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

him seemed like it was going to
be difficult. After all, he had managed to remain hidden all of
these years, which made Lexi think that he wanted to hide. She also
wondered if he would even let her live with him if she did find
him. He was the one who had chosen to leave. Even though she
never understood what had happened, Lexi was pretty sure that her
mom hadn’t kicked her dad out. Her dad was the one who had
abandoned them.
    The library at Briar Creek College was, by
far, the smallest library that Lexi had ever been to. Scanning the
room for an empty computer, she spotted one towards the back
wall.
    Sitting down, Lexi turned on the computer and
waited for it to load. The person sitting next to her cleared his
throat. Glancing at him for the first time, Lexi noticed that he
was cute – really cute, actually. His short, brown hair was slicked
back, and he was wearing a red and white striped shirt that
complimented his olive skin. Trying to guess how old he was, Lexi
decided that he must be a college junior or senior.
    When the computer finished loading, Lexi
opened a window. She searched “Benjamin “Hunter.” As she expected,
there were many, many people with the name Benjamin Hunter, ranging
from photographers to artists. To narrow down her search results,
she typed “Benjamin Hunter in Pennsylvania.”
    Checking the first few websites, Lexi did not
seem to find any matches. Once she reached the second page of
results, a blog caught her attention. Opening it, she found that
the blog owner had set all blog posts to private. To read the
posts, she would have to become his friend. The photo in the upper
left-hand corner made her breath catch in her throat.
    It was him.
    Lexi hadn’t seen her dad since she was six
and, considering that there were no pictures of him around their
house, one could argue that she wouldn’t have known him if she saw
him in line at a grocery store or a at coffee shop. But she was one
hundred percent certain that the face staring back to her belonged
to her dad. His blue, smiling eyes and pointy nose were the same
way Lexi remembered them, but he had grown a salt and pepper goatee
since the last time she had seen him.
    Clicking on “Contact Information,” Lexi felt
as though she could dance around the room in joy when she saw that
there was a phone number listed. She nearly kicked herself in the
ass when she realized that she didn’t have a pen to write it
down.
    “Hey,” she whispered to the guy next to her.
“Do you happen to have a pen?”
    “Sure,” he said, pulling a blue ballpoint pen
out of his bag and handing it to her.
    “Thanks,” Lexi said, smiling – and trying not
to focus on how cute he was. Knowing how she felt about Gabe, she
knew that she shouldn’t look at other guys…but it also wasn’t like
they were official yet. Reminding herself that she would be upset
if Gabe was with another girl, Lexi tried to snap herself out of
anything that she might feel for…um, she realized that she didn’t
know his name.
    Scribbling down her dad’s number on the back
of her hand because she had forgotten her phone at home, Lexi
powered the computer off and turned to walk out the door. Once she
reached the long hallway that lead to the back entrance, Lexi felt
a tap on her shoulder.
    Turning, she found herself standing
face-to-face with the really cute guy she had just been sitting
next to.
    “Oh, I’m sorry! I totally forgot to give you
back your pen,” Lexi said, handing it to him.
    “It’s okay,” the guy said, smiling. “That’s
not why I came after you.”
    “Oh?” Lexi asked, puzzled.
    “I’ve never seen you around here,” the guy
went on. “I was wondering, are you a student?”
    “Yes, but I don’t start until the fall,” Lexi
half lied, half told the truth. She was a student after all,
just not at Briar Creek College.
    “Sweet. I’m Craig. Maybe we can get together
sometime?” He asked.
    Trying not to stare at his muscular chest,
which looked like it