Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (18 page)

Gabe raised an eyebrow
and shook his head. “I already told you why. We just didn’t really
get along.”

“Yeah, but why? Dan
told me that he saw you and Austin get into a pretty big argument
just before he died. What were you fighting over?”

“It’s a really
long story,” Gabe replied. “I don’t know if it’s
a good idea to talk about it.”

“That makes me feel
like you have something to hide.” Lexi frowned. “I want to be able
to trust you, Gabe. It’s really hard for me to trust you after
everything that happened, after you almost killed me. I need you to
be one hundred percent honest with me. I think you owe me that
much.”

“You’re right,” Gabe
said, sighing deeply. “It was mostly just guy stuff. But there was
also the fact that Austin felt uncomfortable about me drinking
Mary-Kate’s blood. He thought that she was growing attached to me,
and he was convinced that I had feelings for her.”

Lexi opened her mouth
to say something, but snapped it shut quickly. She wasn’t sure what
she should say to Gabe. Lexi understood how Austin must have felt.
She felt a twinge of jealousy herself. Every book she had ever read
about vampires said that drinking blood was a very erotic
experience for both people involved, and it made her jealous to
think about the fact that Gabe had actually drank from her
half-sister. How could he have kissed Lexi after that? It felt like
betrayal, except Lexi wasn’t sure who Gabe was betraying—her or
Mary-Kate.

The look on Gabe’s face
told Lexi that he had picked up on the fact that she had suddenly
grown quiet. He reached for her hand and said, “It wasn’t like
that, Lexi. I don’t have feelings for Mary-Kate. I never have, and
I never will. I only have feelings for you.”

Lexi pursed her
lips. “If you don’t have feelings for Mary-Kate, why do you drink
from her at all? You told me yourself that there are
ot
her ways for you to get
blood.”

“You’re right,
there is,” Gabe replied. “Hunter blood is better, though. I get
more energy when I drink her blood, and I can go longer periods of
time without needing to drink. It simply makes me stronger. It
doesn’t
mean I have feelings
for her.”

“Prove it,” Lexi
replied, looking up at him. “Dr
ink from me instead next time.”

“I told you, I
don’
t think you’re ready for
that.”

“Then I believe
you’re more interested in Mary-Kate than you are in me,” Lexi
replied. “If you care about me, you’ll drink my blood instead of
hers. I have Hunter blood, too, remember? It’s good enough for
everyone else in this town. I don’t know why
it’s not good enough for you.”

Gabe sighed.
“Fine. H
ow about this? I’ll
think about it. Once I think you’re ready, I’ll drink from
you.”

“Fair
enough,”
Lexi shrugged.
Realizing that was the most that she was going to get out of him
right now, she decided to give up on that argument at
least.

“Was there anything
else you wanted?” Gabe asked abruptly.

“Just to see you,” Lexi
said. “I had a rough day. I went to the corn maze with Mary-Kate
and her friends today. I somehow got lost, and someone followed
me.”

A look that Lexi
couldn’t identify crossed Gabe’s face. “Who was it?”

“
I don’t
know. I think it was a guy because the person had really big feet.
And he was tall,” Lexi replied, thinking back to what the person
had looked like. “Anyway, he was wearing a skeleton costume with a
mask so I couldn’t actually see who it was. It just seemed like he
was following me and when I took Mary-Kate to show her, he was
already gone.”

“I doubt it’s anything
to be concerned about,” Gabe said, looking away from her. “Maybe
you just thought he was following you, but he wasn’t.”

“I don’t know. It
really seemed like he was. Plus, who would wear a Halloween costume
in a corn maze? It seemed like he was wearing it for a reason, like
he didn’t want me to be able to recognize him.” Lexi sat up and
looked at him. “Why does it seem like you don’t believe
me?”

Gabe shrugged. “Lexi,
you have every right to be paranoid. I know I would be if I were
the one in your position. First, you got attacked at that carnival,
and now people are out to kill you for your blood. I’d be freaked,
too. In fact, I’m freaked for you. But I also know that how easy it
is to get confused when you’re in a scary situation.”

Lexi shook her
head. “I’m not confused. I
know
he was
there. For all I know, it was probably Dan. He told me that he was
going to the corn maze today, but then he never even showed up. You
know what?” She walked over to the window and pushed it open before
turning back to him. “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you just
leave?”

Gabe lunged forward,
closing the window just in time. Lexi heard a sickening splat as a
bat crashed hard against the window’s glass. Lexi gasped. “Do you
know who that was?”

“No, I don’t. We can’t
tell each other apart or communicate with one another when we are
in bat form. It could have been someone you know, but it might have
just been someone who smelled that you were a human.”

Lexi sighed. “Lovely. I
can’t even leave my window open without having to worry about being
attacked.”

“Just wear your
necklace. No one will be able to smell you.” Gabe ran a hand
through her blonde hair and placed a hand against her neck, which
was more bare than usual because she didn’t have her pendant on.
“Let me stay here with you tonight. I feel safer knowing that I’m
here to protect you.”

“I’m sure I’ll be
fine,” Lexi replied. “It seems like they’re trying to keep me alive
until Halloween, so I doubt anything will happen.”

“You’re right. I’m sure
nothing will happen, but I still feel better about it. If there
really is someone following you, he might know where you
live.”

Lexi sighed. “Fine. You
can stay.” She glanced at the time on her cell phone, which was
resting on her nightstand. It was eleven o’clock. “I should go to
sleep soon or I’m going to be dead tired tomorrow. Why weren’t you
in school today, by the way?”

“
I can’t go
to school,” Gabe replied. “I only went the first day because I had
to get in contact with you. You wouldn’t have known to open your
window if I didn’t tell you to. I didn’t mean to get stuck in that
gym class, and I actually didn’t know that you were going to be
there either. I snuck in through an open window in the basement,
but before I could get out of the auxiliary gym, class was already
starting. I just pretended that I was supposed to be
there.

“I can’t let anyone
else know that I’m in Briar Creek, Lexi. You’re one of the only
people who know. Mayor Lawrence has already made it clear to my mom
that if anyone finds out that I’m back, I’m going to be exiled from
the town and she will, too. I have a feeling that also means that
they’re going to try to kill me while they’re at it. It’s not going
to be easy for them because I’m older and more powerful than a lot
of them, but they’re going to try.”

“What if Violet’s
already told Greg that you’re here?” Lexi asked, her voice a tiny
whisper. The seriousness of Gabe’s situation was suddenly starting
to sink in. She was going to make sure that she didn’t call for him
to come to her unless if it was an emergency.

“I’m not too worried
about Violet knowing. I’ve been keeping an eye on her and Tommy in
the house so that we don’t accidentally run into each other when I
visit you, and she seems really out of it. She’s so upset that he’s
dying that she probably hasn’t realized that I’m not supposed to be
hanging around my mom’s house. We still have to be careful, though.
No one else can know that I come to visit you. I really need to be
more careful and stay out of the public eye. That’s why it’s too
risky for me to stay with my mom.”

“I understand,” Lexi
replied. “I wish I knew where you were staying.”

“It’s best this way. If
you knew where I was staying, it could be putting you in danger if
someone wanted to find me that badly,” Gabe replied, touching her
arm. “Don’t worry. I’m never too far away. All you have to do is
think about me and I’ll be here.”

“I have a question,”
Lexi said slowly. “You told me that my attacker at the carnival was
another vampire. Do you know who it was?”

Gabe shook his
head. “No, I don’t know who it was. If I did, I would have told
you. I only knew because there were bite marks on
your neck before I healed
it.”

“Okay, I was just
wondering. Let’s not talk about it anymore. I don’t want to have
nightmares about it tonight. I just want to spend time with you.”
She lay down on her twin
sized
bed and patted the mattress next to her. Gabe lay down with her and
wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. She felt
comforted by his icy body against her warm back.

Lexi decided that
she was being ridiculous. Of course she could trust Gabe. He was
the only guy in Briar Creek who she could trust. He was the only
one who made her feel safe. Closing her eyes, it wasn’t long before
she drifted off
to
sleep.

*

The next morning, Lexi was woken up by a loud
pounding at her bedroom door. Terrified that her aunt was going to
catch Gabe in her bedroom, she frantically glanced around the room
and realized that the area where he had been laying with her was
empty and the window was firmly shut. Gabe must have actually
climbed down the lattice this time instead of flying off in the
form of a bat. She assumed that he must not be able to turn into a
bat when it was daylight hours. The curtains were also drawn, which
wasn’t something that Lexi ever did.

“Lexi! Lexi, wake up!” Violet shouted from the
hallway, pulling the door open loudly.

“I’m awake,” Lexi replied sleepily, yawning and
stretching her arms.

“You have to be on your way to work in fifteen
minutes,” Violet told her.

Lexi glanced at her cell phone. It said that it
was Wednesday.“But it’s a school day!”

“No, it’s not. Parent conferences are being
held today, so I called Splish ’N Splash and they said you could go
in to work for a few hours. Only a few kids will be there today,
but they found a place for you. That’s a good thing, isn’t
it?”

Lexi shrugged. “I guess. It would have been
nice to sleep in for once, though.”

“You’re young. You should be out and about.
There’s no reason to waste your day away by being lazy! Now, hurry
up so Dan can give you a ride to work.”

“Dan? Why can’t you take me to
work?”

Violet crossed her arms and leaned against the
doorway as if she were tired. “Have you forgotten what my
profession is, Lexi? I’m a teacher. That means that I will need to
meet with the parents for most of the day. Dan will be giving you a
ride home when your shift is over.” Without saying another word,
Violet turned around and walked out of Lexi’s bedroom.

Groaning, Lexi picked up the black bathing suit
that she had to wear at Splish ’N Splash and headed to the bathroom
to get ready. She had a feeling that today was going to be a really
bad day already, and it hadn’t even begun.

****

Chapter 20

*

The car ride to
work was just as uncomfortable as Lexi had expected it to be. Dan
kept trying to make conversation with her, and she kept giving him
short, meaningless responses.
She was tempted to ask him about why no one had seen him at
the corn maze just to see his reaction, but she also didn’t want
him to know that she was onto him. When he dropped her off in front
of Splish ’N Splash, she bolted from the car and ran to the pool
room for her shift.

“
Hey, Lexi!
How does it feel to have the day off from school?” Karla asked. She
was in the pool, playing water volleyball with a few kids and some
of the other lifeguards and pool attendants. Karla jumped up and
punched the ball over the net. Seconds later, it splashed in the
water and the kids on her team cheered and splashed even more
water.

“Good!” Lexi replied
cheerfully. Glancing around the room, Lexi noticed that Brandon
wasn’t there again. She felt a sense of relief. “Brandon’s not
working again today?”

Karla shook her head.
“No, Brandon’s grandma is really sick. She’s in the hospital right
now, so he’s there keeping her company.”

A conversation
that Lexi had with Brandon shortly after they
had first met flashed back into her mind. He had
mentioned that his mom was dead, and Lexi said that her mom had
died recently as well. Brandon had said something like, “Was she
sick, too?” Lexi had thought it was a really weird question for him
to ask her at the time, so she had lied and said that her mom had
gotten into a car accident - partly because she didn’t want Brandon
knowing the details and partly because it felt easier for her to
lie about it than to tell the truth at the time. Her mom’s death
was a mystery to her, so it was undoubtedly difficult to talk
about.