Kiss of Death (The Briar Creek Vampires, #1) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (20 page)

When Lexi brought herself back to reality,
she realized that the mayor was slamming the door of his truck shut
and backing out of the driveway. Glancing at her aunt, uncle and
Dan, she realized that all eyes were on her.

“What?” She sputtered, feeling like she had
grown a third eyeball smack dab in the middle of her forehead. She
hated when all attention was on her.

“You visited Mary-Kate?” Violet asked,
matter-of-factly.

“Yes,” Lexi answered. “When I met her in the
hospital she said I could always talk to her if I needed to.”

“Why is it that this is the first time we’re
hearing about your visit to Mary-Kate?” Tommy asked.

“I didn’t know that I needed to ask your
permission any time I go somewhere,” Lexi responded, looking down
at her toes, which desperately needed a pedicure soon. “The last
time I checked, I wasn’t grounded still.”

“You’re not grounded,” Violet said calmly.
“But the next time you go somewhere, we would like to know. You’re
not free to come and go as you please without telling us first. We
don’t want to have to worry about something happening to you.”

Lexi bit her lip, deciding that she wasn’t
going to argue about this. “Fine, I’ll let you know next time. May
Dan and I be excused?”

As soon as Violet and Tommy had both nodded,
she linked her arm through Dan’s and pulled him up the porch steps
and into the house.

Once they were in the house, she noticed
Dan’s expression change, as his cheeks grew an angry shade of
red.

“What’s wrong?” Lexi asked, wrapping her arms
around Dan’s waist, noticing that his stomach was really muscular –
but not the same type of rock hard muscular as Gabe (who she was
trying really, really hard not to think about).

“What’s this obsession with Mary-Kate, Lexi?”
Dan asked accusingly.

“What do you mean?”

“When you first got here, you were constantly
asking about Austin and Mary-Kate. Then, you asked me if Dave and
Mary-Kate have something going on. Now, I find out that you went to
visit Mary-Kate without telling anyone…like it’s some sort of
secret? What’s going on, Lexi? What do you know about
Mary-Kate?”

“I know that you lied to me,” Lexi answered
defensively. “I know that Austin was in love with Mary-Kate. I also
know that she cheated on him…with you. Some best friend you were to
him.”

“No, Lexi. You have it all wrong,” Dan said,
his voice growing angrier.

“How do I have it all wrong, Dan? There’s
proof. You and Mary-Kate were kissing one night at a party, right
behind Austin’s back.”

“Austin pushed Mary-Kate on me,” Dan said
quietly. “He was trying to break up with her. He thought that
having an excuse, like her cheating on him with his best friend,
might make it easier.” Dan stared at Lexi, his eyes pleading with
her. He looked like a sad puppy. She knew it was wrong of her to
accuse him of being a backstabbing best friend, and Austin had
written that he wanted to break up with Mary-Kate in his journal,
but something was telling her not to believe him. After all, he had
lied to her before…who was to say he wouldn’t again?

“Well, whatever, Dan,” Lexi responded. “I
don’t know what happened between Austin and you. But I do know that
if I want to visit Mary-Kate, I’ll visit Mary-Kate. She and I have
a lot in common.”

“What in the world could you and Mary-Kate
have in common?” Dan asked sarcastically.

“We both know what it’s like to lose someone
we love,” Lexi answered, staring into his hardened face.

Dan scoffed. “You really think you’re the
only ones who know what it’s like to lose someone? You’re so
selfish, Lexi. I lost Austin too, you know.”

Whether Dan had betrayed Austin while he was
alive or not, the pain in his eyes told Lexi that Dan genuinely
missed him.

“I know. I’m sorry,” she sighed, looking down
at her hands. “I just have no girlfriends here and she seemed
really nice.”

“I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends once
school starts,” Dan replied. “But you’ll be doing me and you both a
favor if you try to stay away from Mary-Kate. She’s not a good
friend anyway.”

Lexi wondered if Dan wanted her to stay away
from Mary-Kate because he didn’t want any secrets getting spilled.
Deciding, once again, to not argue, Lexi agreed –
even though she knew that she wasn’t going to stop talking to
Mary-Kate. If there was anyone who could get her one step closer to
figuring out what had happened to Austin, Lexi was sure that
Mary-Kate was the one.

****

Chapter 20

The next few days were mostly a boring blur.
Lexi worked at Splish ‘N Splash without getting attacked by Noah –
or any other kid, for that matter. Karla or Greg Lawrence must have
talked to Noah’s parents because he had been on really good
behavior lately. Most of the time, he was sitting on the side of
the pool or playing quietly in a corner by himself. Lexi still
didn’t trust him enough to put her feet in the water any time soon
though.

On Thursday, Lexi got to work and found
Brandon waiting for her, his brown hair tasseled and dripping
sweat. In a deep voice, he said, “Good morning.”

Lexi had a hard time breaking her stare from
his yummy body long enough to gaze into his earthy eyes. She smiled
in embarrassment.

“Good morning. Aren’t you here a little
early?” she asked.

“I went for a jog this morning,” he said,
adding, “I thought I would come in a little early and talk to you
for a bit.”

“Oh,” Lexi replied, surprised that Brandon
had even thought about her. He had been shooting her gazes all
week, but didn’t he have enough girls chasing after him to be
worrying about her? He was gorgeous after all.

“I was talking to Dan. He told me you didn’t
know too many people here yet,” Brandon said.

“Oh, you know Dan?” Lexi asked. Now, it made
sense. Dan must have asked Brandon to make her feel welcome. It
probably had something to do with him not wanting her to be friends
with Mary-Kate, which he had brought up several times since the
first time they had talked about it. Dan might have even asked
Brandon to keep an eye on Lexi while she was at work. Just the
thought annoyed her. She didn’t need a babysitter. No wonder Dan
got so along so well with Violet and Tommy.

“It’s a small town,” Brandon replied,
shrugging. “Everyone in Briar Creek knows each other.”

“Yeah, that sounds familiar,” Lexi
muttered.

“So, I was wondering…would you like to go out
with me sometime?” Brandon asked.

“Out with you? Like on a date?” Lexi
questioned, a little bit confused. Why would Brandon ask her out if
he was such good friends with Dan?

“Yeah,” Brandon replied, grinning. “I thought
that maybe Saturday night, you and I could go bowling or to see a
movie. It’s your choice.”

Lexi remembered that Justin had said that he
was going to visit her on Saturday. Lexi hadn’t heard from him all
week, but she assumed that their plans were still on.

“I can’t tomorrow,” she said quietly. “A
friend from New Jersey is coming to visit me and I’m not sure how
long they’ll be staying.”

“Oh, okay,” Brandon replied, a tone of
disappointment in his voice. Getting up to go, he added, “I
understand.”

“Wait. I really do want to go out with you,”
Lexi found herself saying. “Tomorrow just doesn’t work. How about
we decide on a day sometime next week?”

“Sure. Does Tuesday work?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah, Tuesday sounds fine,” Lexi answered.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she added.

“Me too. I’ll see you around,” Brandon said,
winking at her and walking out of the pool room. Once he had
reached the cafeteria, Lexi felt her heart start beating again.

There was something about Brandon that she
really liked. Lexi knew she probably wouldn’t feel the same passion
with him that she felt with Gabe, but she would also feel relieved
to know that she was going on a date with a guy who her aunt and
uncle weren’t practically forcing her to see.

She hadn’t even thought about asking her aunt
and uncle for permission to go out with Brandon. They were going to
be pissed enough that Lexi hadn’t told them that Justin was coming
to visit. Sighing, she realized that she had one hell of a week
ahead of her.

*

When her aunt picked her up from work, Lexi
was absolutely exhausted, but she also really missed Gabe.
Suddenly, she had an idea.

“Aunt Violet, do you mind if I go over to
Mary-Kate’s tonight?” Lexi asked.

“Why do you want to go there?” Violet
questioned, running her newly manicured fingers through her glossy
red hair. It made Lexi wonder if her aunt and uncle were really as
broke as they claimed to be.

“Just to talk to Mary-Kate,” Lexi answered,
fishing through her head for an excuse. “One of the girls at the
pool wanted me to give her a message,” she lied.

Violet sighed. “I would prefer that you
didn’t go there, Lexi. You’re almost an adult, though. If you must
go, I ask that you have Dan escort you.”

“Fine,” Lexi said through gritted teeth.
“I’ll have Dan take me, but please let me deal with this. It’s a
little bit embarrassing that my aunt won’t let me go out of the
house unsupervised. Dan doesn’t need to know.”

“I won’t,” Violet said, smiling. “So, it
seems like you’ve been adjusting well to Briar Creek.”

“I’m making the most of it, I guess,” Lexi
said, shrugging. She wasn’t about to tell her aunt how much she
hated this town and wanted out.

When they got back to the house, Dan’s car
was parked in the driveway. Lexi rolled her eyes. She and Justin
hadn’t worked because he’d been too busy for her, but she almost
wished that Dan would be a little bit busier. She needed Lexi time,
and that just wasn’t happening with him around 24/7.

As her aunt turned off the ignition, Lexi
stepped out of the car and quietly closed the door. She noticed
that Dan was sitting on the front porch across from Tommy, drinking
a glass of Violet’s fresh-squeezed lemonade. When she approached,
they both looked up at her.

“Hey, Lexi. How was your day?” Tommy
grunted.

“It was fine,” Lexi said. She turned her
attention to Dan. “I didn’t know that you were friends with
Brandon.”

“Yeah, I know him. We play football
together,” Dan responded, staring at her intensely with his blue
eyes.

“I see.” Lexi decided that it was probably in
both her and Brandon’s best interest to not mention that he had
asked her on a date. She didn’t want to upset Dan, and she also
didn’t want to ruin her chances of dating Brandon.

“Lexi, why don’t you ask Dan about what we
were talking about?” Violet asked, stepping onto the front
porch.

Lexi’s cheeks turned beet red. She and her
aunt had specifically talked about how she wouldn’t mention a word
to about it in front of Dan. Now, Lexi had to think of something to
ask Dan, since she wasn’t going to ask him to take her to
Mary-Kate’s. She wasn’t even planning on going to Mary-Kate’s
herself, for that matter.

“Sure,” Lexi answered. “Come on, Dan. Let’s
go in the house.”

Standing up, he towered over her. She opened
the door and dragged him through the doorway. Grabbing his hand,
she led him to her room. Once they were in her room, she wrapped
her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his.

“So, what did you want to ask me?” he
murmured, laying back on the bed and pulling her body on top of
him.

“Will you go out with me Monday night?” Lexi
asked, pecking him on the lips again.

“That’s all you wanted to ask?” Dan asked,
sitting up.

“Yes,” she said softly. “We were just talking
about how much I really like you.”

“Good,” Dan said, smiling. “You have no idea
how relieved it makes me to hear you say that.”

*

Lexi snuck out of the house around eight
o’clock that night. If her aunt called to ask where she was going,
Lexi planned to say that she was at Mary-Kate’s. When she had left,
her aunt and uncle were snuggling on the couch and drinking beer.
They were already acting tipsy, and Lexi hoped that they would get
too drunk to worry about where she was.

Hurrying across the street, Lexi glanced over
her shoulder to make sure that no one was looking. She saw nothing
but a few bats circling around each other, as they swirled in front
of the porch light. As she raised her fist to knock on the front
door, it swung open.

A short woman with short chocolate brown hair
and steel blue eyes, which looked just like Gabe’s and overlooked
tiny wrinkles in her fair skin, stood in front of her. Lexi assumed
that she was Gabe’s mom and opened her mouth to speak.

Before she could say anything, his mom said,
in a harsh tone, “He doesn’t want to see you, Lexi.”

“What?” Lexi asked, confused about how his
mom even knew who she was and unsure why Gabe didn’t want to see
her.

“I told you. He wants no part of you. Leave
him alone,” his mom said, slamming the door loudly in Lexi’s
face.

Lexi felt her stomach drop to her knees, as
her eyes filled up with tears that blurred her vision. That
explained why Gabe had never responded to her text message, and why
he hadn’t showed up on his own in past few days. Lexi wasn’t sure
what she had done to make him mad at her, though. Maybe he was
getting sick and tired of seeing Dan’s car parked across the
street. Lexi wished that she could tell him that she was beginning
to get sick of it too and that, if given the chance, he would have
her heart any day.

*

On Friday morning, Lexi woke up to the sound
of the doorbell ringing. She rolled over and shoved a pillow over
her head. After a few moments, it rang again. Groaning, she climbed
out of bed and treaded downstairs, taking two steps at a time.
Glancing out the window, she recognized the canary yellow
Mitsubishi Eclipse that was crookedly parked in the driveway.
Brushing her hair with her fingers, she flung the door open.