Page 31 of Stranded

“Kevin is the biggest asshole on the island, besides Bob. So we always take his nuts first.” I reach inside my bag and pull out Steve. Then I stand in a throwing position as I speak. “Second lesson, throw Steve, hit a coconut, and knock it down.” I throw Steve as hard as I can towards Kevin’s nuts and am pleased when it knocks one loose, sending it to the ground with a thunk.

“Yes! One point for team Zee!” I yell, raising my arms in the air in victory.

Kingsley’s body presses up behind mine as his hands grip my biceps gently. I freeze as he slowly lowers my arms to my sides, whispering in my ear. “I don’t want to stop your celebration, sweetheart, but when you raise your hands like that, everyone can see your ass.”

An embarrassing squeak leaves me as I grip the bottom of the shirt and try to pull it down. I quickly turn to face him and take a step backwards, my cheeks burning with embarrassment… once again.

“I’m sorry!” I say, seeing Weston and Bower walking up behind Kingsley.Oh no, did they see my ass, too?

“I promise, you have nothing to apologize for,” he tells me as he gives me a strange look. Whatever it is I see there makes my lower stomach tighten. “I’d offer you my pants, but they are far too big, they wouldn’t stay up around your waist. I can give you a spare pair of boxers when we get back to camp?”

“I—I’m just gonna go get Steve,” I say, ignoring his question as I motion over my shoulder. Before he can respond, I quickly turn around and dart into the jungle.

I search the ground for Steve as questions rattle around my head.

Why do I feel so strange?

What was that lookKingsley gave me?

Why did I want to stare at them in their boxers?

Should I get away from them while I can?

Are they actually safe to be around?

So many questions that I have no idea how to answer.

I find Steve and pick him up, dusting off the dirt and taking a moment to consider what to do next. I could just go back to my hammock and avoid them, like I had planned. Sure, they might start calling my name again, but I could ignore them, eventually they’d get tired of looking for me.

On the other hand, that would mean being alone again. Weston had held my hand last night, and Kingsley, this morning. It felt nice, it made me feel less alone. Maybe having a little bit more of that in my life wouldn’t be the worst thing.

But only a little… I couldn’t let them get too close.

Chapter sixteen

Bower

“Where’s she running off to?” I ask, coming to a stop beside King as I watch Zee dart into the jungle.

“I think I embarrassed her.”

“She’s a flight risk,” West adds, standing on King’s other side as we stare at the spot where she disappeared.

“What do you mean?” I furrow my brows in confusion.

“The way she gets spooked by the simplest thing. I don’t think she’s used to being around people, at least not for a long time.”

“So, we still think she’s alone out here? There must be others with her, right? She couldn’t have built those huts on her own,” I tell them, thinking about the work it would have taken to build them, high up off the ground.

“Maybe she didn’t. If that really was her dad’s grave, maybe he built them before he passed,” King says looking a bit worried.

“But there could be others here with her. She’s just the only one we’ve seen,” I try to reason, not wanting to think about her living out here all alone.

“It’s possible,” West says with a frown. “Maybe when we arrived, they left the huts so they wouldn’t be found, and are staying somewhere else on the island, but for whatever reason, Zee keeps coming back here.”

“We know she’s been watching us, at least a little bit, we’ll have to try to encourage her to stay close if we want any answers,” King adds.

“It’s not like she can go far,” I tell them, my eyes scanning the jungle for any sign of her.

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