Page 47 of Stranded (Desert Island Duet #1)

Chapter thirty-four

Darla

T he rain stays persistent for the rest of the day. We take quick bathroom breaks and grab food and water quickly, otherwise we stay in the hut, where it’s dry.

“Let’s play a game,” I suggest from where I’m perched on the desk, fiddling with my necklace and seeing everyone looking just as bored as I am.

“What did you have in mind?” King asks from where he lounges in the hammock.

“I don’t know, I haven’t played a game with other people in a long time. You guys have any suggestions?”

“If we had alcohol, I’d suggest a drinking game,” Bower says from where he’s laying on the mattresses beside Weston.

“I’m adding that to my list,” I say, pointing to Bower in approval.

“Your list?” King asks.

“Yeah. I’m working on a bucket list of everything I want to do when we get off the island.”

Warm smiles spread across all of their faces, and something in my chest loosens. “I love that idea, sweetheart. Tell me what you got so far?”

“Well, there’s things like eat a cheeseburger and a giant bowl of ice cream. Take a shower, cut my hair. Then there’s the stuff I missed out on. Like learning to drive, going to parties and clubs, playing a drinking game.”

“I can teach you to drive,” Weston says, surprising me.

“Really?”

He nods and Bower adds, “We know some great clubs we can take you to.”

“You guys would go with me?”

They all lightly laugh, making me frown in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

“Baby,” Weston says, sitting up and draping his large arms over his bent knees, “There’s no way we’d let you go to a club or party without at least one of us. And you sure as shit aren’t playing a drinking game with anyone but us.”

“Why not? Isn’t that something people do at parties?” I ask, unsure what I’m missing here.

“Have you even seen anyone drunk before?” Kingsley asks. I furrow my eyebrows as I take a minute to think about it.

“I… I don’t think so, I can’t remember seeing anyone drunk, anyway.”

“Men have a bad habit of taking advantage of girls when they're drunk, especially at clubs. They can get very handsy.”

“But you guys wouldn’t do that,” I say immediately, knowing that they aren't those types of men.

“Of course not. But if you were around other men who are drinking, they might try to touch you or take advantage of you if you’re drunk, too. You might be too drunk to stop them. ”

“Oh.” Dread pools in my belly as I mentally note to remove going to a club from my bucket list. “Maybe I don’t want to play a drinking game then. That doesn’t sound fun.” I frown at the ground, unsure which part of that unsettles me the most.

“They can be fun, but we’ll play them with you.”

“Can you teach me one, even if we don’t have any alcohol? So I’ll know how to play?”

They glance at each other as they try to think of one we can play here.

“If we had a deck of cards, we could play a modified version of Kings Cup,” Bower suggests.

“I don’t suppose either of you have a deck of cards in your bags?” Weston asks, and they both shake their heads.

I grin eagerly as I tell them, “I do.”

“What? Really?” Kingsley asks in surprise.

“Yeah, it’s really dingy, but it’ll work. My dad had it in his bag to play on the plane. I’ll go grab it from the other hut.”

“I’ll come with you,” Weston says, standing up. I’m about to argue that I can do it on my own, but by the look on his face, I realize he’s not going to let me. And can I really complain if this giant hunk of a man wants to stay close to me?

I grab his hand and lead him through the rain, across the skywalk, to my original hut. It’s where I keep things I don’t use anymore or have no need for. I push the door open and just stare inside from the safety of the surrounding deck. The rain gently hits my head as I contemplate going inside.

Weston pushes his chest to my back, placing his hands on my shoulders and giving them a small squeeze. “Tell me where they are, I’ll grab them. ”

“No, it’s safer if I go. This hut isn’t in the best shape, and I’m much lighter than you.”

“You calling me fat, baby?”

“What?! No!” I spin around, afraid I’ve offended him. But by the smirk on his face, I realize he’s teasing me.

His hands move to my neck and his thumbs slowly stroke up and down my cheeks. Instantly, the air thickens around us and my body heats, despite the rain pouring down around us. The smirk drops from his lips as his gaze turns molten, and he licks his lips eagerly.

“Don’t look at me like that, baby. It’s not safe to do anything out here, we’re too high up.” That’s my Weston, always thinking about safety, even when I’m seconds away from jumping him.

He uses his large hands to forcibly turn me back around and face the hut. “Now,” He bends down so his warm breath tickles my ear. “Do you know where the cards are?”

I nod my head slowly, trying to remember what we’re doing here. “Yeah, I think so, in one of my poor attempts at a bag, over there.” I point to the side, actively avoiding looking at the back corner, where there are things that I never want to lay my eyes on again. “I’ll be quick.”

Weston doesn’t say anything as I step forward and to the side where I had pointed. I quickly find the bag I’m looking for but when the floor groans beneath me, I freeze.

“Zee…” Weston says slowly. “Get back here, now.” I slowly step towards him and as soon as I’m in reach, he grabs my arms and pulls me out onto the skywalk and crushes me in a giant hug. “Okay, nobody goes back in there. ”

“Agreed,” I say easily against his chest, my heart hammering quickly. Not only was it clearly not safe anymore, but there were things in there I didn’t want them seeing.

After a few more seconds pass, he lets go and carefully pushes the door closed.

“Did you get the cards?” he asks, gesturing to the bag I’m holding.

“Oh, I’m not sure,” I open it up and look inside, a smile quickly covering my face. “Yes!” I cheer, pulling them out and holding them high in the air in victory.

We go back to the main hut, where we find Kingsley and Bower watching us from the open doorway with frowns on their faces.

“Nobody goes back there, it’s not safe. Consider it condemned,” Weston tells them and they nod, stepping aside, letting us in.

“I got the cards, will you teach me to play King’s game now?”

“It’s King’s Cup, and yes, let’s all sit on the mattresses and we’ll explain.”

“I’m gonna change first,” I tell them as I grab my bag from the floor and pull out my pilfered ACDC shirt and boxers.

Feeling a little self conscious with them at my back, I pull the shirt on first and manage to pull off my other clothes under it before stepping into the boxers, keeping what modesty I have in check.

When I turn around, they’re all grinning at me, like they find something amusing.

I decide to ignore it as I join them, sitting in some sort of circle, facing each other on the mattresses as they scatter the cards face down in front of us. Weston places half a coconut shell in the middle .

“Basically, a task is assigned to each card value. For example, five is guys , so all the guys take a drink. Six is chicks , so if someone flipped that card, all the girls would take a drink,” Bower explains. I nod along.

“Everyone plays the game differently, and you can make up different values for each game, if you want,” Kingsley adds. “Since we don’t have alcohol, we could assign a different task to each card.”

“Like what?” I ask curiously, hoping we can figure out a way to play the game without any beer, it kinda sounded like fun. Although I suppose any game would after so long in isolation.

“I have an idea,” Bower says with a smirk. “How about the first person to flip a new number, has to assign its value? So if I flip a nine, I could say that means everyone who flips it has to tickle the person on their left.”

I frown for a moment before he suddenly lunges for me, his fingers digging into my sides. I squeal, laughing and twisting away. “Stop, stop!” I cry out, scrambling into Kingsley’s lap in a desperate attempt to escape.

Luckily, Bower backs off, but I wedge myself firmly between Weston and Kingsley, still catching my breath and not trusting him not to try again. I shoot him a glare and stick out my tongue. “Not funny, Bower.”

He smirks back at me. “I thought it was.”

“Just wait until I get to make up a rule, I’ll make you go stand in the rain while we finish the game.”

“You wouldn’t!” he gasps in mock horror.

“I guess you’ll have to wait and see,” I say with a smirk of my own.

“Alright let’s start, we can explain more as we go. King, why don’t you start?” Weston suggests.

King flips over an eight before tossing it in the coconut shell and sitting back.

“An eight, okay let's see.” He glances at me and grins.

“ Eight means mate , so whoever flips it, gets to have Zee in their lap until the next eight is found.” He reaches over and grabs me by the hips, easily lifting me into his lap.

“What if I flip over an eight?” I ask, turning my head to look at him over my shoulder as I get comfortable, wiggling my ass against him.

His fingers dig into my hips, trying to keep me still. “You have to move to the next lap on your left.” I nod as Bower reaches forward for a card, flipping over a nine.

His eyes meet mine as he smirks. “Don’t even think about it,” I warn him with a glare.

“You have to marry anyone who flips over a nine.”

“Bower!” Kingsley and Weston both hiss at him as my eyes go wide. He keeps bringing that up. And at first it was easy to think it was just the way he flirts. But now… with so many feelings involved, that word has a lot more meaning behind it.

Kingsley is still chastising him, and he holds up his hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay. How about nine is rhyme . So I start with a word and we go around saying rhyming words, the person who can’t think of one or repeats one… well, normally they’d be the one to take a drink, but we need a different punishment.”

Once again, his eyes find mine and he smirks. “The loser has to take off an article of clothing.”