The Debt 3 by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online Page A

stopping him.
    He laughed as the door swung open once
more, but he didn’t come further inside.   “Listen,” he said, “you got what you wanted.   Jake’s already allowed the two of you to
be photographed together, so the damage is done and I’ve accepted that.   I tried to talk sense to him, I tried to
get you to go away, but it didn’t happen.”
    Raven licked her lips.   “I really don’t care about any of this.”
    “Shut up and listen to me,” he replied,
his voice as cold and condescending as a man talking to an idiot or a child
he’s lecturing.  
    “Don’t talk to me like that.”
    He chuckled.   “Oh, so now we’re supposed to play nice,
huh?   Well, that’s fine by me,” Kurt
told her.   “I’m ready to play
nice.   I’m trying to explain to you
that I’m not going to fight this preposterous scam anymore.   If you and Jake want to play house like
a couple of kids, go right ahead.”
    “I don’t believe you mean that,” she
replied.  
    “It’s true.   My job now is to try my best to make
this fly with the media.”
    “It’s as simple as that?” she said.
      “You and I can call a truce if you’re up
to it,” he told her.   He held out
his hand.   “Truce?”
      “Leave me alone and I’ll leave you
alone,” she told him.   “But I’m not
going to touch you.”
    He turned and started walking away from
her.   “That’s the classy lady I’ve
come to know and love, Raven.   You
just keep being you, honey.”
    “Don’t call me honey, asshole,” she said
and slammed the door shut.   And then
she remembered that suitcase was outside still, so she opened the door again
and dragged it into her room.
    She could have sworn she heard Kurt’s
laughter still floating down the hallway.
    Once the suitcase was in her hotel room
and the door was shut, Raven unzipped it, revealing outfit after beautiful
outfit folded neatly inside, and tucked away at the bottom were about six pairs
of high heels.   There weren’t just
dresses, skirts and blouses, but also panties and bras.
    Raven would have been grateful that Kurt
had brought this suitcase to her, because she desperately needed the change of
clothes.   But the things Kurt had
said and done made her disgusted, and part of her wondered if this was some
sort of set-up.   Would he later try
and accuse her of stealing these things?
    She had no reason to trust anything that
came out of that man’s mouth, and she simply wished he would go away.
    She picked out some clothes to change
into and then got dressed, her mind whirling with thoughts about this new life
that had been thrust upon her.   Everything was moving so fast, and Raven didn’t know anymore if she
could make the right choices.
    Would it be better to just try and go
home, run away from it all?
    Could she even leave or would Jake find a
way to bring her back?
    As Raven checked herself out in the
bathroom mirror, fixed her hair, she thought about Jake.   What was even going on between them?
    Sometimes she got the distinct feeling
that there was more than just a business relationship.   The way he looked at her, touched her, the softness and tenderness in his eyes when he was concerned about
something—everything told her that Jake had feelings beyond a mere
transactional arrangement.
    But then he would act completely
disinterested, cold, angry and dismissive of her the next moment.   He wouldn’t so much as kiss her.
    None of it made any sense.   Why couldn’t he just be a normal
guy?   Did such a category of man even
truly exist?     Maybe a normal guy was like Big Foot or
the Loch Ness Monster—one of those things that people searched for but
never quite found.
    Raven had changed into a short black skirt,
black heels, and a white blouse.   She had to admit, it was a cute outfit, maybe
even sexy.   It scared her a little
that reporters and photographers might take pictures of her in this outfit and
then people would trash her all over the internet