Honestly, Truly

Chapter 7

...

"What is it? You can tell me," I say, placing my hand on his arm.

He looks from my hand back to my eyes, a shocked expression on his face. "It's nothing really. You don't need to concern yourself," he says, obviously trying to avoid the situation.

I remove my hand, saddened saddened by the distance between us, but not letting that get in the way of my goal. I set it on my cocked hip and look up at him. "Oh really?" I sass, not attempting to hide my disapproval. I watch as he struggles for words and keeping his eyes locked on something decent. I know it was wrong to play off my body, but I really want to help him. I mean seriously! The man looks like a zombie.

He finally sighs, giving up his futile attempt at resisting my questioning. "Something went wrong with my mission group down in Africa..." he states, glancing towards the floor.

"What happened?" I push, sensing that this is something he direly needs to talk about.

"Well... I found out one of my close friends, a recent addition to the group, has been stealing money for the past two months," he confesses.

"So he's been doing that since they left for Africa? That's horrible!" I exclaim. "Jasper, this isn't your fault, it's not like you knew what he was doing. But, I guess I know how it feels to think you're the guilty party..." I say, trying to console him. "What are you going to do to get the money back and about your friend?" I ask, trying to be of some help to him and layout some sort of plan.

He nods determined. "Well, he's been removed from the group and has been sent back here to the U.S., and fortunately we were able to catch him before he fled with any more money, but I still need to reimburse about fifty-thousand dollars."

My mouth drops open. He stole that much! That is insane! No wonder he's so depressed about this! I think to myself as I wrap my finger around my chin in a thinking position. "If it makes it any better, I can ask Ro-I mean... Miss Grey to contribute something, and I'm certain, based off the financial calculations of the performance, there should be more than enough to cover the losses." I'm excited by the thought of helping him but, he still seems to be distraught and his eyes are blurry with thought.

"I've come to the same conclusion myself, but I'm worried there could be bad PR if this story is leaked. I'm not too worried about my own reputation considering I've actually worked hard for my station... but I'm worried that the company might shut the group down, that they are a liability to it and therefore should disband," he states, rubbing his temples.

"I see..." is my only response as I watch his inner turmoil.

"My father isn't one to allow these kinds of over-sights to slide and I don't want to devalue the hard work put in by everyone else on the team," he continues, looking exasperated.

"I'm so sorry," I apologize, realizing quickly that I just forced him to disclose the exact information that could get his group dismissed if anyone else found out.

"Actually, it's okay," he says suddenly. "I didn't realize how much better I feel just by talking to you about it. It helped me clear the confusion and get down to how I can handle the situation," he says, looking around the room, seeming more alive than he did a moment ago. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I have some things to take care of!" he says, grabbing my hand in thanks before dashing out of the room.

I stared after him shell-shocked. How in the world did he come up with something so quickly, it's not like we really talked about any helpful solutions, I think to myself, replaying the conversation in my head. Shaking my head, I turned around to look for my managers when I'm stopped by Jasper's sisters. I hadn't seen them since I arrived. Shocking as that sounds, teenagers disappearing?!