What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (12 page)

She walked to the door and opened it. Her landlord, who she only knew as Mr. Gibbs, was tiny, just over five feet tall, with a yellowish beard and wisps of yellow-gray hair on his balding head. He had very few teeth and his eyes were watery. “Raven, we need to talk,” he said, standing just outside the doorway with a pair of gardening gloves in one arthritic hand.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

He blinked and looked at the floor. “I’m sorry, Raven. You’ve been a great tenant, but I have to kick you out.”

“What? Why?” she asked, feeling the breath leave her stomach like she’d just been kicked hard.

He sighed. “I’ve got a buyer interested in this place,” he told her. He couldn’t even look at her as he spoke. “A guy came by yesterday and offered me cash, way above what I paid for the place.”

“Was his name Max Mendez by any chance?”

“How’d you know?”

She had to laugh. This was getting so ridiculous and awful, what else could she do but laugh? Raven assumed that with prices in Watertown, Max must have paid at least four or even five hundred thousand dollars for the entire house. That was a lot of money to spend just to get her kicked out.

And yet Max had done it.

“I just know,” she said. “He’s an acquaintance.”

Mr. Gibbs stared at her uncertainly. “I hate to do this to you but—“

“Let me guess. You need me out of here today, right?”

“I really hate to do it, but the man absolutely insisted I clear out of here right away. Since I live in the house with you and there’s no lease, I have the right to order anyone out of here immediately for any reason.”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t going to try and squat in your basement apartment, Mr. Gibbs.” She wanted to hate him, but somehow he was too pathetic to truly hate.

“I’m so sorry. But I need the money and this is how the guy said I had to do things. I don’t know why.”

“I’m just going to grab a few boxes and rent a motel room tonight. Anything I can’t fit in my car I’m just going to leave,” she told him.

“I’ve got a dumpster being delivered today,” Mr. Gibbs told her. “If you don’t bring it with you by the end of the night tonight, it goes in the trash.”

“That’s fine.” She had no fight left in her. “I better get packing.”

“Really sorry, Raven.”

“Uh huh.” She shut the door on him and looked around at the tiny basement apartment she’d called home the last two years. There were a lot of things in there that she’d have to let go of. There was nowhere to bring any of it—she couldn’t afford to have it put in storage. The best she could do was load her car up with most of it and leave the rest.

She spent the next three or four hours packing up her stuff and carrying it out to her Ford Fiesta. Mr. Gibbs had been anxious to help speed along the process, supplying her with plenty of boxes and even helping her to bring the stuff to the car, which was impressive given his lack of physical conditioning.

She still didn’t know how old he was—somewhere between fifty-years-old and ninety was her best guess.

Finally, as the afternoon grew late, approaching evening, Raven had packed her car as full as it could possibly be packed.

Mr. Gibbs shook hands with her and took the keys to the house from her. He looked very sad, but didn’t offer anything besides a “take care” as he hobbled back inside and shut the door.

Raven got in her car with a deep sigh. There was a Motel 6 nearby that always seemed to have vacancies and that’s where she was headed.

As she drove the few miles to the motel, she had time to consider the fact that in just a couple of days her life had been turned upside down, and the only thing keeping her off the street was that she had a credit card with such a small balance on it.

Other than that, her cash reserves were dwindling, and she wouldn’t last even a week on what she had in checking.

Going home to Vermont was not an option. She absolutely refused to return to her parents’ house, which she’d left at seventeen, never looking back. That’s assuming they would even have taken her back, which wasn’t at all a sure bet.

Maybe I can crash on Skylar’s couch
, she thought. Because she could really only afford a few nights at a motel, otherwise she’d be spending way too much and running up debt way too fast.

Things needed to turn around soon, but how?

These powerful people wanted to destroy her, wanted to force her to play their game. And Raven hated to admit it, but they were winning and it wasn’t even a close contest.

By the time she pulled into the Motel 6 parking lot, she was already exhausted and ready to go back to sleep.

She walked into the lobby and gave a perfunctory smile to the attendant.

He was a youngish guy, his suit looked a little big on him. “Good evening,” he said. “How can I assist you?”

“I’d like to book a room tonight,” she said.

“Great,” he told her.

She explained it would be for just her, one double bed would be fine, non-smoking. He clickety clacked away at the computer keyboard and told her that it would cost sixty-eight dollars.

“That’s fine,” she said, feeling weary, just wanting to get to her room already. She was already imagining a nice hot shower, turn on the TV and fall asleep. Wake up tomorrow with a new attitude.

She handed over her credit card and waited for her room key.

The attendant got a strange look on his face after swiping her card. “I’m sorry,” he said, after a long moment. “This card’s been declined, ma’am.”

Raven couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and yet, she totally knew it was true. “Could you try again?” she asked.

“Do you perhaps have another card we could use?”

“Just try it again,” she said dully.

In the end, he tried two more times. Each time, the card was declined.

Raven left the motel and walked slowly to her car. She called the credit card’s customer service line. The representative was concise with his delivery of the news.

“I’m sorry, this account’s been closed, Ms. Hartley.”

“I didn’t close it,” she said.

“I’m afraid I’m not able to give you any more information at this time.”

“Do I owe money? I don’t understand how you could just close my account for no reason. I made all my payments, I’ve never been late even once.”

“Ms. Hartley, all I can tell you is that the account’s closed and we’re not going to be able to re-open it at this time.”

Eventually, she got off the phone. She was still sitting in the parking lot, having nowhere else to go.

She now had no credit card, about thirty dollars in her purse, and not much more in her checking account. How long would it be before they got to that account as well?

They might even have done it already, but Raven wasn’t sure she cared anymore.

It’s over
, she thought.

It really is.

The truth sank in as she sat in the nearly empty parking lot, and she cried, breaking down in tears and sobbing for the first time in a very long time. In a way, the crying felt good, and the release of everything seemed to clear her mind.

The time had come to make a phone call she’d been dreading. But now that she’d made the decision, it didn’t feel quite as difficult as she’d imagined it would be.

The other line rang only twice before Max Mendez answered. “Raven Hartley,” he said, as if genuinely glad to hear from her. “How are you?”

“I think you know the answer,” she said. “Thanks for getting me kicked out of my home, getting me fired from my job, and leaving me broke on the street.”

“Nothing personal, Raven. Just business.”

There were a lot of nasty replies to his comment, but Raven knew better than to say any of them. She bit her tongue. “If you say so,” was all she managed.

“So can I assume from the fact that I’m hearing your voice right now, you’ve finally come around to our way of seeing things?” Max asked.

“I guess you could say that.”

“So you’re ready to honor your contract with us.”

“Yes.” It hurt to say the word, but it was also liberating in a strange way.

“That’s very good. We can start immediately. The client will be very pleased.”

“I’m not going to have sex, though,” she said. “That’s not on the table.”

“What you do with your time is between you and the client, so you’ll have to negotiate that separately. Club Alpha doesn’t concern itself with what you do on your time, as long as the client’s needs are met.”

“And if he wants sex from me?”

“Like I said, what goes on specifically is not our concern. It’s between you and the client.”

“You mean me and Jake Novak.”

“Miss Hartley, I don’t know who or what you’re talking about. But what I will do is contact our client and get back to you with next steps.”

She laughed, enjoying the feeling of having maybe ruffled Max Mendez’s feathers a little bit. “I look forward to hearing from you about Jake Novak,” she said, needling him again.

“That name has absolutely no meaning to me, Miss Hartley. I will be in touch shortly.”

The line went dead.

Raven dropped the phone on her lap and started giggling, and then she was laughing, and she kept laughing for a long time.

F
our Seasons
. Penthouse suite. Be there in 1 hour.

That was the text she’d received from Max Mendez, and now Raven was taking the elevator up to the penthouse suite.

She’d managed to get out of her old clothes and into the new ones in the car without anyone seeing her, although it hadn’t been the most comfortable costume change.

Raven was now wearing a short black cocktail dress and black high heels, a thong and lacy black bra underneath.

It was rather strange how quickly she’d adjusted to the role, once she’d made the decision to stop fighting Club Alpha and just give into their demands. Now she was decked out in her slinkiest escort gear, and she had to admit that it felt kind of neat.

Her old life had been steadily becoming more and more stagnant, and oftentimes over the last few years she’d begun to feel much older than her chronological age indicated she should feel.

But suddenly she felt her age, felt twenty-one, wild and dangerous. The elevator stopped and let her off on the very top floor of the hotel. Moments later she was knocking on the door of one of the most powerful men alive, and she had no idea what was going to happen next.

Would he decide that he didn’t want her after all?

Would he try to talk her into having sex…and what if she didn’t want to say no?

The door swung open and Jake Novak stood before her wearing a black Armani button-down shirt with the top few buttons undone, revealing his muscular chest. The sleeves were partly rolled up, showing off his sinewy forearms.

Raven was once again shocked by the power of his physical presence, as if he had a force field around him that radiated sex and animal magnetism.

“So you decided to show up after all,” he said, looking her over but giving no sign of approval or disapproval at her choice of outfit. He stepped aside and let her enter the enormous suite.

It was by far the most luxurious room she’d ever been in. The main room was enormous, with a view of the city skyline out the window. In front of the huge picture window was a baby grand piano, and near to that, a little glass table and a few chairs that might have served as a breakfast nook. Surrounding all of that were beautiful wood bookcases filled with ornate books, a full bar, and on the wall near the couch and chairs, a gigantic mounted flat screen television.

“Wow, this is amazing,” she said, looking around.

Jake closed the door to the hotel room and gestured for her to sit down. She crossed her legs carefully, a little self-conscious at the way her dress rode up her thighs.

“Drink?” he asked.

“Maybe later,” she said.

“I think you should have one,” he replied, and crossed to the bar where he poured them both vodka tonics. He came back and handed her the drink and then sat down on the black leather chair across from her.

I’m sitting in Jake Novak’s penthouse suite.

I am Jake Novak’s escort.

Her heart started to beat faster and faster, and now she was glad for the drink in her hand, sipping it and noticing the burn in the back of her throat as it went down.

“What happens now?” she asked him. “I’ve never done this before, obviously.”

Jake was watching her intently with his brown eyes, and he took a long drink before answering. “What happens now is up to me,” he told her. “You work for me.”

“I work for Club Alpha.”

He smiled tightly. “I’m the client, Raven. And remember, after the way you spoke to me yesterday, I’m doing you a favor. One call to Max and I could make the rest of your life a living hell.”

“You’re threatening me now?”

“I’m just telling it like it is. You need to understand that the game has changed. I say how things go, not you. This isn’t an equal partnership. This is a business arrangement.”

“I won’t have sex with you,” she challenged, meeting his gaze and not wavering.

He smirked. “I never said anything about sex. Don’t be so presumptuous.”

“A paid escort usually has sex, doesn’t she?”

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask one of them. All I know is that it’s not what I’m paying you for.”

Strangely, Raven was disappointed in this revelation. She told herself that she wouldn’t have had sex with him anyway, that it was a good thing. But somewhere inside, she wanted him to try and make her do it, needed to know that he wanted her that way.

That scared her. It scared her a lot, and now she was confused again. Her feelings were tumultuous, out of control. As usual, Jake’s presence completely unnerved her. “Then what are you paying me for?” she said, finally, after gathering her wits.

Jake stood up and ran a hand through his hair, not quite able to meet her gaze. “The truth is,” he said, “I’m not sure you can do the job.”

“I can’t tell you if I can do it unless I know what it is.” She held her glass tightly, waiting.