Chapter 119: Chapter Twenty-two

Demetri

“He's not answering his phone. Are you sure there's not something I can help you with?” You know, other than slamming the door in your face? It's freaking six in the morning.

“Uh… No.” April blushed a bright red. “I don't like to be a bother to either of you. I only had his number from when he gave me the key.”

“Oh right.” I nodded. “Well, let me give you mine, okay?”

April stared at me oddly before pulling out her phone and punching the numbers in. “Got it.”

“Cool.” I nodded my head, hoping she'd get the hint that all I wanted to do that early in the morning was go to a very dark place where pillows and blankets would wrap around my body. Or Alyssa.

“You, um…” April laughed and shoved her hands in her pockets. “You look really grown up.”

What the hell? Did she just call me old? “I uh…” I scratched my head. “Thanks, you look… nice.” Wow, well done. What did she expect? Had I mentioned it was six a.m.?

“Bye, Demetri.” April looked at me twice over her shoulder before getting into her rental car and driving off.

“Who the hell rings the doorbell at six a.m.?” came Jaymeson's voice from behind me. I couldn't very well say your insane mother, so I just shrugged.

“Go back to bed.”

“Don't want to,” Jaymeson grumbled, his voice low and scratchy. “The girl I brought home last night got clingy.”

“Clingy? And what the hell, Jaymeson? Weren't you saying you were over it yesterday?”

Grinning, he shrugged. “Weak moment, and yeah, she's all over me.”

“She's awake?” I sat on the barstool and put my head in my hands.

“Hell, no. She's still sleeping.”

I jerked my head up. “Huh? Then how the hell is she all over you?”

“I watched her—”

“Please tell me this conversation is going to get less creepy soon.”

“Shut up.” Jaymeson threw a Cheerio at my head. “Girls. They get this weird look when they sleep.

“Her eyebrows are all furrowed, and her lips are in this tight line and I swear to you her eyes are like rolling behind her eyelids.” He shuddered and threw a handful of Cheerios in his mouth.

“I swear to you the only thing she's dreaming about right now is how to trap me into marriage.” Shaking his head a few times, he banged the table with his fist.

“And that, my friend, will never happen. Seriously. I already feel smothered.”

I stared at him blankly.

“What?” He shrugged.

“Nothing.” I leaned back in my chair. “I'm still trying to decide if you're a genius or insane.”

“And?”

“Jury's still out.” I saluted him and pushed away from the table. “And I need more sleep.”

“Damn. I thought I could convince you to go surfing this morning.”

“And get eaten by a seagull? Or better yet, have one poke my eyes out? No, thanks.”

Jaymeson let out a bark of laughter. “Seagulls don't attack people.”

“Um, tell that to the website that has recorded three thousand eight hundred and two seagull attacks to date!”

Jaymeson was silent and then, “You made that up.”

I flipped him off and walked up the stairs shouting, “Who cares! It's probably true somewhere!”

I tried to quietly creep into Alyssa's room. The camera crew for the morning shift was usually too lazy to follow us around the house.

The wood floor creaked just as I made it to her bed. Damn, but my girlfriend was beautiful. Seriously. And now I was the creepy one because I was seriously happy to watch her sleep.

Alyssa's eyes flickered open just as she jerked back into the bed and swore, “What the hell, Demetri! I was sleeping!”

“I know.” I gently pushed her farther across the bed and crawled in. “But I thought we could have a morning slumber party.”

“You piece of crap. You just want me to rub your head while you go to sleep and I stay awake staring at the ceiling!” Alyssa turned away from me, but I grabbed her and tucked her into my body.

“Not true! I just want to hold you.”

“Right.”

“And I mean, if you wanted to rub my head or my back or something, I wouldn't complain…”

“Slut.”

“Whore.”

“You woke me up.”

I grinned. “That I did.”

“You know I can't go back to sleep once woken up.”

I kissed the top of her head. “I'm well aware of that fact, which is why I was so quiet upon entering your room. Notice that I only hit two of the squeaky parts of the floor, not all six.”

Alyssa turned to face me, her eyes still barely open and her lips all flushed. “Notice how you were staring at me like some creepy homicidal killer that belongs on one of those crime shows.”

“Hey!” I dug my hands into her mop of dark hair and massaged her skull. “No fair. Besides, I was staring at you because you're really pretty.”

“One point for you this morning.”

I sighed happily and kissed her forehead, then threw my leg over hers so she was trapped with me in bed.

“Are we going to talk about it, Demetri?” Alyssa's head was against my chest, so her voice was muffled.

“About you and Alec and why the hell he's acting different? Ten days ago you were freaking out about what he may or may not do, and now you won't even talk to me about it.”

I swallowed and played with a piece of her hair. Did things always have to be so complicated? “All I know is that I hope whatever's bothering him, he can get it out before he and Nat get back here.

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I mean, it's like they're already married.

“She'll fix him.” I had to hope she would; otherwise, I just wasn't sure I could handle any more bombs getting dropped on our happy little lives. Not after all the shit we'd already been through.

****

We all sat around the dinner table that night with Ruben and the rest of the production crew. He called the meeting to order and took a sip of his soda.

“Alright, kids…” I groaned, why did he call us kids? “This week's theme is…”

“Please let it be sleep,” I interrupted.

“Sex?” Jaymeson grinned shamelessly while Alyssa punched him. Angelica was staring at the ground like it was going to suddenly open up and swallow her.

Ruben looked around at all our eager faces. “The past.”

“Son of a bitch.” Was the man trying to kill me?

“How is that a theme?” Alyssa asked.

Ruben nodded happily to Alyssa. “Great question!”

I rolled my eyes. “Shoot me now.”

Ignoring my outburst, Ruben took a seat. “Not only does your past define your future, but it makes you seem more real to your fans. They want to know what you were like growing up.

“Did you play any sports? When was your first kiss? You know, that type of stuff.

“Yay,” I said dryly.

Jaymeson raised his hand. “Yeah, um, Ruben?”

“What?”

“I was in a tragic accident when I was…” His finger went into the air as if he was doing math. “Like seventeen, so I don't remember anything from my childhood.”

“Interesting.” Ruben folded his arms. “That makes sense. I mean, I never believed that rumor that you could have slept with that many Hollywood starlets at the ripe old age of sixteen.”

Jaymeson grunted. “Believe it.”

Ruben glared. “What? No memory loss?”

“Well-played, damn it.” Jaymeson sulked, leaning his elbows against the table.

“As I was saying…” Ruben smirked. “If you were a closet cross-dresser when you were ten—”

“What the hell?” I snapped. “At ten? Kind of early…”

Ruben folded his arms across his chest and continued. “If you kissed a girl and she punched you when you were four, or you have some sort of weird toenail fetish — it's all gonna come out this week.

“Be prepared. There will be a fishbowl for each of you in the middle of the room with questions. Each day you'll be asked to retrieve one from the bowl and answer it for your cast members.

“Is that why it feels like hell?” I asked aloud.

Ruben didn't answer. Instead he placed the fishbowls on the counter, full of white pieces of paper. Each fishbowl had a name on it. “Who's going to go first?”

“We have to start now?” Jaymeson whined.

“Yup,” Ruben said.

“I'll go.” Alyssa popped up from her seat and retrieved a piece of paper from her bowl.

Ruben nodded. “Go ahead, read it aloud.”

Alyssa's face paled. She looked to me and then back at the paper. Her voice shook as she read the question. “Who did you lose in a tragic car accident when you were sixteen, and was it your fault?”

I jumped out of my chair and ripped the paper out of her hands. “Hell, no. She doesn't have to answer that.”

Ruben smirked. “Her contract says she does.”

I clenched my fists at my sides. “You piece of shit.”

Ruben narrowed his gaze on Alyssa. “We're waiting.”

I grabbed her hand for support and nodded to her. Before answering, she turned her brilliant blue eyes to me. A smile broke out on her face.

“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.

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 STDs?” He laughed. “Is this for real?”

Ruben's eyebrows lifted.

“Shouldn't this be Angelica's question?” Jaymeson added, flinging the paper into the air. “Whatever, doesn't matter. No, I don't have any STDs. 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.

“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.

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.