The Debt: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance)

by Kelly Favor

  Raven was still following Jake around like a lost puppy, trailing behind him, invisible to everyone, while he answered questions, talked on the phone, did mini-interviews and recorded promotional bits for various radio stations.

  When they had a bit of a break, Jake asked her if she was hungry.

  “Starving,” Raven admitted.

  “You can eat whenever you want,” Jake said. “You don’t have to wait for me to tell you.”

  “Oh, okay. I just—I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing.”

  “Come on, let’s grab a plate for you,” he said, bringing her to the tables lined with all kinds of food prepared by the catering services. He surprised her by making the plate for her, asking her what she liked and then doling out portions of it, making Raven feel taken care of.

  And then Raven wondered why he was always so hot and cold. One moment, he acted like he was her doting boyfriend, the next it was as if he didn’t know her name.

  Handing her the plate, Jake smiled at her. “Eat, relax. I know this whole thing seems totally foreign right now. But in a week you’ll feel like you’ve been doing it your whole life.”

  “Is that a good thing?” Raven asked, grabbing a mini hot dog wrapped in bacon and popping it in her mouth.

  “Depends,” Jake said.

  “Depends on what?” Raven asked, after she’d swallowed her food.

  But Jake didn’t have a chance to answer, because suddenly Courtney Taylor had arrived on the scene.

  Everyone took notice.

  It wasn’t because everyone knew who she was, either. Courtney Taylor wasn’t that big a star, certainly not on Jake’s level. But the moment she walked into the room, Raven felt like she’d been eclipsed, as Jake’s attention turned to Courtney, as if he’d forgotten Raven was even there at all.

  Raven understood why, too.

  Courtney breezed in laughing, spinning in her brilliant gold dress with sequins, the dress clinging tightly to her athletic figure. She talked to everyone—everyone—and the moment she was in range, her eyes would lock onto theirs and then she’d hit them with her brilliant, dazzling smile. Those big green eyes of hers would light up as if she found whoever was in front of her the most fascinating person on the planet.

  Courtney’s honey blond hair fell in curls down her shoulders, and her skin was tan and flawless, as if she’d been photo-shopped to perfection in real life. Her lips were luscious, soft and heart shaped, her eyes beautiful, surrounded by dark eye shadow that offset her bright blond hair and pink lips.

  Courtney was girlish, flirty, cute and endearing. But a moment later she could be sexy, touching someone with those delicate hands and they would instantly blush, women and men alike.

  By the time the blossoming superstar had made her way to Jake, he was already transfixed by her.

  “I wrote a song about you,” was the first thing Courtney said, upon approaching him.

  Jake chuckled. “You wrote a song about me?”

  She nodded, batting her eyes at him, pursing her lips. She put her hands on his shoulders with the kind of familiarity that suggested having known him intimately. “I wrote it before I even knew we’d be doing this tour together.”

  Raven nearly choked on a mini hotdog.

  Courtney glanced over to her, one eyebrow rising curiously. “Who are you?” she said. “Not Jake’s new girlfriend, I hope.”

  Raven had half a mind to say that that was exactly what she was, just to see Courtney and Jake’s reactions. Instead she just smiled. “I’m his social media…uh…person. Social media stuff—I do that.”

  “Oh,” Courtney laughed. “You do that stuff.” Something in her tone was derisive without being obvious about it.

  “Yup, that’s me,” Raven said, catching Jake’s eye.

  He looked annoyed.

  “I’m just glad you didn’t say you two were a couple,” Courtney said, spinning away from Jake, her ass swaying provocatively. Everyone within a hundred feet was staring at the spectacle now. “I’ve had the biggest crush on him ever since his first single. I was like, that guy can write a love song like nobody’s business.”

  “I co-wrote that song with Evan Daniels,” Jake reminded Courtney.

  “You wrote the words, though, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Jake gave Courtney a proud look that filled Raven with helpless jealousy.

  “That’s what I thought,” Courtney said. “Those words—I couldn’t stop listening to them,” Courtney told him. “The line that said, ‘I never really saw your face until I saw you leaving’ was like—totally devastating, in the best way.”

  “Wow,” Jake said. “I’m a huge fan of yours, too. That’s why I played every card I had to get you here.”

  Raven stood there next to Jake Novak, holding her plate of food that had gone cold, watching two superstars forming what looked like a love connection to end all love connections, and she felt a pit in her stomach opening that was the size of the Grand Canyon.

  She was right next to him, so it was almost as if Courtney was looking at her too, she could practically feel what Jake must be feeling as this sultry vixen spun her web of flirtation and seductiveness, luring him into her clutches.

  “You did that for me?” Courtney asked, stopping and standing still for a moment, looking at him as if he were Sir Galahad, her knight in shining armor. “I love a man who puts all his cards on the table when he wants something or someone.”

  “I guess I’m the man for you then,” Jake laughed.

  “Oh, I never doubted that,” Courtney replied, smiling, and then she strutted closer to him again. “I should play you my song,” she told him.

  “Sure, maybe at sound check.”

  Raven could tell that the thought of Courtney playing him a song made Jake uncomfortable. And in that moment, her own frustration at being ignored in favor of this musical sexpot made Raven act impulsively. “You should play it now,” Raven told Courtney.

  “You think so?” Courtney asked her.

  “Yeah, definitely now.”

  Jake shot Raven another look that could have killed, but she ignored him.

  “Aki, did you hear that?” Courtney said, snapping her fingers and turning her head to look at a small Japanese man who was standing a few feet behind her.

  Aki looked like he could have been anywhere from twenty years old to forty years old—his face was smooth and ageless. “Shall I get your guitar?” he asked Courtney, his voice betraying a slight accent.

  “Please,” she said softly but firmly. Aki scurried off and Courtney turned back to Jake, her eyes brightening again. “I feel like a little kid at her first recital.”

  “You know what, I should take some video of this and post it to Facebook,” Raven announced, surprising even herself.

  Jake turned and looked at her, his eyes dark. “No, I think this should be kept private.”

  “Oh, that’s a great idea!” Courtney gasped.

  “Yeah, well, I am his social media coordinator after all,” Raven reminded them. She felt proud to have added ‘coordinator’ on the end of her job title. It sounded way more official.

  Jake glared at Raven, his jaw tensing. “What are you doing?” he said softly.

  “My job,” she replied easily. Then Raven pulled out her phone and put it onto the video setting, as Aki came running back with a guitar case. He knelt down and opened the case, revealing an acoustic guitar that sparkled as if it had been encrusted with millions of tiny diamonds. Aki lifted the guitar from the case as if he were handling a sacred relic, handing it over to Courtney, who slung it over her shoulder and gave it a quick strum.

  Now Courtney was looking at Jake as if Jake was an angel come down from heaven, her eyes soft and loving and wondering.

  Raven started the video on her phone and began recording the scene, panning from Jake to Courtney and back to Jake again.

  “I wrote this song for you,” Courtney said to Jake, “because your words inspired me, because your soul is
pure, and I can feel your heart when I play it.”

  It was hard to watch this woman trying to seduce Jake so openly, and even more painful to think that it might actually be working. The only consolation Raven had was that Jake was truly furious at her for filming them, even if he was hiding it well.

  And Raven thought that if she couldn’t wow him like Courtney, she could still get under his skin in other ways. There was a strange pleasure in knowing that Jake had lost some of his precious control over the situation, if just for a moment.

  Courtney began to play Jake her song, and even Raven, in her frustration, had to admit that it was a catchy song. Instantly, Courtney Taylor transformed from smitten schoolgirl to a gorgeous siren, her body moving in time with her graceful strumming. The voice that came out of her was perfect, sultry, echoing through the room effortlessly, and nobody else move or spoke while she sang.

  She was captivating.

  The song was something about watching someone from afar, knowing you could never have them, that they were never yours in the first place. Courtney sang right to Jake, never looking away from him. She smiled knowingly as she sang the chorus.

  “Nowhere else can bring me here, no one else can take me here, the way you kill me with your eyes, the way you keep me satisfied. I will always remember this. I will always remember this,” Courtney’s voice boomed.

  Jake, for his part, stood and watched her, managing to give off just the right aura of natural sexiness as he listened.

  Courtney sang for him, she sang to him, and it was perfect, it was flawless just like she was flawless—and when she finished, the room burst into applause.

  The people in the room were not new to this business—many of them had clearly been in it for years, and were jaded to it all. But when Raven panned her phone around to get video of the reaction, she had to admit that it all seemed genuine.

  They’d witnessed a magical moment and everyone knew it.

  The applause lasted for a long time and Courtney’s cheeks flushed as it went on and on. She gave a cute little curtsy to Jake and then handed her guitar back to Aki.

  Aki knelt down and put her guitar back in its case.

  Jake clapped for her too. “I think you outdid yourself, Courtney,” he told her.

  “You bring it out in me, Jake. What can I say?” She raised an eyebrow knowingly. Then she spun and walked off, her hips swaying as she went, her dress showing all of her curves perfectly.

  Jake turned to Raven, his smile disappearing. “What do you think you’re doing?” he said, low enough for only her to hear him.

  “I’m doing my job,” she said innocently.

  “That’s not your job.” His eyes burned at her.

  “I’m in charge of your social media, I couldn’t possibly miss a moment like that and be considered competent.”

  He was about to say something else, but Bruce came over with a huge smile on his face. “Courtney Taylor’s a true star, isn’t she?”

  “I told you she was good.”

  Bruce looked at Raven. “I noticed you got some of it on video.”

  “I got all of it,” Raven said, lifting her chin, despite the cold look she felt coming from Jake’s direction.

  “Nicely done,” Bruce said. “We need to put that up online immediately. That’s going to go viral.”

  “Send that video to me,” Jake said to Raven through a clenched jaw. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “No,” Raven told him.

  “No?” His lips formed an angry smirk.

  “I’m your social media—“

  “Knock it off, Raven,” he growled. “I have a show to put on. I’ve got a million things to do and I’m not going to waste my time arguing with you about your fake job.”

  “It’s not going to be fake,” she said, glaring right back at him. “Because I’m really going to do it.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Jake said, shaking his head. “You’re not really going to be in charge of my social media.”

  Bruce cleared his throat. “Jake, she has a point.”

  Raven couldn’t believe someone was actually agreeing with her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Jake ran a hand through his hair. “She has a point, Bruce? Please enlighten me.”

  “We really should have someone besides you doing this stuff. It’s way past time that we have someone take over those duties.”

  “You know what? Fine,” Jake said, waving his hand in the air. “Get her the damn passwords. Just leave me out of it.” And then he stalked off and was gone, pushing his way through the people and disappearing down the hall.

  When he’d left, Raven looked at Bruce, who smiled softly at her.

  “He’s just stressed,” Bruce said. “Don’t let it get to you.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “Even though I think he might hate me now.”

  “I think he likes you a lot more than either of you realize,” Bruce said. “But anyway, don’t worry about that right now. Let me get you the passwords to his accounts and you can start posting the video. Just remember not to say too much, Raven. He’s got millions of fans and one wrong word could spark a firestorm of controversy.”

  “I don’t have to do it,” she said, suddenly nervous with the pressure of it all. “I’ll send the video to you, Bruce. I was just being silly.”

  “No,” Bruce told her, his expression serious. “You do it, Raven. I have a good feeling about you.”

  And then she finally smiled, because even though things with Jake were a mess and there was a beautiful pop star that he might be falling in love with, someone actually had taken the chance of believing in Raven. And it felt good.

  During sound check, Raven took pictures and then posted some of the best ones to Jake’s Instagram account, after first checking in with Bruce. Bruce agreed with her on all the ones she’d chosen, and even told her that she was a “natural” at the job.

  If Jake was still fuming about her turning the tables on him, he didn’t show it. He was far too busy getting every detail right for the performance. There were some lighting problems and both Jake and Kurt were clearly upset about it, having to huddle with the lighting team after nearly every song.

  Jake was like the performer and the director all rolled into one, and Raven had to admit that it was sexy the way Jake controlled everything with ease.

  Even though he was tense and maybe things weren’t organized perfectly, Jake always seemed like he could do the job in his sleep. Even when others messed up, Jake was flawless, never missing a cue, never screwing up a dance move, never botching a single note that he sang.

  Raven stood by the stage and took pictures and he acted like he didn’t know she existed.

  She sat down in one of the thousands of empty seats and logged onto YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to post her different photos and videos.

  She’d already put up the video of Courtney serenading Jake, and in the short time since it had been posted, there were already hundreds of thousands of hits. People were going crazy, just as Bruce had thought they would.

  Everyone loved the song and already people were saying that the two of them must be falling in love.

  Before a couple of hours had passed, news stories were already circulating on the various celebrity tabloid sites about how Courtney had fallen for Jake, who was still grieving over his dead fiancé, but now she had cracked his shell and he was perhaps ready to love again.

  It hurt Raven to think that maybe what the tabloids were reporting might actually come to be true. Maybe Jake really was falling for Courtney, and who could blame him? The girl was talented, sexy and extremely charismatic.

  At the same time, Raven felt a strange kind of pride at having had the wherewithal to capture video of the improvisational performance, and that she’d now created a viral video that would likely go on to get millions and millions of views.

  Nothing Raven had ever done in life could have prepared her for that feeling.

  Jake Nova
k had tried to give her some phony job title so that he didn’t have to be bothered by people questioning Raven’s role in his entourage. But she’d found a way to make it the truth, and she was proud of that too. She really was doing his social media, and she was doing it well.

  During a lull in the action, she went and grabbed a soda from the catering area in back, and then when she was returning, heard Kurt on the phone. He was pacing the hallway and speaking angrily in a low voice, but he may as well have been shouting for how clearly infuriated he was.

  “You don’t understand,” Kurt said. “I’m telling you that we need more money. We’ve got Courtney Taylor on tour with us now and we’re opening ten more dates on the schedule. We’re not doing it on the same damn budget.” His back was to Raven as she rounded the corner, and his head was bowed as he spoke into the phone.

  “I already explained that,” Kurt continued. “Listen, asshole. We are in debt on this goddamn tour right now. Do you know how much we have to outlay in advance? So I’m asking for more support from…no, no, no. You just get us what we asked for, unless you want to see your biggest star go into fucking bankruptcy.”

  Kurt hung up the phone, then turned and saw Raven standing there.

  He’d never paid her so much as a passing glance until then, didn’t even acknowledge her existence before that moment. But suddenly, Kurt seemed to realize she was a real person. He cleared his throat. “Fucking record labels,” he said, shaking his head with dismay. Sweat shone in his crew cut.

  Raven smiled, holding her soda awkwardly as they stood alone in the hallway, facing one another. Kurt was watching her closely, and she got a sudden piercing anxiety through her chest as he looked at her. “Must be frustrating,” she said softly.

  “Yeah.” Kurt grinned. “Maybe don’t mention what you heard to Jake, okay? He’s already tapped out as it is.”

  “I…I didn’t really understand anything you were saying,” she lied.

  “It was just dumb business stuff,” Kurt told her. “Hey, I heard you did a kick ass job with the video. I keep hearing things about it. Impressive work.”

  “Thanks!” she said. But still, even with his compliments, the piercing anxiety didn’t stop pulsating in her chest until she walked away from him and out of the hallway, back to the main stage area.