Kiss of Death (The Briar Creek Vampires, #1) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (11 page)

“I wish I knew what even happened,” Lexi
said. “It’s like...one day he was outside playing soccer with me
and Austin, and the next day he was gone. I don’t really know why
he left.”

“Maybe you can get your aunt and uncle to
tell you one day. We thought…I mean, maybe your dad doesn’t know
that you don’t know how to get in touch with him.” Gabe kicked up
dirt with his sneaker and then glanced at his watch. “I should
really get going. It’s almost dinner time and my mom’s going to be
wondering where I am. Soon, Violet and Tommy are going to be
looking out the window too. And since you’re not allowed to see me
anymore…”

Lexi pushed herself onto her feet and
intertwined her fingers with his. She gave him a long peck on his
lips. “Your hands are always freezing. Are you sick?”

“No, I’m fine. I just have low blood
pressure.” He gave her another peck on her lips and started to
leave. Turning around, he asked, “Hey, Lexi?”

“Yeah?”

“If you need anything, I’m always right
across the street.”

She smiled. “I know. I am, too.” Her smile
fell from her face when she remembered Violet and Tommy. “But make
sure my aunt and uncle aren’t home first,” she added.

Turning to go inside, Lexi decided that she
didn’t care what Violet had said about Gabe being a manwhore. Lexi
knew it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.

*

Later that night, Lexi sat at the kitchen
table, quietly playing with her peas. She decided that she wasn’t
going to speak to Violet or Tommy and, so far, neither of them had
said a word to her.

Lexi didn’t have an appetite and she was
still fighting against the tears that were threatening to pour out
of her eyes. As she dumped her food into the stainless steel
trashcan in the kitchen, the doorbell rang. Wondering who it was,
Lexi went back into the dining room and listened as her aunt
answered the door.

“Thank you for stopping by! I’m sure she’ll
be thrilled that you’re here.”

Lexi was disappointed when she heard Dan’s
familiar voice say, “Violet, things didn’t go like we planned and
I’m sorry for that.” She had been hoping that her aunt had decided
to put her differences with Gabe aside and invited him over to
cheer her up. But, no,
of course
it was Dan who was here and
not Gabe.

“You should be sorry,” Violet replied,
closing the front door. “Luckily, we will have other opportunities
for you to fix your mistake.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. Her aunt’s attempt at
matchmaking was really starting to grate on her nerves. She wasn’t
allowed to see Gabe, but her aunt was encouraging her to date the
guy who had ditched her? Did her aunt not notice that Dan wasn’t
really into her as much as she had told her he was?

Rounding the corner to sneak off to her
bedroom, Lexi nearly collided with Violet.

“Lexi, Dan is here to see you. I’ll leave you
two alone so you can talk.” Walking past her, Violet quietly
hissed, “Be nice.”

Wrinkling her nose, Lexi realized she had no
choice but to talk to him. Taking a spot on the living room couch,
she crossed her arms, an attempt at creating a barrier between
herself and Dan, who sat down next to her. She glared at the floor,
avoiding his gaze.

“Why are you here?” Lexi asked, fully aware
that Violet was listening to them from the kitchen.

“I wanted to see how you were doing. Vi told
me your mom died.”

“Well, obviously, Vi didn’t tell you that I
don’t want to see you,” Lexi sarcastically replied.

“Lexi, I looked all over for you at the
carnival that night. I couldn’t find you.”

“I don’t think you looked very hard. Gabe was
able to find me.”

“Before or after he attacked the girl that
was in the newspaper?”

Lexi’s heart stopped. “What do you mean he
attacked the girl in the newspaper? He was with me.”

“I saw him attack her. Believe me or don’t if
you want, but I know what I saw.”

“I think it’s really pathetic that you’re
making up lies so that I will like you and not Gabe. He helped me
that night when someone attacked me. That’s more than I can say
about you.”

“Oh, come on, Lex. I saw you hit your head.
No one attacked you.”

“You saw me hit my head,” she thought out
loud, “which isn’t even what happened. But you weren’t able to find
me? If you saw me hit my head, why did you just leave me there
instead of bringing me home or taking me to the hospital?”

“I just...um, I –” Dan stuttered.

“Exactly what I thought. Because you know I
didn’t hit my head. My aunt and uncle probably just told you that I
did.” Lexi could feel her anger boiling to the surface.

He nodded. “Whatever happened that night, I’m
sorry. I still really like you, Lexi. Please give me another
chance.”

“I can’t. Sorry, but I don’t trust you
anymore,” Lexi said, standing up. “You should probably go now.”
Lexi tried to calm herself down on the walk back to her room. Once
she was in her room, she pulled the door closed, leaving it a crack
open so she could listen in on her aunt and Dan. They were
whispering, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was
probably just another one of Violet’s ploys to get them together.
Little did they know, it wasn’t going to happen.

*

The morning sun radiated against Lexi’s skin
as she walked to her destination. With no internet access at Aunt
Violet’s, she had to find a computer. It had been easy to sneak out
of the house without her aunt knowing. Since she was off from
teaching for the summer, she generally didn’t meander out of bed
until ten or eleven o’clock.

Gabe had given Lexi an idea that she hadn’t
already considered. It seemed like it could be one of her only ways
to get out of Briar Creek – and, more importantly, out of her
aunt’s house. Lexi had to find her dad, someway, somehow.

Searching for him seemed like it was going to
be difficult. After all, he had managed to remain hidden all of
these years, which made Lexi think that he wanted to hide. She also
wondered if he would even let her live with him if she did find
him.
He
was the one who had chosen to leave. Even though she
never understood what had happened, Lexi was pretty sure that her
mom hadn’t kicked her dad out. Her dad was the one who had
abandoned them.

The library at Briar Creek College was, by
far, the smallest library that Lexi had ever been to. Scanning the
room for an empty computer, she spotted one towards the back
wall.

Sitting down, Lexi turned on the computer and
waited for it to load. The person sitting next to her cleared his
throat. Glancing at him for the first time, Lexi noticed that he
was cute – really cute, actually. His short, brown hair was slicked
back, and he was wearing a red and white striped shirt that
complimented his olive skin. Trying to guess how old he was, Lexi
decided that he must be a college junior or senior.

When the computer finished loading, Lexi
opened a window. She searched “Benjamin “Hunter.” As she expected,
there were many, many people with the name Benjamin Hunter, ranging
from photographers to artists. To narrow down her search results,
she typed “Benjamin Hunter in Pennsylvania.”

Checking the first few websites, Lexi did not
seem to find any matches. Once she reached the second page of
results, a blog caught her attention. Opening it, she found that
the blog owner had set all blog posts to private. To read the
posts, she would have to become his friend. The photo in the upper
left-hand corner made her breath catch in her throat.

It was him.

Lexi hadn’t seen her dad since she was six
and, considering that there were no pictures of him around their
house, one could argue that she wouldn’t have known him if she saw
him in line at a grocery store or a at coffee shop. But she was one
hundred percent certain that the face staring back to her belonged
to her dad. His blue, smiling eyes and pointy nose were the same
way Lexi remembered them, but he had grown a salt and pepper goatee
since the last time she had seen him.

Clicking on “Contact Information,” Lexi felt
as though she could dance around the room in joy when she saw that
there was a phone number listed. She nearly kicked herself in the
ass when she realized that she didn’t have a pen to write it
down.

“Hey,” she whispered to the guy next to her.
“Do you happen to have a pen?”

“Sure,” he said, pulling a blue ballpoint pen
out of his bag and handing it to her.

“Thanks,” Lexi said, smiling – and trying not
to focus on how cute he was. Knowing how she felt about Gabe, she
knew that she shouldn’t look at other guys…but it also wasn’t like
they were official yet. Reminding herself that she would be upset
if Gabe was with another girl, Lexi tried to snap herself out of
anything that she might feel for…um, she realized that she didn’t
know his name.

Scribbling down her dad’s number on the back
of her hand because she had forgotten her phone at home, Lexi
powered the computer off and turned to walk out the door. Once she
reached the long hallway that lead to the back entrance, Lexi felt
a tap on her shoulder.

Turning, she found herself standing
face-to-face with the really cute guy she had just been sitting
next to.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I totally forgot to give you
back your pen,” Lexi said, handing it to him.

“It’s okay,” the guy said, smiling. “That’s
not why I came after you.”

“Oh?” Lexi asked, puzzled.

“I’ve never seen you around here,” the guy
went on. “I was wondering, are you a student?”

“Yes, but I don’t start until the fall,” Lexi
half lied, half told the truth. She
was
a student after all,
just not at Briar Creek College.

“Sweet. I’m Craig. Maybe we can get together
sometime?” He asked.

Trying not to stare at his muscular chest,
which looked like it belonged on a lifeguard chair on a hot beach
somewhere, she said, “I’m Lexi, and sure. I’d love that.”

“Cool. How about I give you my number and you
call me?” Craig asked.

Nodding, Lexi stared at the cell phone holder
on his belt loop. “Yeah, that’s fine. Write it down. Hey, do you
mind if I borrow your phone for a second?” she asked, adding, “My
battery is dead and I have to tell someone to pick me up.” She
wasn’t about to tell him that she was so absentminded that she
forgotten it, or that she was looking for her dad who had abandoned
her when she was a kid.

“No prob,” he said, swiftly handing her his
cell phone.

“Thanks,” Lexi said smiling at him. “I’ll be
back in just a second.” Taking a few steps away from Craig, she
dialed the number she had written on the back of her hand and
suddenly found herself pacing back and forth in the wide
hallway.

As the phone began ringing, Lexi felt as
though her heart was frozen. It almost hurt breathe. She couldn’t
believe that she had managed to get the guts up to call her dad so
quickly after finding him online. Normally, it took her months to
get up the nerve to do anything. Then again, it wasn’t that weird.
It was just how badly she wanted to get out of Briar Creek.

After a few rings, an automated voice
prompted her to leave a message. Lexi gulped and took a deep
breath. Once the beep on the other line had ended, she said, “Hi,
Ben, err…dad. This is Lexi…your daughter. I need you to call me
back. It’s important. Mom died, and I really need your help.”
Hoping that he wouldn’t call her back while her aunt was in
earshot, Lexi recited her number and pushed the end button on
Craig’s phone before handing it back to him.

“Thank you so much, for letting me use your
phone,” Lexi said, as Craig handed her a folded piece of paper with
his number on it. “I’ll call you soon,” she said, smiling at
him.

“Cool,” Craig said. “I’ll see you around
then, I guess.”

“Yup,” Lexi said, swinging open the back door
of the college to begin walking back home. As she approached the
garbage can that had flies swarming around it, she tossed the
number. As much as she wanted to see Craig, she realized that
adding him into the mix of things going on in her life right now
would only complicate things – and that really wasn’t fair to him.
Lexi hoped that he would meet a nice girl on campus and forget all
about her.

****

Chapter 10

The next morning, Lexi was awakened by the
sound of her aunt’s Toyota Corolla pulling out of the gravel
driveway as Violet and Tom set out for New Jersey. She breathed a
sigh of relief. Now that they were gone, she had the house to
herself for the next few days. Lexi realized that this meant she
could see Gabe as much as she wanted until they returned without
getting grounded for it.

Lying in bed, Lexi found herself thinking
about the carnival again and, mostly, Violet’s reaction to her
being attacked. Violet had said that it couldn’t have happened
because things like that just don’t happen in Briar Creek. Well,
what about that newspaper article? Wasn't that enough proof that
something that violent could, and did, happen in Briar Creek?

Lexi couldn’t stop thinking about her
attacker. She hadn’t seen his (she assumed it was a “him,” because
she didn’t think a woman would be as strong as her attacker was)
face, and that made her nervous. What if he had somehow found out
where she lived? Was her attacker also Jessica’s murderer? If he
was, he might try to come back and finish the job so that Lexi
couldn’t rat him out on the off chance that she remembered him
(which she didn’t, since she hadn’t even seen his face). Just
thinking about her attacker finding her gave her goose bumps.

Lexi’s stomach leapt into her throat when the
phone started ringing.

She threw herself out of bed and ran
downstairs. As she reached the phone, it beeped loudly.