Lexi remembered that she hadn’t told him that her mom had died after Austin, but she figured that Dan must have mentioned it. Or word really did travel quickly in Briar Creek.
“Thanks. Anyway, where should I meet you on Tuesday?” Lexi asked.
“Let’s meet at my house. Make a right onto Orchid Lane and a left onto Cherry Avenue. My house is at the end of the cul-de-sac. It’s salmon with white trim. You won’t be able to miss it,” Brandon answered.
“Sounds good,” Lexi replied, making a mental note to save the directions in her cell phone later.
“I gotta get going, but I can’t wait to see you then,” Brandon said, standing up.
“Me either,” Lexi replied, smiling and watching his cute butt in his swim trunks as he headed to his lifeguard stand. There was something about Brandon that was really refreshing. Compared to the other guys she had met and dated since she had been in Briar Creek, he seemed so normal. Of course, she would find out on Tuesday how normal he really was.
*
“Do you mind if I go on a date with a guy from work?” Lexi asked her aunt, wrinkling her nose at the bologna sandwich that Tommy was eating. She could never fathom the idea of eating bologna. Why would anyone eat something that was thirty-eight percent hoof? Gross.
“Aren’t relationships between co-workers against Splish ‘N Splash’s terms of employment?” Violet asked quietly, without looking up at her.
“I don’t really know. I’m sure that they won’t find out if we don’t make it obvious at work,” Lexi answered.
“Of course they’ll find out, you foolish child! This is a small town. As long as you live here, everyone will know everything that you do,” Violet yelled at her.
“Well, maybe I’m willing to risk it,” Lexi answered bluntly. “He seems like a really nice guy.”
Violet scoffed at her. “I’m sure he’s not as nice as Dan.”
“No, why would he be? No one is as nice as your precious Dan!” Lexi said sarcastically.
Tommy cleared his throat. “Lexi, I think what your aunt is trying to say is that you’re dating Dan.”
Lexi stared at him. “Neither of you care if I actually want to date Dan. You just assume that because you want me to, I want to.”
“It’s what’s best for you!” Violet screamed at her. “I forbid you to date anyone except for Dan!”
“I should have known better than to ask,” Lexi answered, stomping upstairs to her room. She glanced in the mirror. Even though she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to see Dan tonight, she had a date to get ready for.
Dan had informed her that they were going to spend a cozy night in. He would bring over a pizza to share with her aunt and uncle and then they were going to watch some movies. Lexi really didn’t like the idea because she didn’t want to spend the night in the same house as her aunt, but she didn’t object. Dan and Violet probably had already agreed on the plans before he told Lexi about them, so her opinion wouldn’t matter much anyway.
Lexi opened her closet and pulled out a white halter top from New York & Company. She pulled it over her head and slipped into a pair of tight skinny jeans. Glancing at herself in the mirror, Lexi smiled. She looked pretty damn good. On second glance, Lexi noticed that her ass had gotten bigger – which was probably because of all the Pop-Tarts she had been eating since she got to Briar Creek.
As she ran a brush through her hair, Lexi heard a loud thud. Glancing around, she realized that there was a bat outside the window. Lexi shivered and wondered how bats could have ever been her favorite animal. They were so creepy.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing loudly. Lexi dropped her brush onto her dresser and trotted downstairs.
Lexi swung the door open and found Dan standing on the front porch, smiling at her. Across the street, she noticed a red Volkswagen Jetta parked in Gabe’s driveway. Hadn’t she seen a red Jetta parked in Mary-Kate’s driveway the day she had gone to her house? Lexi tried to remember, but couldn’t.
Dan gave her a funny look. Grinning, he asked, “Are you gonna let me in or are you gonna make me stand outside?”
“Sorry,” Lexi muttered, stepping aside so that he could come into the house. When he was in the entryway, he leaned over and pressed his lips against hers before she could even react.
Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she hoped that Violet and Tommy weren’t watching them. Lexi realized that if they had been watching, she wouldn’t have even gotten an “ahem” because they’d be happy to see Dan and Lexi kiss in front of them. They were so weird!
Dan pulled away from her and nodded to the pizza in his hands. “I hope you like pepperoni.”
Lexi forced a smile. “Pepperoni’s fine.” In the back of her mind, she thought about food poisoning, before reminding herself that that wasn’t how her mom had died. Her mom had pretty much told Lexi herself. Or her mom’s ghost, or whatever it was, had told her.
Violet, who was wearing a stunning red dress, came into the living room and said, “Hey, you two. Tommy and I have some last minute plans. Maybe we can do this another time?”
“Of course we can, Mrs. Graham. Have fun!” Dan said, beaming.
“Have fun, kiddos,” Tommy said with a wink. Straightening his tie and coughing, he followed Violet out the front door and closed it behind him.
“So,” Dan said, walking into the dining room and setting the pizza on the table. “Shall we?”
Lexi smiled, this time a genuine smile. “We shall.”
*
Later that night, Lexi turned the lights off and settled on the couch next to Dan. Their conversation had flowed pretty well at dinner, but she still wasn’t completely sure about how she really felt about him. There was no doubt that Dan’s sparkly blue eyes, tan skin, and cute grin earned him a nine out of ten in terms of attractiveness, but would his touch send shivers up her spine the same way Gabe’s did? She hadn’t spent enough time alone with Dan or had been close enough to him to find out, but part of her thought that she would already know if it was remotely possible for her to feel the same type of connection with him.
Dan wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. Lexi snuggled against his cold, hard body and intertwined her fingers in his.
Her mind drifted back to seeing Mary-Kate’s car in Gabe’s driveway. Lexi wondered what she was doing over there. She knew Mary-Kate was a bit of a tramp, but was she really Gabe’s type? Had he really moved on from Lexi already? They hadn’t known each other all that long, but Gabe had made a dramatic impact on her. Had Lexi not made the same impact on him? Just the thought of him with another girl made her feel sick to her stomach.
“I’ll be right back,” she told him, and got up to go into the kitchen to look out the window. She couldn’t take it anymore, she had to see if Mary-Kate’s car was still in Gabe’s driveway.
“Hey, babe, what’s wrong?” Dan asked, coming up behind her and tugging her close.
Lexi shook her head, which she had nestled against his chest. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied. Mary-Kate’s car was still in his driveway. She tried to push the thought of the two of them out of her mind. She pulled back to look at him, feeling a wave of calmness wash over her as she stared into his icy blue eyes. “Why?”
“I was just making sure you were okay,” Dan said, lightly rubbing her shoulders. “You feel really tense.” Lexi leaned back against him, enjoying the feel of his cool fingertips pressing deep into her skin. Dan lowered his head and kissed her on her neck. Lexi shivered.
“Does that feel better?” Dan whispered into her ear, swirling his tongue around her neck. Lexi nodded, holding in a moan that had trapped itself inside her throat. Dan reached down and started easing Lexi’s shirt up.
When it got past her bra, she snapped back to reality and asked, “What are you doing?”
“What you want me to do,” Dan said quietly, looking deep into her eyes.
“No,” Lexi said, trying to push his strong body away
from her. “I don’t want to do this. I’m not ready.”
“Don’t lie,” Dan said. “I know you want me. You’ve wanted me since you first saw me at Austin’s funeral. That’s why Vi told me to call you. And I’ve wanted you since the very first time I heard you were coming back to Briar Creek. So let it happen.”
“No,” Lexi squeaked. “I don’t. You have it all wrong. Get away from me,” she said, giving him a stronger shove.
“Shh,” Dan whispered. He forcefully pushed her back against the wall, and slammed one hand on either side of her head, trapping her into place.
“Get away from me!” Lexi shouted, bring her leg up to kick him.
Dan pushed himself firmly against her helpless body. He roughly yanked Lexi’s hair to push turn her head to the side and sank his teeth into her neck.
“What are you doing?!” Lexi screamed. “Don’t bite me, you asshole!”
“Lex, please. You know you want it,” Dan said angrily, grasping both of her wrists in his large, strong hand and forcing his tongue into her mouth to quiet her.
He began sucking her neck again, nibbling and gently biting it. Lexi kicked and squirmed to get away from him.
Neither of them heard the front door being kicked in until Lexi spotted the tall figure hovering over them, glaring at them with dark blue eyes.
****
Chapter 25
Gabe lunged at Dan, ripping his hands away from Lexi and freeing her from his grasp. Dan stumbled away long enough for Lexi to back away from both of them.
“Dude, you ruined everything!” Dan yelled in a screechy voice.
Lexi watched, in horror, as Gabe punched Dan in his right eye. Dan’s head snapped back with the force of the blow.
“Stay the fuck away from her!” Gabe shouted.
Dan gave Gabe one hard push, strong enough to throw him across the room. Gabe fell into the table, breaking it in half. “Remember what I told you, old man. I’m stronger than you. Do I really need to prove it?” A beer bottle that had been left out on the kitchen table smashed down onto the floor.
“Oh my God,” Lexi gasped as she watched the mushy crimson gel leak onto the white tiled floor, and she got a whiff of the familiar metallic scent of blood. Lexi ignored what Gabe and Dan were yelling about and grasped her stomach, the contents of which were threatening to come back up to the surface when she realized that the first beer she had ever drunk was not beer at all, but was blood.
The sound of Dan’s fist punching through the kitchen wall snapped Lexi back to reality.
“Gabe, why are you here?” Lexi asked, shocked and frightened by the fight that had taken place right in front of her eyes. Lexi would probably end up taking the blame for the damage because they would think that she had let Gabe in, even though she really hadn’t.
“Not right now, Lexi. I’ll tell you later,” Gabe told her, staring Dan down.
“Yeah, right,” Dan muttered, turning to Lexi. “He’s not going to tell you. He can’t tell you or he’s in deep shit.”
“Maybe I’m willing to risk it,” Gabe said angrily. “Unlike you, I actually have feelings for her,” he added sarcastically.
Dan opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, Gabe grabbed Lexi’s hand and pulled her out the front door. Although she was probably too weak to fight against his pull, Lexi realized that she wanted to go with Gabe. Despite him randomly lashing out at Dan, she felt a thousand times safer when she was with him.
Once they were outside, Lexi followed Gabe across the street. His car was outside idling. Lexi assumed, at first, that his mom must be borrowing it to go somewhere. When he climbed into the driver’s seat and swung open the door to the passenger’s side, she realized that she had been wrong.
“Get in!” Gabe yelled at her.
“But, where are we –?” Lexi asked.
“There’s no time for me to explain. We have to get out of here right now, before your aunt and uncle get back!” Gabe shouted. “Just shut up and get the hell in, Lexi! Come on!”
Lexi reluctantly got into the car and looked at him. She had forgotten the way his dark hair fell just over his steel blue eyes and how square his chin was, since they hadn’t seen each other in so long. God, she missed him.
“I missed you, too, Lexi,” Gabe said.
“Huh?” Lexi asked. Had she said that she missed him out loud?
Gabe glanced over at her from the corner of his eye. “I said…I miss you.”
Lexi suppressed a smile. “I know, but you said you missed me ‘too’. I didn’t say I missed you.”
“Did I say ‘too’?” Gabe asked confusedly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay,” Lexi said. “For the record, though, I do miss you. Like crazy.”
“Good. Then you’ll be happy to know that you’re not going back to your aunt’s house,” Gabe answered.
“What do you mean I’m not going back?” Lexi asked, feeling surprised, confused, and happy – all at the same time.
“We’re getting away from here. It’s safer for both of us,” Gabe answered, keeping his eyes focused on the road.
“Why is it safer?” Lexi asked.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know,” Gabe muttered.
“Well, are you going to tell me?” Lexi prompted him.
Ignoring her, Gabe turned on the radio, which was playing “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson. Lexi thought that it was symbolic of her and Gabe leaving – though she wondered where they could be going and why he wasn’t telling her what was going on. Surely he had to tell her at some point if they were going to run away forever?
Lexi tried to keep herself from smiling. After what Dan had just done – or tried to do – she shouldn’t be happy. But there was no one she would rather run away with forever than Gabe.
Kelly Clarkson’s voice was replaced by a deejay with an Australian accent talking about the weather. Lexi loved Australian accents. It was one of the (many) reasons she was still crushed that Heath Ledger had died.
“A driver was killed in a car accident on Marion Boulevard yesterday afternoon,” the deejay announced. Lexi remembered hearing about the accident before Aunt Violet had gone in the restaurant to get the Chinese food yesterday. She leaned over and turned up the volume. “The car was a 2009 yellow Mitsubishi Eclipse. Police are trying to get in touch with the victim’s family.”
Lexi froze. Justin had turned sixteen in May of 2009. His dad’s birthday present to him had been the brand new, shiny yellow Eclipse. The same yellow Eclipse that had been parked in Tommy and Violet’s driveway the day before. Briar Creek was a small town, like everyone kept telling her. If there were another yellow Eclipse, Lexi probably would have seen it by now.
A lone tear trailed its way down her cheek, dampening her chin before she brushed it away.
“Gabe, tell me what’s going on,” Lexi managed to say in between the sobs that she held back in her throat.
“I don’t know how to tell you,” Gabe said. “I don’t know if you’re even going to believe me.”
“Of course I’ll believe you,” Lexi insisted. “I love you. Why wouldn’t I believe you?”
Gabe’s lips stretched into a tight smile. “I’m glad to hear you say that. It makes what I’m about to tell you a lot easier.” Pausing, Gabe sighed. “I’m a vampire.”
“What?” Lexi asked, laughing through a sob. “Come on, Gabe. Just tell me whatever it is you need to tell me.”
“I just told you,” he grumbled. “I’m not kidding.”
Lexi looked over at him. His lips were in a tight line, and his eyes were not sparkling the way they usually did when he was happy or joking.
“You’re not lying,” Lexi said, more to herself than to him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a vampire before?”
“It’s not the way I normally like to introduce myself,” Gabe said quietly. “Besides, you might not have believed me…and I missed you.”
“What do you mean, you missed me?
”
“Well, do you remember how I told you my brother Kevin died in a motorcycle accident?” Gabe asked, glancing over at Lexi, who nodded. “I lied.”
“He’s still alive?” Lexi asked, trying not to accuse him for lying to her. “Where is he! How is he?”
“Yeah, he’s still alive,” Gabe answered, turning to look at her. “You’re looking at him.”
“You’re Kevin?” Lexi asked, clasping her mouth with both hands. “I knew it! The first time I saw you.”
Gabe nodded and smiled. “You did know. I could tell. You’re the only one who’s recognized me so far.”
“You told me Dan was involved in the motorcycle accident, though,” Lexi said slowly. “Why did you say that?”
“Well, he really was involved,” Gabe replied. “See, I staged the motorcycle accident. I had to make it seem like Kevin died, so that people would believe that I was his younger brother. Dan and I were friends back then. We planned my death for months ahead of time to make sure that everything would work out. But at the last minute, he didn’t report the accident to the police…even though he was supposed to. He actually came over to me, as I was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, and spit on my face. Then he got in his car and drove away.”
“But it eventually got reported?”
Gabe shook his head. “No, it didn’t get reported. But, just as I suspected, Dan made sure that the word got around town and everyone believed it happened anyway. My mom and I took a long vacation immediately after the ‘accident,’” he said, making air quotes with his fingers, “so it seemed believable.”
The Briar Creek Vampires 01 - Kiss of Death Page 18