Next to her, Gabe shifted and cracked an eye open. “Morning, sunshine,” he said, kissing her forehead.
“Be careful. I think I’m getting sick.”
“That’s okay, I won’t catch it. I have a strong immune system. I never get sick.”
“Well, I don’t really want you to take any chances,” Lexi said, laughing. “I want to spend all the time I can with you while my aunt and uncle are gone.”
“Don’t worry, my love. We’ll take advantage of them being gone. Do you want me to make you breakfast?”
She shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m not really hungry.”
He hugged her close. “I know how you feel. It’s hard to lose someone you love. You’ll feel better if you eat something though.”
“Maybe later. Hey, can you come upstairs with me? I want to show you something.”
“Alright,” Gabe agreed hesitantly, after Lexi had already grabbed his hand and began pulling him up the narrow staircase.
When they reached her bedroom, Lexi closed the door. Even though Violet and Tom weren’t home, she still felt the need for a privacy barrier.
“Uh, Lexi…I don’t think this is a good idea. I know your aunt and uncle aren’t home but…”
Unzipping her duffel bag, she pulled out the box of Austin’s things and thrust the journal into Gabe’s hands.
“Oh. What is this?” He asked, staring blankly at the book that he was holding.
Lexi grabbed the journal back and flipped to the page where Austin had written: Mary-Kate needs to back off. I love her, but I’m never going to do what she’s trying to get me to do. I don’t want to be like them. I’d rather leave Briar Creek…forever.
“It’s Austin’s journal,” she said, handing the open book back to him. “Do you know what this might be about? I can’t figure it out.”
She watched as Gabe’s eyes wandered over the page before flashing an angrier shade of blue. “Lex, I really don’t think you should be reading Austin’s journal. It’s his personal journal...and he’s not here anymore to protect it.”
“But what if it gives me a clue about what happened to him the day he died?”
“I just think it’s a really bad idea,” Gabe said, raising his voice. “If you’re going to do anything with it, you’re better off giving it to the police and letting them handle it.”
“Like the police can do any better? They haven’t even officially said that it wasn’t an animal attack yet, just that they’re,” she answered, emphasizing the rest of her sentence with finger air quotes, “investigating.”
Gabe stood quietly, as if he were trying to come up with something to say.
“Please don’t tell me that you believe that it was just an animal attack,” Lexi insisted.
“No, I don’t…and that is exactly why I don’t want you to keep reading his journal. Who knows what you could be dealing with?”
“Fine,” she said, putting the journal back inside her duffel bag and zipping it back up. “I won’t read his journal. Are you happy?”
“Yes,” he whispered, kissing her on the lips. “Thank you.”
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned back on the bed and pulled him on top of her. He pressed his mouth against her neck, lightly sucking and biting. Lexi felt a tide of ecstasy sweep through her body, curling her toes and tilting her head back.
She unzipped Gabe’s jeans, as he ripped her tank top off and tossed it to the floor. He hungrily kissed his way down her chest, reaching behind her back to unhook the lacy pink bra she was wearing. Just as he bit her neck harder, the doorbell rang.
Lexi froze. She rolled out from under Gabe and slid her tank top back over her head.
Gabe groaned. “Can’t you just ignore the door? It’s not like they’re even home.”
“What if it’s someone important?” She asked, hurrying out of her room and downstairs. Straightening her hair to make sure it didn’t look like she had just been lying in bed with Gabe, Lexi swung open the front door.
Remembering that it was Tuesday, she wished she had listened to Gabe.
*
“So, you know where the lawn mower is then, right?” Lexi asked Dan to break the awkward silence that had swept over them all. Gabe stood next to her in the large backyard shed and, from all of the tension in his body, she could tell that he was pissed about Dan coming over.
“Yeah, I mow the lawn all the time,” Dan said, scowling at Gabe.
“Okay, then. Just let me know when you’re done and I’ll see if I can dig up some cash. How much does Violet normally pay you?”
“Fifty.”
Nodding, Lexi grabbed Gabe’s hand and headed back towards the house. Slamming the front door, she leaned against it and pulled him towards her, kissing his lips.
Gabe pushed her away.
“What’s wrong?” Lexi asked, confused.
“Nothing’s wrong. Dan just really killed the mood, that’s all. Let’s look for some money so that he doesn’t have to be here waiting longer than he needs to be.”
Too exhausted to argue, Lexi headed for Violet and Tommy’s bedroom. Taking note of the queen sized bed that was covered by a floral comforter, she glanced around the room. Hmm, she wondered, where would Violet keep money?
Lexi spotted a wooden box in the corner of the room. Opening it, she found a thick wad of cash. Flipping through them, she realized that they were all fifty dollar bills. Judging from the size of the stack, she estimated that she had to be holding at least five or six thousand dollars in her hand.
Lexi grabbed a fifty dollar bill and started back to the door when her uncle’s dresser and the laptop that was resting on it caught her eye. It was identical to Austin’s laptop. Flipping it open, she looked inside and sure enough, the words “Bloody Mary” were written in permanent marker right next to the mouse pad. This was definitely Austin’s laptop. When had the police returned it? Maybe it had been this morning while she was still sleeping.
Rounding the doorway, she nearly collided with Gabe.
“Did you find any money?” He asked.
Nodding, she decided that she would keep the laptop a secret from Gabe…for now.
In the living room, Lexi climbed on top of Gabe, kissing his neck. Once again, he pushed her away.
“Stop,” he muttered.
“Why?” She asked.
“I can’t control myself around you.”
“Well, who says you have to,” Lexi whispered into his ear, nibbling it gently.
The front door sprung open and they both glanced up to find Dan standing in the doorway, his eyes darkly clouded by anger.
“So, do Vi and Tommy know that you’re here?” Dan asked, not taking his eyes off of Gabe.
“No, and I trust that you won’t tell them,” Gabe growled back.
Dan snickered. “Have I ever given you a reason to trust me? We’re not friends. You barely know me.”
“Dan, please don't tell them,” Lexi whined. “Have I ever given you a reason to hurt me?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, staring Gabe down from head to toe. “You chose this douche bag over me.”
Getting up from his place on the couch, Gabe got into Dan’s face and snarled, “You crossed me once and I let it slide. Don’t make that mistake again.”
Dan continued to glare at him. He took a step closer to Gabe and raised his fist before looking at Lexi and backing away. Dan slammed the door on his way out.
“Shit,” Lexi said. “He forgot to get his money.”
“Who cares? Let him go,” Gabe said, but Lexi was already chasing after Dan.
Once she stepped outside, she began running towards his silver car. “Dan, wait!”
He turned. “What does Gabe have that’s better than me, Lexi?”
“There’s just more of a connection,” she said, handing him the cash. “It’s nothing personal. And to be honest, the fact that Violet is pushing me so hard to be with you is actually pushing me away.”
“I see. Just be care
ful,” Dan muttered. “Gabe can be dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt during one of his temper tantrums.”
Turning back towards the house, Lexi stewed. She was getting really sick of people telling her that Gabe was dangerous guy when she knew better.
****
Chapter 12
“Lexi, you were specifically told that you were not to see Gabe while you’re living in this house. You broke our rules. This means that we’re going to have to ground you,” Violet said on Friday morning when they returned from New Jersey. “No phone calls or going out of the house for a month.”
“Unless it’s with Dan,” Tommy added.
Great, Lexi thought, she should have known that Dan would run back to her aunt and uncle. And now, on top of that, he was the only one she was allowed to hang out with.
“Now, help us unload the things from the car. We brought back your clothes and your laptop.”
“Oh, and add that to your punishment,” Tommy said. “We’re not going to turn your Internet on until after your punishment has ended.”
“That’s not fair!” Lexi yelled. “You won’t let me out of the house, use the phone or have the Internet for a month. What am I supposed to do? Be a prisoner in my bedroom?”
“If that’s what it’s going to take to help you understand that we do not want you to see Gabe at all, then yes,” Violet replied. She added, “And we already said, you can hang out with Dan all you want.”
“I’m not going to hang out with Dan! I don’t like Dan! Can’t you get that through your heads?”
“Maybe if you just give the boy a chance, you’ll see that he’s a better choice for you than that boy across the street,” Tommy said, in between coughs. Lexi noticed that he looked particularly white and somewhat older today. All of the summer pollen must not be too good for his emphysema.
“Maybe if you gave that boy across the street a chance, you’ll see that he’s the perfect choice for me,” Lexi snapped back.
“Oh, drop it, you two. Did the police call while we were away?” Aunt Violet asked, diverting the conversation.
“We’re still waiting to get Austin’s laptop back.”
“Nope,” Lexi grunted, wondering why her aunt was lying about the laptop. She had to have known that Austin’s laptop was sitting in their bedroom at that very moment and not with the police. Lexi decided that she wouldn’t tell her aunt that she had found it. Who knows what else they would ground her for if they found out she had been snooping around in their bedroom. Lexi added, “The doctor called about my mom’s autopsy and Dan stopped by to mow the lawn. Otherwise, no one called or stopped by.”
“I’m surprised they’re done with the autopsy so soon. What did they say about it?” Tommy asked, suddenly seeming interested in their conversation.
“That my mom died from food poisoning,” Lexi responded, tears filling her eyes. Now that Gabe wasn’t there to keep her company, she felt more alone than ever and really missed her mom again.
“What a shame,” Violet said, with no sense of emotion in her voice.
Lexi cringed. She knew that her aunt and her mom hadn’t spoken in years, but didn’t she care, even just a tiny bit, that her sister had died? Nope, she reminded herself. That’s why there hadn’t been a funeral.
“Why did you tell Gabe to stay away from me?” Lexi asked, feeling her anger start to seep through her body.
“Because I don’t want him to speak to you,” Tommy answered. “He’s not good for you. Get it through your head.”
“How about you get this through your head? You’re not my father! In fact, you made sure that no one ever found my father, I’m told. I hate you and you’re not my keeper. If I want to see Gabe I’m going to. He’s the only one who’s going to help me adjust to this awful town,” Lexi screamed before stomping her way upstairs.
Slamming the door to her bedroom, Lexi backed against it and fell to the floor, shaking as the tears flooded from her eyes. Rocking back and forth, her mind drifted to Austin. No wonder he wanted to move away from Briar Creek forever; she felt the same way.
Lexi crawled across the floor to the duffel bag and pulled out Austin’s journal. She knew that Gabe would get pissed off at her for reading it if he ever found out. Since she wouldn’t be seeing him any time soon, the chances of that seemed unlikely. She flipped to the second page. Austin had written in red ink: My parents just don’t get it. They don’t get that I don’t want to be like them. There are so many secrets between them, secrets they’d probably kill me for if I were to ever repeat them. 725
Lexi wondered what type of secrets Violet and Tommy had. Glancing at the next few pages, she noticed the same type of journal entries. Austin didn’t want to be like these people who he thought were “evil.”
Flipping about halfway through the book, she began reading again. About a year ago, Austin had written in messy handwriting:
Everyone thinks he’s so amazing, but they don’t know what I know. I see a demon inside a human’s body. He’s evil. If he wasn’t such a big part of my life, I might say something – but probably not. He’d probably turn everyone against me…and I really don’t want that. 716
Lexi wondered who Austin was talking about. Could it be Dan? He was his best friend, so that would make him a big part of his life. Or maybe it was about Uncle Tommy. Lexi would agree that there could be a demon somewhere inside that body. She flipped to the next page.
Mary-Kate just doesn’t get it sometimes. I love her. That doesn’t mean I want to do everything she says, though. I don’t mind having sex with her, but what she wants is insane. I can’t just do that to someone I love, no matter how much it will benefit me in the long run. I don’t just use people. 154
Lexi thought that this must mean that Mary-Kate’s Facebook message about what they were trying again that night probably had nothing to do with sex – at least, not sex with Mary-Kate. What could it be if it made Austin so uncomfortable with it? Was Mary-Kate trying to get him to cheat on her? It just didn’t make any sense. She kept reading.
I have a feeling that there’s something going on with Mary-Kate – something that she’s not telling me about. I’m not sure if she’s cheating on me. I don’t think so, but I don’t fully trust her either. But I think there are people out to hurt her and she’s just not being honest with me about it. She’s so vulnerable that she lets people walk all over her, even if it means that her own health gets put in danger. 162
Why would Mary-Kate be in danger? Lexi wondered if whatever was putting Mary-Kate in danger had something to do with Austin’s death. Is there a possibility that he had died while he was trying to protect her? If that were the case though, why hadn’t Mary-Kate come forward to let the authorities know what happened? Unless it was something illegal that would tarnish her and her father’s name. Plus, Mary-Kate didn’t have a history of being honest, or she wouldn’t have cheated on Austin with his best friend.
Lexi flipped to last page of Austin’s journal that actually had writing on it, wondering if it might give her some clue as to what had happened to him. In handwriting that was sloppier than usual, Austin had written: Something bad is going to happen soon and I don’t want to be a part of it. No one really cares what I want though. My parents don’t care. Coach doesn’t care. Mary-Kate doesn’t care. She just keeps pushing me, but what she doesn’t realize is that she’s just pushing me away. I want to breakup with her, but I know that she’s doing what she’s doing because it will help me. I just need to make my own decision and I’m sick of her trying to force me into it. I’m not going to listen to whatever anyone else says, even if it means that I’m putting my own life at risk. 4171
Lexi sighed. She was really curious about what Austin’s numbers stood for. Were they some sort of code? Or was he just trying to save his football scores for future reference? She knew that the journal might not hold all of the answers, but she figured that it would at least lead her in the right direction. It seemed to have given her all of these abstract ideas
of what was going on, with no concrete answer. Thinking about it harder, Lexi realized that Austin’s journal had given her a starting point. It was the same starting point that she had already figured out on her own. She had to start with Mary-Kate. Mary-Kate might not have all of the answers, but Lexi hoped that she might know enough to help her put the pieces of the puzzle together on her own.
An abrupt knocking on the bedroom door startled her.
“Lexi? Can I come in?” Aunt Violet called from the hallway.
“Sure,” Lexi answered hesitantly, shoving Austin’s journal between her mattress and the box spring so that it would remain concealed. She sat on her bed, trying to act natural so that her aunt wouldn’t suspect anything.
Violet opened the door, carrying a few boxes in her arms. “These are just a few boxes to get you started, but there are a lot more downstairs.”
“Thanks,” Lexi said, refusing to look her aunt in the eyes.
“Lexi, you’re going to be living here now. It would be nice if you could at least try to get along with us.”
“Whatever.” Lexi rolled her eyes. Did her aunt really expect her to be nice to them after what they were doing to her?
“I wish you would at least try to give Dan another chance, too, Lexi.”
“I tried to give him chances. He left me at the carnival, and I got attacked,” she said. “Oh, that’s right, you think I lied about that.”
Her aunt sighed. “Dan is a nice boy. I don’t know what happened at the carnival, but I know that he does like you.”
“Well, the feeling’s not mutual. What do you want me to do?”
“Just try again. Agree to be civil with him, or I’m going to have to force you to go on a date with him as part of your punishment.”
“You can’t force me to go on a date with Dan. That’s not fair.”
“Guess what, Lexi? I’m your guardian now. While you’re living under our roof, you will do as I say. If I say you’re going on a date with Dan, you’re going on a date with Dan. In fact, just because of your attitude, make yourself available tomorrow night. You’re going out with him.”
The Briar Creek Vampires 01 - Kiss of Death Page 10