Love, Lies, and Deception(35)
“Are they talking about you?” I shrieked incredulously, anger beginning to build. “Karey Holden? Are you telling me I don’t even know your real name?”
How could he be intimate with me and not tell me his real name? I started to get off the couch, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down.
“No,” he answered quickly, before I could get even more upset and leave. “Karey, is my first name. It’s the name I went by when I surfed, but Alec is the name my family and friends call me. It’s actually my middle name.”
He let go of my arm, and I took a few deep breaths so I could calm down. “Thank goodness for that. If not, that was going to be a deal breaker for me,” I answered honestly.
Alec lowered his head and nodded. “I was supposed to use a different name out here to keep my identity hidden, but I couldn’t bring myself to lie to you. Most people think I’m in rehab out in California right now.”
“How did you get away without it leaking to the press?”
“We devised a plan to have the press follow me to the rehab center, except it wasn’t me in the car. The guy was a decoy so that I could get away and make them all think I was going into rehab. For a while now things have gotten quiet. My parents were livid with me, but they made a deal with the judge to let me come out here and work out my probation. Money talks, Marissa, and I’m not proud of it, but I’m glad I didn’t have to go to jail.”
“What did you get busted for? Did you get caught with the drugs?” I asked.
He sighed, closing his eyes. “Yes, that was part of it. Look, I’m going to let you look through what I’ve marked on my laptop. I’ll answer any and all your questions you might have, and I know you’re going to have a ton. Just remember, the shit you read on the internet isn’t always true and it always looks worse than what it is, especially when it comes to people like me.”
Alec kissed me on the cheek, then grabbed some magazines and moved to the loveseat across the room. My eyes met his briefly, concern etched across his face, before I engrossed myself in the scandals of Karey Alec Holden. I gasped when I saw the next picture bookmarked on his laptop.
The man described in the online ads and websites was not the guy that was sitting across the room from me. There were the good pictures of him at his surf meets holding the trophies and looking so carefree and full of life, but then there were the others that showed a darker side.
There were ones of him angry and bloody from bar fights, and articles stating how we was thrown out of popular hot spots because of it. He had the reputation of a bad boy with a volatile temper as well as a known playboy bachelor. There were a slew of photographs with him and different women, some of them I recognized as Hollywood starlets and famous models.
I looked nothing like those women, and it made me wonder what he saw in me. Why would he want me when he could have someone like that? Was I going to be just another notch in his belt? Or better yet, was I someone he could slum around with freely since the world thought he was still in California? I thought I was a very beautiful girl, and I was confident with myself, but never would I think to compare myself to the star elite. I didn’t have millions of dollars to burn.
The last article I had yet to read was the worst one yet. It read, “Karey Holden Investigated for Girl’s Death.” I felt sick, but I knew I had to read it. Shifting in my seat, my eyes strayed from the screen and landed on Alec. He looked nervous and pale, and completely transfixed on me and my reactions. I wonder how long he’d been watching me. I turned my body away so that I couldn’t see him staring at me over the top of the computer.
After five agonizing minutes, I read the full article, and slowly closed Alec’s laptop, setting it on the couch. Alec got up from the table, but I held up my hand.
“Stop,” I said, halting him in place.
“Marissa, please. You have to talk to me. I don’t want to hide anything from you, that’s why I told you and let you see those things. I’m not like the Karey Holden you read about anymore. I’ve been clean for three years now, and I haven’t gotten into any trouble since I’ve been here. Just please don’t shut me out. You’re the first real person I’ve met that I’ve been able to be myself around with no pressure and I don’t want to lose that.”
He started toward me again, but I moved back. The pained expression on his face killed me, and I wanted to kiss him and tell him everything would be okay, but I couldn’t. I needed time to process everything I saw.
“You said you wouldn’t run away from me, Marissa. I was trusting you.”
“I’m not running away, Alec. Can I not have some time to process all of this?” I huffed and walked out the door to get some fresh air.
The day was beautiful, full of blue sky and a thin draping of clouds while the air smelled fresh and clean from the rain the night before. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the fresh mountain air and tried desperately to keep from crying. Why did Alec have to have such a damaged past?
Taking some deep breaths, I leaned over the railing and rested my head down on my arms. I could hear Alec approaching cautiously behind me with his soft steps on the wooden walkway. His arm brushed against mine as he stepped up beside me and leaned over the railing, too.
“Ask me anything, Marissa, and I’ll tell you the truth. I have nothing to hide now.”