“This is different, and you know it,” Theo says, completely skating over the fact that she’s smoking fish for a fucking wildbear,who at this point, could be imaginary for all we know.
“Does nothing we say register? We could have hurt you! We thought you might be someone fleeing the plague,” I explain to her.
She throws up her hands in frustration. “I know you guys think the world as we know it is coming to an end, but I don’t! You show up out of nowhere from Endstone of all places, which quite frankly, screws up any credibility you might have had.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Madix snaps back. “Is your phone working? Your radio? Have you been able to reach anyone outside of this little hidey hole of yours?”
Madix doesn’t give Remington a chance to answer as he hammers her with one question after another. He steps closer to her with each point he makes, getting closer with every fact that he spews in her direction. Remi is breathing hard and her cheeks flush with anger, but she doesn’t step back or concede even a centimeter as Madix’s chest presses against hers, invading her personal space and ramping up the tension.
“I won’t allow your denial and your stupid fucking antics to put me and them in harm’s—” Madix’s rant cuts off abruptly when out of nowhere, she lifts up on her tiptoes and kisses him. It’s so outlandish and such a completely ridiculous response to what was going on, that we all seem to fall into stunned inaction. Well, everyone except Remi, that is.
Her mouth moves against Madix’s frozen, unmoving frown, and I watch as her tongue snakes out and flicks at his top lip. Remi presses into him, her movement sensual, the exact opposite of his aggressive advance, and I feel the ghost of her breasts when they had pushed against my chest on the roof when I was the one tasting her.
Just as suddenly as this random kiss started, it stops. Madix seems to come to his senses and pushes Remi away from him. He looks pissed and confused, but there is no mistaking the heat he’s trying to hide under the annoyed mask he just pulled into place.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Madix demands again, but there’s a quiver to his voice now.
I know how he feels. Remi has a talent for leaving a person unsettled in the best, yet worst, possible way. I expect Remi to look hurt or have some kind of reaction to being pushed away and rejected by Madix, but she just wears a half-tilted smirk. There’s a mischievous gleam in her eyes that I’m starting to realize is a signature look she gets when she’s dancing outside the circle of normal.
I don’t know what to think about any of this. It’s clear we’re all attracted to her, regardless of the off-the-wall shit she pulls. I’m sure if asked right now, Madix would refute it, but there’s no denying the tent in his cargo pants, no matter what words fly out of his mouth.
True to form, Madix points in her face, his expression full of fury that burns hotter than the flames at my back. “Get your ass back to the cabin.”
“Oooh, are you giving me an order, soldier?” Remi quips, suddenly standing at mock attention.
Madix’s eyes narrow at her in a dangerous way that I know not to fuck with. Theo tenses beside them, clearly in the samewhat the fuck do I doboat that I’m paddling around in uselessly.
“Yeah, I am,” Madix tells her, not backing down.
“I should tell you,” she says, her voice barely audible over the crackling flames. “I only follow orders when I’m naked.”
I swallow hard at her response, all of us affected by the visual that her words create. I find myself moving closer, like my cock is a leash that’s pulling me along. I’m half-wishing she’ll turn to me and kiss me next, just so I can taste her again, and half-wishing that she’ll start up again with Madix or Theo, just so I can have the perfect view of her sexy body getting all worked up.
I shake away that lusty thought, not sure how to analyze it. We’ve never shared a girl before, and that odd desire would’ve never found purchase in my mind before this, so just what the fuck is happening now? It’s like she’s this weird magnet and we’re all helpless pieces of iron, unable to stop ourselves from drawing closer to her. I don’t miss the way Madix’s breath gets faster, or the fact that he stays quiet, like he can’t form a coherent response.
Suddenly, an odd huff of sound I can’t immediately identify fills the trees around us, and a prickle of awareness flashes through me. I’m not left guessing for long what the source of the sound is, because a very large, very wild black bear comes sauntering toward us from the trees.
“Holy shit,” Theo breathes.
The bear ambles into the small clearing that we’re standing in, not at all bothered by the fire that I’d have guessed would be a deterrent for a wild animal. I feel like a dumbass when Remi turns to give the animal a wide smile, and the pieces fall into place for me.
“Morning, Jim Bob,” she coos, and the rest of us freeze, not sure just what the fuck to do.
I consider playing a solid game ofif I can’t see you, you can’t see me,but decide taking my eyes off the wild creature may not be smart either. I do a quick run through of anything and everything I might have ever heard about what to do in the event of a bear attack, which doesn’t take long, because I realize I know fuck-all.
Are you supposed to play dead, not play dead, punch ‘em in the nose? Run in a zigzag motion? No, that last one is for running away from a gunman, but maybe it could be used for a bear, too?
Yup, I’m fucked.
The bear makes quick work of the cooling fish on the rock, and then goes right for a small pile of them stacked in a wicker basket next to where Remi was sitting. The bear eats that stash a little slower, and Madix, Theo, and I watch, each of us stiff with tension and not sure what to do. When it has devoured all of the fish in that pile too, the bear gives another huff, swinging its huge head in our direction, and Remi raises her hands in response.
“I know, these guys interrupted me, so I didn’t get them seasoned the way that you like, but I don’t appreciate that tone,” she says, her hands dropping to her hips, as she chastises a fucking bear.
As if this situation isn’t piss-pants-terrifying enough, the bear gives a weird kind of roar, making even Madix jump, and then proceeds to stand up on its hind legs. Theo takes a step towards Remi, but she holds up a hand and gives him a look that demands he doesn’t take one more step.
To our horror, Remi casually walks over to the disgruntled bear and then she…fuckingbear hugs it.Her tiny arms dig into its espresso-colored fur, as her body and cheek press up against its belly. I swear to God, the bear looks over at me with a smug look on its furry fucking face.
Each of us hold our breath, trying to figure out what the hell we can do if this wild animal suddenly decides to take out all of us. Can we shoot it with Remi still in its grasp? I don’t dare raise my gun, just in case it feels threatened by the movement and hurts her.
