Page 60 of Unsuitable

Sadness prickles my skin at his mention of Jesse.

But I’m also taken aback that he wants to talk to me about this.

I really need to keep my job, and if telling him about this stuff means I will have a job at the end of it, then so be it.

“I went to see him yesterday. It didn’t go well.”

“Why not?”

I blow out a breath. “He blames me for him being in foster care, and he’s right to. I was all he had left in the world, and when I went to prison, he got taken into care.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Our dad is dead. Our mother is…gone. When I was sixteen, she ran off with her drug-dealer boyfriend. I guess she didn’t want to be a mother anymore. Jesse was only six. I knew, if Social Services found out she was gone, they’d take him away.

“I’d been practically raising Jesse since he was a baby since our mother cared about drugs more than us. She’d always used drugs. She had somehow managed to stay clean while she was pregnant with Jesse; maybe she cared a little more back then. But, after our dad died, that seemed to tip her over the edge. I’d just finished doing my exams when she disappeared on us. So, I did what I had to. I got a job. It was hard in the beginning, but we managed. Things got easier when I got the job at the jewelry store, as I was earning more money.”

“The jewelry store you stole from?”

I let out a humorless laugh and say in a droll tone, “Yeah, the jewelry store that I stole from.”

“So, why did you do it? You had everything to lose. Why risk it?”

I stare into his face, weighing my options. Tell the truth or the truth that everyone believes.

I know he won’t believe me, but I decide to go with the truth.

“I didn’t risk anything. I loved that job. I didn’t steal from those people. What I did do was make a huge error by trusting someone.”

His expression hasn’t changed. It’s blank and unreadable, like always.

I wait, expecting him to tell me that he doesn’t believe me.

So, I’m surprised when he says, “Trusting whom?”

“A man.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Well, I wouldn’t call him a man because a man wouldn’t do what he did to me.” I wrap my hands around the cup again, needing its warmth. I stare down into the coffee as I continue to talk, “My boyfriend, Jason—well, now, ex-boyfriend. We’d been together for about four months. He seemed like a good guy. A decent guy. I wasn’t so keen on his family…especially his brother. I’d heard things about them…not so great things…but Jason was good to me. I’d never had someone be good to me before. And he was good with Jesse. So, I trusted him. And he stabbed me in the back. I don’t know for sure exactly how it happened…but I know I went to prison because of Jason and, if I’m guessing correctly, his brother, Damien.”

I see Kas’s body stiffen, and I feel a tension rise in the air, like static electricity covering my skin.

I lift my eyes to his, and I’m startled by the anger I see in them.

I’ve seen Kas angry, but this…this is a whole new level of anger that I’ve never seen before.

I flinch inside, unsure of whether that anger is directed at me or not.

I wonder if I should keep talking, but I figure I can’t make this any worse. I need this job, so I take a deep breath and continue on, “The night of the robbery, Jason was staying at my place. Jesse was staying the night at his friend’s house. I only ever let Jason stay over when Jesse was staying out.” I don’t know why I tell Kas that, but it feels important to me that he knows that I always put Jesse first.

“I think, while I was sleeping, that Jason gave my access key to Damien. You know, I said I’d heard things about him. Well, those things were that Damien was trouble, into bad shit—carjacking, robbery, and the like. I think he used my access key, let himself in, somehow disconnected the CCTV inside the shop, and robbed it.

“Then, he brought my key card back to Jason. He put it back in my bag. Damien also gave him a piece of the stolen jewelry, which Jason so conveniently planted in my apartment. And, when the police came searching my place, there it was.

“Jason also told the police that he wasn’t with me at all that night. That he spent the night playing cards with his brother and friends and hadn’t seen me. I couldn’t prove otherwise. I had no witnesses to prove he’d been with me all night, so I was screwed. Basically, I was set up.

“The police charged me with theft. I was put in prison until my trial. I was given a court-appointed lawyer because I had no money to pay for my own, and I’m pretty sure my lawyer had only just gotten his law degree. I didn’t stand a chance. I was found guilty and sent to prison for three years. I served eighteen months and was released on parole. And here I am.

“I lost everything…Jesse…my job, my home…my freedom…because of him.”

I lift my eyes back to Kas, not really sure what to expect.