The Debt 3 by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online

that used a quote from her, and then some white pages results.   That was it.
    Hands shaking, she decided to search again.
    When she typed her name in and hit search
this time, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
    24,897 results came back.  
    She started to scroll through what was
coming up, and it was all basically social media stuff and bloggers talking
about how she’d been seen with Jake Novak.   How they’d gotten her name, Raven had no idea.   It was frightening to think that it had
all happened so fast.
    In the blogs, they were saying she’d met
Jake on tour.   Raven got on Twitter
and searched her name, finding a lot of tweets of the pictures that had been
snapped of them leaving the hotel earlier in the day.
    And most of the comments referred to her as
a “groupie.”
    People seemed genuinely stunned that Jake
was hanging with a groupie when he could have had Courtney Taylor.
    A lot of opinion seemed to think Jake was
trying to be spotted with a “normal girl” to help his image, make him look less
superior and arrogant.
    That hurt a little, in part because it
felt as though onlookers were already catching on to the plan.   They couldn’t even believe that Jake
would actually want to spend time with Raven—he had to have an ulterior
motive.
    It wasn’t particularly good for her
self-esteem.   There were comments
like, “ugh, she’s not even one night stand worthy” and worse.
    Raven closed out of all the internet windows on her phone and put the cell back in her
purse.   She kept wishing that she’d
thought the whole thing through more, considered all of the ramifications.
    But things had just happened so fast, and
Jake had simply run with the idea, and now it was happening.   She never should have suggested any of
it.
    This was madness and it was already
backfiring.
    Maybe Kurt had been right to try and
scare her off.   If only she’d
listened to him.
    At that moment, there was a knock on her
hotel room door.
    “Yes?” Raven called out.
    “It’s me,” the voice replied.
    “Who?” she said, not recognizing it.
    “Kurt.”
    Her insides froze and her hands tightened
into fists.   “Please go away.”
    “Jake sent me,” he said.   “Open up, I don’t have all day.”
    “I don’t care who sent you,” she said.
    “Fine,” he said.   “I’ve got a suitcase full of clothes for
you.   I’ll leave them here and you
can open the door when I’m gone, seeing as I scare you so badly.”
    “Good.   Please go,” she said loudly.
    And then it went silent outside the
door.   She took a
few deep breaths , hand on her stomach .  
    She hated that man, hated his voice.   Why did he have to be there in New
York?   Why, with every other thing
happening, did he have to come around to make it all that much worse?
    But there was nothing to be done.   She went and opened the door, expecting
to see just a suitcase sitting in the hallway.   But Kurt hadn’t moved.   He was standing beside the suitcase,
arms folded, smirking at her.   “Hi,
Raven.”
    “You said you were going to leave.”
    “I said that so that you’d open the
door,” he said, his eyes sparkling with malice.   “I knew you’d fall for it, too.   You’re so darn predictable.”
    She tried to slam the door, but he
stepped forward and blocked it.   “Don’t do that,” he said, his smile fading fast.   “I want to explain something to you.”
    “I don’t want to talk to you, and so help
me—I’ll scream at the top of my lungs if you don’t leave me alone.”
    “No you won’t,” he said, challenging her
with his eyes.
    “How do you know what I will or won’t
do?”
    “I know you were too chicken-shit to tell
Jake what I said to you.   You don’t
want the gravy train to end so soon,” he said, his voice filled with contempt.
    “Get away from me,” she said, trying to
sound tough, but failing.   Her voice
shook from the strain.   Finally, she
let go of the door and backed away, giving up on