Silent Night: Vampire Holiday Romance (The Night Songs Collection Book 4) by Kristen Strassel

book, I looked back to the closed door. My heart pounded so hard it threatened to jump out of the neckline of my new pajamas.
    This didn’t add up.
    Maybe he just looked really good for his age. It was possible, with plastic surgery and manscaping and gross things like that. But Aidan didn’t seem like someone who’d be vain enough to go through all of that. This was someone who hid behind a secret identity. So maybe he would be vain enough to alter his face. Maybe I was just wrong about how old he was, but that didn’t make me feel any better. If he was old enough to be my father, that was gross on a whole other level.
    I couldn’t lie to myself, I was falling for this guy. Or who I thought this guy was.
    Putting the book down, I went back to the bookshelf, checking the original publishing dates for all of the Allison Duprois books. So many early nineties. An anthology had a publishing date of 1988. This wasn’t a mistake.
    Whatever the answer was, Aidan had lied to me about something.
    “How old are you?” I barged out of the bedroom, even more reluctant to refer to it as mine, to face this head on.
    “Thirty-two.” He didn’t seem alarmed my inquisition, he didn’t even look up from the laptop. I stopped short. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I wanted his answer to be. No matter how this worked out, he was so much older than me.
    “That’s bullshit, or you’re full of shit.” I crossed my arms, realizing wearing the pajamas Aidan bought for me put me at an instant disadvantage. “You published books when you were ten? I didn’t realize I was in the company of a prodigy.”
    Aidan put his computer aside and looked up at me. “Have you ever read V.C. Andrews?” he asked.
    “Of course.”
    “She kept putting out books after she died. Pretty spectacular accomplishment, until you realize that ghost writers kept publishing books under her name.”
    “What does this have to do with you?” I paced back and forth.
    “I took over the franchise when the original author retired,” he explained. “Since Allison doesn’t really exist, her books can be written forever. It’s a brand, like Coca Cola.”
    “I don’t buy it.” I went over to the bookshelf, to see if I could pick out any more of his lies. “It doesn’t make any sense with what you told me the other night. You said you created an identity—“
    “I said that the internet made things easier,” Aidan corrected me. “I never said I created Allison.”
    “But Marielle!”
    “It was a coincidence.” His voice was soft and eyes misty, now that he looked up at me.
    Without another word, I stormed back down the hallway. I thought he’d opened his heart to me, and it was all crap. This was the person I’d chosen to let down my guard to? A professional liar. I was so mad at myself, even madder to be crying about it.
    All I wanted was to be special to one person in the world. I was tired of coming second, third, or worse for everyone. I wanted to be the person someone looked forward to seeing every day, the reason they got out of bed. Was it too much to ask that person be normal?
    What else was Aidan lying about? Now I couldn’t trust a word he said. I mourned the loss of a friend I never really had. A future that was never going to be. One that included going to school and having a place to come home to.
    I couldn’t rely on anyone but myself. Too bad that always seemed to involve other people.
    Back in the little retreat he created for me, I tried to relax. In this room, I felt safe. I combed the bookshelves to see if I could find proof or more lies, but I didn’t have anything to go on. All I knew about Aidan was what he had told me.
    Lightheaded from too many emotions to fit into one night, I gave up my super sleuthing and slid under the comforter. I couldn’t fall asleep right away, my mind still racing from my discovery.
    Aidan, or whoever he was, was trying like hell to take care of me. I couldn’t let him. I wanted to stay here, so