“My first boyfriend died when I was sixteen. It was an accident. Nobody’s fault really. And it’s taken me a long time to be able to realize that sometimes accidents happen—”

“Great,” Ruben interrupted.

“I’m not done,” Alyssa snapped, returning her attention to me. “After rain there’s always a rainbow, right?” She reached out and touched my face. Her fingers grazed my cheek and then my chin, then she brought my head slowly to hers and kissed my lips. “If Brady was the rain… then Demetri was my rainbow.”

She grinned at me, but there was no time for me to smile back. My lips were on hers in such a fast frenzy that she stumbled backwards. I lifted her into my arms and devoured her mouth, plunging my tongue into her warmth, tasting, teasing — but most of all claiming. Mine, mine, mine.

A throat cleared behind us. I didn’t give a damn. I kept kissing her, for everyone in the freaking universe to see. She was mine. I loved her, and damn anyone to hell who thought they could ruin what we had, including Ruben.

After a few more blissed-out seconds where I’m not proud to admit I undressed her with my mind at least a dozen times, I placed her back on the ground.

“Well, that was awkward.” This from Jaymeson.

Angelica was still staring at the ground.

“Who’s next?” Ruben asked.

Jaymeson pulled a piece of paper out of his fishbowl, with a bored sigh he read the contents. “Do I have any STD’s?” He laughed. “Is this for real?”

Ruben eyebrows lifted.

“Shouldn’t this be Angelicas question?” Jaymeson added, flinging the paper into the air. “Whatever, doesn’t matter. No, I don’t have any STD’s. I’m not that much of a man-whore.”

I didn’t think it would be the right time to actually point out that, yes, he was in fact the biggest man-whore I’d ever met.

Ruben looked to me.

“Fine, my turn.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed a piece of paper from the bowl. “Do you ever wonder why you and Alec look like polar opposites?” I laughed and slammed the paper on the table. “I think we all know the answer to that one.” I pulled Alyssa to my side and kissed her head. “I’m the hotter one, and when I was in my mommy’s tummy it was summertime. Therefore, I have lighter hair and eyes. When Alec was in our mother’s tummy it was winter, so he looks darker and, might I add, more pale.”

“Did a stork also drop you off when your mom went into labor?” This from Angelica.

“She speaks!” I clapped and handed her the fishbowl. “Your turn, slut.”

“Very funny.” She dipped her hand in and pulled out the strip of paper. Her eyes widened as she looked at the paper, and then she crumpled it up into her hand. “This is stupid, Ruben.” She put her hands on her hips. “I’m not doing this. Find another way to get everyone’s dirty secrets!”

“What’s fair is fair.” He was seething.

“Fine.” She slammed the paper onto the counter. “Yes, it sucked when I got pregnant at sixteen! Yes, it almost ruined my film career, and that’s a hell, yes, I went to rehab to deal with the abortion!” She stormed out of the room. The sound of her heels clicking against the tile floor may as well have been my conscience making me feel like a genuine jackass. How did I not know any of that? To be fair, I didn’t really pay attention to gossip. Mainly because I wasn’t interested in who I was “sleeping with” or what starlet I just “abandoned.”

“Holy shit.” Jaymeson looked down at his hands. “Holy freaking shit.”

“You’ve said that.” I tried to laugh, but it fell on deaf ears. He turned to me and scowled. “Last night I…” He swallowed. “I may have told her something like she should just go kill herself since nobody liked her.”

“A bit harsh, Jaymeson.” Alyssa snapped.

Jaymeson pushed away from the table and ran after Angelica, leaving Alyssa and me in the kitchen with the production crew and Ruben. “Happy now?” I asked. “Tell me, is it your goal to ruin everyone’s lives?”

Ruben sneered. “Maybe you should be asking your brother that question.”

He grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and began talking about edits to the production crew.

My stomach filled with dread. I quickly dialed Alec’s number to fill him in on what was going on, but his phone was off. Either that or dead. He needed to know what kind of hellstorm he was coming back into. We were officially a few questions away from the point of no return. Nobody knew Alec and my original reasons for being in Seaside in the first place, except a select group who’d take it to their graves. If they kept asking questions, I didn’t even want to think about the ramifications. Forget the shit Alec was going through. We had much bigger problems. Like how we were going to keep our past hidden when Ruben was stopping at nothing to make it public?

Chapter Twenty-three

Alec

“Look, a whale!” I pointed at the stuffed animal in the airport and nudged Nat.

She glared.

For living on the coast, she really didn’t have her sea legs. She threw up the entire boat ride. I was finally able to convince her that we should go back to the hotel until she felt better.

Once she had some food in her stomach she was fine. Though still pissed she hadn’t seen any whales. Thus the stuffed animal.

“You suck.” Her punch was weak. I laughed and grabbed her overnight bag from her. In the distance a few people had their phones trained on us, most likely taking pics or Tweeting about our little “fight” in the airport.

“Ugh, I swear it still feels like I’m still on that damn boat,” Nat muttered into my chest. “Crackers?”

I reached into her bag and pulled out some crackers for her and a bottled water. “Better?”

She ate the cracker and nodded. “Damn whale.” She pointed at the offending stuffed animal.

“Admit it.” I took the crackers and bottled water from her and put them back in her bag. “You kind of want one.”

“A whale?”

“A stuffed animal. To remember the weekend by?”

“Alec, I don’t really want to remember the throwing up.”

I smirked. “That’s not all we did.”

“Right, and I’m sure all of that…” She turned red. “Didn’t help!”

“Liar.” I kissed her cheek. “That always helps.”

“Fine, buy me the damn whale and let’s get on our plane.”

Chuckling, I walked into the store with the whale and pulled out my credit card. My body froze when my eyes fell onto the gossip magazines in front of me. There was a picture of me and April hugging. How the hell did they get that? The headline read. “AD2 golden boy cheating on his girlfriend with an older woman?”

I turned the magazine around, and then my eyes fell on the next one.

“Shit.” I put the whale on the counter and turned around, blocking Nat’s view of the magazines. “Babe, will you do me a favor and call Demetri? My phone’s been off, and I want him picking us up at the airport. That okay?”

“Sure.” She pulled the phone from her purse and walked out of the store.

I quickly flipped the rest of the magazines, much to the amusement of the checker who was eyeing me like I was high on something.

The last magazine had a picture that made me want to vomit. I had no idea how they had that picture. No freaking idea. April was lying in her hotel room sleeping, pill bottles scattered around the table next to her.

Producers Wife Tries to Commit Suicide.

“I hate the media.” I cursed and swiped my credit card through the machine.

The clerk snorted. “Says the rich celebrity.”

“Excuse me?” I snapped.

“You heard me.” He pointed down to the magazines. “You knew what you were getting into the minute you signed up for that craziness. I don’t get why celebrities complain so much. Press enter on the screen please.”

I wanted to press my fist into his face, but instead, barely controlling my anger, I pressed the button and gripped the countertop.

“Have a nice day,” the man said, handing me the bag.

I held his gaze for a bit before nodding once and then saying in low tones. “I don’t care what anyone says. No celebrity, no one, asks for this shit to be made public.” I threw two of the magazines onto the counter and stomped off.

Nat waved me over to the bench she was sitting on chatting happily with Demetri and then her face fell.

Pale. She looked too pale.

Was she still feeling sick from the boat ride or did she have bad news? I fought the urge to run, and instead slowly walked up to her side, placing my hand on her shoulder.

“I understand.” She swallowed. “How bad?”

Nat exhaled a curse and ended the conversation.

“What’s going on?” I kept my voice light even though I was dying inside.

“Guess what our theme is this week?” She stood and handed me her bags so I could carry them.

“Hell?”

“Worse.”

“What’s worse than that?”

“The past. Our theme is the past. Apparently Ruben has bowls of questions for each participant. Last night Angelica ran off, she got super drunk, and Jaymeson found her stripping and trying to go swimming in the ocean.”

“She could have died! Is she insane?”

Nat shrugged. “Demetri says it’s not going to be a pleasant week. He just wanted to prepare us.”

“Let’s screw it all. You know? Who the hell cares? Let’s stay in Seattle.”

Nat peered up through the hair that had fallen across her forehead. “That doesn’t sound like the Alec I know.” She shrugged. “I say we power through and then go on a really long vacation somewhere tropical.”

“Consider the tickets booked.” I smiled.

“Good.”

“Nat?” We walked toward the first class lounge.

“Hmm?”

“Promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Trust me.”

With an exaggerated eye roll, Nat nudged me. “Already there.”

“No, Nat.” I bit down on my lip. “I’m serious, just trust me. Trust in us. Can you do that?”

“Again, I already do, Alec. Now put on your big boy pants. In an hour we’re going to be in the Seventh Circle of Hell.”

“Super,” I said dryly.

Nat laughed. “It won’t be that bad. Come on.”

She had no freaking clue that the minute we chose to get on that plane, I was just one minute closer to losing it.

****

Seventh Circle of Hell was a gross understatement. Nat and I had been back at the Beach House for a total of ten minutes when Ruben bombarded us with the “rules” for the week.

“Both of you are behind. I hope you enjoyed your stay and rewards. Remember.” He looked around at each of us. Angelica looked like hell. Jaymeson had dark circles under his eyes, and Demetri and Alyssa were ignoring Ruben completely. “You want to be the fan favorite this week. Fan favorite gets a… special prize.”