The Debt 4 (12 page)

“Let go of me,” Raven said, pulling
herself free from Caleb’s grip.

“I didn’t want to start this,” he
said.
 
“You have to know that.”

“I don’t have to know anything, Caleb,
now leave me alone!”

Jake seemed to be doing well for himself,
despite her fears.
 
He had punched
another one of Andre’s buddies so hard in the face that he staggered slowly
past Raven and Caleb and out of the bar, holding his cheek and muttering.

“Fuck this.
 
I don’t need this shit, man,” he could
be heard saying, as he pushed through the door and into the night.

“You and your stupid friends,” Raven said
to Caleb.
 
“I should’ve known you’d
instantly ruin everything when I came back home.”

“I’m sorry,” Caleb said.
 
“I tried to stop them.”

“Somehow you always try and you always
fail,” she sneered, turning away from him again.
 
Her blood was boiling.

Now Andre and his one last friend were
facing Jake and Jake had his fists up, ready to fight them both.
 
He looked more than
willing
,
his eyes were almost gleeful
.

Andre’s friend turned to him.
 
“I don’t think we can take him,
bro.
 
He’s a maniac.”

That was when Andre picked up a bottle
and broke it purposely against the table, keeping hold of the shattered end as
a weapon.
 
“How about I stick this
in your fucking throat?” Andre said to Jake, moving forward.

“You should reconsider,” Jake said,
looking even more prepared to go to battle, “because if you try and use that on
me I’m going to break your neck.”

Andre’s friend backed away.
 
“Dude, that’s going too far.”
 
He started to leave as well.
 
As he passed, he looked at Caleb.
 
“You better stop him before he does
something crazy.”

Raven was cold.
 
She couldn’t believe what was
happening.
 
Jake might get killed
because of her, because she’d been dumb enough to bring him home.
 
She should have stayed away.
 
What was she thinking?
 

“Stop it, Andre!” she shouted, readying
herself to jump on his back, anything to keep him from hurting Jake with that
broken bottle.

And that’s when the door opened again and
the police came inside.

Before Raven knew it, Andre had already
dropped the broken bottle and kicked it under one of the booths.
 
The police didn’t even see him holding
it.

Four policemen came inside and
immediately grabbed everyone involved in the scuffle and escorted
them
out of the bar.

As they all walked outside, they were met
with flashbulbs as the paparazzi took pictures.
 

Raven looked over at Jake, who was
somehow grinning still.
 
He glanced
at her and shrugged, and then went back to talking with one of the police
officers.

Raven couldn’t even believe it.

Nothing could have gone worse, she
thought.

This
is as bad as it gets.

Only she was wrong.
 
Because just when she thought it
couldn’t get worse, her brother Danny showed up.

***

Raven and Jake were standing there,
watching Danny talk to the cops.
 
Well, there was one cop in particular he was talking to, and it was
taking a long time.

Jake had his hands in his pockets.
 
He looked at Raven.
 
“I guess this was probably not the best
way to start the trip.”

“Nope, probably not,” she said.

Already, the other culprits had been
allowed to leave the scene.
 
Andre had
been let go, of course.
 
The cops
around these parts were nothing if not biased.
 
The thing now was whether they were
going to arrest Jake for assault and destruction of property, and so far it
seemed likely they would.

They’d been within seconds of handcuffing
him, but as Danny showed up and started talking, they’d backed off a little bit.

Now it was a waiting game.

Raven turned to Jake again.
 
“I wish you hadn’t done it, but I’m also
grateful you did it, if you get what I mean.”

Jake nodded.
 
“Yeah, I do.”

She looked at him, wondering what it was
that had made him defend her yet again.
 
Why did he keep putting his neck on the line for her if he didn’t see
her as anything but a pawn in his game?

If
we’re really just a business arrangement, then he must be a terrible
businessman, because so far I’ve been nothing but a headache.

The thought made her smile, and Jake
noticed.

“What can you possibly be smiling about?”
he asked her.

“It was nothing,” she said, dismissing
the depth of her feelings rather than tell him how much she wanted to believe
that he was starting to care for her despite himself.

“Oh, there’s something going on,” Jake
smirked.
 
“I can see those gears
turning in your head.”

“Maybe so, Jake.
 
Maybe so.”

He shook his head and sighed as if giving
up on trying to figure her out.

Finally, Danny broke away from the cop,
shaking hands and saying some last words, before coming over to where Jake and
Raven were standing.

He looked at them and bit his lip before
speaking.
 
“You two idiots really
caused a scene.”

“Are they pressing charges?”

“Lucky for Mr. Novak here, I used to be
on the wrestling team with Officer Giancola.
 
They’re willing to forego the arrest.”

Jake stuck his hand out.
 
“You’re amazing, Danny.
 
Thank you so much.”

“They did say that it was conditional
upon you picking up the tab for the repairs on all the damage you did
tonight.
 
The report will be filed,
so if you don’t make good, they’ll come and arrest you.”

Jake chuckled.
 
“Hey, I’m not averse to paying for my
mistakes.”

“Yeah, and they’ll probably make sure to
do some improvements at your expense, too,” Danny told him.

“Whatever it takes.”

“Glad to hear it,” Danny said.
 
“Come on, I’ll drive you both home.”

They all walked to his car and got
inside.
 
People were still taking
pictures and shouting questions, but they ignored it all.

Raven got in front and Jake sat in the
back seat, while Danny drove quietly, his face illuminated by the dashboard
light.

After they’d driven a little way, Raven
glanced at him.
 
“Danny, I’m sorry
about everything.”

He shrugged.
 
“Why apologize?
 
You always end up doing something crazy
and getting yourself in trouble again at some point.”

“I get that you’re angry with me,” she
told him.
 
“I know why you’re really
mad, and it’s got nothing to do with what happened tonight.”

He glanced at her.
 
“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I know you got stuck here,
taking care of Mom and Dad when I left.
 
I didn’t know that would happen to you.
 
It never so much as entered my mind.
 
I was just trying to get free, to escape.”

Danny didn’t speak for a long while.
 
“Someone had to stay,” he told her
softly.
 

When they pulled into the driveway, Danny
finally spoke again.
 
“Let’s not
mention this to Mom or Dad,” he said.
 
“They don’t need anymore stress in their lives right now.
 
Mom’s cooking a big meal and she’s happy
as a clam.”

“My lips are sealed,” Jake said, as they
all got out of the car and headed toward the house.

Raven looked at Jake by the front steps,
touching his face and examining it.
 
“Hardly a scratch on you,” she said.
 
“They won’t notice anything.”

***

Dinner was as relaxed and seemingly
normal as could be.
 
Raven wouldn’t
have believed it if she hadn’t witnessed it with her own two eyes.

Probably it was a combination of a lot of
things, including the fact that Jake had once again stood up for her against
someone that had been trying to tear her down.

Despite her concerns that he didn’t want
a “real” relationship, Raven was more and more becoming convinced that he just
couldn’t speak the words.

His actions told a different story.

After dinner, Raven helped her mother
clean up, while Jake and her dad sat in the living room and had a beer and
talked sports.

Danny excused himself, saying he had work
to do.
 
But at least he hadn’t been
overtly rude.

Hearing the men together in the other
room laughing and talking so comfortably, Raven was able to just enjoy herself
being in familiar surroundings once more—even if not all the memories
were pleasant ones.

Something about just being with family
was its own kind of comfort.

Raven’s mother had never been one to
discuss feelings
,
she didn’t work out problems
.
 
She just let things be.

In the past, that had made Raven want to
disown her, especially when her mother let her down so badly during those
trying times in high school.

But now, working in the kitchen together,
Raven was able to see her mother differently.

She’s
just a person
, Raven
thought.
 
Good or bad, right or wrong, she’s done her very best, even when it
wasn’t quite good enough to suit me.

So
she let me down.
 
Maybe people let
each other down and then you can still get past it.

Raven finished helping her mother and
then went and sat next to Jake on the couch, her arm on his shoulder.
 
He slid closer, wrapping his arm around
her waist as he cracked jokes with her dad, who would laugh, his breath
wheezing in his chest, cheeks turning purple.

It was alarming, but he didn’t seem
concerned by it, nor did her mother.

Raven couldn’t stop watching Jake
interact, and thinking to
herself
—
what if he’s really as good as he seems?

What
if he’s not going to let you down?

So they sat together in the living room,
telling old and harmless stories, staying away from the bad times.
 
Jake talked about his simple upbringing
and his younger brothers, and it was just a wonderful time and Raven wished it
could have lasted forever.

***

In the guest room at the end of the
night, Raven undressed while Jake was in the bathroom.

She took off all her clothes and then put
on just a long t-shirt again.
 
It
hung over the tops of her thighs and she felt very vulnerable but sexy wearing
it for him.
 
She liked the feeling.

Raven turned off the light and climbed
into the bed, sliding under the covers, and waiting for Jake.

She was tired, but she was also
adrenalized from imagining Jake in bed with her, his body so close, smelling
him, feeling him.

She wanted to taste him too.

For a little while, as she waited, her
thoughts took an unfortunate turn as she thought back to Andre and Caleb coming
into the bar.
 
Remembering the way
Andre had spoken about her—the lies he’d told again after all this
time—it made her want to scream.

Why did he seem to want to ruin her life?

What had she ever done to him?

And then Caleb—still the same old
Caleb—unwilling to stop his best friend from acting terribly, unable to
stand up for himself or for Raven.
 
He was just the same as he’d been in
high school, looking terribly uncomfortable with how things were playing out
but still refusing to stand up for anything or anyone.

How
did you ever think you loved him?
 

But she had thought it, and as a result
she’d trusted him, she’d allowed him to record her that night of the party.