Page 11 of Stranded

“Sounds good to me. Maybe my little buddy will pay us a visit and leave us more food!” Bower says hopefully, making me laugh.

“What? Like island Uber?” I ask with a smile. A lemur that delivers food? I shake my head at the thought. Who knows what else this island has in store for us.

Chapter six

Darla

Iwatch from my hiding spot above as they head towards the waterfall. These men confuse me. They speak kindly to one another and when Mo-Mo surprised all of us by jumping out in front of them, I was terrified they’d hurt him. But they were gentle and sweet to him, too.

I itch to get closer to them, to study them. My emotions are battling within me. My head is screaming at me to remember that strange men are bad news, but another part of me is desperate to make myself seen. To step out of the trees and see if they’d treat me with the same softness they gave Mo-Mo.

It was that kindness that had me delivering them their breakfast buffet. I knew they were big men and would be used to eating a lot so they’d be starving by now no doubt. And for some reason, I cared. It’s the same reason I set out my spare waterskins where they would easily find them.

I creep along, high above, all the way to my pond, watching them with rapt fascination as they step into the clearing.

“Holy shit, look at that waterfall!” Bower says with a laugh. Itisrather stunning. Something you’d see in Hawaii. A mesmerizingwaterfall pouring into a small pond. The water is beautiful, too. A clear turquoise, with an easy to access shallow beach.

My eyes widen and my hand shoots up to cover my mouth, stopping any sound from coming out as I stare down in shock at the two men stripping in front of me. Not that they know I’m watching.

Wait—Does this make me a peeping Tom? A peeping Darla?Am I being creepy?

That question disappears as soon as Bower’s pants drop to the ground, boxers and all. If possible, my eyes widen even further. That can’t be real, can it? It’s not even hard and it’s…huge. He walks into the water and my eyes move to King. He’s slower to strip, making my mouth water as I watch him.Is drooling a normal reaction?He has a tattoo on his left peck that I can't make out from here. I noticed Bower has one too.

King moves over to the pond and then the two of them swim to the waterfall, standing underneath as they use their hands to wash all the sand and grime off their body.

Hmm. I wonder if they’d let me help wash them?

My eyes widen at that intrusive thought.I need to get out of here.I carefully make my way back to my camp, cursing myself the whole way there.

If only these guys would show me their true darkness, then I could easily hate them and stay away. But so far, they haven't done anything wrong.All that will change when they see you.I shake my head and drop into my hammock, high in the tree.

Mo-Mo joins me, pointing at a pear I’d saved from earlier. I roll my eyes and sit up so I can pass it to him. He gives a quick trill before he startschowing down.

I lay back and stare at the small glimpse of sky I can see through the tree canopy above. I need a safe way to test them. So far, they’ve had no reason to be mean. But what if something didn’t go their way? Would they lash out? A plan starts to form in my mind, and by the time Mo-Mo jumps into my lap, I’m grinning from ear to ear.

“Mo-Mo, go get your buddies, Sam and Dean. Tell them it’s time to play!”

While the guys were bathing, I picked some more fruit for them. I could have waited for them to do it themselves, but this would execute my plan a little faster. I lay it all on the ground near the fire pit and find a hiding spot to watch them from with the lemurs.

They come back smiling, as Bower gives King a playful shove, laughing as they step into camp.

“Holy shit! He must have come back!” Bower says excitedly, running up to the fruit and immediately sitting down and biting into a pear.

“He seems really generous for a lemur,” King says with a little apprehension, eyeing the fruit before looking into the trees. Finally, he takes a seat and picks up a mango, brushing it off on the side of his pants.

“Okay, guys, go get the fruit,” I whisper to Mo-Mo and his two buddies.

They waste no time, jumping through the trees and swinging down towards the two men.

“Oh, he brought friends!” Bower says, smiling up at them. Sam lands right in front of him, reaches up, and snatches the half eaten pear from his hand before grabbing a pear from the ground and jumping back into the tree. I slap my hand over my mouth to hide my laugh when I see the astonished look on his face.

Sam brings them straight to me and drops them into the basket I had waiting, then he turns around to go get some more.

“What is happening right now?” King asks, when Mo-Mo steals the mango right out of his hand and starts trilling at him.

Alright this is it… I lean forward to watch their reactions. They’ll probably swat the lemurs away or yell at them. I bit my lip, waiting for the unavoidable anger. A small ball of guilt starts to form in my belly. If they hurt the lemurs—

“I think we stole their food,” Bower says calmly, making me frown.

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