What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (23 page)

It was even stranger when she thought about how Jake had offered to let her out of the contract first, and then seemed enraged when she accepted that offer. Yes, she was willing to help him get out of this situation with the media, but that didn’t mean they could keep playing games on the side.

The games had to end, it just made sense.

But nothing with Jake Novak really made any sense. And now she was stuck waiting around in her hotel room, wondering if or when she’d ever hear from Jake again.

She was sitting on the couch, trying to find news stories about Jake on TV, when her phone rang. Instantly, she sat bolt upright, excited at the thought that perhaps it was Jake calling her.

The only thing better than that would have been a knock on the door and hearing his voice when she asked who was there.

But when she picked up her cell and glanced at the caller I.D., it was a foreign number she’d never seen before. And that made her nervous.

Still, she answered on the off chance that it was someone important trying to contact her. When she said hello, the man’s voice on the other end was vaguely familiar.

“Hi, Raven,” he said. “Jake gave me your number, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Who is this?”

“This is Kurt, Jake’s manager.” Once he said his name, it all made sense. His voice sounded somehow deeper on the phone than it did in person.

“Oh,” Raven said, a little shocked. “I didn’t expect your call.”

“I told Jake that I wanted to call you and touch base. Jake just told me that you’re going to play a big role in helping us deal with this media shit storm.” Kurt laughed at this, seeming not to be at all concerned.

“What exactly did Jake tell you?” Raven asked him.

“Just that he was cancelling the remaining Boston shows, refunding everyone’s tickets and paying all the crew and performers, essentially losing us millions of dollars.” Kurt said it like it was no big deal, like he was only talking about the small details of a weekend fishing trip.

“I had no idea Jake was cancelling the Boston shows,” she said.

Kurt laughed some more. “Yeah, he certainly is. He also said that your close friend is seriously ill and Jake wants to be there for you both during this difficult time.”

“He told you all of that?” Raven said, awe struck.

“Of course he did. Jake and I tell each other important things like that. For instance, he wants me to book an interview with one of the major news outlets so that you and Jake can go public with your relationship. He told me that too.”

Raven couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Jake was actually going through with it—with her suggestion to pretend to be in a serious relationship together. Jake had called his manager and started putting the plan into motion without even discussing any of it with her first.

“Wow,” was all she could muster.

“Wow? Is that all you have to say about it?” Kurt chuckled.

“I didn’t know things were moving so fast.”

“Jake does move fast,” Kurt told her. “Anyway, I’m aware that you two aren’t truly a couple, that you haven’t known Jake for more than a few days, and he knows even less about you than you know about him.” He threw it out there casually, but she sensed a deadly serious intention behind the manager’s words.

Raven was getting a tingling sensation all along her scalp, now her stomach was tightening, and it was getting harder to breathe. “I know Jake enough to feel like he doesn’t deserve to lose his career over some poorly thought out comments he made years ago,” she said.

“How sweet of you to say,” Kurt said, and now all of the friendliness had left his voice. “But I’m not buying anything you’re selling, and I think that Jake would be making a tremendous mistake to trust you.”

“That’s not fair,” she replied. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Let me tell you something. I’ve known Jake since Afghanistan. I was in combat with him, and we went through things together that have given us a lifetime bond. I’m going to protect Jake now, just like always.”

“Jake doesn’t need to be protected from me,” she said, her hand slippery as she gripped the cell phone tightly. “You don’t know a thing about me.”

“I know that you’ve been paid for services rendered,” Kurt said coldly. “I think we both know that you’re no angel. You’re doing this to get something from Jake. I’ll make it a lot simpler for you. I’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars to get up and leave right now, walk away and never come back. Leave Jake alone.”

Raven felt like a load of bricks had just been dumped on her head. “A hundred thousand dollars to leave him alone? Are you joking?”

“I’m not joking, I don’t joke about that kind of money.”

“Why would you give me that much money just to go away?” she said, knowing he was simply trying to test her, trying to get a reaction from her.

“I’d do it in a heartbeat, because your little scheme is going to cost Jake much more than a hundred thousand dollars. If he goes through with this ridiculous plan, he’ll lose millions upon millions, all his endorsements, many of his fans, and his career might be over.”

Raven was shaking. “I don’t want your money.”

“One hundred thousand dollars would pay for a lot of medical treatment if what Jake tells me about your friend is true,” Kurt said icily. “Unless, that is, you and your little partner are just a couple of scam artists trying to pull one over on him.”

“You think my friend and I made up the tumor on her cervix, the one that a reputable doctor just biopsied last night? Are you a complete idiot?” Raven said, anger rising in her chest like a burning piece of shrapnel. “My friend might be sick with cancer and you’re making these disgusting accusations.”

Kurt’s voice calmed again. “I don’t know if your friend is sick or not. And I don’t really care. I don’t give a shit about either of you,” he said, his voice lowering to almost a whisper. “But I’ll tell you one thing. If you try and attach yourself to Jake in any way, you’ll
wish
everything had been made up.”

“I haven’t lied about anything, and don’t threaten me.”

“This isn’t a threat,” he said slowly. “I’m telling you that you have exactly thirty minutes to except my offer of one hundred thousand dollars, no strings attached. Just send me a text to this number that says you accept. I’ve got your information, I’ll have the full amount wired to your account and then you will simply leave the hotel, along with your friend, and never say another word to Jake.”

Raven swallowed, her heart racing, and she was sweating and trembling. “I told you—“

“I know what you told me,” Kurt said softly. “But think about this money. It’s real, and you’ll be able to use it for anything you want. More than enough to help you and your friend. You’ve got half an hour to decide whether to take the money or not. After that, the deal is off the table.”

“And if I don’t take it?”

He laughed, a harsh, barking noise in her ear. “If you’re dumb enough to turn it down, I’ll make sure that your life turns into a living hell. Nobody, not even Jake himself will be able to protect you. And if you so much a breathe a word of this conversation to him, expect me to unleash hell—I’ll make your friend’s cancer scare look like a fucking picnic by the time I’m done with you.”

And then he hung up.

T
en minutes passed
while Raven fretted over what to do next. Kurt might have been bluffing, Raven couldn’t be sure.

He was Jake’s tour manager, and if what he’d said had even a grain of truth to it, then she didn’t stand a chance if he decided to poison Jake against her. Kurt was rich and powerful, and he was Jake’s trusted friend, while she was just some girl that had come up with a ridiculous idea.

As she left her hotel room and walked down the hall to Skylar’s room, Raven considered trying to talk to Jake about what Kurt had said to her just now. But she was too scared. Kurt’s last threat had made clear that if she did any such thing, it would be a declaration of open war.

Kurt was obviously threatened by her relationship with Jake and the plan that Jake wanted to use to regain his public standing.

Her thoughts were racing as she went to Skylar’s room. On the one hand, Jake was helping Skylar with her health issues, and Raven wanted to allow that to continue if possible.

On the other hand, Kurt might stir up trouble on that front as well.

Perhaps if Raven departed the scene, maybe Jake would continue to assist Skylar, but at least Kurt would back off, knowing that Raven was out of the picture and not interfering in Jake’s career.

She didn’t know what the right answer was and she was panicked. It seemed that anything she did would end badly.

Screw Kurt. He’s trying to bully you just like they did back in high school. And you’re going to run away again? Aren’t you sick of lying down every time someone threatens you?

Standing in front of Skylar’s door, she held her hand up to knock.

The truth was, she was sick and tired of being afraid and always running when these bullies attacked her. Back in high school, she’d almost paid the ultimate price because of her own fear and shame and the humiliation of it all.

But now she was getting a new chance to make different decisions.

She was going to refuse Kurt’s deal.

She didn’t want a hundred thousand dollars of Jake’s money. And how could Kurt give her Jake’s money anyway? It wasn’t his to just give away.

The question wasn’t about whether to take the money or not. The question was whether to leave with her dignity relatively intact, or stay and risk being hurt worse than she’d ever been hurt before.

She was still thinking about it when the voice called her name. She turned to see Jake coming towards her.

“Hey, I was just about to come and see you,” Jake called out.

“Hey,” she said, feeling so glad to see him, and yet so terrified as well.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Going to check on Skylar,” she said.

On the one hand, she was happy to see him—something about his very presence made her feel protected and safe, even if she wasn’t. On the other hand, she knew that she couldn’t tell him what Kurt had said to her on the phone.

“I need to tell you something,” Jake said, his brown eyes focused on her and her alone.

“What is it?”

“I can’t agree to your decision to stop seeing me two nights a week,” Jake said.

“You’re joking.”

He shook his head once. “I need that time with you. It’s got to be part of this deal.”

“No way,” she said. “We’re not going to do
that
and have me pretend to be your girlfriend too.”

“What is this really about?” Jake asked her. “Is there something else going on?”

Raven felt caught. But she knew the time wasn’t right to tell him about the threats his manager had made over the phone.

If she told Jake now, it would force Jake to choose between the two of them and she couldn’t win that fight. Kurt would come back firing at her with everything in his arsenal and she would lose. It was way too early in the relationship for Jake to trust her over his brother-in-arms from Afghanistan.

She suspected that Kurt knew it as well as she did. Kurt had purposely put her in this position, maybe hoping she would be stupid enough to tell Jake about that phone call, hoping she would get angry and demand Jake fire Kurt or something equally outrageous.

If she did that, Jake would lose faith in her completely.

So Raven said nothing, shrugging her shoulders and giving him a hopefully guilt free smile. “It’s not about anything except standing up for myself.”

“Okay then,” he said, “let’s put that issue aside for the moment.” Jake ran a hand through his hair. “I told my manager, Kurt about us. That’s how serious I am about this decision.”

Raven wanted to say that she already knew about him telling Kurt, but she stayed quiet. “What did he say about it?”

“Actually, Kurt mentioned that he might try and call you soon. I gave him your number, I hope that’s okay.”

“Sure,” Raven said, blinking a few times, trying to hide the twitch of discomfort that rippled across her facial muscles. Just hearing Kurt’s name caused her to feel faint.

His threats were still ringing in her ears.

But after this, Raven knew she wasn’t going to do it. She wasn’t going to let Kurt just run her off without even a fight.

He was bluffing, she realized.

If Kurt had really been confident in his ability to influence Jake, he would’ve simply told Jake to dump her and that would have been that. Simple.

Instead, he’d tried to come in through the backdoor and scare her away, which had almost worked. But now she was calm enough to reason things out.

“I think Kurt’s a little skeptical of our plan, actually,” Jake chuckled. “I can’t say I blame him. If I was him I’d think it was a terrible idea too.”

“But you don’t agree with him?”

“No, I don’t,” Jake replied, watching her closely. “What about you? Any second thoughts?”

She swallowed. Now was the time to back out if she still had any doubts. But the reality was that she didn’t want to go home now. She didn’t want someone like Kurt to scare her off.

But what about Jake trying to make you do his bidding two nights a week still? Are you okay with that?

She didn’t know what she felt. The truth was, part of her liked that he still wanted to do those things to her, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I’m not having second thoughts,” she told him, finally.

“Good.”

“But I wonder if it’s going to be a problem that your manager isn’t behind this one hundred percent.”

Jake shrugged. “At the end of the day, I’m the one calling the shots, Raven. Don’t get me wrong, Kurt is my guy. He had my back in Afghanistan when the shit was coming down hard, and I’ll never forget it. That’s why I trust him with my life—he has access to everything, and he could hurt me bad if he decided to screw me.”

Raven’s mouth went dry. “It’s—it’s good that you trust him, then.”

“I have to,” Jake said, his expression getting subtly tense. “It’s not a choice. A man like me needs to have someone he can trust completely. And Kurt is that person for me. After what I’ve been through…” he looked away, as if he’d suddenly become emotional.