Love, Lies, and Deception(34)

“Uh … you can put that garbage away. You’re going to need your energy today, and that shit isn’t going to cut it.”

“Hey, it’s been working fine for me for the past five years,” I added dryly. I laid my breakfast on the bar and watched Alec place a heaping amount of food onto a plate.

Alec chuckled and held out a plate of bacon, eggs, and grits for me to take. “Eat up so we can get this day going.”

“Why are you so bossy?” I huffed, taking the plate from him.

With a smirk on his face, he muttered, “Because I’ve never had anyone talk back to me as much as you.”

Exasperated, I shook my head and sat down at the table. “Well, get used to it, Mr. Holden, because it’s most likely not going to change.”

He sat down across from me and grinned. “I sure hope not. I kind of like it.”

We ate our breakfast, me more quickly than Alec, which I was sure was a stalling tactic. While I cleaned the dishes, he sat on the couch and fired up his laptop. “What are you doing over there?” I called out from the kitchen.

He sighed and peered over at me. “I’m bookmarking all the sites you’ll need to see when I start explaining things to you.” That didn’t sound good. What kind of sites was he talking about?

“Oh,” I said softly, drying off my hands.

Alec patted the couch cushion and motioned me over. Nervously, he asked, “Are you ready to see the skeletons in my closet? I guess I can’t hide forever.”

Taking a seat beside him, I leaned over and placed a tender kiss on his lips for reassurance. “You don’t need to worry so much. Now, if you’re a serial killer or something like that I might have to reconsider,” I said teasingly. “How bad could this possibly get?”

He shrugged. “Well the good thing is that I’m not a serial killer, but it’s only going to be as bad as you let it. There have been some scandals floating around the media, so if you’re going to be with me I need you to be prepared and hear them from me first.”

Staring at him wide-eyed, I sat back against the couch, feeling weary and confused. My heart was thundering out of my chest, and it hurt to breathe.

“What the hell, Alec. Who are you?” I sputtered. “Scandals? Media? What exactly do I need to be prepared for?”

Alec took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “One day, Marissa, I’ll be leaving here as well, just like you. It was never my intention to stay here forever, but I kind of had to.”

“Where are you going? Back to California?” I asked, my heart constricting with the thought of him being so far away.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I’ll decide when the time comes. One of the reasons I came out here was because of my aunt as you already know, but what you don’t know is …”

He paused and bit his lip, hesitating.

“What is it, Alec? Spit it out. You’ve gotten this far, so keep going.”

“Coming out here was also part of my probation. My first year here, I lived with my aunt before I was given permission to get my own place,” he added sheepishly.

“Probation for what?” I asked hesitantly. “Did you get arrested?”

Alec shook his head. “I’ll get to that in just a minute. I want to start at the beginning.”

He placed his laptop in my lap and pressed down on the keyboard to make the black ‘sleep’ screen disappear. When it cleared I was met with the steely blue eyes of the man I’d given myself to over the past couple of weeks.

Except, the person on the screen was different; he had shoulder-length blond hair, and was smirking at the camera while holding onto a surfboard. It was the same surfboard in his room.

“Wow, you look so different,” I gasped, surprised. “When was this taken?”

He smiled sadly. “That one was taken back in 2008 at the Pipe Masters surfing competition in Tahiti.”

“Are you serious?” I squealed. Wow, I’m impressed.

I glanced around his room at all the surfing pictures splayed on his walls, and pointed to them. “So when you were surfing in those pictures you were actually competing?” I asked. He nodded somberly and smiled as if remembering those days so long ago.

“Did you ever win?”

He chuckled. “Oh, I won a lot, baby, but I also lost a lot when I decided to do stupid things.”

“So let me get this straight … you’re a pro surfer who’s probably worth millions of dollars and you’re sitting here in this mediocre apartment in NC? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Okay, so where is the bad in all of this. Did you have a problem with alcohol and drugs? Is that why you were arrested? It seems to be the trend nowadays with celebrities.”

“Yeah, that’s true and unfortunately I did fall into the traps of temptation. I was stupid and took things a little too far sometimes.”

“Did you ever go to rehab?” I asked curiously.

His smile faded and he took a deep breath. “This is my rehab, Marissa,” he explained, motioning to our surroundings. “Like I said, this is part of my probation. I had to give up everything and come here.” Alec reached over and clicked on a different picture on his computer. It was a newspaper article that read, “Karey Holden, local surfing legend, almost dies of overdose.” Also, beside the article was a picture of him.