Page 75 of Hunted

But she ignores it, stepping over the mess in her usual Doc Martens as she stops only a foot in front of me. “Darla? Is that really you?”

I lift my arms up to the sides and let them drop as I give her a tight smile. “In the flesh.”

She practically screams, startling me, but before I can move away, she wraps herself around me, pressing my face into her large bosom and rocking me back and forth as she cries and mumbles words of nonsense I can barely understand. Something about thinking I was dead.

As fast as she grabs me, she pushes me away and I stumble back. Luckily Weston is there to stabilize me as she pivots on her heel and points at Reece. “You! Why didn’t you tell me who the young lady was?!”

He shrugs, watching her in amusement. “I thought it’d be more fun this way.”

“It was,” Bower adds with a chuckle.

“How are you here? Where have you been?!”

And that’s how I spend the next two hours. Eating dinner while explaining to Mrs. G how I ended up on the island, eventually met the guys, and how Reece rescued us. I make sure to leave out the traumatizing stuff. Didn’t need to give her nightmares, too. And I left off most of the relationship stuff, though the guys let enough slip that I think she knew something was going on between us, although nobody said it outright.

After everything is cleaned up and she leaves for the evening, Bower suggests a movie night on the couch. Everyone agreed it sounded like the relaxing evening we needed after so much commotion recently.

“Zee, I have a surprise for you!” Bower says, walking into the living room with his hand behind his back.

“What is it?” I ask, sitting up excitedly.

“You weren’t up for this in Madagascar, so we had to wait until we were home to get this certain item crossed off your bucket list.”

I clench my hands to stop myself from reaching out and yelling “gimme” as he stops in front of me with a pleased look on his face.

“Here you go!” He moves his hand around and shows me a bowl filled with my favorite food.

“Ice cream!” I squeal, immediately taking it from him and pulling the spoon out. I reluctantly take only a small amount, afraid too much of the freezing cold goodness might not be as enjoyable as it once was. But as soon as the unmistakable cookies and cream flavor hits my tongue, I moan in pleasure, leaning back on the couch as I close my eyes, enjoying that tiny bit of heaven.

“I take it you like it?”

I open my eyes and see Bower’s amused face still looking down at me.

“It’s amazing, thank you for remembering.” I reach out to give his hand a squeeze of thanks. I immediately go back to eating, taking small bites and when I’m about a third the way through, I know I can’t eat anymore, my body not used to that amount of processed food and refined sugar.

“Don’t force yourself, there’ll always be more,” Kingsley says, noticing my distress. “Give it to Bower, you know he’ll finish it for you.”

I pass it over and Bower devours it in seconds, making me smile at his love for food.

I glance out the back windows and see it’s dark outside. It’s strange, it being so light in here when it’s nighttime. My body seems to be used to the change, but my mind isn’t yet. It makes me feel nervous, unable to see outside.

“Reece?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Can people see in through those windows at night?” I ask, pointing to the back wall. He looks where I'm pointing and is silent for a minute before he speaks.

“We need curtains.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that for me.”

“No, you’re wise to point it out. It’s not safe.”

“Are… Are we safe?”

He nods his head as he looks at me with a pinched smile. “I’ve hired extra security. I have four men out there right now, around the property, watching for any signs of activity. They’ll alert me if they see anything.”

That knowledge makes me feel slightly better, but until we know exactly who is hiring the mercenaries and that they are either dead or behind bars, I’m not sure how safe I'm going to feel.