The Debt 2 (7 page)

“My friend might be sick,” Raven told him.
 
“She’s going to the hospital and I need to be with her.”

“Sick how?” Jake asked.
 
There was no anger in his voice or his expression.

Raven sighed.
 
“She’s bleeding.
 
She has some kind internal bleeding and it might be nothing but I have a feeling…I have a really bad feeling about it.”
 
And now she had to struggle to control her own voice and keep from crying.

“Of course you should go,” he said, nodding.
 

“Thank you for saying that.”

“And I’m going too,” Jake told her.

“But—“

“Come on, if it’s that important, we need to get there right away.
 
I can help you do that.”
 
He grabbed her by the hand and started walking faster and faster.

Raven was shocked by the change in Jake’s demeanor.
 
Instead of trying to threaten her for leaving him, he was actually helping her.
 

Jake Novak was helping her and it had nothing to do with him.
 
She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it, but she was slowly becoming grateful that he was doing it.

The craziness around the arena would typically have created all kinds of problems, due to the traffic and congestion from the people steadily flooding the streets and the public transportation.

But Jake Novak made sure that wasn’t an issue, as he informed Kurt that there was an emergency and they needed to brought to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Soon they were hustled into a sedan and escorted by two police cars with flashing lights, clearing a path in front of them as they drove at high speeds.

Raven texted Skylar and let her know that she was on her way, and Skylar replied that it wasn’t necessary, but as Raven insisted, soon Skylar admitted that she wanted her there.

Once they got on the highway, the traffic broke up and they were simply driving fast, and there was a quiet as they finally settled back and Raven put her phone away.

She looked over at Jake, who was staring out the window, his expression thoughtful.

“Thank you,” she said, breaking the silence.

Jake turned and looked at her.
 
“How’s your friend doing?”

“She’s just waiting right now.
 
She says the emergency room’s busy.”

He shook his head.
 
“We’ll take care of it.”

“Jake, you don’t have to do this,” Raven told him.

“Do what?”

“You don’t have to come with me and get police escorts…” but then Raven realized she didn’t want to discourage Jake from helping out.
 

The truth was, his presence was helping to keep her calm.
 
 

“Listen, if you’re worried about her then so am I,” Jake said, gazing evenly at her.
 
“And if I’m worried about someone, I damn well pull strings wherever I can.”

“You’re right,” Raven said.
 
“I’m glad you’re here.”

He smiled at her, but she could see that there was strain in his eyes, and then he went back to staring out his window.

***

Eventually they arrived at the hospital and were dropped off right out in front of the Emergency Room entrance.
 
Jake led the way inside, where people who noticed him went wide eyed, like they were seeing a ghost.

Raven found Skylar sitting alone in the corner of the waiting room, reading a magazine, her face pale and harried.
 

“Hey, Sky,” Raven said, and Skylar looked up and saw her.
 

Skylar’s face transformed as a look of relief passed over her features.
 
“Thank God you came,” she said, and then her expression crumpled.
 
Quickly followed by tears.

 
Raven went and hugged her, and held her tightly.
 
“Shhh…
.it’s
okay.
 
It’s okay, Sky.
 
I promise.”
 
She rocked Skylar gently and whispered encouragement in her friend’s ear.

Skylar sniffled and laid her cheek on Raven’s shoulder, and Raven stroked her hair, soothing her.

“Ummm…Raven?” Skylar said.

“Yeah?”

“There’s a guy standing here looking at me, and I could swear he’s a dead ringer for Jake Novak.”

“Oh.
 
That’s because it is Jake Novak,” Raven said, pulling back.

Jake was standing in front of them with his arms folded.
 
“Hey,” he said, flashing that million-dollar smile for a moment.

“Hey,” Skylar said, and now her voice shook for a different reason.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“I’m Skylar,” she told him.
 
“Skylar Ward.”

“Jake Novak,” he told her, extending his hand.

“I know who you are.”
 
She reached out and shook his hand.
 
“I usually look much prettier than this,” she explained.

“You look great,” Jake replied.
  
Then he turned to Raven.
 
“I’m going to have a word with these people and see if we can get her seen right away.”

“Okay,” Raven said.

“It’s like a two hour wait,” Skylar told them.
 
“They told me there’s no helping it.”

Raven looked around and she had to admit that the waiting room was busy, with most seats occupied.
 
And some of the people waiting looked much worse off than Skylar.

Jake shrugged.
 
“It never hurts to try,” he said, and then turned and walked up to the admitting counter.

As soon as he was gone, Skylar turned to Raven.

“What the hell is going on?” she whispered about as loud as a whisper could be.

Raven sighed.
 
“I’m not sure where to begin.”

“Maybe you should begin by explaining how the heck you end up bringing Jake Novak to visit me in the Emergency Room.”

“Well, it’s kind of weird.”

“Yeah, it must be really fucking weird.”

Raven laughed and then Skylar joined her.
 
It felt nice to see Skylar relaxed enough to laugh a little.

“I kind of got…like…a temp job working for him,” Raven said, deciding that this was a close enough approximation to the truth.

“Jake Novak hires temps now?
 
To do what exactly?”

“Ummm…
.social
media?”

Skylar stared hard at her.
 
And then her mouth made the shape of a perfectly round circle.
 
“Oh my God.
 
Are you dating him?
 
Are you dating Jake Novak?”

“Shhh…
.quiet
, Sky!” Raven said, grabbing her hand.
 
“I’m not.
 
We’re not.”

“Come on, nothing else makes any sense.”

“We aren’t dating, though.
 
We aren’t.”
 
She looked Skylar right in her eyes, showing that she was being truthful.
 
“I work for him, he hired me to do some social media stuff.”

“What the heck do you know about social media?
 
Aren’t there, like, professionals for that?
 
You’re a waitress,” Skylar reminded her.
 
“A waitress that got fired.”

“Yeah, I know.
 
But I guess I got lucky.”

“You can say that again.”

Skylar was staring at Jake, and as Raven followed her gaze, she saw that he was now conversing with a doctor.
 
The doctor was nodding with a very serious look on his face, and then glancing over at them.
 
Suddenly, the doctor was heading towards them.

He was a tall, thin man with very little hair on his head and a couple of large moles on his cheek and chin.
 
Jake walked over with him.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Stieglitz,” he said, holding out his hand, and Skylar shook it.

“I’m Skylar.”

“Why don’t you come with me,
Skylar.
 
We’ll get you looked at right away, okay?”

“Really?”

The doctor nodded.
 
“Absolutely.”
 
He turned to Jake.
 
“Sound good?”

“Sounds good, Dr. Steiglitz.”
 
Jake smiled.

“And maybe you can sign an autograph for my daughter,” Dr. Steiglitz said.
 
“She’s going to be so excited when I tell her I met you.”

Jake laughed.
 
“I’ll do you one better.
 
How does front row tickets to tomorrow night’s show sound?”

The doctor’s jaw dropped open.
 
“That’s too kind.”

“My pleasure,” Jake said.
 
“I’ll give you my manager’s number and he’ll set it up, okay?”

The doctor was clearly pleased, as he gently led Skylar back to the examination room.

They disappeared through a set of double doors.

Raven sat there, stunned at the change that had come over Jake.
 
He took a seat next to her, reclining, looking up at the television on the wall across the waiting room.

He seemed oblivious to the unabashed staring and whispers from the staff and patients that all were catching on to the fact that he was sitting in their midst.

“Jake…” she said, her voice catching in her throat.

Jake looked at her.
 
“Hey, I get it.
 
I really do, Raven.
 
You don’t need to even go there.”

“I have to thank you.”

And then he did the next most surprising thing he could have done, reaching out and touching her cheek softly.
 
As his fingers grazed her cheek, she nearly broke down.
 
It felt too good, too real—as if maybe the mean, selfish and untrusting Jake Novak that she’d been seeing up to that point wasn’t the real Jake at all.

The way he was looking at her, the softness of his touch, it all told her that underneath that superficial version of him was another person altogether.

“It’s going to be okay, Raven.”
 
He whispered it softly to her.
 
“I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

They sat and waited together, and although a few girls came over and requested him to sign his autograph on various pieces of paper (one of them used a magazine straight off the emergency room table), mostly they were left alone.

Jake was texting a little and then he would watch TV.

His presence was calming, like a soothing balm.
 
He just seemed so completely able to handle whatever was thrown his way, and Raven was reminded of the fact that he’d done time fighting overseas, and after seeing combat, there probably wasn’t much that threw him for a loop anymore.

But when the doctor emerged alone from the examination rooms and waved them over, Raven suddenly didn’t feel so calm anymore.
 

“I feel sick,” she said under her breath, as she stood up, her legs weak.

Jake grabbed her hand.
 
“Remember what I said.
 
Everything will be fine, Raven.”

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath.
 
She couldn’t believe Jake Novak was holding her hand, comforting her.

What parallel universe was this?

What was going on here?

They met the doctor near the doors.
 
“We should talk,” he said.
 
“Come with me to the examination room.”

“Is everything okay?” Raven asked.

“Just come with me.”
 
Dr. Stieglitz was no longer smiling or talking about tickets to Jake’s show.

He led them to the examination room, where Skylar was waiting.
 
She was dressed, looking pale and anxious, her eyes darting from side to side as she bit her thumbnail.

The doctor closed the door and motioned them to have a seat.
 
Raven sat next to Skylar and put her hand on her shoulder.

“I performed a pelvic exam on Skylar,” he said, “and I did unfortunately find something—a mass on her cervix.
 
It’s a fairly large mass, and I must say I’m concerned about the size of it.”
 
The doctor stroked his chin and pursed his lips.

“Well we need to get her in with a specialist,” Jake said.

“I’ve already called over to a gynecologic oncologist and she has an appointment free the day after tomorrow—“

“That’s not soon enough,” Jake interrupted.
 
“She needs to be seen immediately.”

Dr. Stieglitz seemed annoyed for the first time.
 
Turning his attention directly to Jake, he said, “I understand that you’re very concerned, Mr. Novak.
 
But despite your stature in the entertainment industry, I can’t simply force very busy specialists to take a patient on such short notice.
 
It was actually very lucky that I was able to get her seen in a day’s time.”