How to Date a Dead Guy Read online

  Synopsis

  MY LIFE WAS A MESS. Briarwick Academy offered me a chance to start over and finally move on from my past. But in order to get closure, I’d need to face the skeletons in my closet, and maybe even a few monsters.

  I’d have to learn several hard lessons along the way, but if I followed the rules, I just might live to tell about it. The most important one would be the toughest – never give your heart to a vampire.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Teresa Mummert and C. P. Fleur All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, photographed, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without explicit written permission from the author.

  C. P. Fleur is the pen name for author Teresa Mummert

  Agent: Kimberly Whalen of The Whalen Agency

  Cover Art designed by Teresa Mummert

  ISBN: 9781393428619

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Dedication

  Praise for the Author’s Other Work

  Playlist for the Dead Guy

  Rule 1: Never Show Fear

  Rule 2: No Sudden Movements

  Rule 3: Bare Your Teeth

  Rule 4: Have a Getaway Plan

  Rule 5: You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide

  Rule 6: Never Turn Your Back on Anyone

  Rule 7: Protect Your Vital Organs

  Rule 8: Don’t Fear Death

  Rule 9: Live, and Die, with No Regrets

  Rule 10: Swing Like You Mean It

  Rule 11: Be Your Own Hero

  Rule 12: Always Break the Rules

  Rule 13: A Quick Death is a Merciful One

  Rule 14: Make Sure the Skeletons in Your Closet Are Really Dead

  Rule 15: Never Give Your Heart to a Vampire

  Rule 16: Remember the Rules

  About the Author

  To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls,

  draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.

  – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

  Dedication

  To my husband and my children –

  THANK YOU FOR PUTTING up with my late nights and long hours typing away on a keyboard. This dream wouldn’t have been possible without your understanding and encouragement over the years.

  Praise for the Author’s Other Work

  "IF THERE'S ONE THING I can always count on with Teresa Mummert, it's her ability to craft a story so compelling that it leaves you pleading for more. She has a way of making you feel like you're living out each scene, every struggle, and each kiss. It truly is storytelling at its finest." - Author Brandy Lynn

  "Hands down one of the BEST books that I have EVER read!!" - For the Love of Books

  "One of the most AMAZING novels I have ever read!!!" - Flirty and Dirty Book Blog

  "This book was so incredible, I cried A LOT, I smiled, I loved, and I devoured this book." - Swoon Worthy Books

  "I truly loved it!! It was captivating and emotional. It tugged at my heart and soul—such an amazing story!" - Author Kim Karr (Connections series)

  "I think this is my favorite Teresa Mummert book to date." - Author Emily Snow (Devoured series)

  "It is such a different book and plot. I just loved how unexpected it was." - Author Debra Anastasia (Poughkeepsie series)

  "Teresa Mummert has a gift, one that many don't possess. It's the gift of being able to suck in a reader so far they don't see the twist in the story coming." - Author S.K. Hartley (Bad Boys series)

  "SO D*MN GOOD!!!!!!!!!! I Loved it!!!! Incredible writing!" Author Kathryn Perez (Therapy)

  "Every word captured me, and every sentence made me ache for the main characters in this beautiful story." - Author Amanda Bennett (Broken series)

  "This book was perfect. Flawed characters and a very real, dark past...interwoven perfectly into a web of lies and an amazing ending." - Author K. Pinson (Mirrored series)

  "It's a beautifully written, riveting story that grabs you from the beginning and keeps you guessing how it's going to unfold until the very end." - Author Sophie Monroe (Battle Scars series)

  "It's soooooooo good. I honestly loved it!!!!" - Author Tijan (Fallen Crest series)

  "I think what I loved most was the originality of the story. Teresa nailed this one!" - Author Maureen Mayer (Second Chance series)

  "I truly believe this to be a masterpiece story and one that will live in my heart for a long time and that Teresa needs to write a sequel and soon!" - Author Vicki Green (My Savior Forever)

  Playlist for the Dead Guy

  Alessia Cara – Scars to Your Beautiful

  Taylor Swift - Style

  The Chainsmokers – Don’t Let Me Down

  Billie Eilish - Bad Guy

  Rachel Platten – Fight Song

  Taylor Swift – Bad Blood

  Imagine Dragons - Thunder

  Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend

  Nine Days – Absolutely (Story of a Girl)

  Taylor Swift – Everything Has Changed

  Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved

  Daughtry - Over You

  The Fray – How to Save a Life

  OneRepublic - Counting Stars

  Katy Perry – Dark Horse

  Imagine Dragons - Demons

  Rule 1: Never Show Fear

  Nova

  TODAY WAS THE FIRST day of my new life. Briarwick Academy was meant to be a fresh start. I could become someone new; someone likable. That’s the lie I told myself anyway.

  What I didn’t know was that it was the day I’d meet my reason to live.

  And I would be his reason to die.

  It was a big day. It was the moment everything would change. And it started like any other morning. The clouds hung low in the sky, and there was a crispness to the air. I could smell the faint odor of rain in the distance. I hoped my mother would be able to outrun the storm, but as the sky grumbled and the automatic solar street lamps flickered on, I knew we were going to get caught in a downpour.

  “You’re going to be fine,” my mother reassured me as I slung my worn bag over my shoulder and traipsed down the stairs from our second-story apartment to her car. It was the fourth time she’d parroted that phrase in the last hour.

  “I know,” I sighed, forcing a smile as I dumped my belongings into the open hatchback of her white Geo Metro that we affectionately refer to as The Egg just as fat drops of rain began to splatter across the roof. “This is going to be good for both of us.” She would have an empty nest, a chance to go out and start dating again. After my father had ghosted her, she’d become obsessed with my life and had forgotten about herself. I needed to cut the cord, and that meant staying on campus instead of living at home.

  I tried not to let my tears fall, as I watched my home, the only life I’d known, fade into the distance behind my oversized sunglasses. I was born and raised in New Salem, a small town in Pennsylvania that had more livestock than people and was steeped in urban legends. It was known for its shaker style homes and a drunk driver who killed a teenager last summer. The victim happened to be my best friend, Wyatt Braxton. We’d been inseparable since seventh grade when I made us matching friendship bracelets, and his hazel eyes still haunted me every time I went to sleep. My whole future was planned around him, and now he was just gone. It was like he’d never existed.

  Nothing good came from New Salem.

  My mother was hoping to rectify that. I wasn’t so sure it was possible.

  Clutching my rulebook against my chest, I forced myself not to write. It was a habit I'd developed ever since I was old enough to put pen to
paper. A successful life had rules, a structure. My therapist loved the idea. If you don’t like the direction of your life, change it. Work on yourself, and you’ll grow – or some such nonsense. It was supposed to help me open up and be able to express my feelings, but I used it as an intricate web of instructions that I followed to keep people at a distance.

  But not today. Today I needed to live in the moment. I wanted to soak up every last second with my mother. This wasn’t just going to be hard on me. I felt her emerald eyes on my profile, could see her sad smirk in my peripheral vision. I could tell she was exhausted after working a double shift at the Starlight Diner. She even still wore her uniform, complete with a nametag on her chest that read Amy.

  “You’re going to love Briarwick. I know I only attended Edgewood for a few months, but it is some of the fondest memories of my life.” I shook my head, dismissing her words. I know she didn’t mean it as an insult. My mother had her entire life planned, as well. But her life as a carefree young adult was short-lived. She met my father the following year, and I was born nine months later. She told me he used to come by every weekend, making the long trip from Briarwick Academy to New Salem. Those visits soon spanned weeks, then months. It had been fifteen years since he’d made an appearance. A guy like that didn’t settle down with a girl like her, she’d say.

  Edgewood Academy was only twenty minutes from Briarwick Academy and its greatest rival. It wasn’t for the obscenely wealthy, but for the gifted. My grandparents had shipped off my mother at sixteen in hopes that she would get out of New Salem for good, and have a chance at a better life. Instead, they got me. Unfortunately, I hadn’t inherited her intelligence, and now Briarwick would be the only way I could redeem our family name.

  “You don’t need to worry,” I replied, picking at my nail, my fingers shaking. “I’m going to make friends.” I glanced up now, taking in her pained expression. I knew she was as desperate for me to make some meaningful connections as I was. One of the side effects of being an avid reader was never actually making the time to talk to real flesh and blood people. Just one more chapter became one more book, and before I knew it, It was my seventeenth birthday, and the only people to show up at my party was my mother and Wyatt. It was also the night I’d lose him forever.

  “I’m not worried... because I stole your Kindle charger,” she mumbled, pulling her teeth across her lower lip.

  “You didn’t –”

  “I just want you to get the full experience. Go out, have a few laughs, kiss a boy. I promise I’ll give it back to you next time you come to visit. You are the only person accepted for a full ride to Briarwick Academy. I want you to make the best of it.”

  “This is child abuse,” I groaned, slouching lower in my seat and fumbling with the thin red bracelet on my wrist, tugging it against my skin until it left a red line.

  “You’re not a child, Nova. You’ll be eighteen in a few days. I wouldn’t send you if I didn’t think you could handle it.”

  “I know,” I replied. But I wasn’t nearly as sure as she was. New rule – when in doubt, tell a lie.

  AFTER AN HOUR OF BEING forced to sit outside of an office while my mother finalized paperwork and planned out my future without me, it was finally time to say goodbye. I was used to people disappearing or being ripped from my life. Having a chance to actually have closure somehow felt worse. I wouldn’t drag it out.

  “I think it’s this one,” my mother looked up from the crumpled paper in her hand to the door, her face twisted in confusion. “Room 105.” She took in the ornate wood trim that looked like it belonged in a majestic mansion, but this wasn’t a bustling dorm filled with eager young minds. This hall was virtually empty. It was a sign. I should have seen it. But I didn’t. I was too wrapped up in my own self-loathing to notice.

  I held her gaze for a moment, every nerve ending in my body firing off in rapid succession before gripping the knob and shoving open the door.

  “Shoot, I was hoping to meet your roommate,” my mother groaned as we stepped inside the cramped space. It smelled musty, and I couldn’t wait to dig out my lavender candle right after I downloaded the Kindle app to my phone.

  “At least I get to pick my bed,” I replied, dropping my bag on the mattress that was under the only window, which happened to be lined with thick wrought iron bars. “Even if it is in the dungeon.” But I was relieved. I couldn’t tell her that I was hoping that I got to have this room to myself.

  “You’re going to make the best of this situation like you always do,” she reassured me. My mother stepped in front of me, brushing my long, chocolate-colored hair over my shoulder as her eyes danced over my face. “Your father would be so proud of you.”

  I nodded, pulling her in for a tight hug, not wanting to talk about my dad. He could be here if he chose to come. Part of me, deep down, accepted this invitation because it made me feel closer to him. He’d attended this Academy, but didn’t need the scholarship. His family owned half of Bixby, North Carolina. “I’m going to be fine. I promise,” I dismissed her worry before forcing myself to pull back and break contact. “I’m an adult now, remember? I can do this.”

  “I know,” she sighed before a tear slid from her lashes over the apple of her cheek. The redness of her eyes made the green more vibrant. “Call me if you need anything. Day or night.”

  But I wouldn’t call. I couldn’t. This was her chance to finally go out and live her life, and no matter how much I hated it, I needed to do the same. “Go, I can handle this.”

  She pulled me in for one last goodbye before she reluctantly slipped back into the hallway. I sank down on the edge of my new bed, my eyes dancing around the room that looked like it hadn’t been lived in for a few years. I was all the way at the end of the hall on the first floor, flanked by offices and storage closets.

  I don’t know why I expected anything more. I wasn’t well-to-do like the other students. In fact, I was the only person to be accepted to Briarwick, whose parents weren’t obscenely wealthy. The scholarship was part of a new diversity program. I was here to prove that hard work could get you just as far in life as a fat wallet. That was the plan anyway.

  Knuckles rapped against the heavy wooden door, and the hinges whined as it fell open a few inches. I pushed from my bed as an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair cleared his throat to make sure his presence was known. His skin was thin and translucent, crinkled around his eyes like paper that had gotten damp and dried in the sun.

  “Ms. Ambroise?” His head inclined toward me with a curt nod as he tugged at his suit jacket sleeve.

  “N-no,” I stammered, wringing my hands together in front of me. “That’s my mother’s last name. I’m Nova. Nova Nixon.”

  “Right. I just assumed you’d be using your mother’s name, given his reputation. I’m Headmaster Fellows. I hope you find these accommodations satisfactory.”

  “Sure. Yes. It’s... great.” I was caught off guard by his title. My eyes danced around the cramped, dirty space, landing on a door just off to the right that I hadn’t noticed.

  “The lavatory,” he called out. When I didn’t respond, he clarified, “Your restroom.”

  “Right, no. I get it. I just didn’t think I’d have my own bathroom.”

  “And I’m sure last year you didn’t expect to be moving into a place like Briarwick Academy.” He smirked. “You’ll adapt. We’re counting on you to live up to your full potential.”

  I straightened my back, struggling to appear confident. “I’ll make you proud.”

  “I’m not your father, Ms. Ambroise. Just don’t embarrass us.”

  My hope for a new beginning deflated, and my shoulders sagged.

  “You’re late,” Headmaster Fellows belted out, causing me to startle. He was looking to his left, down the hallway.

  “Is this really necessary?” A gravelly voice replied to him.

  “Maybe a proper punishment will teach you to follow our rules, Mr. Carter.”

  Fellows move
d aside, swinging his arm grandly for this mystery guest to enter. When he stepped into view, I felt my heart rattle inside of my chest. His coal colored eyes snapped to mine like he could hear the erratic thrumming beneath my flesh. His fingers combed over his hair, causing the short brown locks to stick up haphazardly as if he’d just rolled out of bed. Judging by the rumpled jeans and fitted white t-shirt, that hugged his lean muscles, maybe he had.

  “I’m –”

  “Nova Nixon,” he finished for me, his voice sounding bored. “The sacrificial lamb.” The muscles under his taut skin jumped as he clenched his angular jaw, giving away that his indifference seemed to be more to stoke the annoyance of Fellows.

  “Actually, I’m going by my mother’s name now. Ambroise.” I cleared my throat, shifting my weight from foot to foot. “And you are –”

  He turned back to face Fellows, rolling his head to the side to stretch his neck. He glared at the headmaster. “This is inhumane,” He bit out as if the words themselves left a bad taste in his mouth.

  “This... like having to be around me –” I mumbled before I heard him chuckle.

  “The living conditions.”

  “I’ll make a call, have the room freshened,” Headmaster Fellows assured him, never bothering to look to me even though it was my space. “It just needs a little work,” He continued, but something told me he was talking more about me than the room. “I’m sure you’re up to the task."

  “Or I could put an end to this now. What’s to stop me from throwing the new girl to the sharks?” His eyebrow rose, a ghost of a smirk playing on his full lips. He was trying to rattle me; to send me running. I planted my feet, forcing myself to hold stock still, chin jutted up in defiance.

  “I believe his name is Lachlan. You remember Lachlan, don’t you? Would you like me to refresh your memory?” The older gentleman didn’t seem the least bit phased by the boy's challenge and judging by the nonchalant way he replied I shouldn’t be either. But that didn’t stop me from clenching my fists at my sides, my nails biting crescents into my palms.