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Chapter sixteen

Bower

“ W here’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.

“You think you can find her out there?” West asks with a cocked eyebrow, gesturing towards the spot where she disappeared. “She’s jumpy, we have to tread carefully so we don’t scare her off.”

I run my hand through my long hair, pushing it back from my face as I turn to look at them.

“That’s difficult when we don’t know what will make her run.

Why haven’t we asked her how she ended up here yet?

” I ask them in slight frustration. I hate guessing, and I’m worried about her.

“If she is alone, she shouldn’t be out here by herself, especially now we’re here,” I add.

“I don't like it either, Bower,” West says, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “We just met her, let’s give it a couple days and maybe the truth will come out of her naturally.”

A rustling behind me has me spinning around, ready to face the threat, but my body relaxes when I see Tink’s blond hair walk out of the jungle, carrying three coconuts.

“You only knocked down one, where did the other two come from?” King asks her, as he moves to take two from her, passing them to me and West.

“I saw another tree and knocked them down while I was in there,” she says quietly, avoiding eye contact with us all. “Here,” she tries to pass a coconut to King, but he refuses to take it .

“No, you need one, too. You have that one. I’ll knock one down for myself.”

“We could share this one, if you want?” she asks timidly, looking up at him through her thick lashes.

“Fuck,” I whisper, turning to face the other way, my pants suddenly feeling too tight.

She’s too fucking sweet for her own good.

If I have to look at that beautiful face, saying something so sweet for a moment longer, I’m gonna do something stupid, like kiss her.

And that would definitely scare her off.

I’ve never met someone who’s so wild and strong, and yet soft and sweet.

It’s disarming and I find I don’t know how to act around her.

Normally I’d be flirting like crazy, but I think I need to be careful doing that with Tink.

I don’t think she’d understand it. I saw the way she reacted yesterday when I complimented her and when I tried to hug her.

And by the looks on King and West’s faces right now, they are thinking the same thing as me.

“Bower?” King says, and as I turn towards him I get the feeling it wasn't the first time he said my name, but I was too lost in my own head to hear him.

“Hmm?”

“I asked if you’re coming. We’re going back to camp to deal with the boar.”

“Oh, right. Of course,” I say, nodding my head as my eyes flick to Zee. I give her a small smile and her cheeks turn red, making me grin at how easily she’s affected by something so small.

We walk back to camp quietly. Zee and King pass the coconut back and forth, taking turns drinking from it and the sight eases something inside of me. She’s starting to trust us.

“I’m gonna go change, I’ll be right back.” Zee drops her bag, then squats down and pulls something from it, moving to me as she holds it out. “Here, I know you said you’re always hungry, I had an extra one,” she says, holding a mango out for me.

I take it with a smile, and just like last time, when my fingers brush against her palm, it makes my cock twitch.

What the fuck is that about? I barely grazed her, but apparently my body is having a very strong reaction to her touch.

“Thanks, Tink,” I say, pretending everything is completely normal.

When she disappears around the back of the hut, King moves closer as he asks, “What did you say to her to get extra food?”

I look down at the mango and feel a warmness in my chest. “Just like she said, I told her I’m always hungry.”

“You might be becoming her favorite.” King states with no expression on his face.

I lift my eyebrows in surprise as I hold the mango close to my chest. “You’re jealous?” I ask in realization. “I saw the way you were looking at her.” My eyes flick to West. “Both of you.”

West turns his gaze to where she disappeared as he lets out a breath, running his hand through his hair. “This is going to be a problem, isn’t it?”

“What?” King asks, looking between us.

“You both feel something for her, too.” My chest tightens at Weston’s words. I barely know her, but the thought of both of them being interested in her, too, scares me.

Weston’s eyes bounce between me and King before he asks, “What have you two done in the past? When you’ve both been interested in the same woman? ”

“It’s never happened before,” King answers for us, and I nod my head in agreement.

“What… Never? Haven’t you been best friends since you were teenagers?”

“Yeah,” I admit, as I try to recall a time when we’d both been into the same girl, but nothing comes to mind. “I tend to go for the more independent woman, someone strong and funny, who can keep up with my energy, like Zee.”

“For me, I’m attracted to women who are sweet, kind and empathetic.

Who don’t get worked up over trivial things and who takes others feelings into consideration.

Like Zee,” King says, his eyes looking at me in concern as he says those final two words.

His eyes flick to Weston as he asks, “What about you?”

He rubs the back of his head as his eyes move to where she disappeared.

“Zee’s my type, to a tee. I didn’t think I had a type, but everything about her appeals to me.

Every trait you both listed are things I see in her and want in a woman.

Not to mention the natural instinct I seem to have to protect her and care for her. ”

“Dibs!” I yell before either of them get any ideas.

They both stare at me unamused.

“What?”

“Bower, you can’t call dibs on a woman,” King says, exasperation lacing his tone.

“What are we supposed to do, then?” I ask as we all eye each other carefully.

“I know I should probably back off and let you two figure it out, but I can’t let her go that easily.

If she ever lets us get close enough to, you know, express an interest, do we all just throw in our hat and let her pick? ”

“Let’s not worry about it now, I don’t think she’s ready for that yet, and for all we know, she won’t be interested,” King says. “Here she comes.”

She swings down to us dressed in her usual skirt and crop top, then pulls her knife from her bag and attaches the sheath to her side.

“You ready to show us how to prep the boar, Zee?” West asks as he steps towards the animal.

An hour later, I sit staring at the meat cooking over the fire in absolute awe.

If I wasn’t interested in Tink before this, which I was, for the record, then I damn sure am now.

She skinned and cut up that boar like she’s been a professional butcher her whole life.

It was gross, and made my stomach turn more than once.

But to see her confidence and skill as she worked, was nothing short of amazing.

She even took the time to explain what she was doing.

We were all impressed when she let West take a turn, passing him her knife to use.

Even if she did stand far away from him until she got her knife back.

That was progress though, she was starting to trust us.

We were also impressed with how fast she got the fire started with nothing but her knife and a rock.

She told us we’d cook some meat to eat now, then we had to get the fire smoldering to turn the rest into jerky so it would last a few weeks.

When I asked if she learned this before coming to the island, she answered with a simple shake to her head, telling us she’s been here long enough to trial and error every part of this process.

I can’t imagine how long it would have taken the three of us to learn this if she wasn’t here to teach us.

“Tomorrow, I’ll show you where the mangos are, if you like?” she asks, standing on the other side of the fire, staring at the cooking meat .

“That’d be great, Tink, thanks. I don’t know what we’d do here without you.”

She gives me a shy smile and shrugs a shoulder.

“Eep!” I look up and see Mo-Mo come swinging through the clearing, landing on Zee’s shoulder and nuzzling her neck. She smiles at him fondly, giving him a scratch on his neck while he makes little noises. Watching her interact with him just reinforces how kind and sweet she is.

Mo-Mo points to the cooking meat and she rolls her eyes. “You know I’ll give you some.”

“He’s asking for some of the meat?” I ask with a laugh.

“Yeah, Mo-Mo loves food, he’s always stealing my meals. And he really likes jerky.”