The Cunning

15

"I can't believe you're getting her special bread," Sam muttered. Jase tapped ash from his cigarette out of the car window, staring across the road at the shops.

"She has an intolerance. It's like I wouldn't give one of the girls with a nut allergy a fucking Snickers. Stop making a big deal out of it." Sam looked at Jase, unsure.

"Or she's seeing what she can get away with," he said. Jase didn't react. If Madison thought she had the upper hand because he had taken her dietary requirements into account, she was profoundly mistaken. He was only out to make his own life less stressful. If she wanted to eat weird textured bread to prove some sort of point, that was her choice. Sam continued. "Especially after all she got was a telling-off for what she did to Charlie." Madison cracking Charlie in the face replayed in Jase's mind. He chuckled,

"Was a fucking good head butt, though," he said, looking at Sam, who allowed a smile to creep across his face. None of the boys liked Charlie. He was loud and boastful. Twice as arrogant as anyone Jase dealt with on a regular basis. This made it easier to let Madison's actions slide. This time.

"That's beside the point," Sam said, all serious again. "She's already too big for her boots," Jase sighed,

"Her bark is bigger than her bite. You didn't see the look of fear when I took her upstairs." Even the blusher on her cheeks had paled when she realised what she had done. Sam grunted, and Jase flicked his cigarette butt before heading into the shop. He returned with the cheapest loaf of gluten-free bread the shop stocked, tossing it onto Sam's lap as he settled into the driver's seat.

"When are you going to give her her first customer?" Sam asked.

"As I said before, when there's a little less aggression in her," Jase replied, pulling away from the curb.

"Some guys like aggression," Sam said. Jase hummed a short laugh, as if it were a light-hearted joke, but didn't say any more on the subject.

Benny would soon pump her with all sorts to keep her docile if she carried on. Jase didn't want to have to resort to that. She had made it clear that she would throw him under the bus without hesitation if she thought for one second it would benefit her. Thinking up a more substantial reason why he wasn't making her work was becoming difficult. Benny would start getting impatient. Jase needed to convince Madison that bringing up their encounter wasn't worth mentioning. He silently scolded himself for not taking her when she bumped into him. It wasn't that he'd let her go that he was even mad about, it was the fact she knew his face. Everyone would have been at risk if she had reported him and he'd been identified.

Hindsight was a wonderful thing.

When they got back to the house, Jase took Madison her toast.

"It's gluten-free bread," he said, sliding it onto the drawers and leaving without another word. They'd already had far too many interactions. She was too comfortable around him for his liking.

*

Hello you beautiful bunch!  Not a question about this book, just a question about you; what's your favourite book, either on wattpad or a physical book or whatever, and why?