“No,” Hunter said, his tone telling me that he was trying to keep me calm. I wondered if he had seen the flail. “What I’m telling you is that all of us hope that we’re going to get off this island soon, but we can’t let that hope keep us from doing what we need to do in order to stay safe until that time comes. If there’s going to be more bad weather, the last thing that we need is to be just out in the open. We might not be able to build a resort, but we can put together something that will at least protect us a little bit.”
I stayed silent as I stared at him. I knew that there was really nothing that I was going to be able to say that would make any impact at all. It seemed I was the only one who had any intention of believing that we were going to be off the island before they even had a chance to build a shelter, and they were refusing to make any concessions for the optimism that I was quickly starting to believe was delusion. I started away from him, not really knowing where I was going to go, but not wanting to be on the beach with the men any longer. When I reached the edge of the trees, I turned and looked back over my shoulder at them. They were standing in the sand seemingly locked in an intense conversation, and then they broke apart, Hunter stalking toward the trees and Gavin heading for the boxes of supplies that were stacked high enough on the sand that they wouldn’t be caught up by the waves when the high tide rolled in. I was afraid that Hunter was going to disappear again, but instead he reached out and grabbed onto one of the nearby trees.
“These are what you should be using,” he said forcefully.
Gavin scoffed.
“Are you kidding me?” he said. “Do you see how that thing is bending? And under even your strength. That would never be able to support a shelter. We need something far stronger and more stable.”
“It’s bending, which means that it can be curved,” Hunter said, his voice tense as if he were trying to force himself past Gavin’s crack. He bent the tree to demonstrate what he meant. “And what is the strongest structure in the world?”
“The United States military. USA! USA!”
“Charming. No, the geodesic dome.”
There was silence and I knew that Gavin was just as in the dark about that one as I was. I knew that I had heard the term before, but it wasn’t one of those bits of information that I kept filed under “ready to use facts” in my mind. Hunter stared at Gavin and I could almost hear his brain starting to fizz with frustration.
“Geodesic dome,” Hunter repeated. He gave a deep sigh and closed his eyes. “The big spiky ball at EPCOT.”
“Oh, yeah,” Gavin said. “I remember reading about that.”
“Great. Then you know that it is the strongest structure that can be built. Far stronger than any other shape. If we build the shelter as a dome rather than as a square, it has much more of a chance of withstanding a storm or other influences.”
“Other influences?” Gavin asked, putting a voice to the worry that had just flashed through my mind.
“Well, we haven’t encountered any of the wildlife here other than fish, but I would venture to say that with an island this large and with this variety of flora, there are going to be animals. Just because we haven’t seen them yet doesn’t mean we won’t. In fact, chances are the animals that do inhabit the island have been watching us and trying to understand our patterns, and when they are more comfortable, they will make themselves known.”
Fabulous. Something else to be afraid of on this shore excursion of the damned. Somehow, I doubt that he’s talking about the squirrels and deer from my old camping trips.
“I don’t care what shape you think it should be. We just need to start building. Start cutting whatever trees you want.”
I leaned against the nearest tree and watched as Hunter stomped over to the supplies and grabbed at one of the boxes. His hand hit a box next to it, sending it toppling to the ground where the lid popped open. Several items fell out, including a large stash of condoms that spread across the sand, their multicolored foil packets glinting in the sun. Everything went silent, at least in my mind, as I stared at the condoms. I swallowed hard, my mind immediately running wild with thoughts of how I could put those to use.
Hunter cleared his throat, seemingly thrown off by the appearance of the condoms out in the open on the sand. I looked up at Gavin and saw him roll his eyes. He stalked over to the box and scooped everything back into it, bringing along with the stack of foil packets a liberal amount of the beach.
“They’re condoms, Hunter,” he said mockingly. “Don’t you know what those are?”
“You just carry a supply box full of condoms around with you on your boat?” I asked.
He looked at me and I saw an angry look in his eyes.
“I use my boat for more than work. Sometimes I have some company with me and I don’t know their names much less where they’ve been, so I’m not going to risk anything, if you know what I mean.” The words made my skin crawl and it worsened when he looked at Hunter with a vicious sneer. “Don’t worry, Hunter. Go grab a banana and I’ll teach you how to use them.” He looked him up and down. “You might want to go ahead and cut it in half for accuracy.”
I braced myself for Hunter to lash out at Gavin, but he didn’t. Instead, he calmly picked up a knife, turned around, and walked deeper into the jungle toward more of the bendy trees that he had chosen. For a few moments, he cut at them aggressively, tossing the stalks that he chopped down to the side to create pile. As the pile grew, sweat started to bead on his forehead and his shirt seemed to stick to him. He set his knife on the ground and peeled off his shirt. I had to withhold a gasp when it revealed a smooth, chiseled chest, rippling stomach, and tight waist.
So that’s what was hiding behind that suit.
Hunter went back to his work and I watched as his muscles tensed, contracting and releasing with the movement of his cutting. He paused for a second to comb his fingers back through his hair and I felt my body respond with a rush of arousal. He was nothing short of delicious and the fact that he seemed to be the complete opposite of Gavin in how he thought of women made him even more attractive. I had to drag myself away from staring at him so that he didn’t catch me, and headed further into the jungle. I suddenly felt the need for a bath.
The water rushing over the rocks and down into the small, blue pool at the bottom deadened any other sound of the island and sent up a cool spray that was refreshing as it touched my skin. I quickly slipped out of my clothes and stepped down into the pool. My skin was hot from the sun and had been sent to searing by the sight of Hunter without his shirt, and the water sliding up over it brought cooling, relaxing relief. I dipped my head back into the water, rubbing my scalp with my fingers to loosen the sweat and dirt that I felt had collected there. The feeling of my own touch was suggestion enough to my mind for the arousal that I was already feeling to spiral upwards.