by Hannah Ford
Raven felt a surge of desperation and bitter disappointment as she pushed her way through the throngs of girls singing Jake Novak songs, carrying signs, giggling and laughing about their idol, while Raven considered turning around and getting back on the train, going home and crying into her pillow.
But no, she wasn’t going to let the Jake Novak’s of the world win.
These guys were all alike, she thought, her anger growing by the second. They lied and manipulated girls like Raven who were too trusting and nice for their own good. But Raven was going to set things right. She wouldn’t run away this time.
I’m not a prostitute, I’m not a whore, and I’m never going to let anyone make me feel like that again.
Never. You hear that, Jake Novak?
As Raven slowly moved with the crowd, the mass of people made their way into Copley Square and closer to the temporary stage that had been set up. Suddenly, she heard the beginnings of one of Jake’s most famous songs begin to play.
It was blasting so loudly from the giant speakers set up around Copley, that it could be heard echoing all over the vicinity.
A cheer erupted from the audience and everyone around her started squealing, pushing and shoving.
“He’s starting!”
“Oh my God, we’re going to miss it!”
Raven was having a hard time moving, since everyone seemed as determined as she was to get near to him. Finally, she realized that this was a losing proposition.
She wasn’t going to get within a thousand feet of the stage, and in any case, he’d be performing, not able to converse with anyone at all.
But what would he do when he got offstage?
She had no idea, but Raven knew she could calm down, think ahead, and be where he was going to be before he even got there. Work smarter not harder.
Raven pushed her way over to a bored looking security guard who was standing with his arms folded and looking like he’d rather be just about anywhere else.
“Hey,” Raven said, approaching him.
The guy stared down at her. “Yeah?”
“Is there a way for me to get a message to Jake?”
The security guy burst out laughing. “Sure, I’ll deliver it to him personally.”
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah, I know you’re serious.” He looked around at the sea of humanity. “Do you realize that every girl here wants to somehow talk to him?”
“I know, but I’ve actually met him and it’s important.”
“Listen, it’s not going to happen.”
Raven sighed. She looked the security guy in the eye. “I’m not some crazy fan,” she said. “I hardly even like his music. But I need to get him a message, it’s an emergency. What would you do if you were me and you absolutely had to get in contact with him?”
The guy rolled his eyes. But he seemed to believe her, as if he could sense the truth behind her request. “If I were you, I’d go over to the corner of St. James and Clarendon where they’re going to have his limo waiting when the whole thing is over. It’s out of the way, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll have a one second opportunity to wave and shout his name or something before they get him the hell out of there.”
“Thank you so much,” she said, meaning it.
The guy ignored her and went back to scanning the crowd.
It took Raven almost thirty minutes to push her way through the crowd and then find her way to the corner of Clarendon and St. James Street. By the time she arrived, Jake had played his last song of the very short set. It had been strange hearing him sing as she moved through Copley, his voice echoing in her ears as she walked.
There was no doubt that he was talented—his voice was incredible—and even though she couldn’t see him, Raven had to admit that his songs gave her a thrill.
Remembering being so close to him, having his attention on her, she wanted to see him again. Yes, she was angry with him, but Raven couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him in a way that made her brain scrambled and her knees week.
Don’t forget, he was into you. He even tried to get you to meet him again.
Yes, that’s because he thought I was an escort.
But there simply had to be a misunderstanding, though, because why on Earth would Jake Novak need to pay for sex?
It just didn’t make any sense.
There was indeed a stretch limousine waiting idly on the corner of the street, and the driver was standing outside and gabbing with a police officer.
Other than that, there weren’t too many people around, everyone was closer to the concert, and that made Raven think that perhaps the info from that security guard had been accurate.
So she stood around, pretending to be on her phone, walking back and forth on the street, and generally trying to remain under the radar.
After about an hour, she saw another police car pull up, and then another. Moments later, a small security detail showed up as well.
He’s on his way, she thought, her heart rate picking up. All of her senses were on alert now as she tried to see where he might be and if she could somehow anticipate where he’d be coming from. She needed to position herself to get closer to him when he walked by.
Raven thought about just standing near the limo, but they’d for sure clear her out of that area.
Instead she stood where she was, at a distance, and watched and waited.
It was only by chance that she spotted him coming from a totally different direction than the concert. He was surrounded by security, at least six gigantic men with headsets, and they were leading him down Clarendon Street. Shockingly they were going almost entirely unnoticed by the teeming throngs of girls in the area.
Raven started walking toward the oncoming phalanx of bodyguards, knowing this was her one and only chance.
As they approached, she caught sight of Jake walking in their midst, and he made eye contact with her too. His eyes widened in recognition and surprise, but something else, too.
She couldn’t tell if he was happy to see her, or absolutely horrified that she’d showed up out of the blue.
Suddenly, he was whispering to one of the security guards, who then began ushering Jake along even more quickly.
“Wait a minute!” she yelled. “Jake, I need to talk to you!”
A few of the security guards turned their heads and looked curiously at her as they passed by.
“Jake!” she screamed even louder. He was almost at the limo now—she was going to miss her chance. And he’d seen her, which meant that he wanted to avoid her.
She knew he recognized her, and it infuriated her that he was ignoring her like this.
“Jake Novak, I’m going to tell everyone about you!” she yelled, her voice louder than she even thought possible. “I’m going to tell all your little fans about how you really treat women!”
The security detail surrounding Jake had finally reached the safety of the limousine, and the door was opened, and then he slipped inside and was gone.
Raven felt horribly defeated and humiliated.
What a waste. What had she been thinking, imagining a guy like him would care about her or what she was going through?
She was like an ant trying to get the attention of an elephant. Worse, she was like an ant trying to get the attention of the guy riding on top of the elephant. At least the elephant might have accidentally stepped on her.
Just as she was about to turn around and slink away from the scene of her failure, one of the security team started walking towards her. “Hey, you,” he said. He was a large African American man who was the size of a small mountain. “Is your name Raven?” he asked.
“Uhh…” she wasn’t sure what to say. Maybe Jake had told the guy to have her arrested for being a stalker.
“Come with me,” the mountain-sized man said, wiggling his finger for her to follow, and then he started back to the limousine, which hadn’t yet moved from its spot.
Raven nervously followed him, aware that all eyes were on her. The en
tire team of security guards was watching her, each of them wearing the same strangely noncommittal expressions.
When she got to the limo, the door was opened for her.
“Mr. Novak wants to speak with you,” the security guard told her. “Get in.”
Raven couldn’t believe it. She glanced at him one last time as if to make sure it wasn’t all a big prank.
“This is what you wanted, right?” the man asked her, annoyed now.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Then what are you waiting for? It’s time for all your dreams to come true,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Fine.” She tried to sound confident, to remind herself of her mission. She wasn’t there as a fan or a groupie, she was there for justice.
Raven got inside the limousine and the door was shut, closing her in.
And sitting right across from her was only one other person—Jake Novak. He was lounging on the spacious black leather seat looking startlingly handsome and relaxed.
Dressed in an all white suit with a black tie, he had the aura of a movie star that had just walked off the red carpet, or perhaps stepped right out of the movie theater screen. His short brown hair was styled and no hair appeared out of place, his beard stubble just the right amount for perfect bedroom sexiness.
Raven thought that if she’d taken a picture of him in this moment, she could have plastered it right on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and it would have been just right.
“So,” Jake said, shifting ever so slightly in his seat, “you wanted my attention, you got it.” He gave her a slight smile, but his eyes were wary and cold.
Raven was shaking, her entire body vibrating with anxiety being this close to him. For a moment, she was completely lost in her body’s visceral attraction to him, so lost that she’d forgotten why she was there.
What was the reason? Hadn’t she wanted to tell him something important?
But no, there was nothing that justified her imposing on Jake Novak, the biggest music and film star in the free world. She was costing him more money by making him sit there for two minutes than she would earn in her entire lifetime.
“I, uh…” she licked her lips and crossed her legs. She was wearing skinny jeans and a cashmere sweater. “I have something to tell you.”
Jake looked her up and down, then his phone buzzed and he checked it briefly. “Okay, say it then. I’m waiting.”
Finally, mercifully, her brain started to function again. She remembered why she’d worked so hard to get this moment alone with him, and she sat up a little straighter. “You told somebody from the…uh…the agency, that I didn’t want to go on a date with you, and now they’re trying to ruin my life.”
Just getting the words out, she felt a weight off her shoulders.
But Jake’s mouth smirked. “First of all, you didn’t say you wouldn’t go out with me, Raven,” he said, leaning forward now, elbows on his knees, like he was making a speech to a four year old. “As I recall it, you were very interested in me.”
She shook her head, surprised by just how different he was than the image he presented on TV and in the movies. Of course he was an actor, but even in interviews, Jake Novak was the hot guy next door that everyone loved. He was clean cut, friendly, All-American. But the Jake Novak she was seeing was something else entirely.
He was dark. He was kind of mean. And somehow, despite that, he was still so sexy that it was making it almost impossible for her to think about anything else.
“Then why did you tell them I turned you down?” Raven said, finding her voice again.
He shook his head. “It’s not about you turning me down for a date. Because you didn’t, if you remember. Actually, you wanted to meet me again but I tried to explain to you that it had to go through the agency.”
“Club Alpha,” she said.
His eyes shifted a little, as if he didn’t want to say the name aloud. “The point is, I have an agreement with the…the agency…and I wanted them to know that this wasn’t in keeping with our agreement. So I let them know about the issue to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.”
Raven was finding herself getting frustrated. He was acting like this was just some business arrangement, but it was her life he’d affected with his complaints. “You got me fired from my job,” she said.
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Someone from Club Alpha—Max Mendez—do you know him?”
Jake didn’t respond, but she could tell from his eyes that he did.
“Anyway,” she continued, “That guy showed up at the restaurant where I waitress and had me fired. Then he told me that he would ruin my life if I didn’t honor my contract with Club Alpha. And he said the reason he was ruining my life was because I’d upset an important client—you, obviously.”
“What do their tactics of enforcing a contract have to do with me? You want me to give you money because you got fired?”
“I want you to tell them to leave me alone.”
He looked at her for a long time, as if evaluating her request. Her cheeks flushed under his gaze, as he gave her the look she’d seen burning on screen, only he’d always been looking at some beautiful actress.
And then, after a long time, he gave a slight shake of his head. “I’m not going to tell them to leave you alone,” he said, as if pronouncing a verdict. As if he was judge, jury and executioner rolled into one.
“Why not?” she asked, shocked by his cold response.
“Because,” he said, “I still want what I proposed to you last night. You were at that party, and you work for Club Alpha even if you don’t want to admit it.” He stared at her without any guilt or sense of remorse.
And then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
He wants to have sex with me for money. For some reason, that’s what he wants from me more than anything else.
The realization both disgusted her, and somehow—frustratingly—also turned her on. And she thought that Jake knew exactly how he was making her feel which enraged her further.
She tried to talk sense to him with increasing urgency. “They tricked me into signing something. I still don’t even know exactly what I signed.”
He shrugged. “How is that my problem?”
She looked at him and her insides went numb with rage. “I should’ve known that you’d act this way.”
“Is that so?” he said, not terribly concerned.
“Yeah, I should have known because it’s so obvious. You’re so obvious.” And as she said the words, she looked into his eyes and knew it was true. She knew that she saw more about him than he wanted to admit, just as he seemed to see more about her than she liked to admit.
“I’m so obvious?” he asked, an edge creeping into his voice.
“Yeah,” she said, starting to laugh now. “You do these ridiculously cheesy movies and you make silly records for teenage girls, and now it’s so clear to me why someone as talented as you does all of that.”
“Oh,” he said softly, “and why don’t you enlighten me as to why that is?”
“Because it’s easy. You take the easy way out of everything, don’t you? But nobody realizes it—nobody else sees what a fraud you are. You know it though, don’t you Jake?”
He stared at her, his eyes burning with something she couldn’t even name.
She was breathing heavily, so angry that she wanted to slap him across his face, but she also suddenly felt like she wanted him to grab her and push her down on the seat and kiss her, rip her shirt off, put his hands all over her body.
As they continued to lock eyes, she saw that he was deeply, deeply angry. He was at least as angry as she was, barely restraining himself from saying or doing something extreme.
Maybe he wants to do those very same things that I’m imagining him doing to me.
She looked away from him then, because it occurred to her that if she wasn’t careful he might really touch her, and if he touched her he would
know for sure how badly she wanted him.
And that terrified her more than anything.
She turned to the door of the limousine, panicking, tried to open it but it wouldn’t open. Then she began banging on the door, banging and yelling.
“Let me out!” she screamed.
Behind her, she heard Jake starting to laugh. “Poor little Raven—running away so soon after making her stand against the big bad fraud.”
She wouldn’t say anything else, though, wouldn’t even dare look at him. If she did, she might fall to her knees and agree to anything and everything he wanted right then and there.
Suddenly, the limousine door opened from the outside and the mountain-sized security guard poked his head in. “Everything okay in here?”
“I need to go,” she said, pushing her way out, past the security guard.
Raven got out and then the door was shut, sealing Jake Novak off from her and the outside world.
The limo instantly pulled away and sped off, leaving nothing but dust in its wake.
“You’d better go home,” the security guard told her. “And stay away from Jake from now on.”
“Got it,” she replied dully, and started walking slowly back to the train.
If there was one thing she didn’t need to be told twice, it was to stay away from Jake Novak.
* * *
The rest of the day was strange for Raven. She went home to her apartment and hung out on the couch, watching reality TV and stuffing her face with bad food.
She knew that she really needed to be searching for another job, because by the time she got hired and started making any money, her funds would be frighteningly low, even if she found something quickly.
But her mind felt worn out, fried from the excitement and anxiety of everything that had gone on the last twenty-four hours.
As she sat around half-watching television, she kept thinking back on the conversation in the limousine with Jake. She kept remembering that burning look in his eyes when she’d said those horrible things to him.
Every time she remembered what it had felt like to call him a fraud, and the way he’d looked afterwards—she got a sensation in her stomach that was part dread and part anticipation.