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Chapter twenty-four

Bower

“ T hat 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 she needs the three of them to tame her.”

“Are you—” I start, but he cuts 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.

It’s clear that Zee is a handful, but a handful I wanted with every fiber of my being, even if I had to share her with these two.

“Bower,” King says, getting my attention. “We always wondered how we’d get two girlfriends to coexist in a house with us and Reece. This would make that easier.”

“You’re talking about moving her in with you after we get rescued?” West asks with furrowed brows. “Doesn’t Reece hate women? How would that even work?”

“I’m sure we’ll get him to come around to her eventually. Besides, with the three of us there to take care of her, we wouldn’t give him a chance to scare her off. ”

I nod, agreeing with King’s assessment. This could work.

“Wait—you’d want me to move in with you, too?”

“Right now this is all speculation, she might not have any interest in—”

“AHH!” A piercing scream shreds the air, sending a jolt straight through my chest. I leap up, heart pounding like a drum in my ears, and spin toward the tree, desperate to see what’s happening.

My mind races, gripping for any clue, any sign of her.

That scream, there’s no mistaking it. It’s raw and terrified, slicing through the quiet like a flare in the dark.

Zee.

For a fraction of a second, everything freezes.

Then the panic ignites, raw and fierce, pushing me forward.

We all race for the ladder, each step pounding beneath me like a countdown.

West is already ahead, his urgency fueling the rest of us.

The scream cuts off abruptly, and the sudden silence feels worse than the sound, like the world is holding its breath, waiting for something terrible to happen.

“ZEE!” The shout bursts from my lips, raw and trembling, mingling with the others.

I scramble up the ladder, hands shaking, and my mind spinning with every possible horror.

Behind the hut, I strain to catch any movement, any sound, anything that tells me she’s still there.

Fear claws at my throat, but I push it down, desperate to be the one who finds her.

As I try to follow the other two into the tree, my mind races with a million reasons she could have screamed, none of them good. The thought of her being hurt sends an unwelcome tightness to my chest, making it hard to breathe and leaving me with only one thought.

When did she manage to sneak her way into my heart and how do I keep her there?