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

by Kelly Favor

  Raven texted Skylar and said she was there. Skylar texted back and said she was in the building now, too.

  A few minutes later, Skylar showed up with her mother. They both looked stressed and anxious.

  Raven waved and smiled, not knowing if she was supposed to act all serious, but deciding that being upbeat felt better.

  “Hey, I brought fun stuff,” Raven said, holding up the duffle bag.

  “Oh, cool,” Skylar said, but her eyes were darting nervously around the room.

  “We should register, honey,” her mother said, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

  They went to check in and Raven waited at her seat, fidgeting. After a little bit, they came and sat down next to her.

  “So,” Skylar’s mother said to Raven, “I hear you’ve been quite the busy bee lately.”

  “I have?”

  “You and Jake Novak?” Skylar’s mom gave Raven a knowing look. “That’s one serious man you landed.”

  Skylar put her hand up to her forehead. “Mom! What the heck--don’t embarrass me!”

  “It’s not every day someone we know is dating a famous man. I can’t even ask about it?”

  Raven laughed. “It’s no big deal.”

  “And he’s such a wonderful person,” Skylar’s mother continued, clucking her tongue appreciatively. “He treated us like family, you know. An absolute gentleman.”

  “He’s been a lifesaver,” Skylar agreed, but rolled her eyes for Raven’s benefit.

  Her mother seemed content to keep talking. “It’s just awful how the news media treats him. I wrote a letter to NBC about it, and another letter to the New York Times.”

  Raven nodded appreciatively, trying hard to keep a straight face as Skylar made funny faces while her mother droned on and on about what a saint Jake Novak was.

  Of course, it was true that Jake had gone way above and beyond for Skylar. What he’d done was incredible, but there was something about listening to Sky’s mother talk about Jake that was humorous.

  Part of it was the situation. You had to laugh so as not to cry.

  Every time Jake’s name came up, Raven was acutely aware of the fact that they were no longer involved either romantically or business-wise.

  Was it ever romantic, though?

  She still didn’t know what Jake had really thought about the whole thing. It had been romantic for her, but if Jake had never truly felt anything for her, than she supposed it really had always been purely business for him.

  A nurse came out and called Skylar’s name.

  “Can they come with me?” Skylar asked, gesturing to Raven and her mother.

  “Of course,” the nurse smiled. “The more the merrier.”

  The three of them followed the nurse back to the treatment center. She stopped and had Skylar get on a scale and took her wait.

  “Maybe I’ll lose a few pounds, at least,” Skylar joked.

  “Honey, don’t joke about that,” her mother said.

  “You gotta look at the silver lining,” the nurse replied, taking notes.

  Then the nurse brought her to a seat near a window. It was basically one large room and all of the chairs were in rows and separated by curtains, but you could still see everyone sitting in their seats. The privacy was minimal. Nurses bustled to and fro and there were loud beeping noises coming from the different IV stands.

  Raven tried not to stare at the other patients, but it was difficult not to. Most of them were alone, or had just one other person sitting beside them to keep them company. Everyone looked rather bored, and resigned. Some of them wore hats, most wore layers of clothing, and a few were bald.

  One woman was so incredibly thin that it hurt to even look at her.

  Skylar seemed in good spirits, though. She sat down and the nurse took her vitals, blood pressure, talked to her about what was to come.

  If anything, it was Skylar’s mother who was the problem. She was overly anxious, talkative, interrupting the nurse to ask vague and useless questions.

  Raven could tell that she was making Skylar more nervous, but there wasn’t much to be done. She was her mother, and that outranked Raven any day of the week.

  Eventually, the nurse started to run the IV for the infusion. At first, everything seemed fine, but then Raven noticed that the nurse had gone very quiet and stopped talking and joking.

  Skylar was squinting in discomfort and looking up at the ceiling, while her mother was fretting.

  “Is she—did you get it?”

  “I’m having trouble,” the nurse replied. “Her veins don’t seem to want to cooperate today.”

  Raven felt her stomach clench like a fist. She could tell that the longer this went on, the more pain her friend was in.

  “Is this normal, to have this much trouble getting the IV inserted?” Skylar’s mother asked.

  “I’ve seen it all,” the nurse replied, but her voice was tense.

  The time dragged out, and the nurse moved from one arm to the other. Eventually, when that failed, she went and got another nurse, who also tried with no success.

  Meanwhile, Skylar was getting more and more upset. She was no longer trying to pretend she was okay. Instead, tears were in her eyes each time they poked and prodded her, she clenched her teeth and looked away.

  “I can’t watch this anymore,” Skylar’s mother said. “I’m sorry, this is just too much.” And she walked out of the room.

  Raven went and sat closer to Skylar, grabbed her hand. “Hey, it’s almost done,” she said. “They’re going to get it soon, I can tell.”

  “Are you sure?” Skylar asked, squeezing Raven’s hand tightly.

  “I’m totally one hundred percent sure.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’m psychic, of course.”

  The newest nurse to attempt getting the needle in had just given up as well. She stood and looked at them. “I’m going to get our specialist,” the nurse said. “She deals with the tough cases—she’s the best in the business. But she’s working a different floor today. I’ll be back in a moment.” And then the nurse left and Raven and Skylar were alone.

  Skylar turned to her. “Raven, I’m scared. I wasn’t scared before, but now I’m really scared. It’s already bad and it hasn’t even really started yet. This is a bad omen, isn’t it?”

  Raven looked at her friend calmly and squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Don’t be silly. There’s no bad omen here. They’re getting that specialist and she’s going to take care of you in no time.”

  “You really think so?”

  “I know so.” But deep inside, Raven was terrified. She was starting to wonder the same thing. Could it be that this was the start of everything going wrong, the beginning of endless pain and suffering for Skylar?

  No, you can’t think that way. You have to stay strong and stay positive for Sky.

  “Hey, let me show you all the cool stuff I got for today,” Raven said, keeping her voice light. She grabbed the duffel bag and opened it and started listing everything.

  Even though Skylar was too nervous to really care, Raven was able to distract her just enough to engage her and calm her down a little.

  Finally, the nurse showed up who had been specifically brought there to deal with Skylar’s “difficult veins.”

  “I’m Nelly,” the woman said. She was friendly with a warm smile. However, Raven could tell instantly that the woman knew how to do her job. She began caressing Skylar’s arms, her intelligent eyes scanning every inch, studying Skylar’s veins the way a ship’s captain would study the sea.

  Finally, she announced she was ready.

  “Raven,” Skylar called to her, reaching out her hand, and Raven slid close and held Sky’s hand as Nelly prepared to insert the needle for the IV.

  Seconds later, it was done, and Nelly had made the adjustments so that the IV was firm and working properly. She grinned. “Easy as pie, darling.”

  “How did you do that so fast?” Skylar asked,
in awe.

  “Nobody else could do it,” Raven said, shaking her head. “And you did it in like five seconds.”

  “They call me the vein whisperer,” Nelly said quietly, and winked. “Gotta go. If you need me again next week, just give a holler and I’ll come running.”

  Then she quickly scurried off to wherever she came from.

  “I think she’s an angel,” Skylar said, closing her eyes and exhaling.

  Later on, Raven took a break to go and eat at the hospital cafeteria. Skylar seemed to be doing well with the chemo once they’d gotten past the initial problem with the IV. Her mother had come back and seemed to calm down, so Raven left the two of them and went on her own.

  She already was exhausted from dealing with the anxiety of watching her friend suffer, worrying for Skylar’s wellbeing and trying to put up a positive front all at once. Knowing that there was going to be nearly two months of this for Skylar was terrifying. And there was no telling how her body would react to all of the drugs they were pumping into her system—it was essentially poisoning her, hoping to kill off the cancer before doing too much damage to the rest of her.

  When Raven finally got to the cafeteria, there was already plenty of people milling about, getting food from the various different stations, or sitting at the tables. There were doctors, nurses, patients and families, and there were also students, since Boston Memorial was a teaching hospital as well.

  She decided to get a precooked cheeseburger, because there was no line and it was simpler than standing around and waiting to get pork loin or roast turkey. The cheeseburger came in a bright foil package that was greasy to the touch. Then, Raven grabbed herself a Diet Coke and some potato chips before paying.

  As she left the register, Raven scanned the brightly lit room for an empty table, and didn’t see any.

  “Crowded, huh?” a woman said, coming up next to her.

  Raven glanced at the woman. “Yeah, it is. Feels like high school all over again.”

  “Tell me about it.” The woman grinned. She was short, with frizzy red hair and freckles. Raven instantly liked her for some reason.

  “I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet and sit with strangers,” Raven said.

  “Wait, I think I see some people getting up. I’ll go grab a table for us!” the lady said, and then she was off like a rocket, racing to get to the newly open table before someone else tried to claim it as their own.

  Raven chuckled at the sight of the smaller woman as she barely dodged a group of students, who looked at her like she was a fool.

  Finally, the redhead was able to sit, and she waved Raven over. By the time Raven got there, her new friend was still breathing heavy.

  “I knew I quit smoking for a reason,” she said, as Raven sat down.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Raven told her, smiling.

  “But you’re glad I did, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, of course. Now I feel like I should buy you a cookie or something.”

  The woman shook her head. “Don’t give it another thought.” She had a cellophane wrapped tuna sandwich and a bottle of water. She slowly and painstakingly began unwrapping her sandwich. “My name’s Bri, by the way.”

  “I’m Raven. Nice to meet you.”

  Bri nodded, got half her sandwich unwrapped and started eating it with gusto. “Food’s not so bad here.”

  Raven couldn’t say the same about her cheeseburger. It tasted like it had been made with mostly soy and microwaved until it turned into a hockey puck. But she was hungry enough to eat it, especially once she’d dumped enough ketchup and mustard on the burger to make it less offensive.

  “Do you work here?” Raven asked, after swallowing a particularly unsatisfying bite.

  Bri shrugged. “I’m a freelancer.”

  “Oh.” Raven wasn’t sure what that even meant, but decided to let it go.

  “What about you?” Bri asked, her green eyes suddenly piercing. “What brings you here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “My friend’s getting treatment and I’m here for support.”

  “Ah,” Bri said. “I get it. That’s nice your friend has you.”

  “I’m lucky to have her.”

  Bri laughed, took a sip of water. Suddenly, her eyes crinkled up. “You look really familiar,” she said. “Do we know each other from somewhere?”

  Raven stared at her. “I don’t think so.” And then it hit her. The woman probably recognized her from seeing a story about her on TV or maybe online.

  It seemed to dawn on Bri as well, because she snapped her fingers. “Yeah, I just remembered. I read about you! You’re that girl who’s dating Jake Novak, aren’t you?”

  Raven’s stomach went cold. She glanced around but nobody had heard the question, thankfully. “Sorry, I don’t really feel comfortable talking about that.”

  Bri looked aghast. “Oh, Jeez. I hope I didn’t offend you.”

  “No, not at all.” Raven tried to smile but it felt frozen and fake. “I just don’t really talk about that stuff.”

  “Oh, totally. I’m so sorry.” Bri went back to eating her sandwich. “It’s just that I’m kind of a closet Jake Novak fan,” she said, as if imparting state secrets.

  Raven tried again to smile, but now she was looking around, trying to think of how she could escape the situation without seeming too rude. “Hey, there are a lot of those,” she said, lamely.

  Bri appeared to sense the shift in Raven’s demeanor. “Listen, I didn’t mean to put you off. It’s just—are you two still an item? I’m so curious.”

  Raven looked at her. Alarm bells were going off, for some reason. Why did this total stranger keep asking about her and Jake’s relationship?

  As Raven stared at Bri, she noticed that the redhead was carrying a laptop case. It wasn’t unusual, but combined with her comment about “freelancing” and the way she’d coincidentally approached Raven out of nowhere—everything just clicked into place.

  “You’re a journalist,” Raven said, and she didn’t phrase it as a question because she already knew the answer.

  Bri’s expression didn’t change. Her beady, piercing eyes stayed trained on Raven’s face. “I didn’t mean to mislead you,” Bri said, “but this is my job.”

  “Actually, you did mean to mislead me, but it didn’t work.” Raven tried to control her mounting anger. “And you think it’s your job to follow me to a hospital and ambush me when I’m taking a break from visiting with my sick friend?”

  “No, it’s my job to get the story that my boss tells me to get.”

  “That’s not my problem,” Raven said, rising from her seat. “Maybe it’s time to find a new job.”

  And then she started to walk quickly away from the table, noticed she had crumbled the foil with the remains of her crappy burger still inside of it, and swerved to throw it away in one of the garbage bins.

  As she exited the cafeteria, Bri scurried up alongside her. “I know you’re angry, but we’re not done here just yet.”

  “Oh, yes we are. We never even started,” Raven replied, walking fast and looking straight ahead.

  “People are going to be writing stories about you and Jake. Wouldn’t you at least prefer we get them right? Don’t you want to respond to the awful things they say about your sex tape? We both know that you didn’t have group sex with those boys at the party.”

  “I don’t care what they say. They’re going to lie because people like you eat it all up,” Raven said, and then shut her mouth. She was angry at herself for even taking the bait.

  “I know you and Jake aren’t together anymore,” Bri continued. “I just wanted to get your comment on the fact that he’s already seeing Courtney Taylor.”

  Despite her better instincts, Raven stopped walking. She looked at the smaller woman. “Please leave me alone. Please.”

  “I know you find this distasteful,” Bri said. “But isn’t what Jake’s done to you even more distasteful? He used you and threw you away as
soon as your past became an inconvenience. And now he’s gallivanting around with a young pop star, forgetting about the regular girl who gave him her heart.”

  Raven wanted to slap Bri, but she kept her voice calm. “You should be ashamed of yourself. I’m here to help my friend and you’re taking advantage of that to leech off my problems.”

  For the first time, Bri seemed defensive. “I’m sorry, but this is my job.”

  “You keep saying that,” Raven replied, shaking her head slowly. “But it doesn’t excuse your behavior.”

  “At least I tried to get your side of the story.”

  “You’ll publish it either way. You don’t care whether it’s true of not, you just want something juicy.”

  Bri’s cheeks were almost as red as her hair now. “You know, before I met you I actually felt sorry for you. I thought Jake was wrong to dump you for Courtney Taylor. But now I totally get it. You don’t deserve him, Raven.”

  “Maybe I don’t,” Raven told her. “But I also don’t deserve you.” Raven started to walk faster down the hallway, and this time the nasty journalist let her go and didn’t try to follow her.

  Some hours later, and the first chemo treatment had mostly been a success, other than the early snafu. Skylar and her mother were on their way home and Raven was walking back to her apartment, trying to clear her head.

  Her thoughts were racing, ever since she’d had that horrible encounter with the journalist.

  It scared Raven to know that there were people who knew what she looked like, knew her name, and they were trying to follow her and anticipate her whereabouts in order to break a story.

  The worst part of it was that she’d let that woman get under her skin, especially the comments about Jake starting to see Courtney Taylor. Was it possible that the journalist had just been trying to get a reaction, spreading a rumor or outright lying?

  Yes, it was very possible. It was also possible that Jake and Courtney were actually involved. Courtney was young, beautiful, and had clearly been smitten with Jake, based on her behavior when she’d met him backstage.