by Kelly Favor
And Jake clearly didn’t mind taking advantage of his status with the ladies to get what he wanted.
But was Courtney what he wanted?
She doesn’t look at all his type, Raven thought, and then cracked a smile.
She was actually taking comfort in the fact that Courtney Taylor didn’t look as much like Jake’s dead fiancé as Raven did.
That was bizarre and twisted, and yet, it did serve to calm her a bit.
The tabloids always want to make something out of nothing. You should know better than to believe anything they say.
As she walked towards home, Raven drifted into fantasy about going to Jake’s show that night. What would he do if she decided to just confront him about everything? What if she admitted her true feelings to him—would he really shoot her down and tell her he felt nothing in return?
Probably, she decided.
Raven was stepping off the curb to cross the street at a red light when a car came skidding around the corner at a high speed. It was headed right for her, and her life flashed before her eyes.
But at the last moment, a pair of strong arms grabbed her, pulling her out of the way, as the car skidded to a halt just a few feet away.
“Oh my God,” she said, her heart racing, legs shaking from the close call.
“Lady, you better watch your step or you’re going to get killed,” the large man said.
She knew that voice. Turning to look up at him, she saw Max Mendez sneering down at her.
“Leave me alone!” she yelled, but her voice wasn’t very loud. The near accident had taken all of the fight out of her.
The door to the car that had nearly hit her swung open and Max shoved her into the backseat and then got quickly in behind her, shutting the door. “Drive,” he said, and the driver floored the gas, as they screeched away from the intersection.
Raven was sandwiched in between Max and another man. The other man was as short of stature as Max was tall. He couldn’t have been much over five feet tall, but he was stocky, with dark curly hair that was receding in front. His eyes were heavy-lidded, reptilian, and his lips were thick and wet. “Raven, how nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you,” he said.
“Let me out of this car,” she replied.
Max shot her a glance. “Watch it with the demands. I’m getting pretty fed up with you.”
“Ease up on the girl,” the short man told Max. “She’s been through a lot.”
“Who are you?” Raven asked him.
“My name’s Zeke,” he said, smiling with his blubbery lips. His eyes were dark and watchful as he turned his head to look at her. He held out his small hand and she shook it, not knowing what else to do.
His hand was clammy but soft, and he didn’t hold her hand very long.
“Zeke, I really don’t know why you all won’t leave me alone. I’m not seeing Jake anymore. I did exactly what Club Alpha asked me to do, which was leave and never speak to him again.”
Zeke was wearing a dark, finely tailored suit with polished shoes. He examined his fingernails as he spoke. “Was that before or after you told Jake about your little meeting with Scott, and Jake went and assaulted him in the restaurant?”
“I didn’t know Jake was going to do that,” she said. Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably now. “Please, I just want to be left alone.”
“I’m afraid the time for that has long passed,” Zeke said. “We tried to keep you out of the fray, but you refused to listen. And now things have changed yet again.”
“I don’t understand,” Raven said.
Max glared down at her. “Shut up for a minute and he’ll explain, maybe.”
She closed her mouth and tried to slow her erratic breathing. She was getting a horrible feeling that these men intended to do something awful to her, perhaps as payback for what Jake had done to Club Alpha’s CEO.
“Everyone knows Jake Novak was in the military,” Zeke said, as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a pair of nail clippers. “It’s common knowledge, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Raven said.
Zeke began clipping his nails, which were already quite neat and tidy. But he seemed to find new angles, new little bits to shave off to make them even more perfect. He clipped and clipped as he spoke. “What most people don’t realize is that Jake’s service overseas is only a small part of the story. Jake Novak wasn’t just some regular soldier fumbling around in the desert until he got sent home again--he was the member of a top-secret elite force that was sent on very special missions. Very dangerous missions to do work that nobody else could or would do.”
Raven swallowed. Was Zeke just messing with her head? She couldn’t tell.
He continued hypnotically clipping his nails as he talked. “You may wonder why you’re sitting in this car with me right now, being told such a strange story.” Zeke glanced up into her eyes. “Am I right? Are you wondering?”
“I—yes. Yes, I’m wondering why you’re telling me any of this.”
He smiled at her. The kindness of his smile struck more fear into her than harsh threats from Max Mendez. She suspected that behind Max’s anger was a man who didn’t want to have to hurt her.
However, behind Zeke’s kind smile, she sensed the killer instincts of a remorseless and calculating psychopath. “Unfortunately, this situation has become very complicated, Raven.” He went back to daintily clipping his fingernails. The little white shavings drifted onto his black pants and clung there, like dandruff. “Things have evolved to where you can no longer be protected from the truth.”
Protected? Since when was Club Alpha protecting her from anything?
She thought these things, but kept silent, guessing that asking such questions might be bad for her health at this point. The goal now was to say anything she needed to say to get the hell out of the car alive.
“Sir,” she began.
“Call me Zeke, please,” he smiled.
“Zeke, I’m fine staying ignorant. Really.”
“Yes, they say ignorance is bliss, so I can understand why you say that. But you must know that if we’ve gotten to this point, all possibilities have been explored and we’ve arrived here out of necessity. As I said, the time for you to walk away blissfully unaware has now expired. So you must tread very carefully, now, Raven.” Zeke once again looked up into her eyes. “Very, very carefully indeed.”
“I’ll never speak a word about Club Alpha,” she said, her throat tightening. “Just please don’t hurt me. Jake is out of my life. I promise, I swear.”
Zeke exchanged a bemused look with Max Mendez.
“Jake won’t be out of your life for very long,” Zeke replied, giggling slightly. “You see, this has become a very fluid scenario. One moment something is asked of you, the next, something different.”
“I thought you wanted me out of the limelight,” she said. “I was told that my very presence in Jake’s life could compromise the secrecy of Club Alpha.”
“That’s very true,” Zeke said. He nodded thoughtfully. “However, the risks and rewards are constantly being weighed and sometimes a new consensus is reached.”
“Please,” she begged. “Can you just let me out of the car?”
“Stop asking that,” Max warned, his voice gravelly and angry. Suddenly, Raven realized that tough Max Mendez was also terrified, and that made her so frightened that she almost threw up.
If I say the wrong thing, Zeke will kill me, she thought. He’ll kill me as calmly as he sits there clipping his nails.
It’s really true, and that’s why Max is acting crazy. Max might be mean, but he doesn’t want my blood on his hands.
“It would appear on the surface that Club Alpha is nothing but a glorified escort service,” Zeke said. “And in fact, as far as most everyone involved is concerned, that’s exactly what we are. Our function is to service our rich and powerful clients with the kinds of women who meet all their needs, and provide discretion and secrecy that guarantees those same pow
erful men won’t have to worry about any messy scandals.”
“But that’s not really what Club Alpha is,” Raven said, her mouth as dry as desert sand.
Zeke’s smile died on his lips. “Oh, no. No, we’ve never been anything as simplistic as a brothel. In point of fact, we have never wasted our access to the personal lives of the most powerful and influential men the world over. In reality, Club Alpha is and always has been primarily an information gathering service.”
The enormity of what Zeke was telling her dawned on Raven, and her stomach dropped, as if she’d just been pushed off a ledge and into an abyss.
“Club Alpha is full of spies,” she said.
Zeke smiled. “Let’s not get carried away,” he said, but his eyes told her that she was correct in her conclusion.
“So now you want me to be a spy?”
His heavy-lidded eyes fixed on her, his pupils seeming to get larger as spoke. “Jake Novak engaged in a particular mission his last week in Afghanistan. Our intelligence tells us that it is of the utmost importance that we find out exactly what that mission was in as much detail as possible.”
“Jake would never tell me about any top-secret mission in Afghanistan,” she said, her voice rising despite her best attempts to keep it under control. “Jake wouldn’t even tell me what he had for breakfast.”
“Be that as it may, you’d better find a way to learn about his breakfast, and whatever else we tell you to learn about Jake Novak.”
“Jake’s not speaking to me,” she said. “He sent me away, he broke off our relationship.”
Zeke’s dead eyes just stared at her. “Our sources tell us that’s not the case.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we know that Jake Novak is still susceptible to your power of feminine persuasion. It means that he has a weakness for you, and you only, as far as we can determine. Therefore, you will find a way to rekindle your relationship with him, and you will begin telling us everything he tells you.” Clip. Clip. Clip. “That means you’ll dig for the truth about what Jake did in Afghanistan, and you won’t rest until you find out. And I won’t rest until the truth has been told to me,” Zeke said, spittle flying from his lips.
Raven looked down and saw that he was gripping the nail clippers so tightly that his hand had gone white around the knuckles.
He’s crazy, she thought. Whoever this man is—he’s completely out of his mind.
“I’ll…I’ll think about it,” she said softly.
“No, you’ll do it,” Max told her.
Zeke glanced at him and slightly shook his head before turning to Raven with a renewed smile. “I’ve laid all of our cards on the table,” he said. “I didn’t need to do that, but it’s my way. I presented you with the opportunity, and I explained our point of view. Now it’s up to you, Raven.”
“I don’t seem to have much of a choice,” she said.
“Oh, but you do. Everyone has choice.” He went back to clipping his nails. Clip. Clip. The thumbnail, in particular, seemed to be getting rather short. “Everyone has a choice,” he repeated.
“Will you kill me if I don’t help you?” she asked.
He didn’t even pause. “Not at first.”
“But you will eventually.”
“No, I believe that eventually we will convince you to do what’s needed.”
Raven’s insides felt wrung out, empty and barren. “What if Jake turns me down?” she asked.
“That would be very unfortunate for you,” Zeke said. “It would be unfortunate for you, and your friend Skylar, and your mother, your father, even your brother Daniel.”
Raven was frozen from the coldness of Zeke’s eyes, and the chilling words that had crossed his lips. He had just threatened everyone in the world that was close to her without hesitation.
“Leave my family out of this,” she whispered.
Zeke sat up in his seat and craned his head. “Oh, look what we have here. Some kind of concert? See all the teenyboppers running around—what a silly thing it all looks from a distance. And yet, this silly little event is worth millions of dollars.”
Raven saw that they had been driving quite a distance, and she’d been so engrossed in the conversation with Zeke that she hadn’t noticed where they were even going.
But now she realized that they’d arrived at Jake’s concert. In fact, the concert was due to start soon. The parking lots were already filling up with cars and there were people everywhere, walking around, eating, drinking, playing Jake Novak songs, even carrying signs.
There was even a fairly large group of a couple dozen protestors, picketing the concert. Their signs said JAKE THE SNAKE and WE DON’T PAY FOR BULLIES TO PLAY and things of that nature.
More than a few cops were patrolling and walking around, keeping an eye on things in case they got out of hand.
“What are we doing here?” she asked.
Zeke finally put his nail clippers away and brushed the trimmings from his pants. His motions were short, brusque, and economical. “We’re here to start you back on the right track, Raven. I like to give my employees a helping hand whenever possible.”
Max gave a signal to the driver and the car stopped in its tracks.
Zeke pointed toward the front of the car. “If you were to walk a few hundred yards past this car, straight towards the arena, you’d eventually run into a member of Jake’s security team. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“Yes,” she said, although she wasn’t certain of why he was giving her this information.
“Good,” Zeke said approvingly. “In a moment, you’re going to get out of the car and walk directly over to a member of his security team and say you were just mugged, and you need to see Jake immediately.”
Raven turned her head and looked at him. “Mugged?”
“Yes. And you have been.” Zeke gave an ever so slight nod of his head to Max, and then suddenly Max had grabbed her purse and ripped it off her shoulder.
Raven shrieked, as the contents spilled across the bottom of the car.
A second later, he flung the back door open, got out, grabbed Raven by the arm and flung her out of the car, where she landed on the pavement hard, smashing her elbow and knee and rolling onto her back.
A moment later, her empty purse landed beside her, the strap snapped, completely useless.
“Remember, it was a mugger. He was wearing a hoodie and you didn’t get a look at his face,” Max growled, as he got back in the car. A second later, it sped away, leaving her there.
A few of the people nearby that had seen what happened came over and helped her up. “Are you all right?” they asked.
“I’m fine. I just fell.”
“That guy pushed you—“
“No,” she insisted. “I fell. Please leave me alone.”
“Hey, aren’t you Raven Hartley?” someone said, and she started to run.
Eventually, she ran straight into one of Jake’s security team, just as Zeke had promised she would. The man looked surprised to see her there.
“I need to see Jake right away,” she told him, looking back over her shoulder.
“Mr. Novak has a show—“
“Just tell him I’m here, okay?” she cried. Tears were streaming down her face now.
The security guard turned away from her and spoke into a headset microphone he was wearing. She couldn’t hear what he said, but a few seconds later and he was escorting her quickly through a back entrance away from the crowds.
Everywhere she went, people seemed to be staring at her. The guard maneuvered her through the maze until she finally reached Jake’s dressing room.
There were two other members of the team stationed in front of the door.
“We’re right in front,” the security guard said into his mic, and then knocked.
When the door opened and Jake was standing there, Raven didn’t know what to do. She was terrified that he was going to yell at her, ask her what the hell she was doing, e
ven threaten to call the cops.
Instead, he only looked concerned. “Are you all right? What happened?”
She broke down into tears, unable to answer. All she knew was that Jake didn’t hate her, he actually did care, and the relief was so strong that she couldn’t even talk.
“It’s okay,” Jake told the security team. “I’ll take it from here. Come on, Raven,” he said softly, taking her by the arm and leading her back into his room. He shut the door and led her to the couch. “Sit down. Sit down. Let me get you some water.”
He grabbed a cold bottle of water and handed it to her.
“Th-th-thanks,” she said, still crying. She opened the bottle and drank a sip.
Jake was watching her very closely. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black jeans and black boots. His brown eyes were concerned, but he was managing his emotions. “Tell me what happened.”
“I got mugged,” she said, hating the lie, but knowing she didn’t dare tell him the truth right now. Not after what those men had said and done to her.
Jake’s eyes flashed. “Who did it? Someone from Club Alpha? Your ex? Who?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. He came from behind and he was wearing a hoodie. I got knocked down and then he ripped my purse off my shoulder.”
Jake peered down at her pants. “You’re bleeding around your knee,” he said. “Damn it.” He knelt down and gently pulled her pants up over her calf and past the knee. “It’s scraped really badly.”
“I’m sorry I bothered you. I just—I wasn’t sure what else to do.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “I’m glad you came, Raven. And when I find the guy who did this to you, I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“No, you don’t need to do anything,” she whimpered.
Raven’s emotions were a complete and utter mess. She wanted desperately to unburden herself, to tell Jake exactly what had occurred. After all, she hadn’t done anything wrong.
The problem was that she was scared of what Jake might do if she told him the truth. The last time she’d confessed about Club Alpha’s threats, Jake had jumped the CEO in the bathroom of a fancy restaurant and nearly strangled him.