The Debt 6 by Kelly Favor Page B

step.
    “That’s not true.”
    “Yes.   It is.”   He came forward again.   “And I’m not going to keep falling for it.”
    She shook her head.   “I don’t have time for this, Jake.”
    “Listen to me,” he said, softly but firmly.   “I care about you, Raven.   I care about you more than I ever thought I could care about another person.”
    His words blew her away, but she was also completely at a loss for what to do now.   He’d finally told her the very thing she’d been waiting to hear, but only after everything had gone sour.
    “It’s too late, Jake,” she whispered.
    “Why?”
    “It just is.”   She walked past him again, but this time he didn’t let her pass.   He grabbed her arm.
    “You’re not leaving without me.”
    She spun and looked at him with tears in her eyes.   “Stop it, okay?   Just stop playing with my emotions.”
    “I’m not playing with anything.   I’m telling you the truth, and I’m not going to stop telling you.   I care about you.”   And then he leaned in and kissed her, and from his lips—she knew.
    She knew that he was telling her the absolute truth.
    He took her breath away with his lips, and she was glad of it.   Her heart felt like it would burst in her chest, and everything else melted, all the problems were like dust in the wind when he touched her like this.
    Jake Novak.   Jake Novak chose me, despite everything.   Despite all the baggage, and the mess, and the drama.
    But will he still choose you once he knows everything?
    Raven pulled away abruptly, and Jake pulled back too, his brow furrowed. “Raven,” he began.   “Just tell me what the hell’s going on.”
    “Oh, God,” she murmured, putting a hand to her forehead and then felt everything start to spin.   Spots appeared before her eyes.
    Jake grabbed her in his arms and held her as her legs gave out.
    “What is it?   What’s wrong?” he asked again.
    She collected herself, then stared into his brown eyes, and the love and strength she saw there gave her courage.   Raven steadied herself, found her legs again.   “I’m okay,” she told him.   “I’m okay.”
    “You sure?” he asked, letting go of her, but hesitantly, as if he thought a small breeze might knock her over.
    “I need to tell you something,” she admitted.     “There’s more to the story than I admitted to you.”
    “How much more?” he said.
    She took a deep breath and let it out at once.   “I didn’t get mugged last night.”
    Jake’s eyes narrowed.   “You didn’t?”
    “It wasn’t some random mugger who attacked me.   It was Club Alpha,” she said, watching his expression for a reaction.  
    His eyes hardened.   “Tell me who it was and exactly what they did.   I want every detail, Raven.”   His teeth were clenched and his shoulders stiffened.  
    “But Jake, you can’t just go beat them up.   Not this time.”
    He smiled coldly.   “I’m going to do much worse than that, don’t worry.”
    “I need you to stay calm.”
    “So it was Club Alpha that burned your parents’ house down?” he asked, his fists clenching.
    “Yes.”
    “I’m going to fucking kill them.”   Jake’s eyes were on fire with the kind of anger that Raven thought might allow one person to murder another.  
    Jake looked like the warrior he was at heart, and she could easily imagine him with this expression on his face leading men into battle in the desert a world away.
    “This isn’t the time,” Raven said, trying to calm him.   She put a hand on his forearm.   “Not everything can be handled with violence, Jake.”
    His distant gaze focused and returned to her.   “I know that, Raven.   I know that violence isn’t the solution to every problem.   It just happens to be the solution to this particular problem.”
    She rolled her eyes.   “This reaction is exactly why I was afraid to tell you what happened to me.”
    Jake smiled a little, almost despite himself.   “Maybe you