Chapter Six

~ Remy ~

"Aahhh."

My eyes popped open when I heard someone groan. It took me a moment to realize that I was staring up at the sky. The bright blue sky.

It had been dark when I...when I what?

Had we all gotten drunk and passed out on the ground? It would make sense. One, I was not much of a drinker so any amount of alcohol would probably put me on the ground. And two, I ached like I had spent the night on the ground, and had been tossed around for good measure.

Maybe beat up.

"Remy?"

"Yeah?" I answered without lifting my head. I was afraid if I did it would explode.

"What happened?" Yeri asked. "Why are we sleeping outside?"

"I"m not sure," I replied before carefully turning my head to look for my best friend. "Did we drink last night?"

It might be the only thing to explain all the weird thoughts floating through my head. Had we really seen something green and glowing explode in the night sky?

"Wait..." I sat up and began frantically patted myself down. I distinctly remember bits of glowing green landing on my skin, and I remember the pain. I had felt as if my skin was melting off.

I seemed fine. I couldn"t find any injuries anyway. I kind of felt as if I had been run over by a truck, though. My muscles and bones ached. Hell, even my hair follicles ached.

"I think I swallowed a cat."

I glanced at Akio as he sat up. "What?"

Why was he not wearing a shirt?

"My tongue feels like it has fur on it." He grimaced, making a nasty disgusted face. "I need water. Or acid. Anything to get this taste out of my mouth."

I might not need acid, but I definitely could do with some water.

I rolled myself onto my hands and knees and then climbed to my feet, slowly, very ,very slowly. "I"m going to go take a shower and find some bleach to wash out my mouth."

I might take a nap along the way. Even though I just woke up, I felt as if I needed to sleep for a hundred years.

When I stood up and took a step, I tripped over something. I caught myself and then glanced back, my brow furrowing when I saw a pile of tattered clothes right where I had been sitting.

"What the—" I gasped as my worst high school nightmare came to life right before my very eyes.

I was naked.

I didn"t even wait to question why I was naked. I just turned and ran for my cabin. Once inside, I headed straight for the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. I drank the whole thing down and grabbed another one. I only drank down about half of that one before heading for the shower.

Once in the shower, I just stood there and let the hot water beat down on me. Whoever decided to put this shower in deserved a medal. I had to share a communal bathroom in the dorms at the university. I couldn"t imagine doing it while camping. I"d rather wash in the creek.

I got my body and hair wet and then reached for the body wash I had packed up here with me. I poured some out onto a washcloth and then raised it up to start scrubbing.

I instantly recoiled at the overwhelming scent. I liked cocoa butter as much as the next guy, but this was insane. It was so strong that it made my eyes water.

I quickly rinsed the washcloth out, making sure it didn"t smell anymore, and then used it just as it was to scrub my body down.

I didn"t even want to attempt to wash my hair.

I rinsed off and then turned off the shower and climbed out, reaching for a towel. After drying myself off, I wrapped the towel around my waist and tucked the edge in so it would stay in place.

I frowned as I gazed at myself in the bathroom mirror, turning my head one way and then the other. Did my skin look a little softer? A little smoother? My hair looked shinier and wavier, too, and my lips seemed fuller, with a natural pink to them. It even looked as if I had a little bit of a glow.

I swear to god my ass looked plumper.

It was weird.

I shook my head, knowing I was imaging things. My ass was not bigger and I didn"t have a glow. I was obviously hung over from too much drinking the night before.

As I walked into the bedroom, I thought about getting my swim trunks on and going for a dip in the swimming hole, but the thought of being out in public right now made my stomach roll.

I don"t know how I got naked, and I wasn"t sure I wanted to know, but I wasn"t ready to face anyone right now. I was way too embarrassed.

No, I was not a prude. I just wasn"t comfortable getting naked in front of a bunch of people, especially people I hardly knew. Yeri was different simply because he was my roommate and best friend, but even then I tended to dress quickly and not "look" when he did.

It was kind of an unwritten rule.

No, being around a crowd was definitely not something I wanted to do right now. Instead, I grabbed a pair of black jogging pants and a light blue tank top. It wasn't glamorous by any means, but it was comfortable.

I went to the kitchen area and made myself something to eat. Instead of going outside onto the porch to eat it, I stayed tucked into the corner of the couch with my tablet, reading the book I had started before we left the city.

I didn"t notice how long I had been sitting there reading until it became too dark to see the tablet. As I glanced around, I realized I had been reading for most of the day.

I was a little worried about the others. I hadn"t even checked to see if they had found themselves in the same undressed situation as I had. I hadn"t "looked" before running for my life.

Maybe I should check.

I turned my tablet off and set it on the small wooden table next to the couch. Before heading outside, I grabbed my hoody. With the sun down, it was bound to be cold outside.

Anxiety balled up inside of me as I stepped outside and glanced toward the fire pit. There was a fire going and I could see a few people sitting there. I could even hear them.

Like, really hear them. I was at least fifty feet away from them and I could hear every word they said as if I was standing right next to them.

I shut my door behind me and went down the stairs. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my hoody as I started walking toward them.

"No music?" I asked as I sat down next to Yeri.

"Too loud," Yeri replied. "We all have headaches."

I didn"t have a headache, but I could understand not wanting to listen to music right now. The mood was somewhat somber, which was weird considering we had come up here to get away from stress.

A weird scent tickled my nose. I sniffed, slowly turning my head to look at Yeri. "Did you get a new body wash?"

Yeri gave me a look as if he thought I was being weird. "No."

I turned to look at Akio. "Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Get a new body wash?"

Aiko leaned back from me. "Dude, why are you asking that?"

"I smell something and I"m trying to figure out where its coming from."

"Oh." Akio frowned for a moment before asking me, "What does it smell like?"

It was hard to describe. "Burnt cinnamon?"

"Burnt cinnamon?"

"I can"t exactly describe it, but yeah, kind of like burnt cinnamon."

Akio stared at me for a moment before turning to the man sitting next to him and leaning in to sniff at him.

Carmine"s head snapped around. "What are you doing?"

I could see the flush on Akio"s face as clear as day. "Trying to see if you smell like burnt cinnamon."

Carmine"s dark brows snapped together. "Why the fuck would I smell like burnt cinnamon?"

"Remy says he smelled burnt cinnamon."

I shrugged when Carmine glanced at me. "How can you guys not smell it?" While it wasn"t saturating the area, the smell was there.

"I smell something," Carmine replied, "but I am not sure I would describe it as burnt cinnamon."

"But you do smell something, right?" I asked just to be sure I wasn"t going crazy.

Carmine nodded.

Still wasn"t sure I wasn"t crazy.

"So, uh, did anyone else wake up naked earlier?" I was embarrassed as hell to ask that question, but I had to know if I had been the only one.

My eyebrows shot up when everyone present raised their hands.

Now, I knew I was crazy.

"Did we drink last night?" It was the only explanation I could come up with.

"I don"t remember drinking anything," Akio stated. "I do remember something green and glowing exploding in the night sky right above us."

"Alien," Yeri said.

I rolled my eyes. "It was not an alien."

"Then what was it?" Yeri asked. "If it wasn"t an alien, and it definitely wasn"t a meteor, what was it?"

I didn"t really have an answer for that.

My nose wrinkled up when that burnt cinnamon smell suddenly became stronger and more acidic. It was quickly becoming the grossest thing I had ever smelled.

We all glanced toward the last cabin. Brad was stepping down from the porch and heading toward us. The closer he got, the stronger the scent.

"Well," Akio snorted, "we know where that smell is coming from now."

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. Yeri wasn"t so lucky. He burst out laughing.

When Brad got a few feet away from us, he suddenly froze. His nostrils flared as he drew in a deep breath. His eyes pinned on Akio, Remy, and me. They stayed on me, and the stare grew with intensity.

It was creepy.

Brad stalked forward, his gaze still on me. "Move," he snarled at Yeri without looking away. "You"re in my spot."

"Fuck you, man," Yeri replied. "I ain"t moving."

Brad"s eyes snapped to Yeri. "Move or I"ll make you move."

I could see this escalating fast. I grabbed Yeri"s arm as I started to stand, gesturing to the other side of the fire pit. "Let"s just go sit over there."

"No," Brad said, "Remy stay. Yeri move."

That was not happening.

I tugged harder on Yeri"s arm. "Come on."

I knew Yeri wanted to give Brad an ass chewing for, well, being such an ass, but he gave in to me easily enough.

I barely took a step before someone grabbed me by the back of my hoody and yanked me back. "I said stay, Remy."

"Fuck you, Brad. You don"t tell me what to do." I wasn"t going to put up with this shit even if I was trying to keep the peace.

I tried to pull away, but he held me tight by the back of my hoody. When I struggled and yanked at my hoody, Brad wrapped his arm around my chest, pulling me back until I was flush against his body. His hot breath blew out across the back of my neck.

Worse, I could feel a definite bulge pushing against my ass.

"Let me go!"

"I like it when you struggle," Brad murmured to me.

Oh, gross.

"Get the fuck off me!" I shouted as I tried to wiggle away. Brad was being hella creepy and quickly moving into pervert stage. I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could.

Not only did he smell really, really bad, but the mere feel of him pressing against me was making my skin crawl.

It was almost painful.

"Brad!" Yeri shouted.

Things quickly went out of control. Yeri tried to pull me away from Brad. Brad retaliated by trying to punch him. At that point, Charlie and Carmine jumped up and tried to pull Brad off of me.

There was a lot of yelling and shouting, and one or two punches thrown. By the time I felt my hoody get released, I had tears in my eyes, my desperation making me feel weak and embarrassed.

When I was finally free, Yeri and Akio pulled me to the other side of the fire pit, their arms around me, soothing me.

"What the fuck is your problem, Brad?" Carmine shouted at him. "You don"t attack someone like that."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Brad snapped as he jerked away from Charlie and Carmine.

"Have you been drinking?"

Brad glared. "So what if I have?"

Carmine"s eyes rolled. "Yeri, Akio, why don"t you take Remy back to his cabin? Charlie and I will deal with Brad."

I doubted they planned to lock him up somewhere, so burying him six feet under was probably out, too.

"What was his problem?" Yeri asked as he and Akio escorted me to my cabin.

I shook my head because I seriously didn"t know. I could hear Brad still shouting and Carmine and Charlie trying to calm him down.

It wasn"t working.

Kind of made me wonder if he had an argument with Margot. I hadn"t seen her since yesterday. I hadn"t seen Levi or Olivia either.

"Did you guys see Levi, Olivia, or Margot today?"

"I saw Levi and Olivia earlier," Akio said. "They were headed down to the swimming hole. I went inside right after that so I"m not sure where they are right now."

"You might want to go check on them, Yeri."

"Why would I want to do that?" Yeri asked.

"Someone should check on them," I insisted.

Yeri"s eyes rolled. "I"ll ask Charlie to do it."

That was probably for the best.

"Are you going to be okay, Remy?"

"Yeah, I"ll be okay." I sent him a little smile. "I think I"m going to head off to bed. I"m really tired."

"Do you want me and Akio to stay?"

"No, go ahead and go back to your cabin. I"ll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Yeri asked. "I don"t mind staying."

"I appreciate it, but I"ll be fine. I"m not going to let that asshole ruin my vacation." I just want to be alone for a little while.

I wasn"t exactly afraid of Brad, but more wary. He had really freaked me out. I was pretty sure if the others hadn"t pulled him away from me, he wouldn"t have stopped.

I had always known that Brad was an ass, but I never got the pervert vibe from him. He was usually pretty subtle with his hints about his interest in me. That had not been subtle.

I walked to the door with Yeri and Akio, letting them out after reassuring them once again that I would be fine and they didn"t need to stay. After closing the door, I made sure to turn the lock.

I didn"t trust Brad.

I was going to bed and I was going to try and sleep for the next hundred years. I was so done with today.