a second before Bower’s shoulders drop in defeat and he looks over at me, running his hand through his long hair.

“Sorry, Tink. Of course, you can go alone. Come find us when you’re done, yeah?”

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