Chapter One
Camilla Queen pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger as she inhaled deeply through her mouth.
She began to cough profusely when the pungent smell of the sewers invaded her senses.
“Sometimes, I wonder why I even wanted to be a journalist,” she muttered under her breath as her face contorted in disgust.
Camilla Queen wanted to be a journalist for as long as she could remember. Ever since she was little, she’d ride her bike around the neighborhood with her little pen and notebook, jotting down information when she could, and searching for clues when people weren’t forthcoming with their answers.
As she had gotten older, the little girl with blue eyes and blonde hair had still retained her sense of curiosity. She was the youngest person on the team because she had just graduated from college.
She was also a bit on the heavy side. Not that she minded. After all, nothing could comfort her quite like food could, and nothing tasted as good either. Except maybe men.
She stopped her train of thought before it went too deep into the gutter. When she told her boss to give her a chance on something hard hitting, she had expected something interesting, and maybe even slightly dangerous.
Investigating whether or not someone was polluting the city sewers by dumping toxic waste into them was the last thing she had on her mind. The only thing dangerous here was how close she was to hurling her lunch.
She crouched over something and poked it with her leg. She grimaced as she noticed that it was a dead animal. She made a face as her lunch tried to make its way back up her throat.
She shined her flashlight on the whole place, and finally decided that there was nothing else to see. There was nothing else to report here in any case.
She made her way out of the sewers and sucked in huge gulps of air as the cold night breeze filled her lungs. She took a whiff of herself and decided that she would need a shower before she met up with her friend Katherine.
She held her arms away from her body as she speed-walked to her car, eager to get home and wash the stink off of her.
She grabbed a plastic bag out of the trunk of her car, carefully placed it over the chair and then gingerly sat on it, careful not to touch anything else lest her entire car be left smelling like that.
She revved the car and backed out of her parking spot and onto the highway to head home.
***
Camilla wiped the steam from the mirror with the edge of her bathrobe. She smiled as she inhaled the smell of soap and body wash.
She twisted her hair up into a bun before turning on the faucet and waiting for the water to heat up. She lathered her face with soap before splashing water on it, relishing the feeling of the droplets sliding down her face and onto the tile floors.
She picked up her toothpaste, squirted some onto her toothbrush and began to brush her teeth.
A loud banging on the door made her pause and stare. She tried to speak around a mouthful of toothpaste, but it came out sounding garbled.
She spat some of the toothpaste into the sink, and yelled out. “What?”
“Are you almost done in there?” her friend Katherine’s voice came from behind the door.
“Kat, I literally just stepped into the shower fifteen minutes ago.”
“It took you fifteen minutes to wash off the gunk?” Katherine’s voice sounded dubious, at best, and Camilla chuckled under her breath as she realized that had it been Katherine, they never would’ve left the house tonight because she would’ve been in here all night, seeing imaginary germs everywhere.
“Are you sure you did it right?” Katherine’s asked.
“Well, unless you want to come in and see for yourself, you’re going to have to take my word for it,” Camilla responded as she bent over the sink once more.
Camilla shrieked as the door flew open, and Katherine stood there, her massive brown curls tumbling down her head, her hands placed on her hips as she surveyed the bathroom.
Her petite form came into the room and sniffed. She wrinkled her nose as one foot took a step forward, and the other hovered just outside the bathroom.
“Kat, what are you doing?” Camilla placed her hand on her heart to calm her erratic breathing.
“You told me to come in and see for myself,” Katherine pointed out as she paused as if deciding something. Finally, she put both feet forward and came into the bathroom.
One eyebrow went up. “I didn’t mean that literally.”
“Well, if you don’t mean it literally, then don’t say it. You know I’d take you seriously, and I never back down from a challenge.”
Camilla rolled her eyes. “I know that only too well.”
Katherine’s green eyes turned to face her. “Aw, come on. I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know the guy couldn’t take a joke?”
Camilla gave her a wry grin. “Well, when you walk up to a guy and declare that Disney princesses are real, and would he like to meet one, how do you expect him to behave?”
“I expect him to know that it’s a joke, then he’d laugh and play along, or think it’s a dirty reference and still play along,” Katherine pointed out as she hovered near the edge of the bathtub and peaked in.
“Well, clearly, this guy wasn’t in a mood to joke, and besides I was kidding. I didn’t know you’d actually go through with the dare.”
Katherine gave her a pointed look. “I’m crazy enough to do crazy dares when I’m sober, did you really think I wouldn’t because I was tipsy?”
Camilla paused as she gargled some water. She spat it out. “Good point.” She watched Katherine in the mirror as she stood there, staring down at the bathtub as if she was staring into the abyss.
Katherine took a step back and turned to survey Camilla herself. She edged around her and circled her a few times, leaning in to sniff her.
“Okay, now you’re just being weird.”
“You know that I hate germs,” Katherine said as she lifted Camilla’s arm up, looked at it then put it back down.
“There’s hating germs, and there’s this.” She gestured at Katherine. “Your boogey monster must’ve been one big germ when you were little.”
Katherine bent down and began to look at her legs. “Laugh all you want, but germs are the real enemy here.”
“The effects of growing up with parents who were doctors.” Camilla sighed. “Well, if you’re going to inspect me this thoroughly, at least buy me dinner first.”
Katherine stood up and waggled her eyebrows at Camilla playfully. “I see my awesome powers of seduction extend to women as well.”
Camilla snorted. “I see your modesty plays an important role too.”
“If you’ve got it.” She paused and shook her hips. “Flaunt it.”
Camilla pretended to cover her eyes. “Oh, believe me. I’ve seen enough ‘flaunting’ to last me a lifetime. There is such a thing as oversharing.”
Katherine pretended not to hear her as she began singing. “I like big butts, and I cannot lie, you other brothers can’t deny, when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist, and a round thing in your face—“
Camilla clamped her hand over Katherine’s mouth to stop her from singing. “When you’re quite finished.”
Katherine’s eyes sparkled with mirth as she tried to speak around Camilla’s hands. Camilla carefully removed her hand, and then placed it back when Katherine began to sing again.
Camilla screeched when Katherine’s tongue darted out to lick her hand. “Kat, what the hell?”
She pulled her hand away and wiped it on her bathrobe as she eyed Katherine with a mixture of horror and amusement.
Katherine stood there in her jeans and top, looking very smug and very pleased with herself.
“A little trick I learned from my niece.”
“Well, obviously. I mean only a six year old could teach you something so juvenile and disgusting.”
“You’re just mad because you didn’t think of it first.” Katherine ran her hands through her hair as she stuck her tongue out.
“How charming. Another trick you learned from your niece?” Camilla crossed her arms over her chest, an amused smile tugging on the corner of her lips.
“She is wise beyond her years. I could ask her to teach you a few things.”
“Generous as that offer is, I think I’ll have to pass,” Camilla responded, very dryly.
“Anyway, back to the matter at hand, are you sure you cleaned up properly?” Katherine narrowed her eyes as she studied Camilla as if somehow she could scare the germs away.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Camilla took a step forward, casually.
“What’s that?” Katherine’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.
“Give me a hug.” Camilla opened her arms and moved towards Katherine. Katherine shouted as she sidestepped and jumped to the back.
“No, no, don’t touch me. What if you still have germs?”
“Well, then we’ll have germs, together,” Camilla said wickedly as she chased her down the hallway.
“You always said we were like sisters, and we share a lot of things,” Camilla called out as the laugh bubbled up in her throat.
“I didn’t mean that, obviously. To quote what you said earlier ‘there is such a thing as oversharing’.”
“Aw, come on, Kat. Come get a little Cam love.”
Katherine made a face at Camilla before she ducked behind the couch. Her head popped up. “No, thank you. Keep your Cam love.” She used air quotes on the last thing.
Camilla ran towards the couch and tackled Katherine to the ground. “Do you surrender?”
Katherine squirmed as she tried to get away from Camilla. “Never.”
The front door clicked open, and both women froze as they stared up at a tall, muscular man with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes.
His eyes trailed down to the two women sprawled at his feet, and his eyes lit up with amusement. “Now, this looks like the intro to this wet dream I had the other day.”
Katherine blushed as she scrambled up. “I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Oh, you’d have loved it, babe. Although, no offense, Cam, but I’d rather not have a wet dream starring my little sister.”
Camilla made a gagging noise as she stood up. “You little perv. Why would you even have a dream about two women fighting?”
Leroy, Camilla’s brother, stood there with his hands wrapped around Katherine’s shoulder as he placed a kiss on the side of her head. When he told Camilla that he liked her roommate and best friend Katherine, Camilla was skeptical and afraid that if things didn’t work out, she’d lose one or both of them, but it was two years later, and they were still going strong.
“I’m a guy, why wouldn’t I have a dream about two women in a cat fight?”
Katherine elbowed him in the side. “I hope I’m at least one of those women.”
“You win every time, baby,” he said as he winked at her.
Camilla groaned. “At least wait until I leave the room, guys. I mean, I don’t want to see my big brother and best friend going at it.”
“You might have to deal with at least hearing it,” Leroy said without looking at her. His eyes never left Katherine’s face. Katherine bit her bottom lip as he drew her closer to him.
“I’m leaving, jeez.” Camilla threw her hands up as she stepped around the two and made her way back to her room down the hallway.
“I guess this means we’re not going out tonight?” she called out across her shoulder, not really expecting an answer.
She paused as she debated whether or not to turn around, but when all she heard was giggling, she decided against it and sighed as she trudged down the hallway.