Chapter One

Howl To Me

AJA FOXX

Copyright ? 2024

~ Remy ~

"You know you want to go."

No, I really didn"t.

"Come on, Remy." Yeri tugged on my arm. "It"ll be fun."

I seriously doubted that.

"You just pack enough stuff for about a week and I"ll do all the rest. I"ve already got food and everything all ready to go."

"I don"t camp."

Ever.

"Please?" Yeri wheedled.

I groaned as I dropped my head down to the desk in front of me. He had to pull out the please card.

Damn it.

Obviously, he knew he had me, but then, when didn"t he? Yerik Sokolov, better known as Yeri, was my best friend. He knew just what he needed to say to get me to agree to just about anything.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

I grunted as Yeri wrapped me up in a hug that squeezed the air out of my chest. As slight as he was, no one ever expected him to squeeze the stuffing out of them.

Idiots, all of them.

"I"ll take care of everything. You don"t have to do anything. Just be ready to go tomorrow morning at six."

I shot Yeri a look of horror. "In the morning?"

God, was that even a real time?

Yeri"s grin was not reassuring. "It"s a three hour drive to get to the cabins and then just a little bit of a hike from there. If we leave early enough, we can get there before the day ends."

I grunted.

"Everyone is meeting by the campus library."

My eyes narrowed. "Define everyone?"

I wasn"t about to spend my break with a bunch of people I either didn"t know or didn"t like. It was one week, seven measly days that belonged just to me. It was my way to regroup after finals, which had been pure hell.

"A bunch of people," Yeri replied, but his eyes darted away.

"Yeri!"

Yeri sighed and plopped down next to me. "Okay, so it"s just our usual crowd, plus a few extras."

I swear I was going to smack the stupid right out of him. "Who?"

"Well, Charlie and Akio are going, and Cindy."

So far so good.

"Who else?"

I knew I was in trouble when Yeri winced.

"Margot, Olivia, Charlie, Brad, Carmine, and Levi."

I gaped at him. "Why would you invite them up to the camp for a week?"

Charlie I could understand, and maybe even Carmine, but the rest of them? Margot was a bitch and Brad was her homophobic boyfriend who worshiped the ground she walked on. Olivia was Margot"s best friend and Olivia"s boyfriend Levi was Brad"s best friend.

They were pretty much a matching quadruplet.

"So, I was talking to Carmine, telling him about the camping trip. I was really hoping he"d agree to go because Akio is going, and you know Akio has a crush on Carmine."

I nodded. Everyone knew that except Carmine. The man was romantically blind as a bat.

"Well, Levi and Brad overheard us talking, and one thing led to another, and now they are all going." Yeri smiled weakly. "I couldn"t not invite them, you know?"

Oh, yes, he could.

"Yeri, I am not going to spend an entire week listening to Brad"s shit. I refuse." I"d rather have my eyeballs plucked out by a flock of birds. "The man is a homophobic prick."

"You don"t have to talk to him. There are six cabins up there. He"s bringing Margot. I doubt they will even leave their cabin." Yeri snickered. "Too busy fucking all week long."

I didn"t want to hear that either.

"Listen, there are enough cabins for all of us if a few of us double up. Brad and Margot can have one, Levi and Olivia another. Everyone else can go from there."

"What about Akio?"

Yeri"s smile brightened and became evil. "I"m putting him with Carmine."

I snorted out a laugh. "He"s going to kill you. You know that, right?"

"He can try," Yeri cackled as he jumped up and started walking away.

I shook my head in disbelief. Yeri liked to live dangerously. It was a family trait. Both his father and his brother had served in the military. Yeri came from a long line of men who faced danger on a regular basis.

I was not that brave.

I turned my attention back to the book I was reading. Technically, my classes were over for the term, but I had already signed up for next term. I was using this time to do some reading for some of my upcoming classes, hoping to get ahead a little.

Medical texts were a little hard to understand when my heart wasn"t in it at the moment, but it was better than the alternative. I had no desire to follow in my parents" glorious footsteps.

I"d rather shovel shit for a living.

Pretty much the same thing in my mind.

I knew at some point I would need to head back to my dorm and pack for the trip, but I honestly wasn"t looking forward to it. Yes, the time away from the university campus would be good for me, but no, I did not want to go camping.

It wasn"t camping that I minded—although I wasn"t thrilled with it—as much as it was the people that were going with us. Not once in the year I had been attending the university had I had a good interaction with Brad or his girlfriend Margot.

He was the football team quarterback, which made him very popular. Hence, the gorgeous head cheerleader girlfriend. He was also an asshole who seemed to take great delight in throwing homophobic slurs at me every chance he got.

His best friend and fellow teammate Levi seemed to be okay as long as he wasn"t standing right beside Brad. He, at least, didn"t ridicule me when he was on his own.

Same with Olivia, who was Levi"s girlfriend and Margot"s best friend. Separately, they were okay. Together, I wouldn"t cross the road to piss on any of them if they were on fire.

Personally, I was pretty sure that Brad was in the closet. He was just a little too interested in my sex life to be straight.

I never should have agreed to go.

I read until my alarm went off. I"d set it for two hours so I didn"t spend my entire day inside the library. Studying was all well and good, but man did not live by bookwork alone.

I needed food, too.

I stuffed my books back into my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and then got up and headed out of the library. The campus cafe wasn"t too far away. I could pick something up on the way back to the dorm.

I wasn"t really looking forward to packing.

I picked up a chicken salad at the cafe and then made my way back to my dorm. Rooming with Yeri was an experience. I knew just how much when I opened the door and found myself in complete chaos.

"What the hell happened in here?"

It looked as if our room had exploded.

Yeri grinned up at me from the pile of boxes and bags scattered across the middle of the floor. "Supplies."

"For what?" I asked as I looked around with wide eyes. "Armageddon?"

"We have like ten people going with us," Yeri explained. "I"m just making sure we have enough supplies with us. I doubt have of them have ever been camping, but don"t worry, everyone is going to carry their own share. I just wanted to make sure we had a little extra just in case."

"In case of what?"

Yeri shrugged. "Just in case. Vanya always said to be prepared for anything so, I"m being prepared."

Vanya, better known as Ivan Sokolov, Yeri"s older brother. Easily the sexiest man I had ever seen in my life. Many a fantasy had been built around that man.

Unfortunately, none of them had been realized. As far as Vanya was concerned, I was the university roommate of his baby brother. I doubted he even thought of me in the same way I thought of him.

It didn"t help that he was several years older than me.

I sighed as I tossed my bag on my bed. "Okay, how can I help?"

Yeri beamed up at me. "Well, I"m making individual bags for everyone and then I thought maybe we could each handle an extra bag."

I sat down on the floor across from Yeri and reached for the first box. "What all do you have in here anyway?"

"MREs, different dehydrated foods, granola bars, water, first aid kits, toilet paper, and I want to give everyone a little baggy of matches and bathing supplies. While we may not be sharing cabins, I really don"t want to sit next to someone that might have forgotten to pack deodorant."

Yeah, I could see that.

I opened the box I had grabbed and made ten different piles, adding extra to two of them. Once that was done, I moved onto the next box and then the next.

It took about two hours for us to get everything separated and then bagged up. We stacked all the bags except our two next to the front door so they would be easy to grab the next day.

"I got you a hiking pack."

I blinked at the huge dark blue pack. "Besides its size, how is it any different than a regular backpack?"

"Hiking packs have frames for better weight distribution. They also have a shit load of pockets, water storage, and rain covers. And they are waterproof. They're optimized for comfort during long hikes. Regular backpacks are not meant for the hard use that hiking requires."

I wasn"t sure about that. I mean, yeah, I could see all the features Yeri described, but I wasn"t so sure that I could carry the damn thing. I was not a big man, much to my disgust. Something like this could topple me right over.

"Just how far are we hiking, Yeri?" How far did I have to carry this damn thing?

"There used to be a road up there, but it washed out decades ago. Now we have to hike in. The cabins are about a half day"s hike from where we park the vehicles."

I rolled my eyes. Was that all?

"Pick out the clothes you want to take with you and we"ll get you packed."

"Clothes?" I asked dumbly.

"You want warm, durable clothes like jeans and T-shirts, underwear, sleep pants, and something to swim in. Do you have anything like a hiking boot?"

I shook my head. "Everything I own is tennis shoes."

"We wear the same size shoe. You can borrow my extra pair of boots. Oh, and pack socks, a lot of socks. Like twice the number you usually would. Extra underwear, too."

The underwear I could understand, but socks? "Why so many socks?"

"Socks are an essential part of any backpacking trip. Bringing extra socks allows you to change into clean, dry socks each day,reducing the risk of infection, cracked heels, and stinky feet."

Made sense.

"Get everything together that you want to bring and put it on your bed. I"ll show you how to pack a hiking backpack."

Yeah, okay, I could do that.

I picked out what I wanted to take with me and set it on my bed. Yeri went through it, tossing aside a few items and having me grab others. He had me set aside one outfit to wear the next day along with his spare set of boots.

After adding all my clothes to the backpack, Yeri packed in the extra food and supplies he wanted me to bring.

"Can I bring this?" I held up my small reading tablet.

"You do know there is no electricity up there, right?"

I figured, but I had a plan for that. I smiled as I went to the bottom drawer of my nightstand and pulled out a small portable and foldable solar charger. It wouldn"t charge more than my tablet, but I didn"t need it to.

I handed it to Yeri.

He grinned as he took it and packed it away with my tablet. "I might make a camper out of you yet."

Doubted it.

Me and the great outdoors were not friends.

"My great-great-grandfather built these cabins after he got home from the war. He wanted a place where he could get the family away from all the hustle and bustle of city life. He started out with one cabin and then added more as the family grew. Now there are six. There"s even a communal kitchen, although it"s pretty basic. I spent every summer there as a kid."

"You sound like you really like the place."

"What"s not to like?" Yeri asked. "Each cabin is basically a one bedroom apartment with a small kitchenette and sitting area with a fireplace, although some of them have lofts. The bathroom is a communal building with an outhouse and shower area with water provided by a well."

I was positive I paled. "Outhouse?"

Yeri grinned as he nodded and then pointed to a bag of toilet paper sitting on his bed. "Why do you think I packed that? I love the camp, but I refuse to wipe my ass with twigs and moss."

Yeah, no.

"The place is almost totally hidden in the trees, but just down the trail is a swimming hole."

"Are you excited?" I asked Yeri as I watched him finish packing his backpack. He sounded excited.

"Yeah, I haven"t been up there in a couple of years due to school. I miss it."

"It"s not like you can go up there in the middle of winter."

"Vanya said him and some of his friends took some supplies up there once the snow melted and made sure everything was in good repair. He also said he made a few improvements."

"What sort of improvements?" I asked.

I was hoping for an actual bathroom.

Yeri shook his head. "He wouldn"t tell me. He said it was a surprise."

"Does he know we"re all headed up there?"

"He didn"t answer his phone so I left him a message."

"Won"t he get mad if you don"t tell him you are leaving the university campus?" Vanya was crazy protective of his baby brother.

"No." Yeri snorted. "He"d just tell me not to leave a mess."

Sounded like Vanya.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said. "Pack it in, pack it out."

Thems the rules.