Kiss of Death (The Briar Creek Vampires, #1) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (15 page)

A flashlight shone on Gabe and Dan. “Boys,
what are you doing?” A voice asked from the shadows.

Lexi looked up to see Mayor Lawrence towering
over them. “This is not the way we deal with conflict in Briar
Creek,” he said, adding, “Dan, I’m going to have to suspend you
from football practice for one week. And Gabe, I’m not quite sure
what I’m going to do about you.”

“We were just playing around,” Dan mumbled.
“It was really no big deal.”

“Well, it looked like a big deal to me, so
I’m going to treat it as one. Both of your parents will be
personally contacted by me tomorrow.”

Lexi sighed. She knew that this had been a
really, really bad idea. Violet and Tommy were bound to find out
that Gabe and Dan had fought, once again putting Gabe in a bad
light. Now, she could at least point out that Dan wasn’t all that
innocent either, though.

“Are you coming home with me?” Dan asked Lexi
after the mayor had walked away.

“Um, no. I think I’m going to go home with
Gabe. Sorry, Dan.”

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “You
shouldn’t put your neck on the line like that, but do whatever you
want.” Noticing that Gabe was glaring at him, he added, “I
mean...Violet is going to be pissed. That’s all.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s all you meant. Come
on, Lexi,” Gabe said, wrapping his arm around her waist and leading
her to his car.

As he opened the door for her, Lexi asked,
“Gabe? What made you come here tonight?”

“Someone told me that Dan made reservations
here for two. For some reason, I had a feeling that it would be you
with him.” He smiled and added, “It was the only way I could see
you. I tried not to be mad at you for it, but seeing you with him
made me insanely jealous.”

“Well, I’m glad you did.” Lexi said, smiling
back at him. Gabe got into the car and backed out of the parking
lot. He reached over and held her hand. Lexi’s fingers felt warm
against his cold skin.

When he pulled onto their street, he pulled
over to the side of the road. “I just want to let you know that no
matter what happens, I love you.” He kissed her gently and
whispered, “We will figure this out eventually. I’m not going
anywhere.”

“Me either,” she responded, leaning in for
another kiss. “And I love you too.”

For a moment, it was like they were the only
people in the world. Nothing else mattered.

As Gabe pulled up to her driveway, she saw
her aunt running towards the car, screaming, “Lexi Anne Hunter!
What do you think you’re doing?”

****

Chapter 14

Back safely at his house, Gabe breezed
through the front door. Looking down, he straightened out his
clothes that had gotten messed up on his way home.

As he started looking through the fridge, a
shrieking voice behind him made the hair on the back of his neck
stand up. “I heard about what happened.”

“Yeah?” Gabe asked sarcastically. “That was
quick. Word travels fast around here.” Retrieving the package he
was looking for, he slammed the fridge shut and threw it onto the
table. Roughly pulling chair out, he sat down, biting through the
flimsy plastic that contained his meal.

“Don’t use that tone with me, Gabriel. Greg
Lawrence came here on his way home.”

He looked up at her with wide eyes. “It’s
okay,” she continued, noticing his reaction. “He said he would let
you off with some community service this time. But you have to be
careful from now on. I don’t want you seeing that girl
anymore.”

Opening his mouth to protest, she interrupted
him. “Shh. You looked drained,” she said, studying him, a worried
expression on her face.

“I’m fine,” Gabe mumbled through his meal,
waving his hand at her nonchalantly. “I’m not going to stay away
from her. Especially not right now.” From his spot at the table, he
glanced out the dining room window across the street. “She needs
me,” he said softly.

“Gabriel! How could you do this to us? You
know all she’s good for,” she shrieked at him.

“I wish everyone around here would stop
saying that,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m old enough to
know what I want for myself.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she
leaned back and scoffed. “You may think you’re old enough, but this
doesn’t only affect you. When they discover what you’re trying to
do, you’ll be putting both of our necks on the line. You know what
her family is like. We’re already on their bad side. Don’t make
things worse. They have a lot of pull in this town.”

“It isn’t right, mom” he said, getting up
from his seat and pacing around the kitchen.

“I know it’s not, but we don’t have any other
option,” she said tenderly. Getting up from the table, she walked
over to Gabe and wrapped him into a tight hug. “I know it’s hard.
Please just do what’s right for everyone in this situation. There
will be other girls,” she added cheerfully, taking his face into
her hands and looking hopefully into his deep blue eyes. “I promise
you’ll forget all about this one. She patted his arm. “Just think
about it.”

Staring out the dining room window at the
house across the street, Gabe clenched his hands into fists around
the curtains. “But I love her,” he whispered.

****

Chapter 15

The next morning, Lexi woke up when a text
message beeped on her cell phone. Her aunt and uncle had returned
her phone to her so that she could call them during her date with
Dan if she had to and, after last night’s argument; they had
forgotten to take it back.

Opening the phone, Lexi found that the text
message was from Justin. She smiled. It was good to finally hear
from someone who wasn’t from Briar Creek (aside from Gabe, that
is). The text said:
Hey Lexi! I miss u. Wanna hang out next
weekend?

She typed back:
I wish I could, but I’m
not in NJ anymore

A few seconds later, Justin responded:
Where r u? I don’t mind takin a road trip.

Lexi thought for a moment. She was grounded,
but what was her aunt going to do when Justin showed up on the
front porch? She would seem really rude if she turned him away
after he traveled all the way from New Jersey. Lexi wasn’t sure,
but she decided that she was willing to take the risk.

Hesitantly, Lexi answered:
Ok, I’m in
Briar Creek in PA. 567 Birchwood Rd. What day are u coming?

Almost immediately, her cell phone beeped
again.
Saturday.

Lexi felt a wave of happiness wash over her.
It wasn’t because she still had feelings for Justin because she
didn’t. It was because she finally had something to look forward
to.

She listened to her aunt speaking loudly on
her cell phone downstairs. A few moments later, the front door
slammed shut. Lexi got out of bed and hurried to the kitchen. Her
stomach was growling and this was the perfect opportunity for her
to get something to eat without having to see her aunt. After the
scream fight they had gotten into about Gabe last night after she
got out of the car, Lexi would be trying as hard as possible to
avoid Violet from now on.

Just as she put a strawberry Pop-Tart in the
toaster, the doorbell rang. Thinking that her aunt must have
forgotten her keys in the house, Lexi held her breath and headed
for the living room.

Opening the front door, she found Dan staring
back at her. Lexi groaned. “My aunt’s not here.”

“I’m not here to see her,” Dan said smoothly.
“I’m here to see you.”

“What do you want? I already told you...I
like Gabe.”

“I know, but just listen to me, Lexi,” he
responded, stepping into the front door.

She sat down on the couch, folded her arms
and crossed her legs. “I’m listening.”

“You don’t like me because your aunt wants
you to. You even told me that last night.” He paused and looked at
Lexi. She nodded in return. He added, “Just give me a chance.
Please? I promise I’ll have them lay off of you. I just want you to
get to know me for me.”

“No, I don’t want to get to know you.”

“I’ll see if i can get Violet and Tommy to
un-ground you,” he suggested.

Lexi took his offer into consideration. How
hard would it be for her to give, or pretend to give, Dan a chance
if it meant that she could have some form of freedom back? In
exchange for hanging out with him every once in awhile, she would
be able to use her cell phone, go out of the house and maybe even
get the Internet in the near future.

Hoping that she wouldn’t regret her decision,
Lexi answered, “Fine. I’ll give you a chance as long as you can get
me ungrounded.”

His beaming smile lit up the room and his
blue eyes sparkled. “Thanks, Lexi! I promise you won’t regret it.
I’ll make it worth your while.”

Lexi hoped so. But then, what did she have to
lose?

“Hey, I’m gonna get going, but do you know
where Violet keeps her sun block?” Dan asked.

“Probably in the medicine cabinet,” Lexi
answered. “I’ll go look for it.”

In the bathroom, she found herself giggling.
How was she supposed to take a guy who needed to borrow sun block
seriously? Real men, like Gabe, would just suck it up.

Looking through the medicine cabinet, Lexi
found some Band-Aids, scissors, tweezers and tampons. On the top
shelf, there were seven bottles of sun block.

Jeez, Lexi thought, who needs seven bottles
of sun block in Pennsylvania? It’s not like they lived in Florida,
California or Hawaii. Pennsylvanian summers didn’t even last that
long. Lexi decided that her aunt must be one of those extreme
coupon shoppers who will buy anything when it goes on sale. The sun
block must have been ten for ten dollars or something.

Grabbing a bottle of sun block from the
cabinet, Lexi went back into the living room and handed it to Dan.
“Here, you can take it. I doubt they’ll even notice it’s gone. They
have a freakish amount of sunscreen in their cabinet. Why do you
need it anyway?”

“It’s really hot out,” Dan replied. “I felt
my arms getting sunburn in the car on the way here.”

Looking at him closer, Lexi noticed that more
than just his arms had burned. A red rash was beginning to creep up
his cheeks.

“I think you have sun poisoning,” Lexi said.
“Here, let me help you put the sunscreen on.”

“Thanks,” Dan mumbled, handing her the bottle
and taking off his shirt.

Lexi began rubbing the thick white cream on
his shoulder blades, which had already turned an ugly shade of
purple. As she began blending the cream into his back, he said,
“You give a really good massage.”

Lexi laughed. “Except I’m not massaging
you.”

“Too bad, maybe you should,” he said. When
her hands stopped moving in defense, he said “I’m just
kidding.”

She rubbed the sun block into Dan’s shoulders
and arms, which Lexi couldn’t help but notice were really cold,
despite the sunburn. After she smothered the lotion all over his
chest, she handed him his shirt. “All done,” she said.

“Thanks, Lexi.”

Looking out the window, she noticed one of
the curtains move at Gabe’s house. Shit, she thought. Had he been
watching her rub sunscreen all over Dan? If he had, it definitely
couldn’t have looked good. Lexi prayed that Gabe didn’t see, or
that he wasn’t mad at her if he had seen.

“Well, I better get going. I’ll see you
sometime soon, I guess?”

“Yeah, how about tonight?” She asked,
figuring the sooner she could get this over with, the better. Going
out with Dan also sounded better than spending another minute in
the house with Violet and Tommy. “Assuming that you talk to my aunt
and uncle before then.”

“I’m sure I can arrange that,” he replied.
“How about we go to a drive-in movie around nine o’clock?”

“That sounds good. See you then.”

Dan had managed to talk to her aunt sooner
than she expected. As soon as Violet got home from wherever she was
all day, she told Lexi that she was no longer grounded. Since she
didn’t mention that it had anything to do with Dan, Lexi didn’t
bring it up. Instead, she told her that she had decided to give him
another chance.

“Really? That’s great, Lexi! I’m so happy
that you’re going to at least make the effort to get to know him,”
Violet answered.

“I hope you’ll be as open-minded about Gabe
as I am being about Dan in the future if it doesn’t work out,” Lexi
added.

“We’ll see,” Violet said. “Let’s really hope
it doesn’t come down to that though. I think you and Dan may be a
perfect fit!”

Lexi sighed and went upstairs to get ready
for her date. Nothing would ever change their mind about Gabe. She
couldn’t wait until she was eighteen so she could make her own
decisions. She only had one year and one month to go. Lexi realized
that it was going to be her first birthday without her mom and she
felt a pang of sadness. She still wondered what had happened the
night her mom had died. The doctor said they had found E. Coli,
caused by beef in her stomach, but Lexi knew that her mom hadn’t
eaten beef in years. Had Greg Lawrence somehow convinced her to eat
beef that night? Or maybe her mom had eaten beef without realizing
it. Lexi knew that, at some point, she really wanted to talk to the
mayor about it.

*

Rummaging through the boxes of clothing on
the floor, she tried to unpack and find an outfit to wear tonight.
Lexi decided that she wasn’t going to try to scare Dan away with
her outfit again, since it hadn’t worked the first time. Pulling
out a pair of white ballet flats, she figured that she might as
well try to look nice this time.

Lexi found a bright, solid pink sundress at
the bottom of the box. Instead of wearing her hair straight, like
usual, she used the curling iron (that she also found in one of the
boxes) to create tiny waves throughout her brown hair.