BLACK CRIMSON (Fairy Tale Quartet #4)

3. Camille-2

I think the biggest factor to help Kaitlynn get over Gabby’s secrecy, however, was the fact that Gabby had allowed Kaitlynn to organize a wedding reception to celebrate her nuptials to Hayden.

Because Kaitlynn had totally guilt-tripped her into having a reception in the first place.

And that happy gathering would take place this coming weekend. I was super psyched about getting an invitation to their party. The idea of going to a fancy wedding reception—because, by the way, Gabby’s new husband was loaded—had prompted me into splurging on a new cocktail dress to wear there. It was a bit snug in the waist and bust but flared out over my hips nicely.

I adored it.

None of that mattered at the moment, however, because I was trying to share my big news here. Why was no one responding to me yet?

Okay, screw this.

Walking as I typed, I went ahead and pushed send, spilling all my glorious information before anyone could guess what it was.

CAMILLE: I just met BLACK CRIMSON. I repeat BLACK...CRIMSON…the street artist. I full-body RAN into him on the street. And get this, he checked out my ass. And hit on me! But more importantly, look! He just finished this mural.I sent them an image of the mural. Then I sent a picture of my hand with the red paint still on my fingers.

CAMILLE: See! The paint was still fresh. I have Black Crimson paint on me right now. Can you frigging believe that?! Feel free to commence your jealous drooling now.And just to be an annoying pain who sent too many messages in a row on a group chat, I added one more.

CAMILLE: Isn’t this so wild and amazing?! Tell me it’s wild and amazing!And finally, I started to get some replies. Stepping off a curb as I read, I jerked to a halt when a car honked at me for entering the crosswalk at a red light.

With a cringed wave of apology, I popped back onto the sidewalk and kept reading as I waited for my turn to go.

GABBY: What’re you doing out of your apartment at this time of night? You don’t exactly live in the safest neighborhood. KAITLYNN: You were walking? Oh no. Did your car stop working again? You know, Ezra and I could’ve given you a ride. To wherever you wanted to go.I threw my head back and groaned. But really? I’d just made the most exciting discovery this town has ever seen, and these guys are worried about my freaking safety? Unbelievable.

I started to respond, letting them know their priorities were all out of whack—because, hello, had they missed the Black Crimson part of my messages?—when the last member of the group finally chimed in.

ISOBEL: So you actually caught him in the act? That IS crazy! What’s his name? What was he like? Did you get a picture of him too?Now, that was more like it. The response I’d been hoping for from the beginning.

Bless you, Isobel!

The light turned green for me to go, so I hurried across the street and decided screw texting; I had to tell my crew this one live.

I group-called them since I knew they were now all online.

As soon as they started to answer, I screeched, “You guys! This has to be the best night of my life. He smelled so good, too. I was walking to Gran’s because the weather knocked her cable out, and it needs to be reset. She never remembers how to reset it herself. And I was looking up at all the stars in the sky as I trooped down the block because the night was just so fresh and new after the rain, you know, and—”

“Oh my God,” Gabby’s voice groaned into my ear. “Get to the point, woman!”

“I am!” I told her. “And the point is, I wasn’t looking where I was going, so I walked right into some guy who was passing by, going in the opposite direction. And he totally hit on me. Like, told me I had a nice ass and everything, then asked if I needed a ride.”

“Creepy,” Gabby sang out.

I ignored her. “And so I went on my way, totally blowing him off, only to turn the corner a block later and, bam, there was his new art, with the paint still wet.”

“Yikes. That doesn’t sound safe at all,” Kaitlynn surmised, her voice uncertain. “He didn’t keep following you, did he?”

“How can you be sure the guy you ran into was actually Black Crimson, though?” Isobel asked.

“Because,” I sputtered incredulously, unable to believe no one was as excited about this as I was. “I saw black, red, and white paint smeared on his hand and face! That’s why! Do you know what this means?”

Someone heaved out a heavy sigh before Kaitlynn grumbled, “It means I just lost twenty bucks. I made a bet with my stepbrother that Black Crimson was a woman.”

“See, that’s why I don’t make bets until I know I can win them,” Isobel responded, sounding like the voice of reason. “Especially with a sibling. The money aside, he’ll never let you live this down, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Kaitlynn muttered miserably.

At the end of the block, I turned a corner and caught my breath when I was surprised by a shady-looking character leaning against the building.

Hurrying past him, I listened to Gabby say, “Why in the world did you think a woman painted those pictures? Did you miss how the boobs on every female he portrays are nearly spilling out of their low necklines, and all their waists are tiny, while their hips are perfectly rounded. If that didn’t come from a male brain, I don’t know what would.”

“That’s a good point,” Isobel broke in. “I never thought of that before. Huh.”

“Hey!” I barked. “Focus, people. I just made a breakthrough here. If I could find him again, maybe I could talk him into giving me an exclusive interview. And if I could get him to give me an interview, the paper would practically be forced to put me in the editing department. This is so big right now. I could literally—”

“Um, I thought you didn’t get his name,” Kaitlynn had the audacity to remind me.

I frowned. “I didn’t, but—”

“Oh Lord,” Gabby groaned. “Please don’t say you’re just going to start knocking on every door in the city until you find his face.”

“Of course not,” I muttered, letting her know that would be ridiculous, until I bit my lip and confessed, “Besides, I didn’t exactly see all of his face. He was wearing a black jacket with the hood up.”

“She remembered how he smelled, though,” Isobel thought it’d be funny to add.

“So you’re just going to go around sniffing every man who fits his build?” Gabby guessed.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Really, guys? You’re just so hilarious.”

“Well, then, how were you planning on finding him again?” Kaitlynn asked.

“I…” I dropped my excited expression as my shoulders slumped around me. Hating how they had to confront me with irritating things like facts and reality, I glumly muttered, “I don’t know.” Then I straightened with resolve. “But I will. I just know it.”

I had to find him again.

“And how are you going to talk him into an interview if you do find him?” Isobel asked, her voice growing soft with sympathy as if she thought my dream was hopeless. “He’s wanted by the police, you know, for vandalism. And with the mayor breathing down their necks about the issue, they’d definitely press for the maximum of charges if they ever caught him. He’s not just going to agree to expose himself. Besides, if he wanted people to know who he was, he would’ve come out already.”

Damn, those were all good points. I didn’t much like how good and logical and valid those points were.

“I…” I started hesitantly, cringing enough to gnash my teeth.

“She’s not going to find him again,” Gabby spoke up. “And she wouldn’t talk him into an interview if she did. So she should just forget the whole idea now. Because it could only get her into some serious trouble. Right, Camy?”

I wrinkled my nose. “But—”

“This man is a stranger,” she reminded me. “You don’t know a thing about him. And he’s kept his identity a secret for a reason, so if you tried to force him to reveal it, I don’t know what he’d be willing to do to keep it private. This is a path I don’t think you should follow. So please, just... Give it up. Okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to tell her I’d be fine.

But then Isobel chimed it, “That’s a good point. Cornered animals are unpredictable at best, but a cornered human is just plain dangerous.”

“I don’t want you in danger, Camy,” Kaitlynn finished off.

And suddenly, I felt extremely loved, yet exasperated all in one. This was exactly what I had wanted when I’d gotten the group together: people who cared about me and whom I could care about in return. Friends who’d be straight with me whether I wanted to hear their honesty or not. My dream was freaking coming true! And yet, geesh, I think they were overreacting just a tad.

It couldn’t hurt to merely walk the streets a little more to hopefully, maybe, possibly run into him again. And he wasn’t a bad guy, you know. He had left me alone when I’d asked him to. Plus all the quotes he wrote were always so helpful and uplifting and positive. That was why I loved him. Because no one who created that kind of motivating beauty could be evil.

But I mumbled, “Oh, alright,” to my friends to appease them. “It wasn’t like I was actually going to find him, anyway.”

I mean, I probably wouldn’t.

Unless I did.

Because I was still going to keep looking for him, of course.

“Thank you,” Gabby said firmly.

“I gotta go, though,” I told them. “I just made it to Gran’s building. So it’s time to go be Super Granddaughter now.”

“Ooh, give Mabel a big hug for me,” Kaitlynn gushed. “I miss living across the hall from her. It’s the only downside of moving in with Ezra, I swear.”

Only for Ezra’s sister to snort. “Oh, I can think of plenty of downsides about living with Ezra.”

“I really need to go,” I sang, hoping they didn’t continue the conversation without me after I hung up, since I wanted to be involved in all their groupish things. “But I’ll see you guys this weekend, okay? In my new dress, ready to party.”

“You know, you really don’t have to attend that reception,” Gabby tried. “In fact, how about I skip it with you.”

She was absolutely not the huggy, feely, let’s-get-together-and-have-a-huge-social-event-in-my-honor kind of person.

“Oh, heck no,” Kaitlynn told her sternly. “You are not skipping the party that’s being thrown for you. All four of us will be there. Like it or not.”

“Okay, geesh, fine,” Gabby grumbled. “I’ll see you guys there, then. And no one’s allowed to laugh at my discomfort, or I swear, I will strangle all three of you. Got it?”

“We would never,” I promised. “Now, seriously, bye...” And I promptly hung up as soon as I stepped through the front door of Gran’s building since I knew being inside these walls dropped my calls, like, fifty percent of the time. “Alright, then,” I announced to myself and blew out a big breath. Time to focus on Gran.

Pushing all things Black Crimson to the back of my mind, because if the girls had freaked out about me wanting to find one single man out there on the streets, then who knew how negatively my own grandmother would react. She’d probably give me the cautionary tale of the century if she heard about my plans. Ergo, I guess I couldn’t tell her, either. Or anyone, for that matter.

Because, oh, I would find that man.

If it was the last thing I did.