Free The Debt 2 by Kelly Favor

anything—anything at all, okay?” Raven said.
    Skylar nodded, said goodnight to Jake, and then opened the door to her room and went inside.  
    Once the door was closed, Jake looked at Raven.   “You look tired too,” he said.
    “I am.   And I would have thought you’d be the most tired.   You performed a pretty intense show tonight.   How can you still be standing?”
    Jake laughed.   “This is nothing compared to staying up two or three straight days like I did in Afghanistan.”
    They walked a short way down the hall until getting to Raven’s room.   She took out her room key as Jake stood beside her.   It felt like the end of a long date, and she suddenly didn’t want him to leave.   Raven turned and looked at him.   “You know that what you did for Skylar today…I can never repay you.”
    Jake rolled his eyes.   “Don’t go getting all sappy on me now.”
    “I’m serious, Jake.   I still don’t understand why you did all of this.”
    “Let’s just say that I get it,” he told her.   “I get how it feels to be in your position.”
    And then she remembered Jake’s fiancé.   Of course, she’d passed away from cancer.   How could Raven not have seen it, not connected the two things?
    She felt stupid and a little embarrassed.   Jake was someone who understood what it was like to be completely ambushed by a loved one getting diagnosed with cancer.
    Raven had made the mistake of assuming that what Jake was doing for Skylar had something to do with herself.  
    Well didn’t he say that he was doing it for me?   Didn’t he say as much?
    He had said something like that, but as she thought about it, the whole thing made way more sense when she took his fiancé into account.   That’s what this was really all about.   He couldn’t save his dead fiancé, so now he was trying to save Skylar.
    Raven put her hotel key up to the door and it clicked open.   Jake was still standing right there, he hadn’t left to go to his own room yet.   She looked at him.   “Well, goodnight I guess.”
    He smiled, a little sadly, she thought.
    “Yeah, goodnight, Raven.”   He turned and walked away.
    She felt strange watching him go.   Why did she feel as if he was supposed to stay, why did she have this uncomfortable sensation that he hadn’t wanted to walk away?
    You’re getting too involved.   You’re starting to read things into this that don’t belong, bringing your own baggage to everything.   Jake Novak is a rich, powerful and handsome celebrity and you’re flattered by his attentions.
    But he’s not interested in you in that way, Raven.   He’s made that very clear with every single thing he’s said and done.   You’re only here to service his needs.
    Except, as she walked into her hotel room and closed the door behind her, she thought that none of those things were completely true anymore.   Jake wasn’t just using her for his own needs.
    He’d gone out of his way for her—and for her friend.   He was in a hotel room in New York, probably falling-down tired, and he could’ve been snuggled up in Boston, ten minutes away from the arena.   He could have woken up bright-eyed, ready to face the day having gotten plenty of sleep and not been spending his time dealing with doctors and hospitals and some stranger’s health issues.
    Raven wasn’t sure what she thought anymore.   She tried to shake off all the confusing thoughts, went into the bathroom and started the shower running.   As she waited for it to warm up, she started googling the scandal about Jake.
    Right away, she knew it was bad.   In just the last few hours, there were hundreds of stories and blog posts, Twitter and Facebook comments.  
    This story had completely obliterated the excitement that Courtney Taylor’s little song had caused.   This new story made that one look like nothing but a drop in the bucket.
    In fact, this new scandal was like a super storm that was wiping out everything in its