Page 78 of Stranded

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“I was just enjoying my time with her.”

“You’re gonna have to get used to sharing, if this is going to work between us all. Besides, you were clearly putting on an act for her, and I wouldn’t want you to accidentally lie to her about your capabilities.”

He rubs the back of his neck as his expression turns sheepish. “Yeah… I might have not tried too hard when I saw how she reacted to my first fall. I can’t help it, though! Now she’s freely giving her affection, I just want to soak it all up.”

“I get it, but you need to come upon it honestly.” A loud thump has us turning to see West on his ass, clearly having just fallen.

“Oh no! Are you okay?” Zee asks, kneeling between his outstretched legs as her hands roam over his body. I’m not sure why she expects the front of him to be injured and by the surprised look he sends our way, West doesn’t know either.

Without saying anything, he wraps his arms around her and pulls her against him, kissing her senseless. She lets out a squeak of surprise before her body visibly melts into him.

“I think I was doing it wrong,” Bower mumbles, making me laugh as Zee and West pull apart.

She glances at us before she says something too quiet for us to hear. West says something in return, then starts tickling her sides and she lets out peals of laughter as she tries to get away from him.

“West, stop!” she squeals.

“She’s something else, isn’t she?” I ask as she lets out a loud giggle.

“She sure is.” He lets out a small sigh as we silently watch them.

Somehow I doubt I’ll be any good at swinging on vines. I wish there was a way to play tennis here. With her physicality, I’d bet she’d be amazing at it. I’m always trying to get Bower or Reece to be my doubles partner, but they just don’t enjoy it. Teaching Zee to play would be a great way for us to spend time together back in the real world.

Once they go back to her lesson, Bower speaks again. “Do you think Reece will like her?”

I let out a long breath, scratching my overgrown beard. “I wish I knew.”

Reece hasn’t gotten along with a single girlfriend either of us has brought home. Not the sweet ones, the funny ones, the smart ones. He didn’t approve of anyone, and it’s been bugging me for days, wondering how he will react to Zee. She’s been through so much, if Reece is mean or cruel to her, it will probably create a rift between us. I don’t want to have to pick between him and her.

Thinking out loud, I finally tell Bower, “We’ll have to do our best to help ease her into his unique personality. Maybe the fact that we are sharing her will make him more accepting.”

We know he rejected some of our past girlfriends because he didn’t think they’d mix well with the rest of us. We’ve taken that hurdle out of the equation, this girl wasn’t going to split Bower and me up because we were both in this together.

“King?”

“Hmm?” I respond, trying to rein in my thoughts.

“Why hasn’t he found us yet?”

Shit.I’ve been dreading this question for weeks. Because the truth is, Reece should have found us within a week, and we’ve been here for over six. Why couldn’t he find us? We couldn’t have possibly gone that far off course in such a short time. Part of me wonders if he’s stopped looking, but I immediately push that thought aside.

“I dunno, Bower. But I can guarantee you he won’t stop searching until he finds us.”

Chapter thirty-one

Reece

My hand throbs as I throw another punch at the bag, but I can’t stop. Every day I don’t find them, I become more and more on edge. After breaking every coffee mug in our office kitchen, Arnold suggested I try going to the gym to relieve some of my pent up stress. It’s saved the coffee mugs, but I don’t feel any calmer. It just gives me somewhere to throw my frustration and anger.

After all, it’s my fault they went on the trip in the first place. If I wasn’t so chicken shit of flying, I would have investigated the lead myself. But I couldn’t fly, and they understood that. And like the best friends they are, they volunteered to go check out Frank, the man who runs the charity division of the Danver’s Group, a man I was starting to have deep suspicions of. Trouble was, he lived in Perth, Australia, so questioning him wasn’t easy.

The last call I had from them was after they had confronted him and he denied everything. We had decided they needed to go check out the warehouse in Kenya to see for themselves if the rumors were true or not. But they never made it there. The plane took off from Perth, and a few hours later it disappeared from radar.

My search team has been scouring the area that they went radio silent in with no luck, and I don’t understand why. Were they actually diverted somewhere completely different, landing in some foreign country, and are currently being held by someone?

I punch the bag again as my frustration boils. A plane can’t just go missing, there has to be some way of tracking it. But I’ve been told by multiple people that if the black box is damaged, and they have no radio, there is no way to find them.

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