Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (3 page)

Lexi tuned Violet out, though, as her mind kept
drifting back to one question. Why did Gabe leave her
behind?

****

Chapter 3

The next morning, Lexi woke up bright and
early. She figured that she was simply tired of lying in bed after
spending so much time in the hospital and relaxing when she got
home the day before. Plus, she needed to clear her mind and she was
beginning to realize that it was easier to do that when her aunt
and uncle weren’t around.

Lexi went outside to lie down in the hammock in
the backyard. She thought the hammock was a nice touch to her
aunt’s country-styled home, but it brought back upsetting memories
for her. She’d had late night conversations with both Gabe and Dan
in the hammock.

Glancing across the street, Lexi noticed that
Gabe’s mom was walking towards her car. Without thinking twice,
Lexi followed the first instinct that came to her mind. She darted
across the street. “Mrs., umm,” Lexi said, realizing that she
actually didn’t know Gabe’s last name, even though she was in love
with him, and she didn’t even know if his mom went by Mrs.or
Ms..

His mom had to have seen her, but she hurriedly
got into her car anyway. Lexi was tempted to walk away, but she had
questions and his mom was probably the only one in Briar Creek who
had the answers, so instead, she banged on the window of her car.
Lexi realized how crazy his mom must have thought she was, but she
didn’t care – and it obviously worked because Gabe’s mom hesitantly
rolled her window down.

“What do you want?” his mom snapped, an angry
expression on her face.

“I’m sorry, but please…Where is he?” Lexi
managed to ask, her voice merely a whisper.

“I don’t know where he is. Because of you, I am
not able to speak to my son,” the woman replied. Tossing back her
hair, she rolled up the window and backed out of the
driveway.

*

“Lexi, there you are!” Violet said, coming
outside after Lexi had settled back into the hammock. “I called
Splish ‘N Splash, and they said that you can go back to work, but
you have to start today if you still want the job. So, go get
ready. There are Hot Pockets in the fridge if you want to eat
something before you go. I’m sure you’re hungry.” After Lexi’s mom
had died, Violet had arranged for her to be a pool monitor.
Basically, she sat on the side of the pool next to the lifeguards
and watched the kids swimming. Her aunt had thought that Lexi would
like the job because she had been on the swim team at her old high
school, but Violet didn’t know that she had quit it.

Lexi pushed her blonde hair behind her ears and
climbed out of the hammock. Even though she was happy that she was
going to have a job still because it got her out of her aunt’s
house for a few hours a week if nothing else, she had just been in
a traumatic accident. The love of her life was gone, which was the
icing on the cake of a miserable year. Going back to work was the
last thing she wanted to do today, but she supposed that it was
better than doing nothing at all.

She went upstairs and changed into the black
bathing suit that she had to wear to work. Lexi pulled a pair of
jean shorts over top of it and put her hair into a messy bun on top
of her head. She might have to be at work in an hour, but no one
said she had to dress to impress.

Going back downstairs, she decided that she
wasn’t hungry, but it was probably a good idea for her to eat
something anyway. She pulled a tub of spinach and artichoke hummus
out of the fridge, along with some celery and carrots.

Once she was done eating, she headed outside.
“I’m ready to leave,” she told Violet. “Also, I was going to ask…do
you think I can get my driver’s license soon? I mean, I’m going to
be seventeen in a few days. I need to learn how to
drive.”

Violet shook her head. “It’s not a good idea
right now. Not with all of these accidents happening. I heard that
your boyfriend from New Jersey died. Then you were in an accident.
Aside from that, though, there’s also the cost. We can’t afford to
pay for your insurance or buy you a car, and I know that your job
at Splish ‘N Splash isn’t enough to cover those costs right now.
So, my answer is that you can take the test once you’re making more
money. It’s probably not a good idea until you stop taking the
medication that Dr. Stevens prescribed you anyway.”

Lexi sighed. Of course her aunt didn’t want her
to get a license. That would mean that she would have less control
over her than she did now. She climbed into her aunt’s car, not
mentioning that she had been flushing her medication down the
toilet instead of actually taking it.

*

When they got to Splish ‘N Splash, Lexi bolted
from the car and went into the pool room where she
worked.

“Hey, Lexi! I’m glad to see you’re back,” Karla
said, smiling down at her from the lifeguard chair.

“Thanks, I’m glad to see you, too,” Lexi
replied. She didn’t know Karla very well, but from what she could
tell, she seemed really nice. Glancing around the room, Lexi
noticed that Brandon wasn’t there. “Brandon’s not working
today?”

“Oh, he is. He’ll be in a little bit later.
Listen Lexi, I have to go run some errands so you’re going to be on
your own for a bit,” Karla replied.

Before Lexi could question her further, she was
already out the door.

Lexi sat down at the edge of the pool and
tucked her feet under her. Ever since one of the kids, named Noah,
bit her one day, she never dangled her legs in the water again. As
far as Lexi knew, Mayor Lawrence had said something to Noah’s
family about it, and he hadn’t been to the pool since, but she
didn’t want to risk getting bitten by another kid.

Mayor Lawrence was a good friend of Violet and
Tom’s. He had been Austin’s football coach, and from what everyone
told Lexi, he had gotten him out of a lot of trouble when he killed
someone while he was driving under the influence. Greg Lawrence had
the details of the accident covered up, which had Lexi questioning
his power of authority. How many other things had he covered up? It
also made Lexi wonder if one of the victim’s family members had
murdered Austin in revenge, even though the story was that he had
been attacked by a wild animal.

Two kids jumped into the pool and swam towards
her. Lexi recognized them from other times when she had worked at
the pool. They were pretty cute kids.

“It’s you again!” the girl squealed when she
got close to Lexi. “Where have you been?”

“I, um, got into an accident. I was in the
hospital,” Lexi replied, unsure of how much she should tell the
girl. It was the first time, though, that she didn’t feel weird
talking about the accident.

“Oh, we thought you died already,” the boy said
sheepishly.

Lexi felt her jaw drop in shock. “Excuse
me?”

“Our mommy said that you are going to save a
lot of people,” the girl said matter-of-factly. “She also said it’s
going to hurt you, though, and that you’re going to
die.”

“I’m sure your mommy’s just confused,” Lexi
said, forcing herself to chuckle, even though what they said made
her feel really uneasy. “Hey, guys, didn’t you say that your mom
has a picture of me at your house?” The first time the siblings
mentioned it, Lexi thought they had just been confused and laughed
it off. Now, she was beginning to believe that their family really
did have a picture of her.

The boy nodded and smiled widely, revealing
that he was missing his two front teeth. “Yup, it’s
you!”

“Do I look the same as I do now in the picture?
Or do I look younger and smaller?” Lexi asked.

“You look just like you do right now,” the girl
replied, turning over to float on her back in the water. “It’s a
picture from school, like the ones they have in yearbooks. You’re
wearing a red shirt.”

Lexi could never forget that she had worn a red
polo t-shirt for her ninth grade yearbook picture. The night before
picture day, she had planned out the outfit she wanted to wear
perfectly; a jean skirt and a pink babydoll top. That morning, her
science class decided that they would start dissecting. Her best
friend at the time, Kylee, was a total clutz. She ended up dropping
their dissection tray all over Lexi – frog and all. Not wanting to
smell like frog juice all day, Lexi had changed into Kylee’s gym
uniform. Their friendship lasted afterwards – the pictures, not so
much. Lexi had made sure to burn all of the evidence of that awful
picture day – or so she thought. Apparently her mom had gotten hold
of one of the pictures before she could dispose of it. She might
have sent it to Violet in a Christmas card; sending Christmas cards
with their children’s school picture back and forth was pretty much
the only contact they had with each other before Austin’s
death.

What Lexi didn’t understand was what this other
family, who she was pretty sure she didn’t know, was doing with her
picture.

****

Chapter 4

On the morning of Lexi’s birthday, she had a
dream that she was at home in New Jersey with her mom, blowing out
the candles on a yellow cake with pink roses.

When she woke up, Violet was hovering over her,
smiling a red lipstick smile. “It’s time for you to wake up,
sweetheart. It’s nine o’clock. Your birthday party is at
one.”

Lexi groaned and groggily climbed out of bed.
She glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair was going to take
hours to fix because it was a total mess.

She decided that she didn’t even really care
how her hair looked. No one important was going to be at her
birthday party. Her mom wouldn’t be there. Justin wouldn’t be
there. Mary-Kate, the one person in all of Briar Creek who had
treated her like a real friend, wouldn’t even be there. She was
sure that Gabe wouldn’t be there. And even worse, Lexi didn’t know
if he even wanted to be.

*

When one o’clock came around, Lexi made her way
downstairs, unsure of what to expect. Before the accident, she
didn’t know that Violet had been planning a birthday party. Violet
also hadn’t mentioned how many people she had invited, so Lexi had
been expecting only a few, even though she wasn’t sure who they
would be. She hadn’t met a lot of people in Briar Creek, and Violet
had made it very clear that she didn’t want her keeping in touch
with her friends from home.

When she stepped downstairs, Lexi tried not to
gawk at the amount of people she saw in front of her. Dozens of
people lined the living room and she could hear more voices coming
from other areas of the house.

As they noticed her presence, most of them
gawked back at her. She felt uncomfortable as she weaved her way
through the crowd, trying to find someone that she did know. As she
scanned the room, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Lexi’s heart
lurched into her throat and she whirled around. For some reason,
she expected it to be Gabe, though she knew she was wishful
thinking.

“Happy birthday, Lexi,” Greg Lawrence said,
smiling at her.

“Thanks,” Lexi replied, trying not to sound too
disappointed. As nice as Mayor Lawrence seemed, Lexi didn’t trust
him – mostly because her mom had been with him on the night she had
died. “Where’s Mary-Kate?” she asked, remembering that Gertie had
said that she’d ran away from Briar Creek after the accident. Lexi
wondered if she was back; she hadn’t gotten the chance to thank her
for saving her life on the night of the accident yet.

“Oh, she’s, um…she’s at cheerleading camp,”
Mayor Lawrence stuttered. He blinked a lot while he was talking.
Lexi had learned in her high school psychology class that was a
sign of lying. “I’m sure you know how demanding extracurricular
activities can be.”

“That’s too bad,” Lexi replied warmly. “I would
have loved to see her. I’m going to get some punch. Enjoy the
party.” Lexi didn’t really want punch, but she walked over to the
refreshment table that Violet had set up anyway. She was actually
allergic to red dye, which punch had plenty of, but a stomachache
sounded more appealing than talking to Greg Lawrence, even though
Lexi had to admit that it was fun to watch him squirm.

“There she is,” Lexi heard Violet exclaim.
“Lexi, I want you to meet Mrs. Lawrence.”

Lexi took a step back. She had met Mrs.
Lawrence, Greg’s wife and Mary-Kate’s mom, once before at their
house. The woman had tried to attack her, and Mary-Kate had
explained that it was because she had schizophrenia. Still, the
situation had been really weird, and Lexi really didn’t feel
comfortable with having Mary-Kate’s mom at her party. Lexi was
surprised that Mrs. Lawrence was even able to come to the party.
Lexi had been under the impression that she was bedridden because
she had cancer.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lexi,” Mrs. Lawrence
said, staring her down with eyes that flashed with anger. “I have
heard so much about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Lexi replied,
unsure of what else to say. She didn’t want to remind Mrs. Lawrence
that they had already met. Lexi wasn’t even sure if Mrs. Lawrence
remembered it, but if she did, it would likely bring back bad
memories that might make her angry. “I’m going to get a sandwich,
so I’ll see you later.”