The Debt 8 (Club Alpha) (8 page)

Jake’s Facebook and Twitter and Instagram
accounts were gaining fans by the second, not losing them.
 
It was quite obvious that the momentum
had shifted.

At the meeting where Jake and Mack Zee
officially signed off on their record deal, the entire record label staff of
nearly two hundred people stood in the lobby and first floor, while Mack made a
lengthy speech about how this was the biggest artist they’d ever signed, and
how Jake was about to revolutionize the industry.

Everyone clapped and hollered and then
the drinking began in earnest.

“Hey, Jake, Raven—“ Mack Zee said
softly, as the party started up around them and the staff of the label began
talking and drinking and ignoring them.
 
“Could you two come with me for a second?”

“Of course,” Raven said, as Mack put a
soft hand on her shoulder, and his other hand on Jake’s shoulder, and walked
them upstairs.

“Something wrong?” Jake asked him, as
they got to Mack’s office.
 
Once
inside, Mack closed the door, cutting off the noise from the party below.

“Look, we all know how well Too Far From
Home is doing on YouTube,” Mack told them.
 
“And I think we should capitalize on that momentum.
 
We were thinking about releasing a
digital only single to iTunes immediately, Jake.”

Jake looked to Raven.

“I think that’s a great idea,” she said.

“It’s a demo track,” Jake said
uncertainly.

“Taylor Swift’s first album is mostly
just the demo tracks she and her producer cut.
 
When they tried to give it the full
studio treatment, it sounded like dookie.
 
So they went back and used the demos instead.
 
The Foo Fighters first album was all
done by Dave Grohl on his four track or some shit.”

Jake nodded, his brow wrinkled.
 
“Yeah, I get it.
 
I’m just not sure.”

“Jake,” Raven said, putting a hand on his
forearm.
 
“You’ve always been
nervous about putting this new music out.
 
You were nervous about recording it too.”

“I’m just not sure that track is ready,”
Jake said.
 

“It’s ready.
 
This is the time.
 
People already love it.”

Jake thought about it and then finally
nodded.
 
“Okay,” he said.
 
“You have our blessing.
 
Let’s do it.”

Mack Zee gave a fist pump and then
high-fived Raven and Jake in turn.
 
“I am so, so happy about our partnership.
 
We are gonna take over the world.”

He threw his arms around them.
 
“Now, about that other thing.
 
The Club we discussed in our last
meeting.”

Raven froze and Jake stiffened too.
 
“We shouldn’t ever talk about them
again,” Jake said.

Mack looked at him.
 
“I need to tell you that I hear things,
Jake.
 
I’m worried about you guys.”

“What’ve you heard?”

“I heard it aint over.
 
I heard they still plan to make a move.”

Jake spun and looked at Mack with eyes
that were like cold steel.
 
“Tell me
exactly what you heard,” he said through grit teeth.

“All I’m saying is that you need to be
careful.
 
Now, I happen to have my
intel
,” Mack said, his voice still calm.
 
“I know things about these people.
 
And if they do make a move, you let me
know, Jake.
 
Just come and tell
me—call me, any hour of the day.
 
And I’ll help you.”

Jake was staring at him.
 
“How do I know you’re not with them?”

Mack’s smile grew wider.
 
“You won’t know it until the time is
right, my friend.
 
For now, I
suppose you’ll just have to hope you and your lady friend are lucky and not
unlucky.
 
Because if I am with the
Club, then your life might just have gotten a whole lot more complicated.”

Jake pulled away from him and grabbed
Raven’s hand.
 
“Come on,” he told
her.
 
“Let’s get out of here.”

“Be careful,” Mack told them as they
left.

As they left the building, Raven turned
to Jake.
 
“What do you think?” she
asked him.
 
“Is he really with Club
Alpha?”

Jake shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
Maybe he’s just a member of the club
like I was.
 
Maybe he’s just fucking
with us.”

“I don’t like this,” Raven said, looking
around as they walked down the street to where Jake had parked his jeep.
 
She felt anxious, paranoid.
 
She hadn’t felt like this since they’d
left the cabin.

“It’s going to fine,” Jake told her, but
his voice was tight.

They got in the jeep and drove home.

That night, neither of them said
much.
 
Both were lost in thought,
lost in their own private worlds.

Raven didn’t like the way Jake had
withdrawn from her.
 
He went for a
long night swim at the beach, not inviting her, and then came inside and had a
beer.

She texted with Skylar and her brother,
telling them very little about her own adventures, and instead asking more
about what they had been doing.
 
It
was nice to get lost in other people’s worlds for a while.

Danny told her that the family was
getting tired of staying at the various hotels that Jake had arranged for
them.
 
They wanted to go home, but
no home existed and the insurance money still hadn’t come in.

Skylar said she was feeling better, but
Raven wasn’t certain that it was the truth.

I
want to come and see you
,
Raven texted her.

Don’t
be silly.
 
I’m doing fine, there’s
no reason for you to come back yet
.

Jake was drinking his beer and watching
Rocky III on the couch, and Raven didn’t feel comfortable even trying to talk
to him, so she went upstairs to the bedroom and read articles about Jake’s
music online, finding some new commentary on her as well.

For the first time, she was seeing some
positive stuff on the web attached to her name.

Apparently, Mack Zee had called her a
producing genius and credited her for bringing Jake’s song Too Far From Home to
the public’s attention.
 
Now,
instead of seeing people on Twitter and Facebook calling her the new Yoko Ono,
there were people defending her and saying that Jake Novak had been nothing but
an overhyped Disney product until Raven Hartley had come along and turned him
into a
true artist
.

Obviously, Raven didn’t think she was
that responsible for Jake’s newfound critical success.
 
He’d written those songs, he was the
musical genius.
 
But it was still
nice to know that maybe she did have a place in his story that wasn’t all about
undermining and destroying his career.

And even though Mack Zee was an enigma,
and potentially a threat, he’d made a public proclamation and stood behind her,
if only for the moment.
 
That was
worth a lot to her after everything she’d been through.

Drifting off to sleep that night, she
hoped that this wasn’t a dream that was about to turn into a nightmare.

***

When Raven woke up, she was alone in
bed.
 
Vaguely, she remembered Jake
coming in during the middle of the night and sliding next to her, wrapping her
in his warm embrace.

But now the bed was cold and empty, and
it looked as if Jake had been gone for some time.

She had a strange feeling of anxiety
creep over her, as if perhaps Jake had been taken away—kidnapped, stolen
from her.

“Jake?” she called, getting off the
mattress and putting on a light robe, closing it around herself as she went
hesitantly out to the rest of the house.
 
“Jake!” she yelled.

Where was he?
 
Out at the beach?
 
Swimming?

She walked slowly down the stairs and saw
the front door was partway open.
 
And
then she was running down and throwing the door the rest of the way open to see
who
, if anyone, was out there.

And that’s when she saw it.

Jake was standing next to a sleek white
car with a big red bow stuck to it, and reading what looked like some sort of
card.
 
He was wearing shorts and no
shirt, and looked as though he’d just come from a swim.

“What’s that?” she called out, relieved
to see him standing
there
in one piece, with no Club
Alpha goons in sight.

Jake waved her over.
 
“It’s a gift from Mack Zee,” he said,
shaking his head, amused.

“Maybe he’s trying to make up for scaring
us yesterday,” she replied, as she walked closer.
 
“What kind of car is it?” she said.

“A Jaguar XK Convertible,” Jake told her,
still reading the card.
 
“These
things run right around a hundred thousand dollars a piece.”

“Oh my goodness,” she said.
 
“Well, it’s beautiful.”

“Just like the woman who owns it.”

She stopped in her tracks.
 
“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the car is for you,” he said,
handing her the card with a mischievous grin.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”
 
She took the card, and now her hand was
shaking for altogether different reasons.
 

Dearest
Miss Hartley,

You’ve
been a revelation to work with, and my greatest thanks for helping to shepherd
Jake Novak’s music through the creative process and bringing both the songs and
the man into my life and my world.
 
I’m forever in debt to you, and I anticipate this as the start of a long
and prosperous business relationship between you and I.
 

May
this sleek, beautiful and elegant automobile be a symbol of the class that
you’ve brought to the making of this fine
album.

All
The Best,

Mack
Zee

Raven read the card at least two more
times before looking up at Jake again.
 
“He gave me this as a gift?”

“He did.”
 
Jake folded his arms, seeming to enjoy
the bewildered expression on Raven’s face.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she said,
walking around the car and letting her fingers trail the outside.
 
She couldn’t believe how gorgeous it
was.
 
“This is the kind of thing
they give to LeBron James when he signs with a new team, not to the girlfriend
of a rock star when he signs a record deal.”

“You’re not just my girlfriend,
babe.
 
You’re my manager, remember?”

She looked at him, stunned.
 
“Yes, but—“

“But nothing.
 
This is the kind of gift a big-time
manager gets in our industry.
 
You’ve arrived.”

She shook her head and put her hand over
her mouth.
 
One
hundred thousand dollars.
 
On one car.
 
She
couldn’t even imagine driving it.
 
“I’d be scared that I’d crash it.
 
And how will I afford the upkeep?”

Jake laughed.
 
“I don’t think that’s going to be a
problem.”

“Of course it is.
 
You know how much these specialty parts
cost.
 
If I break a tail light it’s
going to bankrupt me.”

“Are you sure about that?”
 
Jake’s eyes wrinkled, amused at her
continued confusion.

“Jake, stop messing with me.”
 
She felt her cheeks flush as the reality
of the whole thing hit her full force.

“I want you to do something now, and promise
me you won’t freak out and faint or anything,” Jake said, still smiling.

“I can’t promise that.
 
I already feel weak in the knees.”

“Come on,” he said, grabbing her lightly
by the arm and leading her back inside.
 
“Let’s get you out of the bright sun, and inside where you can sit down
and have a glass of water.”