CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
*Kio “K.O.” - Enforcer*
Isuspected Jess all along, from the moment we walked into Tit for Tat after our road trip down here. She was off, defeated, really whittled down.
Something was going on. I knew her old man was involved. I assumed Stoney was somehow to blame, too. So, it became my mission to keep a closer eye on her than usual — to try to build a special sort of trust with her, even if it meant breaking her heart later. All for the greater good. That was the plan at least.
The answer was right in front of me the whole time, but instead of treating it like a math problem, I treated the situation like a riddle, believing in an illusion I had conjured in my own mind. I was blinded by refusing to see what I wanted to avoid seeing — that Gabe was the one to be wary of, not Jess.
Then, I started to care about her a little too much.
On one side of me, Bae and Chaz are speaking to the cops, and on my opposite side, Kal is on the phone. Both conversations are nothing but a jumble, though.
Through the noise, I can overhear part of a discussion between two officers behind me: “Caucasian female, mid-twenties with what appears to be a lethal knife wound. No signs of struggle or forced entry.”
Even though the word “suicide” was not spoken aloud, it echoes loudly in my head. I knew Jess needed protection but never once considered it was herself she needed protection from. I was too wrapped up in my own damaged past to fathom suicide as her future.
A kaleidoscope of reds and blues swirl around me as second by second, my mind threatens to detach. I am already barely holding myself together when I connect what they are saying with what Brodi relayed as soon as we got on scene: the knife she most likely used was not just any knife, but the one I bought her earlier today.
My body goes weightless, and I stumble to the ground. Someone comes to help me, but my blackening vision is locked on the grass. “This was not your fault,” he says.
“Fuck you,” I heave.