by Hannah Ford
* * *
In the end, Raven decided that maybe the whole thing wasn’t as big of a deal as she’d imagined it to be.
Sure, the environment was different from a normal party—they were hanging out in a gazillion dollar mansion with more rooms than Raven could even count. It was possible to get lost in the hallways, which could easily be considered a maze, as far as she was concerned.
But if you took away the glitz and glamor of the surroundings, then you were left with people standing around talking and drinking as music played in the background.
Granted, the music at this party was being supplied by a well-known band that Raven had seen on TV once or twice, but still…
It was just a party.
The strangest thing about it, in actuality, was the ratio of women to men. There were probably five or six women to every man, and the women were all very pretty and young and stylish, whereas the men tended to be on the older side.
Skylar seemed to be fixated on the fact that all of the men were likely rich millionaires and billionaires.
“Do you think that guy over there is Steve Jobs?” Skylar asked, sipping a pinkish looking drink from a tall, skinny glass.
Raven glanced in the direction that Skylar was looking and saw a tall, older man with a beard. The little beard was about the only thing that even slightly resembled the tech wizard. “Ummm…I think Steve Jobs is dead, honey,” Raven confided.
“Really?” Skylar asked, her eyes widening. “Maybe that’s like…his brother or something.”
“I highly doubt it.”
“Well where’s all the famous people they were talking about?” Skylar demanded. “I mean, everyone is dressed up fancy but I don’t recognize anyone.”
Raven noticed one of the girls that they’d met at the club walking by with her arm wrapped around a much older man’s arm. She gave them a wink as she passed.
“My impression is that these people are more rich than famous,” Raven said.
She watched as the man led the girl through one of the many doorways and disappeared.
Skylar sighed. “And those girls from the club turned out to be total bitches. They act like they don’t even know us.”
“Yeah, well they all seem pretty busy mixing with the popular kids,” Raven said.
And it was true. The girls that they’d been hanging with at the dance club had now paired off with guys, and didn’t seem too interested in chatting with Raven and Skylar anymore. It made sense, in a way. Raven had started to get the feeling that this was an operation, a finely tuned machine, meant to get lots of hot girls to come out and party with rich dudes.
What had seemed like a group of nice girls wanting to befriend them at the club had perhaps actually been some chicks trying to gather more women to bring to this mansion.
But why would they do that? Raven wondered. Didn’t that just mean more competition for them?
Whatever the reason for the strange behavior of their so-called new friends, Raven didn’t really care anymore. She was getting tired and about to break it to Skylar that she’d had just about enough excitement for one evening, when something strange happened.
Someone new walked into the room and whispers started, heads turned.
At first, Raven couldn’t tell who it was, because she was blocked by a couple of large pillars from seeing the person in question. All she could see was everyone’s reaction to whoever it was.
And with the music being so loud, it was almost impossible to hear what everyone was babbling so excitedly about.
Skylar moved to get a better view and her eyes widened instantly. Her hand flew to her mouth and she visibly gasped, turning to Raven. “Oh my God,” she squealed.
“What’s going on?” Raven laughed.
“Not what—who. I can’t. Believe. My freaking eyes.”
Now Raven was truly curious, as she maneuvered to get a view of whom everyone was gawking at. Maybe Mark Wahlberg had showed up or something.
As she was stepping to the side so she could get out of the way of the ridiculous pillar, she happened to step right in view of the man everyone was staring at in the first place.
And then he looked right at her.
Right. At. Her.
Jake Novak was staring directly into her eyes.
She knew instantly who he was, it would have been impossible not to know. Jake Novak was probably the biggest celebrity on the planet at the moment.
And he was staring at her. Or rather, he’d caught her staring at him.
It was impossible not to gawk at his muscle-bound, ripped biceps and chest, his flat stomach, those broad shoulders. His face was like the prototype of an action star—strong jaw, short brown hair that never looked too messy or too neat, piercing intelligent eyes with enough humor to balance the brutally smoking sexiness.
He’s so much better looking in person was the first thing Raven thought. And that was quickly followed by, oh shit. He thinks I’m crazy.
Jake’s gaze seemed fixed on her face for an eternity, and he even gave her a tiny flash of his famous grin, before finally turning and shaking hands with some little guy with a beanie on his head.
Then Jake began talking with a small circle of guests and somehow that was everyone’s cue to calm down. Although people were still staring, the party seemed to go back to normal—if there even was anything normal about this place to begin with.
Skylar came closer to where Raven was standing.
“Can you believe Jake Novak is here? That’s like the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Every single girl in here is staring at him. They all want him.”
Raven looked around and saw that it was true. Not that it was as obvious as it had been when he first entered the room, but as she watched, Raven could plainly see that every single woman was self-conscious, hoping to get his attention for even a second.
Every female in the place was laughing a little louder, flirting more openly, running a hand through her hair, and all the while eyes kept shifting over in Jake Novak’s direction, longing glances were thrown his way, heads kept turning, as if each girl thought they might somehow get his approval.
Raven hated that she sensed the same longing and desire within herself.
And I had his attention for a split second. He looked at me, I know he did.
She also hated that for that one fleeting moment, she’d actually believed that a guy like Jake Novak might be interested in her.
“I think he’s hotter in real life,” Skylar said, sipping her drink and staring unabashedly at him.
A couple of stunning models—at least, they looked like models to Raven—approached him and they all began conversing, laughing.
A flash of jealousy coursed through her. She felt surprised and dismayed by her strange possessiveness of a man she didn’t even know. “I don’t even like his music and his movies are unwatchable,” Raven said, as if to reassure herself that her sudden feelings of jealousy weren’t real.
“Who cares?” Skylar said. “I’d crawl on my knees and beg him to fuck me.”
“Skylar!” Raven gasped. “That’s gross.”
“I would. Just look at him. Look at that body. That face. He oozes sex. Did you ever see that one movie, I forget the name of it, where he dances?”
“I told you I hate his movies.”
“Well, whatever. The way he dances, you just know he’s incredible in bed.”
One of the models standing next to him put a hand on his arm and threw back her head, laughing at something Jake had said, and then he leaned in and whispered in her ear.
Clearly, he’d found someone he was truly interested in, someone in his league. It was all sort of depressing. This was not so much different from watching him on the big screen—he felt just as unapproachable and unreal in a way.
Raven had a sudden, strong desire to drink until she couldn’t see straight. While Skylar stood and continued drooling, Raven went to the bar and ordered a Long Island Iced Tea.
It was the
strongest drink she could think of that wouldn’t make her gag.
She purposely didn’t look over at Jake Novak while she waited for the bartender to make her a drink. The bar was closer to his corner of the room, but that made it even more imperative that she pretend he didn’t exist.
Somehow, he was like a magnet drawing her closer to him, pulling her into his orbit, and it made Raven angry. She was acting just like all the other foolish groupies that had made Jake Novak into some kind of God.
It was ridiculous.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered out loud. She hadn’t even realized she was going to speak until the words came out of her mouth.
“What’s ridiculous?” someone asked from just behind her.
“Nothing,” she said, embarrassed that her outburst had been overheard. She turned around to see who was talking to her and froze.
Jake Novak was standing there, not a foot away from her, watching her with those movie star eyes and that panty-dropping grin. “You don’t think I’ll understand?” he asked. “I bet I would.”
Raven swallowed. Up close his charisma was so intense that she was thrown into a panic, her heart racing, throat closing up, feeling like she might pass out.
He stood there watching her with those brown eyes and that face she’d seen plastered across countless billboards, on TV screens, even in movie theaters. His eyes were intense, studying her, as if he knew exactly the effect he was having on her in that moment.
“One Long Island Iced Tea,” the bartender called out, saving her.
Gratefully, Raven spun and picked up the drink, guzzling it for a couple of seconds, hoping to calm her frayed nerves.
Jake stepped up to the bar and ordered himself a beer, then turned to her again. “You never answered my question. What’s ridiculous?”
Now she could smell his cologne, his scent, and she found that it was as intoxicating as everything else about him. He was exactly what he promised to be in those silly movies that she claimed not to watch, but secretly enjoyed late at night when nobody was around to see her smile dreamily at the popular boy.
The alcohol had had its intended outcome, although her eyes were watering a little from the burning in her throat after drinking so much so quickly. “I’m just not used to this type of party,” she said, finally.
“Not your scene?” he said, taking his beer and tossing a fifty-dollar bill onto the bar for the bartender, who exclaimed his thanks.
Good tippers were an instant turn-on for Raven, who’d been waiting tables ever since she’d left home at seventeen—and the really good tippers were rare where she came from.
“Fifty dollars for opening a bottle of beer?” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“Too little?” he said. “Fine, then.” He turned and dropped a one hundred dollar bill on the bar. “Compliments of my lady friend,” he told the bartender, whose eyes were now bigger than a pair of dinner plates.
Raven told herself to take a breath.
You’re standing here talking with Jake Novak, but it’s okay. He’s just a human being. He’s no different than anyone else. He’s just a human being. Remember that.
But when she tried to meet Jake’s gaze, all of her big talk went out the window. Her legs shuddered, her mouth got even drier, her hand felt too weak to hold her drink. Because the truth was that Jake Novak wasn’t normal. He wasn’t just like everyone else, and standing this close to him brought that point home with absolute and devastating clarity.
She knew, just as everyone else knew, that Jake had gone into the marines and served two tours of duty in the Middle East right out of high school. He’d been in combat when other guys his age were doing keg stands and rushing fraternities.
What made the whole world fall in love with Jake had been not just his good looks and pop songs, but his life story. Everyone had heard about his beautiful fiancé who’d waited patiently for him as he fought overseas, only for her to get cancer, passing away just a few months after Jake had come home for good.
Standing there looking him in the eye, all of her knowledge about his life came crashing in on her. Despite what she’d said to Skylar about hating his movies and music, the truth was that she did love that dancing movie he’d done—it was called Jump In—and she’d watched it more times than she could count.
And she also had three of his singles on her iPod and played them over and over again whenever she went for her three-mile run in the park.
What made it all so much worse was that his physical presence made her want to get on her knees and beg him to have sex, just like Skylar had joked about doing.
Raven wasn’t that kind of girl and never had been—despite what some people might have claimed. But looking into his gorgeous brown eyes, seeing the fullness of his lips, the strength of his jaw, his styled short brown hair, and that muscular body bulging out of the fabric of his loose-fitting shirt…
Just fuck me, she thought, her emotions desperate. In the last four years, she hadn’t allowed herself to want anyone, to really picture herself with any man—and here she was picturing herself with the most wanted man on planet Earth.
Of course, the fact that she was a virgin might have complicated matters, but right then she didn’t particularly care.
“Where are you?” Jake asked her.
“Me? I’m right here, same as you.” She was surprised at how calm and almost arrogant her voice sounded in her own ears. She took a long sip from her drink.
“You looked like you were deep in thought just now,” he said.
“Well some of us do that,” Raven told him.
“Some of who do what?”
“Some of us girls do think,” she replied. It suddenly seemed that blistering sarcasm had become her best method of defense.
Jake stepped closer to her then, and she had the sudden urge to run her hands down his chest, to feel the tightness of his well-muscled torso, those washboard abs that had been featured on dozens of magazine covers.
She suddenly imagined herself lifting his shirt and licking his stomach, tasting his salty skin, and then unbuckling his belt…
“I get it,” Jake said, interrupting her bewildering fantasy.
“What do you get?” she said, trying not to sweat. She felt like he could read her mind, like he knew exactly what she’d just been picturing.
He smiled at her. “You’re frustrated.”
“Not at all.” She shook her head.
How can he tell?
“You sure about that?” he asked, smiling, his eyes seeming to pin her down and hold her.
“Maybe I am frustrated,” she allowed. “But then again, I bet you are too.”
He stepped closer to her yet again, and now she could actually feel his body heat and sense his strength, like some kind of wild animal. He reached out and softly touched her wrist, and it was like she’d been burnt by a flame. “You’re right,” he told her. “I do get frustrated with the same old parties, the same silly conversations, the same types of women wanting the same things from me.”
“It must be so hard for you,” Raven said, allowing the sarcasm to show.
Jake’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “It is hard,” he said. “Very hard.” He stared at her, and she found herself unable to even speak.
She was picturing doing more than unbuckling his belt, now. She was picturing sucking his perfectly hard cock, taking it in her mouth, doing things she’d never done to any man before.
Raven tried to make the images leave her mind, but she couldn’t. It was as if Jake Novak had taken control of her brain.
He smiled, like he knew exactly the images his words had triggered in her brain. “I think maybe you and I have more in common then you think,” he told her.
“I doubt that very much.”
“That’s too bad,” he said, sounding genuinely regretful. “I bet we could’ve had fun together.” And then he turned around and walked away.
As he left her, it was as though the sun had gone dark, as if all of th
e heat had been sucked from the room.
Raven felt so cold, so alone—and totally devastated.
What did you expect? She asked herself. Did you really think he was going to become your new best friend? The guy is the most famous, most powerful celebrity in the world who could have any woman he wanted.
But she wished she could have taken back that last sentence, when she’d said they had nothing in common. The truth was, she felt something pass between them, and it was something she’d never felt with anyone before.
Something she’d been waiting for her whole life, maybe, only she’d been too terrified to act on it. Instead, she’d chickened out and pushed him away.
She walked slowly back to where Skylar was waiting. “Oh my God, Raven! He spoke to you!”
“Yeah, and I spoke back,” she said, sighing.
“Don’t you even care?” Skylar said, aghast at Raven’s lackadaisical attitude.
Raven shrugged, not wanting to admit just how much she did care. She cared so much that it was like physical pain. For a brief moment, she’d felt such a connection, such chemistry between them…the way he’d looked at her, talked to her, the way the conversation had flowed, as if they knew one another intimately already.
Clearly, though, that was the effect that a man like Jake Novak had on the people he came into contact with—hence how he’d become bigger than Christian Bale and Justin Bieber rolled into one.
A little while later, as Raven continued to drink and pretend to ignore Jake Novak, the man with the tuxedo who’d let them into the party walked up beside her. “You need to come with me,” he said.
Raven looked at him, her brow furrowed. “Why? Did I do something wrong?”
“It’s a private matter,” he said, glancing from side to side as if to indicate that even this was too much public conversation for his tastes.
“Where are we going?”
“Just around the corner, it will take a minute or two at most,” the man told her.
For some reason, Raven decided to look over at Jake Novak in that moment, and she was shocked to find that he was staring right at her again. It was like an electric shock through her system.
Had he sent this man to speak to her for some reason? She didn’t understand it, but at the same time, she wanted to know more.