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Wanting an excuse to be away for a longer time so I can sleep, I quickly come up with a lie. “I’ll need to go check on Mo-Mo and some other things, I’ll catch up with you at some point though.”

“We can help you,” Kingsley says, but I’m already shaking my head as I descend the ladder. I’d rather climb straight up to my hammock, but they’re expecting me to go to the waterfall.

I suppose I could just tell them that I want to take a nap, but we haven’t been awake long, and that will probably land me with more questions I don’t want to answer.

“I’m fine, see you later!” I yell up at them before jogging off down the trail. I get halfway there before I find a spot where I can start climbing back up. It takes me about ten minutes to stealthily climb back to my hammock.

The material is a bit damp, but I don’t care. I pull Steve from my bag and hold him to my chest, closing my eyes and letting sleep overtake me instantly.

Chapter twenty-four

Bower

“That was weird, right?” I ask as we all head to the beach.

“Yeah, she was acting a little strange, but she’s probably not used to being stuck inside for so long, and not with all of us around her either,” King adds insightfully.

“I’m not sure if that’s it,” West mumbles. “I felt like she was more anxious around us than she had been the previous few weeks.”

I nod my head as I think about the way she was acting in the hut. “Yeah, she wasn’t exactly pulling away from me, but she felt more hesitant. Do you think…” I glance up at them nervously. “Do you think we pushed her too far? Do you think she wasn’t ready for all that cuddling under the raft?”

“It’s possible. But she definitely seemed to enjoy it at the time.” King frowns as if he can’t quite figure her out. “Maybe she regrets it.”

“But why?” I ask in confusion. He just shakes his head as we step out onto the beach.

The storm really did a number on our giant SOS sign and our large pile of firewood. The wood is everywhere, scattered up and down the beach, many pieces floating in the shallow water.

“This is gonna take a while,” I groan, pushing my hair back and tying it into a bun.

“I guess Zee will get that alone time she wanted after all.” King sighs, then bends down and picks up a piece of wood.

It takes us a few hours, and when we’re done, we see no sign of Zee in camp, which makes me worry a little about where she is. I know she can take care of herself, but this island isn’t exactly safe or small. Who knows what could happen to her when she’s out there alone?

With nothing else to do, we decide to grab some fresh fruit, since we’ve only eaten jerky for the past two days. The sweetness barely cuts through the unease gnawing at us. It’s after that, when we’ve been sitting in camp for almost an hour, that I start to sense the tension grow thick around us.

We’re all starting to really worry about where Zee is, but no one has said it out loud in hours, too afraid that speaking the fear might make it real. Every now and then, someone glances toward the path she took, hoping to get that first glimpse of her, walking back into camp with a smile on her face. I keep trying to tell myself she’s fine, but the silence is starting to feel like a warning.

West can’t seem to take the tension any longer. He abruptly gets to his feet and starts pacing the clearing. “What is taking her so long?”

“I’m starting to think that Mo-Mo has the right idea,” King says, making me turn to him with a frown.

“What are you talking about?” West asks in agitation.

“Mo-Mo’s girlfriend, Coco, right? She has three boyfriends, and I’m starting to wonder if that’s because sheneedsthe three of them to tame her.”

“Are you—” I start, but hecuts me off.

“Zee… she has such a wild spirit. She’s restless and reckless. It’s like she can’t sit still and she dives head first into danger every chance she gets. Maybe what she needs, is the three of us. Not just to keep up with her, but to steady her, to look out for her, to give her something solid to hold on to.”

I stare at him in confusion as a series of thoughts stampede through my head.

Three guys with one woman?

How would that even work? I try to picture her kissing King or West and where I would expect to feel anger or uncomfortable, I instead feel a twitch of my dick in my pants.

Huh… isn’t that interesting?

Am I really turned on by the thought of watching her with these two? What would that be like? To sit aside and watch her be pleasured by another man? But it’s not just any man, it’s these two. King is basically my brother, and West, although I didn’t know him well before the island, I have known him for a few years, and I do know he’s a solid guy.